High-resolution AMS dating of architecture, boulder artworks and the transition to farming at lepenski Vir
The archaeological site of Lepenski Vir is widely known after its remarkable stone art sculptures that
represent a unique and unprecedented case of Holocene hunter-gatherer creativity. These artworks
were found largely associated with equally unique trapezoidal limestone building floors around their
centrally located rectangular stone-lined hearths. A debate has raged since the discovery of the site
about the chronological place of various discovered features. While over years different views from
that of the excavator about the stratigraphy and chronology of the site have been put forward, some
major disagreements about the chronological position of the features that make this site a key point
of reference in European Prehistory persist. Despite challenges of re-analyzing the site’s stratigraphy
from the original excavation records, taphonomic problems, and issues of reservoir offsets when
providing radiocarbon measurements on human and dog bones, our targeted AMS (Accelerator Mass
Spectrometry) dating of various contexts from this site with the application of Bayesian statistical
modelling allows us to propose with confidence a new and sound chronological framework and provide
formal estimates for several key developments represented in the archaeological record of Lepenski
Vir that help us in understanding the transition of last foragers to first farmers in southeast Europe as a
whole.