Prehistoric sites in Serbia

Its fertile river valleys are the probable conduit through which agriculture has spread from the Middle East and Asia minor to central Europe.

Numerous piscine sculptures and peculiar architecture are testimony to a rich social and religious life led by the inhabitants and the high cultural level of these early Europeans.

Only the head and face of the human figures were modelled realistically, with strong brow arches, an elongated nose, and a wide, fish-like mouth.

The Neolithic Starčevo and Vinča cultures existed in or near Belgrade and dominated the Balkans (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor) about 8,500 years ago.

[9] Some of the first evidence of human metallurgy was found, dated to the 5th and 6th millennium BC, in the Vinča culture archaeological sites such as Majdanpek, Jarmovac, Pločnik and Rudna Glava.

[10] The oldest copper axe in Europe was found at Prokuplje, that indicated that human use of metals (Metallurgy) started in Europe around 7,500 years ago (~5,500 BC in the Vincha culture) millennia earlier than Ötzi's axe (previously oldest metalworking)[11][12] The start of Bronze Age in northern Serbia is marked by the Indo-European invasion, represented by Vučedol culture centered in the region of Syrmia.

[14] The tribes of Autariatae and the Celtic Scordisci are thought to have merged into one in the Lower Morava valley, Serbia, after 313 BC, since excavations show that the two groups made burials at the same exact grave field in Pecine, near Kostolac.

They invade Macedonia with the Dardani and Maedi, coming as far as Delphi, plundering the temple but are eventually defeated and driven across the Danube in 88 BC.

In parts of Moesia (northeast Serbia) the Celtic Scordisci and Thracians lived besides each other, evident in the archeological findings of pits and treasures, spanning from 3rd to 1st centuries BC.