Lepenski Vir

Prehistoric settlement site in the valley of the River Danube, where it runs through the Iron Gates gorge, in Serbia on the Romanian border. One of Europe's oldest farming settlements, dating from the 6th millennium BC, it is possibly the earliest and best preserved late Mesolithic to Neolithic (Middle to New Stone Age) site in the Balkans. The site is now submerged by an artificial lake.

A series of unusual trapezoidal dwellings were found, dating from the mid-6th millennium BC, associated with large limestone sculptures of fishlike human beings, belonging to a preceding camp of hunter-fisher people. All the dwellings had their wide end pointing towards the river, with limestone plaster floors and probably a wooden structure over. Hearths comprised limestone blocks inside elongated pits; in some cases human burials were made close by. The roofs of the dwellings may have been covered in hides or reed thatch. A larger central house may indicate social stratification.

Diet depended on fish and the development of fishing and boat technology. The life style of the inhabitants was sedentary but had arisen out of adaptation from a previous hunting tradition. Resources included catfish, carp, deer, and wild pigs.