engleski

Late pleistocene to holocene cave geoarchaeology on the eastern Adriatic coast and in its hinterland

The dissertation deals with the interpretation of the archaeological layers of five cave archaeological sites: Mujina Pećina near Kaštela, Velika pećina-Kličevica near Benkovac, Zemunica in Bisko, Zala near Ogulin and Romualdova Pećina near Rovinj. The study is based on geoarchaeological analyses that include a detailed description of the stratigraphic sequence at each site, sedimentological laboratory analyses and micromorphological analysis of sediments. The subjects of this study are prehistoric layers from the mentioned caves, from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age levels. The main goals of the geoarchaeological study were to understand the infilling and postdepositional processes of the five caves, and the environmental conditions that controlled them, as well as the use of the cave by humans and animals. The identified site formation processes are polygenetic in origin and can generally be divided in geogenic, non- human biogenic processes and processes derived by anthropogenic activities. The analyses confirmed the hypothesis of different cave use by Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age humans. The environmental data from the sediments do not show particular connection between climate and Neandertal presence in Romualdova and Velika Pećina-Kličevica. The data from Mujina Pećina differ in some extent. The human presence in the cave was more frequent during the earlier warmer phases and the rather arid event corresponding to loess deposition. The phase of more intense and continuous use of the cave by humans was during the deposition of unit E3C. The Upper Palaeolithic levels consist of domestic waste residues. The Mesolithic levels mostly comprise domestic waste deposits, including ash, bone fragments, and more or less crushed land snails. The Neolithic, Copper, and Bronze Age part of the sequences are characterised by continuous evidence of sheep/goat and probably cattle dung accumulations, and were used as pastoral sites.

geoarchaeology, sedimentology, soil micromorphology, site formation processes, caves, prehistory, Eastern Adriatic

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