engleski

Beyond large scale excavations: from single site to settlement pattern in the Bronze Age of southern Carpathian basin

Eastern Croatia is a region situated between three mayor central european rivers: Dunav, Drava and Sava. It is optimal for archaeological landscape research due to its characteristics as it is a lowland area with fertile land divided on large agricultural plots. Fertile soil provided important basis for the human occupation and large plots provide better visibility of archaeological remains. The satellite imagery and aerial photography data were analyzed and compared with results of systematic field survey. Regular usage of UAVs significantly increased discovery of new sites. The result is identification of large network of archaeological sites throughout the area. Majority of discovered sites can be attributed to the Bronze Age and Neolithic. Some known and excavated sites could for the first time be viewed more accurately, in their entirety and within their landscape. On the other hand, in past decade extensive archaeological excavations were conducted on several Bronze age sites in the this part of Croatia. Longitudinal shape of highway and pipelines makes cros sections through significant portions of the landscape so archaeology got opportunity to have deep insight in land occupation during all over the time. Results of these excavations combined with data obtained by remote sensing and field survey provide completely new insight on land occupation, settlement pattern and subsistence strategy in the Bronze Age. It is confirmed that large contemporary settlements are situated at much smaller distance than previously tought and furthermore it is shown that distance pattern is also regular. It seems that in Late Bronze Age of this region we can talk about one of peaks in population density over human history.

Eastern Croatia ; Bronze Age ; settlement pattern

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