THE HISTORY OF RESEARCHING THE NEOLITHIC SITES ON THE EASTERN COAST OF THE ADRIATIC SEA
Abstract
The article presents an overview of researching the Neolithic monuments in the Adriatic coast area, which today administratively belongs to the Republic of Croatia, with the use of data on the archaeology of neighboring countries of the Eastern Adriatic, based on scientific publications in English and Croatian. Its division into four periods is largely related to the chronology of political events in the Balkans as a whole — before the First World War, in the period between the two wars, the post-war period corresponding to the existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the modern period, within which archaeological research is carried out by scientific institutions of the Republic of Croatia. Within the first and second periods, research interest in Stone Age sites in general and the Neolithic era in particular is manifested and specified, the initial accumulation of archaeological materials occurs and the first local Neolithic culture (Impresso culture) is distinguished. In subsequent periods, the Neolithic theme acquired the status of an independent direction, the principles of an interdisciplinary approach and excavation work over large areas were formed, the constantly updated base of radiocarbon determinations and a large volume of archaeological material made it possible to expand the range of original Neolithic cultures and to reasonably present a scheme of three successive stages: the early Neolithic (Impresso culture, 6–5.5 cal. thousand years BC), the middle Neolithic (Danilo culture, 5.3–4.8 cal. thousand years BC) and the late Neolithic (Khvar culture, 4.8–4 cal. thousand years BC).
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