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Abstract The emergence and early development of agro-pastoral activities in Mediterranean coastal areas were key drivers of ecosystem change. While the role of anthropogenic pressures is now well understood, the identification and chronology of the first human imprints on ecosystem dynamics is still an open debate in several countries, especially in the north-eastern Adriatic where there is a paucity of palaeoecological data. For the period 5200-3200 cal BP, we here report a comprehensive and integrative study of Northern Adriatic Croatia (Istrian Peninsula, Busuja Bay), showing that: (i) significant human impacts on ecosystems began around 5000 years ago, during the Chalcolithic; (ii) anthropogenic pressures (agriculture and human-induced fire) were the main drivers of long-term ecological change; (iii) local coastal shifts (higher seawater inputs in the sheltered bay) also played a decisive role in ecosystem dynamics; and (iv) climate pressures compounded human impacts. We also suggest that wild olive trees (Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris) were an integral part of early diversified agriculture, 500 years before the Bronze Age. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Reconstruction of the landscape evolution in Northern Adriatic Croatia. • Insights into the ecosystem dynamics for the period 5200-3200 cal yr BP. • Introduction and intensive development of agriculture at 5000 cal yr BP. • Ecological erosion mainly focused on forested ecosystems in the Northern Adriatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of the origin and occurrence of Istrian Lower Palaeogene bauxites discussed in this work relies on adoption of the recent perspectives on development of the collision-induced diachronous discontinuity surface in the Istrian part of the Adriatic-Dinaric carbonate platform. This process, related to the forebulge uplift at the latest stages of Alpine orogenesis, is amply recorded in the geochemical signature of contemporaneous bauxites. In order to elucidate the patterns of bauxite formation a discriminant function model based on the Compositional Data analysis (major and trace elements) is constructed providing the solid ground for separation of the bauxite groups deposited in the subaerially exposed Istrian palaeoenvironment. Complete distinction between the four a priori defined Istrian Lower Palaeogene bauxite groups achieved by the analysis demonstrates the highest degree of efficiency in characterizing environmental conditions marked by the unique suite of geochemical variables (compositions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the differences between the distribution of trace elements and rare-earth elements (REEs) formed under reducing and oxidizing soil conditions during pedogenesis on carbonate bedrock. Terra rossa (TR) soils, representing pedogenesis under oxic conditions, and Cretaceous palaeosols (CP), representing pedogenesis under reducing conditions, were sampled on the Istrian peninsula. They were studied by ICP-MS, ICP-OES, XRF, XRD, sequential extraction and statistical analyses. The differences in trace-element behaviour between the TR and CP stem from different redox conditions, but the most remarkable difference was observed in the behaviour of the REEs. Statistical analyses revealed that in TR soils all the REEs showed a very positive correlation, while in CPs the light REEs and heavy REEs showed an internal, very positive correlation. TR soils have almost twice as much REEs as CPs. This difference is pedogenetic, as both materials have a very similar amount of REEs in the residual fraction. While TR soils have the same amount of REEs in fractions other than the residual fraction, CPs have almost no REEs in these fractions. Different REE patterns obtained from sequential extraction, such as a middle-REE enrichment and a positive Ce anomaly in TR soils and light-REE depletion, heavy-REE enrichment, positive Ce and Eu anomalies in CPs, contributed to an understanding of the redox and pedogenetic processes. This study successfully emphasized the influence of different redox conditions on the behaviour of trace and rare-earth elements during pedogenesis on a carbonate bedrock and the ability of the REEs to track pedogenetic processes. [Display omitted] • Reducing and oxidizing conditions during soil formation on carbonate bedrock produce significant differences. • Trace element behaviour differs strongly between terra rossa and Cretaceous palaeosols. • Multivariate statistical analysis of REE revealed striking differences in both materials. • Rare earth element data reliably captured the pedogenetic history of both materials. • Cerium anomalies were observed in both materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data presented in this article was created using a Croatian instrument called sopela - a traditional hand-made wooden aerophone of piercing sound, characteristic to the Istrian peninsula in western Croatia. The instrument is always played in pair (plural form: sopele ), which consists of two voices: a small sopela and a great sopela . The data contains Waveform Audio File format (WAV) files, capturing every possible distinct tone of both sopele , as well as their polyphonic combinations. Additional data encompassed in the provided dataset are music scales and real music pieces, which contain specific traditional melodies. Every melody has a corresponding music sheet, presented in a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, which describes it in a human-readable manner. The specific Istrian scale music notation was applied while creating the music sheets. The data presented here was successfully utilised for developing, training and testing an automatic music transcription (AMT) solution, capable of converting sopele audio recordings into musical scores [1]., (© 2019 The Author(s).)