New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a colouring pigment in the Vinca culture

This paper presents the results obtained for red pigments used on ceramics from the Neolithic period, excavated at three Vinca culture archaeological sites on the territory of present day Serbia. Emphasis was put on cinnabar, a characteristic red pigment, in order to define its possible origin and usage. Several spectroscopic techniques (EDXRF, PIXE, X-ray powder diffraction) were applied to identify the pigments. According to the results presented in this paper, the known record regarding the first cinnabar use in the Balkans can be extended to the end of the sixth millennium BC. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved