engleski

Maritime mobility in the Adriatic and the transition to farming

The Adriatic region provides a unique opportunity to investigate diachronic change in maritime mobility and connectivity. In late Pleistocene, the shallow northern half of the Adriatic basin was dry and presented few barriers to land-based mobility. This changed with the Holocene transgression, when the sea inundated the Adriatic plain. In contrast, crossing the southern half of the Adriatic basin always required a long journey across open water. We compare the patterns of trans-Adriatic contacts in these two areas during the final Pleistocene, early Holocene, and the time of transition to farming. We discuss the evidence recovered from remote Adriatic islands, as well as the origin of extraneous lithic raw materials from eastern Adriatic sites, while drawing on the currently available radiocarbon- dated sequences and paleogeographic reconstructions. Since the Last Glacial Maximum, trans-Adriatic connectivity passed through three major phases that are separated by two key transitional events: the rapid expansion of the Adriatic Sea, and the arrival of farming. During the first phase, there is evidence of regular terrestrial contacts across the exposed Adriatic Plain. During the second phase, contacts between the opposing shores of a much expanded Adriatic Sea were minimal. After the arrival of farming, there is abundant and varied evidence of regular trans-Adriatic maritime contact. While the onset of full-time maritime connectivity coincided with the arrival of farming, a recent discovery testifies of at least occasional Late Mesolithic navigation across the southern Adriatic.

Adriatic ; connectivity ; navigation ; Pleistocene ; Holocene ; Mesolithic ; Neolithic

nije evidentirano