When in 1965 Dr. Dragoslav Srejović, a world-renowned archaeologist, began excavations on the right bank of the Danube in the Djerdap Gorge, he had no idea he would come across the center of one of the most brilliant prehistoric cultures. On the archaeological map of Europe,  Lepenski vir is now noted as one of the most significant sites from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, where pastoralists, hunters, fishermen, gatherers, and creators of monumental stone sculptures lived until the end of the Ice Age, seven thousand years before the New Era. One of the most important archaeological sites in Serbia and Europe, Lepenski Vir, is constantly in the spotlight, both for experts and tourists eager to encounter the distant past firsthand.

In Gamzigrad, 11 kilometers west of  Zaječar, lies Felix Romuliana,the palace of the Roman emperor Gaius Valerius Maximianus Galerius, one of the sixteen emperors of the Roman Empire born on the territory of present-day Serbia. Romuliana dates back to the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD. It covers an area of six and a half hectares, and the magnificent palace is adorned with floor mosaics that can rival the best achievements of the late antique period in Europe.           

Since 2007, Felix Romuliana has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Timacum minus is the oldest Roman military fortress in Eastern Serbia, dating back to the first century AD. The interior of the fortress is filled with various buildings. The lapidarium, with Roman stone monuments, is located in the Archeo-Ethno Park, situated in the courtyard of the school in the nearby village of Ravna.

By overcoming the Danube and mountainous rocks, the Roman Emperor Trajan built a road through the Djerdap Gorge, all the way to the place where he erected a bridge over the Danube. The construction of the road was completed in 103 AD, and this great undertaking was immortalized by Trajan's Plaque, with a Latin inscription in the Djerdap National Park, near Kladovo. Trajan's Plaque is only visible from the Danube.

The reign of Emperor Trajan is also associated with the former military fortress of Diana, now an archaeological site on the bank of the Danube, between the Hydroelectric Power Plant 'Djerdap 1'  and Kladovo. The archaeological site of Šarkamen  is located 25 kilometers from Negotin. It dates back to the late antique period, from the end of the third to the beginning of the fourth century. It was the seat of the Roman Emperor Maximinus Daia. A small treasury of imperial gold jewelry from Šarkamen is now housed in the National Museum in Belgrade.

On the Danube, west of Kladovo, lies the Fetislam Fortress. The Turks built this 'Gate of Peace,' as the name translates, in the 16th and 17th centuries, and it was handed over to the Serbian people in 1867.

To defend against the Avars and Slavs, the Roman Emperor Justinian built Sokograd on a steep rock above the Moravica River, near Sokobanj. Even after the Romans, Sokograd served as a refuge for various armies, and legend has it that the legendary outlaw Hajduk Veljko Petrović often found shelter there.