Recent Research on the Upper Palaeolithic in Istria, Croatia (original) (raw)
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The study of plant macro-remains from archaeological sites is an important method to study aspects of past societies such as diet, agriculture, trade/economy and the local environment. To date plant macro-remains have been identified from 70 sites within Croatia, spanning the early Neolithic (ca. 6000 cal BC) to the Middle Ages(16th century AD). Despite this number, poor recovery and a bias towards the Neolithic period have led to large gaps in our knowledge on the development of agriculture in the region, which is further hindered by the low number of excavations that include archaeobotanical recovery. This paper summarises the archaeobotanical evidence available per period in Croatia, highlighting the potential for future research, as well as providing suggestions for the recovery of carbonised plant macroremains.
Quartär, 2022
In recent decades, the body of evidence from Croatian sites contributing to the understanding of Middle Palaeolithic behaviours has been significant. However, the data has been biased towards cave sites. Until recently open-air sites have exclusively been identified on the basis of surface finds, which often raise questions regarding assemblage integrity. Rescue excavations in the Istrian peninsula have recently brought to light the open-air site of Campanož and a substantial amount of new data. The site is a large and densely packed lithic scatter found stratified between two horizons of typical Mediterranean terra rossa soil. Among the lithic finds there is a large presence of nodular chert fragments and a smaller proportion of classifiable chert artefacts, which have been recognized as Middle Palaeolithic based on both typological and technological characteristics. A preliminary analysis shows that the blank production methods are coherent at the site. There are few flaking methods in the sample, with most being related to different modes of discoid reduction. Middle Palaeolithic toolmakers repeatedly procured raw materials and produced blanks on-site. Evidence points to the production of small tools, and also indicates recycling of previously discarded artefacts. Although these data are preliminary, the evidence seems to suggest an expedient and flexible technology may have been present in the Middle Palaeolithic of the Northeastern Adriatic. Despite the limited data on age and site formation processes, the site represents a valuable source of information in our understanding of Middle Palaeolithic technological behaviour and land use in the region.