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Romuald's cave is located on the southern slopes of the Lim channel in Istria, Croatia. In the mid 20th century M. Malez conducted more extensive excavations of the site and unearthed various archaeological and paleontological material dating from the Late Pleistocene to the Bronze and Iron Age. The Late Pleistocene finds included Upper Palaeolithic types of tools, faunal remains and two juvenile human teeth. In 2007 and 2008 D. Komšo led small scale excavations during which several Mousterian artefacts were found. In 2014 new excavations of the site started as a part of the ARCHAEOLIM financed by the Croatian Science Foundation. During the three years of work at the site, human skeletal material and artefacts from Bronze Age, as well as artefacts from Iron age were found. The middle sequences yielded several Upper Palaeolithic tool types, while the lower sequence yielded Mousterian artefacts and Pleistocene faunal remains dated to over 48 kya.

The end of Pleistocene saw drastic change in climate, including sea level rise, which reached approximately today's levels at the beginning of Holocene. All this resulted in submerging or erasing of many sites. So far, underwater Palaeolithic sites at eastern Adriatic shore are very rare. However, Kaštel Štafilić – Resnik can be attributted to the Middle Paleolithic while finds from another underwater site, located near the island of Stipanac in Prokljansko lake near Skradin, may be attributed to Pleistocene. Kaštel štafilić - Resnik is located at about 4 meters below today's sea level. Technological and typological analysis of all collected lithic finds was undertaken, including measurements of roundness and sphericity. Analysis shows that the most abudant tool types at Kaštel Štafilić - Resnik are side scrapers, typical of Mousterian industry. Lithic industry of Stipanac will be preliminary presented in this oral presentation. Research on underwater Palaeolithic sites has a great potential, yet it comes with difficulties. One of major problems is distinguishing artefatcts from geofacts, both when collecting, as well as during analysis. In addition, the sites are often disturbed by changes in sea level. Furthermore, underwater research is more time consuming, and much more expensive than research at land sites. However, the potential rewards are great, as very little is known about many aspects of formation of such sites, as well as various processess that affected the sites since human habitation. Therefore, it is essential to invest into and further our efforts in this type of research, which will benefit future knowledge and methodology alike.

Kaštel Štafilić – Resnik is an open-air Middle Paleolithic site, located in Dalmatia, dating to the time when the sea level was lower than today. This is the first systematic exploration of underwater Paleolithic site in Croatia. Poster presents results of lithic analysis of material collected during field seasons 2008, and 2010 – 2015, as a part od research funded by the Croatian Science Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Croatia. Lithic material was collected and analysed, and geological research of surrounding area was undertaken. The original site was destroyed by the wave action, and the artifacts were collected from the sea floor surface and Holocene mud. Analyses confirmed that artifacts belong to the Mousterian industry. This is also supported by finds of centripetal cores and scrapers. The other important issue of Kaštel Štafilić – Resnik is development of criteria for separation pseudo-artifacts that were modified by sea from artifacts. Comparation of geomorphology and lithic assemblage with open- air and cave sites will help us understand effcet of environment on chert and artifacts.