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In our lecture, the main features of the Mesolithic coastal settlement in the Eastern Adriatic during the 7th millennium BC are presented. We look at the issues of radiocarbon chronology, lithic technology, lithic raw material procurement strategies, subsistence strategies and the ambiguity of certain archaeological contexts.

International audience

Vorganjska peć važno je prapovijesno pećinsko nalazište smješteno na padini brda Organ iznad Batomlja kraj Baške na otoku Krku. Sredinom 20. stoljeća ovo, kao i druga pećinska nalazišta na kvarnerskim otocima, počinje istraživati Vladimir Mirosavljević. Zahvaljujući rezultatima njegovih istraživanja Vorganjska peć, zajedno s Jami na Sredi na otoku Cresu te Velom špiljom na otoku Lošinju, postaje značajan izvor podataka o neolitiku Kvarnera i time neizostavni dio rasprava o tome razdoblju na istočnojadranskoj obali. Kako istraživanja nikad nisu u cijelosti objavljena, revizijsko arheološko iskopavanje provedeno je kao provjera davno prikupljenih podataka o načinima korištenja špilje tijekom prapovijesti. Rezultati istraživanja dali su uvid u stratigrafski slijed intaktnih prapovijesnih arheoloških depozita s nalazima koji pripadaju razdoblju ranoga i srednjega neolitika. Analiza stratifikacije i prikupljenih pokretnih arheoloških nalaza doprinosi širenju uvida u kompleksne mehanizme procesa neolitizacije istočnoga Jadrana te govori o nedvojbenom informativnom i interpretativnom značenju ovoga nalazišta za razmatranja problematike sjevernojadranskoga neolitika., Vorganjska peć is an important prehistoric cave site located on the slope of Organ hill above Batomalj near Baška on the island of Krk. The research of this site, as well as other cave sites on Kvarner islands, was initiated by Vladimir Mirosavljević in the mid-twentieth century. As the result of his research, Vorganjska peć, alongside Jami na Sredi on the island of Cres and Vela špilja on the island of Lošinj, became a significant source of data about the Neolithic of the Kvarner region and thereby an essential part of discussions about this period on the eastern Adriatic coast. Since this research was never fully published, the site was re-excavated in order to review previously obtained data about the cave usage in prehistory. The research results provided insight into the stratigraphic sequence of intact prehistoric archaeological deposits with Early and Middle Neolithic finds. The analysis of stratification and artefacts contributes to our knowledge of complex mechanisms of neolithisation of the eastern Adriatic and confirms the undeniable informative and interpretative significance of the site in the studies of the northern Adriatic Neolithic.

The excavation of the CrnoVrilo site, situated in the hinterland of Zadar in Dalmatia (Croatia), carried out by Brunislav Marijanović from the University of Zadar in the early 2000s, unearthed the remains of Early Neolithic village dating back to ca. 5800-5600 cal BC and the rich vestiges of material culture. The lithic assemblage, including more than 4000 artefacts in a generally good state of preservation, represents the biggest Impressed Ware collection of littoral Croatia. The Crno Vrilo lithic production is characterized by the pressure blade flaking on high-quality exogenous cherts (from Gargano peninsula in Southern Italy), reflecting important socio-economic and technical mutations that are proper to the Neolithic. While the presence of some débitage elements like flakes, cortical flakes and debris, as well as of technological pieces such as core tablets, crested blades, overshot blades and core renewal flakes and blades, could indicate that at least one part of the blades were produced in situ. The presence of large blades (width exceeding 20 mm) is odd since their morphometry suggests that they were produced by lever pressure. The employment of the lever, a complex system that is sometimes referred to as a first machine, is already reported on in the Early Neolithic of Greece and Southern Italy. The pressure flaking with a lever, as the most demanding technique in blade production, implies high technological investment and important know-how and thus some form of socio- economical specialization, suggesting that large blades were imported as finished products. However, it is difficult to demonstrate that all the large blades were obtained by lever pressure as well as to determining the exact means of their acquisition. An integrated technological and functional analysis carried out on all kinds of large blades (central blades, cortical and technical blades) revealed their mode of use and enabled the clarification of the status of these blanks.

