New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a colouring pigment in the Vinča culture

This paper presents the results obtained for red pigments used on ceramics from the Neolithic period, excavated at three Vinča culture archaeological sites on the territory of present day Serbia. Emphasis was put on cinnabar, a characteristic red pigment, in order to define its possible origin and usage. Several spectroscopic techniques (EDXRF, PIXE, X-ray powder diffraction) were applied to identify the pigments. According to the results presented in this paper, the known record regarding the first cinnabar use in the Balkans can be extended to the end of the sixth millennium BC.

► Systematic characterization of the red ceramic decorations by several spectroscopic techniques. ► Precisely characterized red pigment cinnabar on Neolithic ceramics. ► Suggests provenances for the source of the cinnabar. ► Analytically confirmed the technique of gold decorations. ► Analytically confirmed absence of amalgamation process in the investigated kiln from the site of Vinča.