53 UDK 903'12\'15(497.11)''633\634''>314.17 Documenta Praehistorica XXXIV (2007) When did the ‘Neolithic package’ reach Lepenski Vir| Radiometric and faunal evidence Du[an Boric ´ 1 & Vesna Dimitrijevic ´ 2 1 University of Cambridge, UK, db231@cam.ac.uk 2 University of Belgrade, Serbia, vesnadim@beotel.yu Introduction The site of Lepenski Vir is one of the most important sites for studying processes involved in the trans- formation of pre-Neolithic Europe. Situated in the Danube Gorges of the north-central Balkans (Fig. 1), the site is considered the type-site of a regional group that encompassed at least 20 known, and pro- bably many presently unknown, settlements along some 150 km of the riverine landscape on both banks of the Danube (e.g. Radovanovi≤ 1996a; Sre- jovi≤ 1969; 1972). Yet, despite the richness of the existing data, the site has not been published in a detailed way and there remains ambiguity and fac- tual inconsistencies in the original reports and sub- sequent data published from this site. Such a situa- tion requires rigorous scrutiny when treating the existing evidence, in order to overcome the interpre- tive conundrums that have accumulated since its ex- cavation (Bori≤ 1999; 2002a). In particular, there have been numerous problems relating to the strati- graphic sequence of this site and the dating of its most ubiquitous features: buildings with trapezoidal limestone floors (Fig. 2). There are more than 70 such structures at the site, and in the early days of research these features were dated with around 20 dates from charcoal (Quitta 1975; Bori≤ & Dimitri- jevi≤ 2005) which indicated the contemporaneity of the sequence with known Early Neolithic settlements across the Balkans from around 6300 to 5500 calBC (e.g. Gimbutas 1976; Milisauskas 1978; Whittle et al. 2002; 2005). Yet many researchers of the site have been reluctant to accept this sequence of dates, and there has been some debate as to the reliability of the dates from ABSTRACT – A recent dating program on animal bone samples from Lepenski Vir, along with faunal and various archaeometric analyses, allows us to suggest a new stratigraphic and chronological se- quence for the Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Lepenski Vir in the north-central Balkans. In this paper, we particularly focus on the question of the introduction of domesticates to this site. By directly dating bones of domestic animals from the preserved faunal assemblage of Lepenski Vir, we show when the full ‘Neolithic package’ reached the site and interpret the character of this transformation. IZVLE∞EK – Program datiranja ∫ivalskih kosti iz Lepenskega Vira nam skupaj s favnisti≠nimi in raz- li≠nimi arheometri≠nimi analizami omogo≠a, da predstavimo novo stratigrafsko in kronolo∏ko se- kvenco mezolitsko-neolitskega najdi∏≠a Lepenski Vir na severnem delu centralnega Balkana. V ≠lan- ku se osredoto≠amo na vpra∏anje uvajanja domestikatov na to najdi∏≠e. Z direktnim datiranjem ko- sti doma≠ih ∫ivali iz ohranjenega zbira favne iz Lepenskega Vira prika∫emo, kdaj je najdi∏≠e dose- gel popoln »neolitski paket« in interpretiramo zna≠aj paleoekonomske transformacije. KEY WORDS – Lepenski Vir; domesticates; Mesolithic; Neolithic; AMS; Danube Gorges