The last hunter-gatherers of the Central and Western Mediterranean are associated to the Castelnovian technocomplex which develops during the seventh millennium BC. The Late Mesolithic (or Second Mesolithic in French literature) Castelnovian is characterized mainly by its lithic industries which reflects important changes with regard to the preceding phases: the d´ebitage is now orientated towards blade production by pressure flaking and manufacturing of special tools, such as trapezes (made by microburin technique) and notched blades. Although the sites are rare, the Castelnovian sites are identified in the wider Adriatic region: south-central Italy, Albania, Montenegro, Italian and Slovenian Karst. However, it seems that Croatian coast with hinterland lack any traces. No sites were found in Dalmatia and only few questionable surface finds come from Istria. This paper explores whether the absence of Castelnovian findings on the Croatian coast reflects a historical reality, as a consequence of the depopulation during the Late Mesolithic and/or the region is for some reasons outside the Castelnovian expansion route, or it is related to some other factors, for example shift in the settlement pattern and/or loss of the sites by marine transgression, lack of research and specialists, etc. In addition, the paper will focus on the hypothesis that the presence of last hunter- gatherers can be detected indirectly through the persistence of Castelnovian elements in the oldest Neolithic Impressed Ware assemblages of the Eastern Adriatic. While Early Neolithic Dalmatian assemblages reflect a clear break with Castelnovian traditions as seen in more complex pressure blade d´ebitage (long crutch standing mode and lever pressure), complex raw material procurement (almost complete reliance on exogenous garganic flint), tool typology (absence of notched blades and the trapezes were made without microburin technique) and incomplete chaˆıne op´eratoire (absence of elements pointing to decortication and trimming as well as blade cores), the Early Neolithic assemblages of Istria might reflect some similarities. These consist in the following: the blade production islocal, made by local flint using simpler techniques (direct percussion and pressure with short crutch) while trapezes seem to be obtained with microburin technique.

U članku su predstavljeni rezultati arheološkog iskopavanja neolitičkog nalazišta Rašinovac kod Ždrapnja u Piramatovačkom polju (zaleđe grada Skradina, sjeverna Dalmacija). Na dotad nepoznatom nalazištu je 2013. godine otvorena probna sonda dimenzija 2 x 2 m s ciljem utvrđivanja stratigrafije te određivanja njegove kronološke pripadnosti. Rašinovac je jednoslojno naselje na otvorenom iz impreso faze što je potvrđeno analizom materijalne kulture (pretežito lončarije i litike). Sudeći po dvama radiokarbonskim datumima, Rašinovac pripada najranijim do sada poznatim nalazištima ranog neolitika na ovom području (prvo stoljeće 6. tisućljeća pr. Kr.).

This paper seeks to examine the strategies of lithic production of first agro-pastoral societies in Northern Dalmatia based on lithic analyses from main open-air sites in Šibenik and Zadar regions: Rašinovac, Vrbica, Konjevrate, Crno Vrilo, Tinj and Vrcelji. Lithic assemblages from sites in Northern Dalmatia reflect the intention of early Neolithic knappers towards a blade production. In order to obtain blade and bladelet blanks two main knapping techniques were used: indirect percussion and pressure flaking. Both techniques were coexisting in the region at least since later phase of Impresso culture (cca 5700 BC). Laminar technology demonstrates not only important technological investment (know-how, especially regarding the core preparation), but also an important investment in raw material procurement (inter-regional networks). However, although the lithic assemblages from Northern Dalmatia show many similarities regarding technology and the choice of raw material, some differences between those sites can also be observed.

