Archaeological remains evoke a tangible daily world: clustered settlements of earth-and-timber houses, storage pits, hearths, and pottery used for cooking and storage. Archaeological data indicates an economy centered on cultivation of cereals and pulses and the herding of cattle, sheep/goat and pigs. Riverine landscapes — the Danube and its wetlands — anchored settlement placement and provided seasonally abundant resources.
Material culture from Starčevo-Grad and nearby loci reveals refined pottery, personal ornaments and ground stone tools, suggesting craft specialization and household economies. Burial practices are variable across the region; where preserved, inhumations and grave goods hint at differentiated social roles, though broad hierarchies are hard to establish from current data. Archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological remains document the gradual creation of farming lifeways that would transform European ecosystems.
DNA contextualizes these archaeological signals: genetic data can detect kinship within cemeteries, track mobility of individuals, and identify whether dietary shifts were accompanied by new people. At present, the Starčevo sample set is modest but illuminates a society enmeshed in a dramatic shift from foraging to farming.
