The oldest settlement in Europe
Serbia has a lot of history. The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great was born in Niš, the Nazis had concentration camps there, Belgrade was bombed by NATO in 1999 and so on. Lepenski Vir, close to Donji Milanovac, is astounding though. It is the oldest settlement in Europe, dating to around 9500BC.
The settlement seems to have been abandoned in around 6000BC, but you can now see the remains of buildings in archaeological layers covering its 3500 years. It’s staggering to think how long ago this was — three times more distant from the Romans than the Romans are to now.
It is located on the River Danube, which forms the border between Serbia and Romania. On the Romanian side are tall cliffs, and this scenic area is known as the ‘Iron Gates’. The river has now been dammed further downstream for hydro power, so the area by Lepinski Vir is in fact a lake. It would have flooded the site, so it was kept intact by moving the whole thing uphill.
I’m next popping into Kosovo for a few days, where the history is a lot more recent.
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