The excavator of Lepenski Vir gave creative names to sculptures: 'Mermaid Shaman,' 'Lady of Lepenski,' 'Progenitor,' 'Water Fairy.' Whimsical naming combined with cataloging inconsistencies may have contributed to public misconceptions about the site. How we communicate findings shapes what people believe.
Archaeological naming and cataloging deemed whimsical
SerbiaTheory
Key facts
- Dragois Suovich gave whimsical names to sculptures: 'Mermaid Shaman', 'Lady of Lepenski', 'Progenitor', 'Water Fairy', 'Red Deer'
- Many sculptures simply called 'sculpture' with no special naming
- Only 28 boulders have names out of 93 total
- Naming inconsistency between 'iconic' and 'sculpture' categories
- Whimsical naming may have contributed to public misconceptions
Site mentioned
Sources
Lepenski Vir - World History Encyclopediaworldhistory.org
Lepenski Vir Sculptures. The sculptures found during the excavations date back to c. 6300 – c. 5900 BCE – i.e. from the settlement Lepenski Vir ...
Lepenski Vir - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
Numerous piscine (fish) sculptures with human-like faces and peculiar architectural remains have been found at the site. Archaeologist Dragoslav Srejović, who ...
Lepenski Vir | Heritage Walks & Talksheritagewalk.net
These discoveries and sculptures, in which human and fish motifs and geometric patterns intertwine, caused a sensation in scientific and wider social circles.
The 'Progenitor' stone sculpture from the site of Lepenski Vir.researchgate.net
The site of Lepenski Vir yielded stone sculptures ( Fig. 2) which still represent a unique phenomenon within the Mesolithic.
Lepenski Vir Collection - | Народни музејnarodnimuzej.rs
Lepenski Vir Collection contains items from the site of Lepenski Vir, covering the chronological span from the 10 th till the 6 th millennium BC.
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.