Early medieval finds from Prilipac near Požega

Materijalna kultura prvih stoleća srednjeg veka na prostoru centralnih i zapadnih delova današnje Srbije još uvek predstavlja nepoznanicu. Kada je reč o naseljima iz razdoblja od VII do ranog IX v., koja se uzimaju kao potvrda najranijeg slovenskog, odnosno srpskog prisustva na ovim prostorima za sada je arheološki iskopavano tek po jedno nalazište ravničarskog (Panjevački Rit kod Jagodine), odnosno gradinskog tipa (Gradina na Jelici kod Čačka). Odranije poznati, ali do sada ne i detaljnije razmatrani, nalazi iz sela Prilipca ukazuju na postojanje još jednog ranosrednjovekovnog naselja uz samo izvorište Zapadne Morave. Analiza pronađene keramike navodi na zaključak da bi ostatke ovog naselja trebalo datovati u VII-VIII v., a ne u poznije vreme kako je to ranije učinjeno.During archeological excavations at Obala, in the village of Prilipac (fig 1), near Požega (western Serbia) in 1983, a pit was investigated (figs. 2-3 pi. I) and dated by the excavators to the 11th-12th century. Subsequent examination of the pottery recovered (figs. 4-5), showed this to be incorrect but was rather analogous with pottery associated in western Serbia and north-eastern Bosnia with the earliest Slavic, or more precisely Serbian settlement from the 7th to the 8th century. The lower chronological boundary should be more reliably set to the second half of the 7th century while the latest date could be the beginning of the 9th century. Thus dated the Prilipac finds now constitute the earliest archeological evidence of Slavic settlement in the Moravica valley