Recent finds of 36 ceramic artifacts from the archaeological site of Vela Spila, Croatia, offer the first evidence of ceramic figurative art in late Upper Palaeolithic Europe, c. 17,500-15,000 years ...before present (BP). The size and diversity of this artistic ceramic assemblage indicate the emergence of a social tradition, rather than more ephemeral experimentation with a new material. Vela Spila ceramics offer compelling technological and stylistic comparisons with the only other evidence of a developed Palaeolithic ceramic tradition found at the sites of Pavlov I and Dolní Věstonice I, in the Czech Republic, c. 31,000-27,000 cal BP. Because of the 10,000-year gap between the two assemblages, the Vela Spila ceramics are interpreted as evidence of an independent invention of this technology. Consequently, these artifacts provide evidence of a new social context in which ceramics developed and were used to make art in the Upper Palaeolithic.
In this paper new palaeogeographic and archaeological data from the prehistoric cave Vela Spila on the island of Korčula in Croatia are combined with new realizations of two glacial isostatic ...adjustment models in order to present relative sea-level change scenarios confronting the inhabitants of the cave at different time slices and to show how they experienced and adapted to sea-level and climate change from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene. Our results show that from the Late Upper Palaeolithic until the Mesolithic, humans in the study area would have experienced tens of metres of sea-level rise, at rates in some cases up to 12 mm per year, and, owing to the relatively flat morphology of the now submerged plains, hundreds of meters of horizontal coastline change in the plains to the north and south of the island. This evidence supports the hypothesis that the rapid loss of these plains likely contributed to the human abandonment of the cave after the Palaeolithic for about five thousand years, followed by significant changes in lifestyle and diet in the Mesolithic. Our results have important implications for the study of how past human groups, especially in vulnerable coastal areas, were affected by sea level, climate, and other environmental changes. Vela Spila represents a case study of how changing environment and rising seas can force significant alterations in human societies, even when there is no risk of inundation to settlement sites.
•Vela Spila Cave site, Croatia, testifies how sea-level rise can force changes in human societies.•The cave was settled from the Late Upper Palaeolithic until the Neolithic.•In the study area humans experienced tens of metres of sea-level rise in their lifetime.•In the Late Upper Palaeolithic, abandonment of the cave was triggered by high rates of sea-level rise.•Stabilization of coastlines fostered the re-occupation of the cave at ca. 9.4 cal ka BP.
•Glossy blades from the Dalmatian Neolithic have been analysed.•Results demonstrate a change in harvesting techniques during the Middle Neolithic.•This change resulted in tools that would be quicker ...to resharpen.•This data raises the question about an increase in agricultural production.
The Dalmatian coast has been occupied by Neolithic seafaring communities since the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. On the basis of pottery styles, a transition between the Impressed Ware and Danilo culture is defined, around 5300 cal BC. Nevertheless, bioarchaeological and archaeological data indicate general continuity between the two periods. In the current paper, we present an integrated technological and use-wear study of a large selection of lithics from several sites of both inland and insular Dalmatia. The results provide strong evidence for a change in harvesting techniques between the Impressed Ware and Danilo cultural phases. This change can be related to the pursuit of better performing inserts that could be used for longer periods and would be quicker to resharpen. Such a switch may have been associated with an initial increase in agricultural production during the Middle Neolithic.
Kontinuirani rad na arheološkoj topografiji Korčule u novije je vrijeme rezultirao ubiciranjem željeznodobnog naselja na lokaciji Brdo-Stine u Žrnovu na istočnom kraju otoka. Višekratnim ...rekognosciranjem lokaliteta okvirno su određeni njegov prostorni opseg, osnovne organizacijske sastavnice, kao i karakteri pokretnih nalaza, a što sve skupa svjedoči iznimnom arheološkom potencijalu. Predstavljanjem položaja naselja te tipokronološkim određenjem sakupljenih ulomaka metalnih (željezna zgura), kamenih (brusevi, žrvnjevi, nakovnji) te keramičkih nalaza (krovne ploče, kalupi?, amfore i pitosi) naselje je preliminarno postavljeno u okvire kasnog željeznog doba/helenizma prostora na kojem dolazi do vrlo intenzivnog preslojavanja indigenih te helenističkorimskih sastavnica.
Na dubini 4 – 4,7 metra na morskom dnu u uvali Soline, istočno od grada Korčule, otkrivena je podmorska struktura za koju smatramo da je nastala ljudskim radom. Prostor oblika donekle pravilnog ...sedmerokuta definiran je kamenom obalom, a središnji dio, površine oko hektara, nasut je lomljenim vapnencem. Lokalitet je s korčulanskim kopnom spojen prevlakom dužine četrdesetak metara. Rekognosciranjem i arheološkim iskapanjima nađena je veća količina keramičkih ulomaka, kamenih i koštanih alataka te ostataka prehrane. Analizom keramičkih ulomaka vrijeme korištenja određeno je u mlađu neolitičku fazu poznatu po hvarskom stilu u dekoriranju posuda.
Razlozi zašto neolitički stanovnici grade umjetni poluotočić nisu nam poznati. Motive vezane uz gospodarske ili fortifikacijske razloge isključujemo, a pažnju smo usmjerili prema iskonskoj ljudskoj potrebi za oplemenjivanje prostora i ostavljanje u njemu vlastitog, specifičnog „otiska“. Nekadašnje naselje se danas nalazi ispod mora zbog transgresija, odnosno podizanja razine mora. Vrijeme korištenja lokaliteta određujemo u sredinu petog milenija prije Krista, a od tada do danas se je razina mora podigla za nešto više od pet metara. Nalazi sličnih i donekle istovremenih potopljenih prapovijesnih struktura posljednjih godina su zabilježeni na više jadranskih lokacija.
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