Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint Functional diferentiation and possible regional specialisation of the Vinča culture settlements: Viewpoint from osseous and lithic industries Selena Vitezović ∗ , Dragana Antonović Institute of Archaeology, Kneza Mihaila 35/IV, Belgrade, Serbia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Neolithic Vinča culture Osseous industry Ground stone industry Raw material managing Site specialisation ABSTRACT Late Neolithic/Early Eneolithic Vinča culture is marked by permanent, long-living settlements, increased pro- duction of diferent craft goods and early metallurgical activities. Economic activities were rich and diverse, and included not only strictly subsistence related ones, but also production of luxurious, prestige, “special” objects, such as fgurines, personal ornaments, and many more. Furthermore, some studies also suggest that we may note the beginning of craft specialisation in the widest sense within the Vinča culture. On a regional scale, diferences in economic activities may be observed among diferent settlements and also in presence/absence of some ar- tefact types. This may refect a certain level of functional diferentiation and possibly specialisation between diferent settlements, as noted, for example, among the Neolithic communities in Greece. In this paper, we will focus on the analyses of everyday lithic and osseous tools, in order to examine the diferences in everyday activities, raw material management and craft production among diferent settlements. Through comparative analysis, we will examine the possible presence of a functional diferentiation between diferent Vinča culture settlements and its extent. 1. Introduction Neolithic way of life brought in numerous changes in economic and social relations to prehistoric human groups. More or less permanent settlements, new activities and new ways of acquiring food and other basic supplies altered the way human groups interacted, and create new social relations on diferent levels. It is the Neolithic period where many scholars are trying to identify the origins and the beginnings of the social stratifcation and the origins of complex societies in Europe. Analysing Early Neolithic communities in Greece, Catherine Perlès (2004) suggested that an “arbitrary village specialisation” existed. This model implies that „diferent villages and groups specialize in the produc- tion of various goods that they trade with others, although each could have produced the same goods”(Perlès, 2004, p. 295). Andrew Sherratt (1982) observed similar economic patterns in Szakalhat/Tisza culture in Hungary, and similar situations are also known from both other Neo- lithic groups in Europe, as well as in some ethnographic examples (cf. references in Perlès, 2004). The suggested model was by no means uniform or identical throughout the Neolithic Europe, and, in this paper, we will try to explore the evidence for the site diferentiation or specialisation and its character among the Neolithic communities in South-Eastern Europe. 2. The Vinča culture and its archaeological background 2.1. The Vinča culture The Vinča culture is a phenomenon widespread in the Central Balkans and South Pannonian region. Hundreds of sites are known today in present-day Serbia, eastern parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern parts of Montenegro, and in the regions of Oltenia and Transylvania in Romania (Chapman, 1981; Garašanin, 1979; Srejović, 1988). In terms of relative chronology, it is generally labelled as Late Neolithic, although its later phases may even be char- acterized as Early Eneolithic. Absolute dates obtained for Vinča culture sites fall roughly into the period between 5400 and 4500/4450 cal BC (Borić, 2009; cf. also Orton, 2012; Tasić et al., 2015). 2.2. The settlements of the Vinča culture and their characteristics Vinča culture is marked by large, long-lived settlements, often spreading over 10 ha. Vinča settlements were situated within diferent environmental and geographical areas, including settlements in low- lands, in vicinity or even on the very banks of large rivers, such as Sava, Danube or Velika Morava, as well as settlements in more elevated areas, on hill slopes, and other (Garašanin, 1979). Cemeteries are almost non- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.12.029 Received 15 February 2018; Received in revised form 11 November 2018; Accepted 31 December 2018 ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: s.vitezovic@ai.ac.rs (S. Vitezović). Quaternary International 539 (2020) 39–48 Available online 02 January 2019 1040-6182/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. T