- published: 08 Dec 2013
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Jagodina (Serbian Cyrillic: Јагодина [jâɡodina]) is a city located in Serbia, 136 kilometres (85 miles) south of Belgrade, on the banks of Belica River. Its name derives from the word for strawberry (Јагода) in Serbian. It is the administrative centre of the Pomoravlje District of Serbia. The city proper has a population of 37,282 inhabitants, while administrative area has a population of 71,852. Jagodina was given the status of a city in December 2007.
The town was first mentioned in 1399 as "Jagodna", derived from the Serbian word for 'strawberry' - Jagoda. From 1946 to 1992 the town was renamed Svetozarevo (Serbian: Светозарево, [sʋetozǎːreʋo]) after the 19th-century Serbian socialist Svetozar Marković.
"Juhor-type" gold bracelets dating from the Middle Bronze Age have been found in Trcevac. Remains of a Bronze Age settlement were found in a part of town called Sarina Međa. In the village of Belica, near Jagodina, the Europe's oldest sanctuary is found. In the early Neolithic settlement, the world's largest collection of prehistoric artefacts was found, with nearly a 100 manlike figures made of stone, bones and clay, about 8000 years old. Geophysical research in 2012. in the area of Belica uncovered a prehistoric settlement, surrounded by a circular trench that has a 75 meters long diameter. Inside that circle, triangular, trapezoid and circular shaped foundations of monumental structures were found, unlike any found in other early Neolithic settlements.