The Pottery from the Iron-Age Settlements in the Užice Area: Towards the Solution of Ethnic Questions in the Central Part of Western Serbia

Abstract

From the pottery unearthed in the Iron Age settlements - which all are of hill fort type - it may be inferred that the central part of western Serbia made part of the proto-Triballian or early Triballian territory from the 13th-12th centuries to the end of the 8th century BC. Indicative of that is the fact that all the proto-Triballian settlements in the region are also of hill fort type, which makes a significant difference from the concurrent mostly plain-type settlements, in other parts of the proto-Triballian territory. It is obvious that all factors conditioning the building of hill fort settlements were manifest in the region from the very beginning of the proto-Triballian period, first of all the hostile attitude of an alien ethno-cultural community, in this case of a population whose culture is very similar to that of the Glasinac plateau. The development of settlements in the westernmost part of the region was interrupted by the end of the proto-Triballian period, most likely in the 9th century BC, and of those in the east - in the course the early Triballian period, in the late 8th or early 7th century BC, which indicates that the Triballi were gradually yielding up their westernmost domain to a population invading from the west. The further ethnic and cultural development of the region was included into that of the Glasinac culture, the protagonists of which are likely to have been the Autariatae.