Resumen de Neolithic economy and macro-lithic tools of the central balkans
Neolithic economy and macro-lithic tools of the Central Balkans The study of 2174 macro-lithic tools from 12 Neolithic settlements from the Central Balkans confirms that the investigation of macro-lithic artefacts is crucial to understand the socio-economic organisation of the Neolithic communities of southeast Europe, particularly those whose belong to the Vinča culture. Social organization was conditioned by the environment and the development of the economy, whose forms and intensity were unequal on the whole studied area during this period. This provides a better understanding of the previously suggested regional variants of this Late Neolithic “culture”. The petrographic analysis has revealed the development of various procurement strategies. Although raw materials came mainly from local deposits, the exchange between settlements has also been recorded.
Particularly, the economy of the north was linked intensively to long-distance exchange networks. Low standardization of one part of the means of production suggested that some activities were performed in the household. Although organized production has been detected since the Early Neolithic, a larger variety of crafts has been identified in the whole of the studied area during the Late Neolithic, suggesting an appearance of surplus gains, and a well-developed transport of goods and people. Such a diversified and intense production must have correlated with the specialised human workforce, particularly visible in the central part of the studied area, while the high level of cereal production seems to have taken place in the South.
It can be also said that in the area of the Central Balkans existed a powerful and regionally diversified Late Neolithic economy, which was based on very organised communities, planned use and circulation of resources, specialized means of production and specialized workforce. This explains the innovative character and the technological level visible in high-quality products, such as pottery or figurines.
