One of the exciting moments that people with an adventurous spirit dream about - that remnants of a lost time appear from the depths of the earth - happened during the summer of 2025 during the implementation of protective archaeological research on the route of the Railway Bypass approx Niche, in the locality of Orničje in the village of Malča. It was then that a unique circular structure was discovered on our territory - a prehistoric rondel.
In 2023, only thirty meters north of the roundabout, on the route of the Niš-Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline, an object from the Roman period was investigated - a granary (choreum). All the archaeologists expected was that the remains of a Roman villa, a residential building that was served by the granary, could be found near the building where the grain was stored. However, the excavations have brought to light traces from a much older period - the mentioned rondel, a system of concentrically dug trenches from prehistoric times that usually have the shape of a circle. The research was led by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments from Niš, and the joint leaders of the research were Aleksandar Aleksić, MSc (ZZSK Niš), Aleksandar Kapuran, PhD (Archaeological Institute Belgrade), and Slobodan Mitić, MA (National Museum Niš), while as many as 35 archaeologists and archeology students participated in several months of archaeological research.
Aleksandar Aleksić says that in guarding the rondel, all available methods of archaeological research were applied - geomagnet, georadar, sounding research and archaeological excavations. "The area of the site was covered by lower forest vegetation, and after removing the layer of vegetation, we noticed a larger amount of archaeological material related to the Roman period (bricks and tegule-roof bricks). Underneath all of this, prehistoric remains were hidden. It should also be said that this archaeological site was threatened first by natural destructive processes of erosion, and then by the construction of the railway bypass. Paradoxically, if the railway bypass had not been built, this site would not have been able to survive. if we were to discover it, it would certainly have been destroyed by the natural processes of erosion of the high Nišava bank - the river, moving its bed and over time, destroyed almost half of this structure."
Aleksandar Kapuran says that the rondel on Orničje was built in the Copper Age, in the first half of the 4th millennium BC, and that its builders were members of the Salkuc culture. Together with the Bubanj-Hum I culture, they formed a broader cultural complex that in those ancient times significantly marked the area of this part of Serbia and the Balkan Peninsula. Kapuran describes that "the rondel structure is represented by three circular trenches dug into the ground. In the central one, there was a vertically pierced wooden stake that formed the reinforcement for the earth rampart, while the other trenches represented only ordinary trenches in the shape of the Latin letter V, and without wooden structures in them".
He explains that "within the central circle, the diameter of which is about 20m, radially placed buried wooden pillars were discovered, which we assume carried a certain wooden platform, on which activities of a different, perhaps even ritual nature, could take place, but this is still in the process of study. The only thing that is clear is that inside that central circle with a platform there was a structure made of wood, which was at a higher elevation than the surrounding terrain, within the spacious Niška basin. On the outside, the earth was dug in the next, wider and deeper trench, and in this way an earthen rampart was formed, which could be seen from a greater distance, since a third ring was built, which was about 60m in diameter, but in some period a larger house was built on this third ring built as semi-buried dugout, the role of which we still haven't determined". Unfortunately, Nišava took away almost half of this building.
photo: private archiveFragments of decorated pottery
It is characteristic of this rondel that prehistoric ceramics, in large quantities, were found exclusively inside the circular trenches, which indicates that it was an object that was used by the community and that most likely ritual activities took place in it. The possible cult purpose of the vessels found in the rondel is indicated by the large amount of dishes that are not part of the usual inventory of a household, but had unusual shapes and very complex decorations.
Aleksandar Kapuran says that "this kind of object is absolutely unknown in Serbia. The closest constructions of this type were detected on the territory of Slavonia, but they were not archaeologically excavated. Some similar structures can also be seen in the area of Mačva, but they belong to the Vinča culture and in all likelihood have a different function. Unfortunately, until now we have not been able to clearly determine the role of these structures, since they were used to protect settlements or livestock, and in some cases graves were discovered inside them. There is even an assumption that in some cases rondels could represent observatories thanks to which people could follow the solicitations and changes of the seasons. It is certainly intriguing that the objects of this type that have been found so far come from various periods of prehistory, and that there is no universal way in which they were constructed, despite the fact that such extensive construction efforts required a great deal of involvement from all members of the community."
In an effort to "clarify" this puzzle, some of the characteristics of the rondel from Orničje indicate that some of the assumptions should be excluded. The defensive nature of this complex is questionable, given that it is located in the middle of a plain, and not on top of one of the nearby hills where defense against attack would be more effective. It is likely that the rondel was not even a residential building, since only a small number of remains were found between the trenches, except for the already mentioned half-dungeon, which is assumed to have been built somewhat later.
Aleksandar Kapuran believes that "apparently, the rondel was a symbol of power with which the prehistoric communities in that area wanted to clearly indicate their presence to anyone who entered their territory. It is known that river banks were something like highways in prehistoric times and that different populations circulated there. It was a way to transmit ideas, innovations, cultural and political influences in that era. Therefore, we believe that it is no coincidence that the rondel was built on the bank of Nišava, which has numerous rivers prehistoric communities circulated between Pomoravlje and Sofijski polje. The fact that it is the only object of this kind explored in our area also gives importance to these researches".
The discovery of a lone Roman grave on the rondel itself is also a curiosity. Given that the Romans reached these parts 4000 years after the disappearance of the Salkuc culture, it is clear that the two findings are not directly related, but that a game of chance placed them in the same spatial framework. Aleksandar Aleksić believes that "after the abandonment and loss of its function, the rondel was left to the process of disintegration and the effects of atmospheric and erosive conditions that over time melted the earthen walls and formed a smaller mound in the place directly above the central ring. Since the Romans in some cases had the habit of burying the deceased under earthen mounds, they decided to bury a member of their community in the center of this earthen mound".
The Rondel in Orničje is a big puzzle, and the moment we solve it will be just as exciting as when we saw it last summer.
