Brnjica culture
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| Geographical range | Kosovo |
|---|---|
| Period | Late Bronze Age |
| Dates | 14th c. BCE – 10th/9th c. BCE[1][2] |
| Type site | Donja Brnjica |
| Major sites | Hisar Hill |
| Preceded by | Urnfield culture |
| Followed by | La Tène culture |
The Brnjica culture (Serbian: Брњица, Albanian: Bërnica), alternatively Donja Brnjica-Gornja Stražava cultural group, is a Late Bronze Age archaeological culture in present-day Kosovo and Serbia dating between the 14th and 10th/9th centuries BCE.[1][3]
The Brnjica cultural group was a Late Bronze Age cultural manifestation in what was to become Dardania, closely connected to the Balkan-Danubian complex.[1][4][3] It dates between the 14th and 10th/9th centuries BCE.[1] In Yugoslavian historiography, starting from Milutin Garašanin, the Brnjica culture was interpreted as the "Daco-Moesian" and non-"Illyrian" linguistic component of the later Dardani,[4][3] an Iron Age Palaeo-Balkan group appearing as an Illyrian people in ancient literary tradition.[1]
The Brnjica culture is characterized by several groups:[3]
- Kosovo with Raska and Pester
- South and West Morava confluence zone
- Leskovac-Nis
- South Morava-Pcinja-Upper Vardar
Brnjica type pottery has been found in Blageovgrad, Plovdiv, and a number of sites in Pelagonia, Lower Vardar, the island of Thasos and Thessaly dating to 13th and 12th century BCE.[3]
Sites
Donja Brnjica
The main site of the culture is a necropolis at Donja Brnjica, (Albanian: Bërnica e Poshtme) near Pristina.
Hisar
Hisar is a multi-periodal settlement at a hill near Leskovac.
Traces of life of the Brnjica culture (8th century BCE) are seen in the plateau that was protected by a deep moat with a palisade on its inner side, a fortification similar to that of another fortification on the Gradac site in Lanište in the Velika Morava basin.[5]
