Focus on Lepenski Vir and explore the Burials.
Some of the dead were buried in the houses under the exceptionally preserved floors. They are believed to be prominent members of the group but there are also some skeletons of children.Srejović believed that the Lepenians developed the "cult of the head", which is why all discovered sculptures are actually head busts. The ritual burials included a curious practice of removing the skull from the head, then the mandible from the skull before they were all buried separately. Skulls were placed in special stone structures. A skull would be placed on a larger stone slab then protected by crushed stones. All separately buried skulls are male, while all the mandibles are female.Graves were built into the bases of the houses. Best preserved is the skeleton from House 69. Because of the excellent condition of the skeleton and its apparent height, archaeologist Aleksandar Bačkalov, who discovered it, thought it was quite "handsome" or "dashing" and named it Valentino, after  the American actor, Rudolph Valentino. Bačkalov discovered it in a shallow dig which  originates from the Proto-Vir, or Vir I-a period. Valentino died c. 8200 BC and architect Goran Mandić worked on his facial reconstruction. The position of the skeletons buried under the floors is such that above the genitals are the widening parts of the central installation, which prompted some researches to conclude that it actually symbolizes birth, regardless of the skeleton's sex, and that the posture of the skeleton, the so-called "Turkish style" represents the childbirth position.Ash also had some ritual significance, as ceramic vessels filled with ash were also discovered.Valentino was used a model for the interactive 3D facial reconstruction, as part of the Serbian pavillion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai. The team headed by physical anthropologist Sofija Stefanović who reconstructed the face of the 10,000-year-old human, with help from experts in osteology, DNA and forensics, using the metaverse technology, used in gaming. Stefanović heads the project called "Digital ancient people". They estimated that Valentino was 55 years old, 178 centimetres (70 in) tall, and weighing 70 kilograms (150 lb). The entire Serbian pavilion was designed after the presumed slanted roofs of the Lepenski Vir houses, and decorated with their sculptures replicas.
Serbia Expo 2020 Sofija Stefanović ritual Turkish style Rudolph Valentino