The curious case of House 54 from Lepenski Vir (Serbia): Chipped stone perspective

The subject of this study is revealing the activities carried out in one of the trapezoidal houses of the Lepenski Vir site from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, situated in the Iron Gates region in eastern Serbia. Dominating with their specific form, these buildings are shifting the focus from a utilitarian perspective to the use of space. One of the buildings that will serve as an example for testing and complementing the former interpretations is house 54, previously argued to be the largest and most important object of the Lepenski Vir I phase. Today, we are able to contribute fresh data on processes that took place inside this particular building by analysing different archaeological artefacts found on the house floor. New understanding of the use of space in this specific micro-study is gained on the basis of functional analysis of chipped stone artefacts found in house 54, together with ground stone artefacts, bones, and ceramics. Both ritual and utilitarian context indications were present during the occupation of Lepenski Vir houses. This study will try to show the character of the above-mentioned objects through the results of use-wear and Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) analyses, combining them with dates and the house interior