engleski

Radiocarbon dating of early Neolithic in Croatia

South Pannonian Plane offered ideal conditions for forming first settlements in early Neolithic. In the area between the Danube, Sava and Drava rivers in Croatia about 120 Starčevo settlements from almost all chronological phases are known. Two early Neolithic settlements, Slavonski Brod – Galovo and Zadubravlje – Dužine in Eastern Croatia have been studied by both archaeological methods and 14C dating. Both settlements belong to the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture complex according to the typological and stylistic analyses of archaeological material. 22 charcoal and wood samples from Galovo and 8 samples from Zadubravlje have been dated in the Zagreb Radiocarbon Laboratory. The settlement Galovo has been intensively studies since its discovery in 1995 and until now archaeological excavation has been conducted at an area of about 3600 m2. Each new excavation campaign has revealed some new features and confirmed assumption of a large and long-lasting Neolithic settlement with a large special burial area within the settlement. The prehistoric settlement of Galovo has a number of significant features, making it one of the key sites for the study of the formation and existence of the Starčevo culture in Croatia. Slavonski Brod – Galovo is one of the oldest Early Neolithic settlements in continental Croatia and the oldest one where the residential part and the ritual-burial areas were strictly defined and separated by wooden fences yielding a burial zone containing only burial pits. Combined archaeological interpretation and 14C dating enabled a scientifically-founded portrayal of the vertical and horizontal stratigraphy allowing thus the determination of three phases of development of the Galovo settlement. Radiocarbon dates have shown that the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture lasted over an extended duration of about 1000 years: for Galovo we found the time span 6070 – 5000 cal BC and for Zadubravlje 6000 – 5050 cal BC, confirming thus the assumption of the long-lasting early Linear A phase. In Zadubravlje the oldest Neolithic well in Europe has been dated to. Excavations performed in 2009 in the settlement Galovo resulted in an unexpected finding of an object above the ground level, i.e., the foundation trenches measuring 7 m × 7 m were discovered. As in other parts of the settlements, all artefacts belong to the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture. The absence of daub and charcoal among the finds suggests that the house did not burn in the fire, and at the same time does not allow radiocarbon dating. A shallow pit 323, stratigrafically above the object, was dated to 6070 – 5770 cal BC, indicating that the object above the ground level had been in function already before that period. Until now, the objects above ground level were found at sites belonging to the later phases of the Starčevo culture, about 1000 years later than showed by the 14C dates of Galovo. The discovery at Galovo shows that already in the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture the population had mastered the skill of building above-ground structures, which were presumably used only for special purposes.

14C; Neolithic; Galovo; Zadubravlje; Starčevo culture

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