In our presentation we will give an overview of various aspects of material culture left by Epigravettian hunter-gatherers in north-western Balkans together with chronology and settlement dynamics. We critically review old and present new data contributing to better understanding of regional Epigravettian. Epigravettian techno- complex encompasses time frame from approximately 25, 000 until 11, 500 cal BP. Its archaeological evidence, both old and new, is biased and almost exclusively known from cave and rockshelter sites, although certain progress should be expected with recently discovered Epigravettian stratified open- air site Konjevrate in central Eastern Adriatic. Epigravettian is the best documented period of human presence in the north-western Balkans during Palaeolithic. At the same time, it is highly fragmented because the region experienced significant palaeogeographic changes across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition when Pleistocene Adriatic Plain was flooded and disappeared. For this reason, the current overview represents only a partial picture that does not cover the whole space that Epigravettian groups used to exploit or all the aspects of their everyday life during Last Glacial Maximum and Late Glacial. Despite all biases and constraints that surround the research on Epigravettian, this review shows that caves and rock shelters provided significant amount of data about different aspects of Epigravettian hunter- gatherers’ lifeways, i.e. lithic production, raw material provisioning areas, food procurement, body adornment, settlement dynamics, rock and portable art.

The site of Badanj (Bosnia and Herzegovina) exhibits the first rock art dated to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) in the Balkan Peninsula. The locality consists in a large and deep rock- shelter, with a small cave on its eastern edge. The dimensions of the rock-shelter are 21x8x11m. Đ. Basler (1976 ; 1979) was the first to excavate the site in the 1970s. He was able to identify prehistoric occupations from the Late Upper Palaeolithic (Lateglacial). A large engraved boulder was unearthed: the entire surface of the boulder was covered by archaeological deposits until Basler’s excavations. In 1986-87, excavations were resumed at Badanj under the direction of Z. Kujundžić and R. Whallon. They confirmed the presence of Late Epigravettian and potentially Mesolithic. Whallon (1989) distinguished two different phases of occupation corresponding to the Late Pleistocene and, probably, the Early Holocene. Badanj is a major site for Balkans UP due to several reasons. Firstly, it is the first site where Palaeolithic parietal art was discovered in the region. Secondly, it is one of the richest sites in lithic elements for the Epigravettian in this territory (more than 8000 retouched pieces just from Whallon’s excavations and over 350, 000 lithic remains issued from both excavation projects). Thirdly, Badanj has yielded the largest collection of UP personal ornaments in south-eastern Europe (more than 1000 items), consisting on various pierced bone, tooth and shell beads. Finally, this site yielded the largest collection of Palaeolithic mobiliary art in the Balkans, a rare element in this territory. Despite still remaining unanalysed, at least 20 engraved bone fragments and tools were found at the site ; an exceptional number considering that only other 18 have been identified for the UP in the entire Balkan Peninsula so far (Ruiz-Redondo et al., 2020). A few years ago, we resume the excavations in this exceptional site. The aim was to precise the stratigraphy and to assess the chronology of the different human occupations, providing a precise view of the evolution of one of the leading sequences for the Epigravettian in Europe. The geoarchaeological study and the first dating series have revealed that the archaeological sequence is deeper and longer than previous works recognised. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of both the excavation and the dating project in progress at the site and the further implications for the knowledge of the Late Upper Palaeolithic in the Balkan Peninsula. References : Basler 1976, Paleolitsko prebivalište Badanj kod Stoca. GZM (A) n.s. sv. 29: 5-18 / Basler 1979, le Paléolithique final en Herzegovine. in Sonneville-Bordes (ed.), La fin des temps glaciaires en Europe, CNRS, Paris: 345- 355 / Ruiz-Redondo et al. 2020, Beyond the bounds of Western Europe: Paleolithic art in the Balkan Peninsula. Journal of World Prehistory 33 (4): 425-55 / Whallon 1989, The Paleolithic site of Badanj: Recent excavations and results of analysis. GZM (A) n.s. sv 44: 7-20 / Whallon 1999, The lithic tool assemblages at Badanj within their regional context in Bailey, G. et al. (ed.): The Paleolithic Archaeology of Greece and Adjacent Areas, British S. of Athens 3: 330-42.