The intricacies of long-distance contacts: why is there no amber in the Belegiš I culture?

Recent years brought a revival of studies on the Bronze Age amber finds in the territory of Serbia. The current state of research allows one to characterise them in terms of chronology, cultural affiliation, and morphology. More complex are the issues related to modes and ways of amber influx from the Baltic zone to the Balkans, but with the help of provenience and typological analyses of the co-occurring artefacts, chiefly bronze items, these too are becoming clearer. A problematic question in reconstruction attempts of Bronze Age amber circulation is the role played in this process by the Belegiš I culture in Vojvodina. During the first horizon of amber influx into the Balkans (BrB–D; c. 1500–1200 BC) this area lacks attestation of amber’s presence. Meanwhile, meridional relations between the Tumulus culture groups in the Carpathian basin and the communities inhabiting western Serbia seem dynamic and strong. The paper proposes three plausible reasons for the absence of amber in the area of the Belegiš I culture, related to (a) cultural, (b) depositional, and (c) economical factors.