Unveiling the narrative behind the neonate burials at Lepenski Vir in present-day Serbia

Abstract

Lepenski Vir, in the Danube Gorges area, was a Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement, famous for artistic sandstone boulders often associated with the remains of trapezoidal houses during the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transformation phase. Additionally, neonates' burials were cut into the red-plastered floors of these buildings, but the reasons remained unknown. We produced paleogenomes of four individuals - two neonates found below the floor of the trapezoidal house and one adult and an infant, buried in a pit next to each other. Our aim was to infer genetic relatedness among them to understand the identity of the neonates and why they were buried in association with the houses, as well as what was the function of these unique houses. Genetic results showed that two neonates have both Aegean/Anatolian and Iron Gates hunter-gatherers’ ancestry and that admixed individuals were also present in the buildings. In contrast, individuals found in a pit had entirely Aegean/Anatolian ancestry. Since no biological relatedness was detected, it could be hypothesized that the houses did not function as residential places. One of the possible explanations is that they served the community - as a place for giving birth or as a place where the community's social and ritual activities took place, as supported by symbolic artifacts and artworks found above the floors. The results indicate the existence of strong social relationships in the Danube Gorges, which would facilitate socio-cultural interactions and biological admixtures, providing benefits to early farmers and local foragers, gradually leading to social and demographic changes.