American In Serbia

Lepenski Vir

The historical site is located on the Danube at one of the widest spots on the river before it meanders into Romania.  It was discovered in the 1960’s on a local farm.  There was going to be a change in the river pattern for power and areas would be flooded so archaeologists were searching up and down the river banks for a places that we’re going to be flooded for anything of historical significance when they found Lepenski.

The link to the site is from Wikipedia which if full of the history of what they think the people were like there though there are a lot of questions.  If you are interested in more detail that would be a good place to start. 

Higher up is the parking lot and then you walk about a half of kilometer down a paved path to the facility. TheY made a modern museum next to some of the remaining buildings.  The museum is mostly glass and is very hot inside in the summer.  You initially watch a movie explaining mostly the archaeological work on the site, as there is still no clear understanding of who these people are and what they were doing there.  There is a museum of the sculptures and artifacts that were found on the site.  A huge model of what the whole site would have looked like in between 9500 and 6000 BC. Some of the actual buildings are there but have been relocated from the original site which is now flooded due to the dam.

Once you leave the museum back in the parking lot there is a lovely little café with a porch that overlooks the Danube.  They serve drinks and food and is a lovely place to rest after the heat of the museum.