Lepenski Vir and the Iron Gates

We docked at the town of Donji Milanovac, down river from Belgrade. A relatively small city of 2,000, it is also the newest city in Serbia, at least in its current location. The town has moved three times, the first after destruction by the Ottomans, the second from an island that frequently flooded, and the third and most recent forced relocation due to the damming of the river to construct a hydroelectric plant.

Lepenski Vir

But we were not here to visit the city. Rather, we disembarked to be bused to Lepenski Vir, a Paleolithic and Mesolithic site on the right bank of the Danube a few miles from the city. Discovered in 1960, the area contains the largest and most significant prehistoric archeological site in the world from the Stone Age. Only we really didn’t see the site directly. The hydro plant project left the original site under 35 feet of water.

Nevertheless, many of the artifacts uncovered from the site, including a considerable number of the structures were moved to higher ground and reconstructed in an impressive museum. All the reconstructions are of the original materials in their original positions.

The dominating rock outcropping across the Danube from Lepenski Vir was clearly the motivation for the shape of the habitations. Like the rock, the sides of the structure foundations were angled at 60 degrees.

Besides the exhibits ranging from the earliest known sculptures of humans to hundreds of uncovered (and formally buried) skeletons, what might be most impressive is what we have learned about this culture. Apparently, the village existed for 2500 years, beginning 10,000 years ago. Succeeding generations buried at least some of their dead in the center of their structures then built again on top. From examination of the skeletal remains, the people were very healthy (with near perfect teeth and no evidence of disease or deprivation in the remains), long lived (one skeleton was determined to be in his eighties when he died), relatively tall (males averaged 5’6” with one determined to be 6’6” tall), and free of indication of injuries. No weapons were found at the various locations associated with the site. It’s hard to believe such a civilization survived for two and a half millennia. No one knows why these people disappeared after that time.

The museum displays a large collection of the relics recovered from the site, including skeletons. 

The Iron Gates

We reboarded the Nova and continued down stream just before lunch. The afternoon’s objective was to cruise past the Iron Gates, that section of the Danube River that cuts through the Carpathian Mountains, complete with views of imposing gorges. In one of the few times we have been critical of how the sightseeing has been handled, we were sitting down to lunch when we flew past (in our minds) one of the more spectacular sections of the gorge—oblivious to the event.

We did get up to the sun deck in time to view the Tabula Traiana (Trajan’s Plaque) commemorating the construction of Trajan’s military road along the Danube. The memorial was cut out of its position and relocated above the raised waterline resulting from the hydroelectric dam project. We also saw the rock sculpture of Decebalus, last king of Dacia before his defeat by the Romans. It looks old but was carved from 1994 to 2004. Perhaps in a few centuries it will be regarded as a precious antiquity also.  

We also did not see the remnants of Trajan’s bridge across the Danube, which he had constructed to aid him in the conquest of Dacia. Dacia then was rich in gold and the Romans were eager to add it their empire. The arch bridge is considered one of Rome’s great engineering accomplishments. It survived only 160 years as the Romans were forced to destroy it to prevent its use by invading “barbarians”.

We passed through several locks on this trip, in this one case passing an apparent tribute to Tito. 

Our next stop is Bulgaria.