Vinkovci

Excavation in Vinkovci has produced an unbroken sequence of occupation running back some eight thousand years, which is why the town is regularly described as one of the longest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe - the layers are stacked under the modern streets. The town museum holds the finds, among them the Orion vessel, a Vucedol culture pot from around 2600 BC incised with bands of symbols that a Croatian researcher interpreted as a seasonal star calendar; the reading is discussed rather than settled, and the museum presents it as an interpretation. Two Roman emperors, Valentinian I and Valens, were born here when the place was Cibalae.

What you actually see

• Eight thousand years of occupation - stacked layers under the modern town.
• The Orion vessel - a Vucedol pot read as a star calendar, still debated.
• Roman Cibalae - birthplace of the emperors Valentinian I and Valens.
• An autumn folklore festival - the town's main event in September.

When to go

May to October; the folklore festival is in September. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The archaeology is mostly in the museum rather than visible in the streets. The calendar reading of the Orion vessel is one scholar's interpretation and is contested. The town itself is a plain Slavonian centre.

Nearby

Vukovar and the Danube are north-east; Osijek is north-west.