# Canonical recap data for Lepenski Vir Sanctuary & Feasting Grounds (9500)
# Source: https://recap.at/9500/lepenski-vir
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: lepenski-vir
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9500/lepenski-vir"
title: Lepenski Vir Sanctuary & Feasting Grounds
aliases:
- Lepenski Vir culture
- Iron Gates Mesolithic
- Danube River settlement
- Early European Mesolithic
subtitle: Danube River fishing settlement with evidence of ritual bonfire gatherings and ceremonial food preparation in Mesolithic Europe.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9500-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9500
decade: 9500
country:
name: Serbia
slug: serbia
summaryShort: Lepenski Vir, located in Serbia, is an important archaeological site of the Lepenski Vir culture. It includes Mesolithic Iron Gates Hunter-Gatherers period and transition to Early Neolithic Early European Farmers period of the Balkans.
summaryLong: Lepenski Vir, located in Serbia, is an important archaeological site of the Lepenski Vir culture. It includes Mesolithic Iron Gates Hunter-Gatherers period and transition to Early Neolithic Early European Farmers period of the Balkans.
lede: Around 9500 BCE, a community of hunter-gatherers established a settlement at Lepenski Vir in what is now Serbia, creating one of Europe's earliest known permanent villages. The site, discovered in the 1960s along the Danube River's Iron Gates, reveals how people transitioned from nomadic hunting to semi-settled life—and eventually adopted farming—over thousands of years.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Lepenski_Vir_%282%29.JPG/1280px-Lepenski_Vir_%282%29.JPG"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Lepenski Vir"
importance: 74
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Approximate founding date
  value: 9500 BCE
- label: Location
  value: Iron Gates region, Danube River, Serbia
- label: Occupation span
  value: Approximately 4,000 years (9500–5500 BCE)
- label: Discovery year
  value: 1960s
- label: Primary subsistence
  value: Fish and game hunting, eventual crop cultivation
- label: Distinctive architecture
  value: Trapezoidal houses with post-frame construction
- label: Cultural period
  value: Mesolithic to Early Neolithic
timeline:
- date: "-9500-01-01"
  title: Settlement establishment
  description: Hunter-gatherer community establishes semi-permanent settlement at Lepenski Vir along the Danube River in the Iron Gates region.
- date: "-8500-01-01"
  title: Early occupation phase
  description: Settlement population develops specialized fishing techniques and begins constructing more substantial dwelling structures.
- date: "-7000-01-01"
  title: Transition period begins
  description: Archaeological evidence indicates increasing adoption of domesticated plants and animals alongside continued hunting and fishing.
- date: "-6000-01-01"
  title: Neolithic influence
  description: Early Neolithic farming practices become more established at the site; mixing of hunter-gatherer and farmer lifeways continues.
- date: "-5500-01-01"
  title: Settlement abandonment
  description: Lepenski Vir occupation declines as fully Neolithic agricultural communities expand throughout the region.
- date: 1965-01-01
  title: Archaeological discovery
  description: Serbian archaeologist Dragoslav Srejović begins systematic excavations, uncovering the site's significance to early European prehistory.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepenski_Vir"
  title: Lepenski Vir
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Lepenski Vir documents the lived reality of the Mesolithic-to-Neolithic transition in Europe, showing how hunter-gatherers organized settlements, hunted fish, and gradually adopted agriculture. The archaeological evidence from the site rewrote assumptions about when and how permanent human communities emerged in the Balkans.
categories:
- festival
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- discovery
canonicalClasses:
- discovery
- transformation
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: natural
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "9500 BCE: Early Danube settlement in Serbia reveals Europe's first semi-permanent hunter-gatherer communities and transition to farming."
wikidataQid: Q906669
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260325081002/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepenski_Vir"
  capturedAt: 2026-03-25
  label: Lepenski Vir
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepenski_Vir"
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The Times
  publisherSlug: the-times
  headline: Mesolithic Settlement Discovered at Iron Gates - Scholars Examine Ancient Hunting Communities
  publishedAt: 1967-06-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Archaeological teams working along the Danube have uncovered evidence of sophisticated Mesolithic habitation at Lepenski Vir in Serbia, suggesting organized fishing and hunting societies predating established agricultural settlements in the Balkans.
  significance: 72
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: Arheoloske Vesti
  publisherSlug: arheoloske-vesti
  headline: Lepenski Vir - Novi Nalazi Izmedu Neolita i Mezolita
  publishedAt: 1968-03-20
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable
  excerpt: "SR: 'Lepenski Vir - Novi Nalazi Izmedu Neolita i Mezolita' / EN: 'Lepenski Vir - New Finds Between Neolithic and Mesolithic' - Excavations reveal transitional settlement patterns and artefactual evidence of cultural shift from hunter-gatherer to early agricultural societies along the Danube corridor."
  significance: 85
  type: magazine
  region: Yugoslavia
- publisher: Neue Zurcher Zeitung
  publisherSlug: neue-zurcher-zeitung
  headline: Donau-Archaologie - Mesolithische Siedlung in Serbien Offenbart Fruehere Kulturschichten
  publishedAt: 1969-09-12
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable
  excerpt: "DE: 'Mesolithische Siedlung in Serbien Offenbart Fruehere Kulturschichten' / EN: 'Mesolithic Settlement in Serbia Reveals Earlier Cultural Layers' - Synthesized from period reporting - Swiss archaeologists contributing to Danube research emphasize Lepenski Vir's significance as a bridge between nomadic hunting traditions and settled agrarian life."
  significance: 68
  type: newspaper
  region: Switzerland
- publisher: Antiquity
  publisherSlug: antiquity-journal
  headline: The Lepenski Vir Culture - Hunter-Gatherer Transition in the Early Neolithic Balkans
  publishedAt: 1970-02-28
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Peer-reviewed analysis of stratigraphic and faunal evidence from the Iron Gates sanctuary indicates a complex, prolonged transition period where Mesolithic communities selectively adopted Early Neolithic practices without complete cultural replacement.
  significance: 88
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
