Vatin culture

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Area of Vatin culture

The Vatin culture (Serbian: Vatinska kultura / Ватинска култура or Vatinska grupa / Ватинска група) is a name of an prehistoric Bronze Age culture, which was named after village Vatin in Serbia. The culture had Indo-European roots and was culturally connected with Mycenaean Greece. The Vatin culture is dated into middle Bronze Age and it is generally divided into three phases: Pančevo-Omoljica, Vatin-Vršac, and Belegiš-Ilandža. It flourished from 16th to 13th century BC.

People of the Vatin culture inhabited entire territory of Vojvodina (Banat, Bačka, Syrmia) and many surrounding areas (including Slavonia, Oltenia, Bosnia and Central Serbia). Its core area was in Serbian-Vojvodinian Podunavlje. The remains of this culture were discovered in the beginning of the 20th century near the village of Vatin (Banat region, Vojvodina province, Serbia). Real importance of this culture was, however, enlightened only in the end of the 20th century, when locality Feudvar near village Mošorin was investigated.

Characteristics

Vatin culture was highly influenced by Mycenaean Greece and had already developed social differentiation of population. The culture also developed large central settlements, which were surrounded by smaller settlements and farms. Large settlements were economical and social centers, as well as seats of tribal leaders. These fortified centers had a defensive character and larger number of them existed in a wider area. The thick network of large fortified settlements represented example of collective defense of a wide space.

Main occupation of inhabitants of Vatin culture was agriculture and animal husbandry and it is assumed that they also produced beer. In many of the settlements, remains of children's toys were discovered. Tools, weapons and jewelry were mainly purchased by trade, but some larger settlements also had their own workshops that produced bronzed objects. One foundry of bronzed objects was discovered in Feudvar, and according to the researchers, it was probably used several hundreds of years. There are indications that people of the Vatin culture also had basic mathematical knowledge.

Localities

Localities of the Vatin culture are:

• Vatin
• Pančevo
• Omoljica
• Popov Salaš
• Belegiš
• Vinča
• Vinkovci
• Sotin
• Sarvaš
• Lovas
• Vukovar
• Feudvar near Mošorin
• Novigrad na Savi
• Ludoš
• Vršac - Židovar
• Gomolava
• Ljuljaci
• Dobrača

Further reading

• Dr Predrag Medović, Praistorija na tlu Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 2001.
• Dr M. Grbić, Preistorisko doba Vojvodine, Zbornik "Vojvodina", knjiga I, PROMETEJ, Novi Sad, 2008.

External links

• Vatin čeka arheologe - Vatin waits for archaeologists (in Serbian)
• Bronzano doba - Bronze Age (in Croatian)
• Dragoslav Srejović, Kad smo bili kulturno središte sveta, Beograd, 2001. - When we were cultural center of the World (in Serbian)
• Praistorija na tlu Srbije - Prehistory on Serbian soil (in Serbian)
• Praistorija na tlu Srbije - Prehistory on Serbian soil (in Serbian)
• Kulture bronzanog doba u Vojvodini - Bronze Age cultures in Vojvodina (In Serbian)