VUCEDOL

Vučedol Culture – Touristic valorisation of common prehistoric heritage

The project focuses on rediscovering our crossborder heritage, the so-called Vučedol culture. Our main aim is to boost tourism in the territory of the formal prehistoric Vučedol culture, both in Hungary and Croatia. The project has been developed on the phenomena that the Vučedol culture became well-known in Croatia, while it is still an undiscovered potential in Hungary. Valorising the cultural and touristic potential of the shared prehistoric cultural heritage could become a pillar of sustainable tourism in the region.

TWO COUNTRIES - A COMMON PAST

The area of historic Baranya (Baranja) is divided by today’s borders into a Croatian and a Hungarian part; based on the available archaeological data, the Hungarian and Croatian sides formed a unified cultural environment for thousands of years. The northern boundary of ancient civilizations in the Northern Balkans could be drawn at the Mecsek hills from the Neolithic; the prehistoric materials found in Baranya, Hungary, show strong connections with the Slavonian, Syrmian lands. Accordingly, around 3000 BC, the same ancient culture spread in the area, which was named the Vučedol culture after its main archeological site. The characteristic elements of the culture, such as the clay, bone and metal objects left to us, as well as the settlement structure, make the remaining memories of the region a unified cultural heritage. The extent of the culture includes historic Baranya, Eastern Slavonia and the western part of Syrmia. At the same time, the effects of the culture, which are mostly represented by ornate pots, can be shown all the way to the Czech Republic.

Masters of Handicrafts

Traces of local bronze working, such as crucibles, have been found at several sites in the area. For example, in Zók, Baranya County, about 20 fragments of ax and chisel molds, crucible remnants and nozzle and melting furnace remains were excavated. The molds were made of clay with a series of wood patterns. Based on all this, bronze casting may have been a common activity in the settlements. Local bronze workers presumably processed the ores previously smelted elsewhere locally. Whole axes have also been found occasionally at the sites of the culture.

Hidden bronze depots, “treasures” of axes and chisels appear in this era. These indicate the high value and prestige of the bronze objects.

Perhaps the most important feature of Vučedol culture is the decorative motifs of the pottery: the deeply engraved characteristic geometric shapes were once filled with white lime inlay (which is now barely preserved). Patterns include crosses, wavy line patterns, chessboard patterns, concentric circles, concentric rhombuses, triangles. Noticeably the same motifs appear and are repeated on most of the pots, in a regular order. The motifs themselves were often arranged in defined geometric patterns or regular stripes, fields, and thus filled the surface of the vessel. Andrew’s cross-shaped arrangement or triangular arrangement is typical

Most important sites

The two most significant and researched sites of the culture are Vučedol, near Vukovar in Croatia, and the Zók-Várhegy in Hungary southwest of Pécs.

In Vučedol, on Gradac, in the center of the early Bronze Age settlement, a large building with an apse ending was discovered, the so-called „megaron”. This building may have played a prominent, central role in the life of the settlement, which is also shown by the phenomena found in and around it. Next to it and inside were furnaces indicating bronze working. Beneath it, four special pits were found; in one lay the skeletons of a man and a woman (couple), in the second a deer was buried, in the third lay the remains of five ritually sacrificed children, while the fourth pit contained a number of ceramic objects, including the famous bird-shaped vessel, the “pigeon of Vučedol”. It is assumable, that the buried man was a special person associated with bronze art and the shamanic cult, who was laid to rest in a prominent place and in a special way. The rest of the site was densely lined with wicker-walled buildings and waste pits. The former population is estimated at 2,000.

Surface finds from the Castle Hill near Zók were discovered as early as the first half of the 20th century (1917). The excavations here too showed traces of a densely built settlement; remains of 5-8 meter long, 3-4 meter wide, rammed-floor, wicker-walled buildings with waste pits were found close to each other. Here, too, an apse-shaped house, a “megaron,” was found that is very similar to the building discovered in Vučedol.

The settlement of the Vučedol culture was clustered in the northern part of the mountain; the floors of the houses testify to multiple burns and rebuilding. The molds and crucibles already mentioned were found in one place in the central part of the settlement; these suggest in-situ bronze casting.

Although there are many unanswered questions about Vučedol culture, due to its high level of pottery, its special metal objects and its role in Bronze Age development, it is definitely worthwhile for the general public to become acquainted with its archaeological heritage.