The Mesolithic Fish People of Lepenski Vir (Prehistory Documentary)

Video Description

Support my channel by getting Fishing Clash on your iOS/Android device for free https://fishingclash.link/DanDavisHistory ! Use my gift code DANDAVIS to get a $20 reward! 8,000 years ago, in the River Danube’s Iron Gates Gorge, was a remarkable society of fisher-foragers who sculpted statues of human-fish hybrids. This site reveals the monumental changes Europe went through in the Mesolithic – Neolithic transition. So when did this society first develop? What made this Gorge so special? And what can the astonishing human-fish hybrid sculptures tell us about their spiritual beliefs and religious practices? This is the amazing story of the enigmatic fish people of Lepenski Vir. *If you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel* Become a YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUVwT8zcS5Z_rYXnpomlbfg/join Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor All my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xngwz5 *Sources* The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective: https://amzn.to/3wNDcqA The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe: https://amzn.to/43eSVRO Mathieson, I., Alpaslan-Roodenberg, S., Posth, C. et al. The genomic history of southeastern Europe. Nature 555, 197–203 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25778 Brami, M., Winkelbach, L., Schulz, I. et al. Was the Fishing Village of Lepenski Vir Built by Europe’s First Farmers?. J World Prehist 35, 109–133 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-022-09169-9 Piličiauskas, G., G. Klucynska, D. Kisilienė et al. 2020. Fishers of the Corded Ware Culture in the eastern Baltic. Acta Archaeologica 91, 95-120 Z. Hofmanová,S., Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 (25) 6886-6891, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523951113 (2016). The mixed genetic origin of the first farmers of Europe Nina Marchi, bioRxiv 2020.11.23.394502; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.23.394502 Aleksandra Žegarac, 2025, Unveiling the narrative behind the neonate burials at Lepenski Vir in present-day Serbia https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106214 Ivana Radovanović and Mirjana Roksandic, 2008, Dating burial practices and architecture at Lepenski Vir, https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4483.5049 Also the many papers on this subject by Dušan Borić And many more articles and papers, you can find lots of research about Lepenski Vir online, I read about 50 of them. There's lots of debate and technical issues that I couldn't even begin to get into in a video. But if you're interested in the subject there's lots to get into. The above includes affiliate links so we may make a small commission from your purchases at no additional cost to you which is a way to support the channel. *Thank you to the artists* Iron Gates map https://www.donsmaps.com/ Ancient Europeans https://x.com/ancient_euro3 Ancestral Whispers https://x.com/Sulkalmakh *Video Chapters* 00:00 Lepenski Vir 01:56 Sponsorship 03:38 Iron Gates Gorge 06:40 The Mesolithic - Neolithic transition 10:16 The Sturgeon 15:28 Death and Burials 17:30 Fish sculptures 20:52 Neolithic fisher-foragers