Croatia: Submerged Prehistoric Sites in a Karstic Landscape 18 Irena Radić Rossi, Ivor Karavanić, and Valerija Butorac Abstract extend as late as the medieval period. In con- Croatia has a long history of underwater sequence, the chronological range of prehis- archaeological research, especially of ship- toric underwater finds extends from the wrecks and the history of sea travel and trade Mousterian period through to the Late Iron in Classical Antiquity, but also including inter- Age. Known sites currently number 33 in the mittent discoveries of submerged prehistoric SPLASHCOS Viewer with the greatest num- archaeology. Most of the prehistoric finds ber belonging to the Neolithic or Bronze Age have been discovered by chance because of periods, but ongoing underwater surveys con- construction work and development at the tinue to add new sites to the list. Systematic shore edge or during underwater investiga- research has intensified in the past decade and tions of shipwrecks. Eustatic sea-level changes demonstrates the presence of in situ culture would have exposed very extensive areas of layers, excellent conditions of preservation now-submerged landscape, especially in the including wooden remains in many cases, and northern Adriatic, of great importance in the the presence of artificial structures of stone Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic periods. and wood possibly built as protection against Because of sinking coastlines in more recent sea-level rise or as fish traps. Existing discov- millennia, submerged palaeoshorelines and eries demonstrate the scope for new research archaeological remains of settlement activity and new discoveries and the integration of archaeological investigations with palaeoenvi- I. R. Rossi (*) ronmental and palaeoclimatic analyses of sub- Department of Archaeology, University of Zadar, merged sediments in lakes and on the seabed. Zadar, Croatia A major challenge for the future is to develop e-mail: [email protected] better procedures for the integration of scien- I. Karavanić tific research, commercial and industrial Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Archaeology, University of Zagreb, development, and the management and pro- Zagreb, Croatia tection of the underwater heritage. Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA Keywords e-mail: [email protected] Mousterian · Palaeolithic · Mesolithic · V. Butorac Neolithic · Bronze Age · Submerged land- Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, scapes · Underwater settlements · Wood University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 347 G. Bailey et al. (eds.), The Archaeology of Europe’s Drowned Landscapes, Coastal Research Library 35, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37367-2_18 348 I. R. Rossi et al. 18.1 Introduction both on land (Batović 1988, 1990a) and under- water (Radić Rossi 2011). Underwater archaeological research in Croatia, During the past decade, several factors have as in many other Mediterranean countries, promoted new interest in the detection and inter- focused for decades mainly on Classical pretation of submerged prehistoric sites. These Antiquity, thanks to abundant evidence relating include more detailed investigation of sea-level to Greek and Roman seafaring (Vrsalović 2011). change and submerged karstic features (Benac Submerged prehistoric sites were rarely reported et al. 2004, 2008; Surić et al. 2004, 2005, 2010; in archaeological bibliographies (e.g., Brusić Surić 2009; Surić and Juračić 2010; Faivre et al. 1977; Mihovilić 1992, 1995a, b), and it is only 2010; Furlani et al. 2011; Marriner et al. 2014; during the past decade that increased attention Radić Rossi and Cukrov 2017; Lončar et al. has been paid to this theme, notably an overview 2017, 2018; Faivre and Butorac 2018; Radić of selected finds by Benjamin et al. (2011). Rossi et al. 2018), leading to increased awareness Nevertheless, isolated occurrences have been of the prehistoric archaeological potential of the reported since the nineteenth century, such as the Croatian seabed (Benjamin and Črešnar 2009; remains of a prehistoric fortified settlement on Benjamin et al. 2011) and of the threats to the the island of Korčula in Southern Dalmatia coastal and underwater heritage posed by con- (Vuletić Vukasović and Radić 1887) and a struction works and environmental change (Radić Neolithic axe recovered from the estuary of the Rossi 2008). Cetina River in Central Dalmatia (Bulić 1898). In Typically, in the past, underwater sites have the 1960s, temporary drying out of the Nin salt- been located through deepening and reconstruc- pans for repairs revealed remains of a submerged tion of harbours and saltpans (Batović 1965; Early Neolithic settlement with a rich cultural Mihovilić 1992; Radić Rossi 2008), recreational layer at Čvrljevića Ograda (Batović 1965), while diving (Brusić 2004; Radić Rossi 2009), and partially or fully submerged Late Iron Age buri- pedestrian survey of beaches and intertidal zones als with contracted skeletons in chambers made (Mihovilić 1995a, b). More recently, new meth- of stone slabs were discovered at the entrance to ods have been introduced including the use of the Nin lagoon at Kraljicina plaža and in the shal- satellite imagery to assess larger areas, system- low coastal zone of the Ždrijac Peninsula (Brusić atic survey by SCUBA (Koncani Uhač 2009; 1969, 2002; Glogović 1989). A well-preserved Bekić et al. 2011; Pešić 2013; Brusić and Parica example with stone slabs 1 m high and ‘lying at 2014) or new technologies (Radić Rossi and the depth of over 1 m’ contained skeletal remains Boetto 2013; Soura et al. 2013), and the more and a bronze needle with a spirally twisted head systematic incorporation of geological, geomor- dated to the eighth century BC Glogović 1989, phological, and palaeolandscape research p. 9). (Marriner et al. 2014; Miko et al. 2016; Ilijanić In the 1970s, a trial survey in South Liburnia et al. 2018; Radić Rossi et al. 2018). Excavations (Zadar and Šibenik area) revealed at least four have begun in some promising shallow-water submerged coastal sites with Palaeolithic, Bronze areas (Koncani Uhač and Čuka 2016; Čelhar Age, and Iron Age material (Brusić 1977). All the et al. 2017). sites—Ričul west of Turanj, Oštarije near This chapter summarises the current state of Biograd, Sv. Justina in front of Pakoštane, and research, drawing on published sources and the Stipanac in Lake Prokljan—are on small islands personal experience of the authors. We outline and are partly submerged, with evidence of struc- the evidence for changes in palaeogeography and tures (whether natural or artificial is not clear) sea level and describe selected evidence from that once connected them to the mainland (see sites that best illustrate the chronological range Fig. 18.1). This evidence pointed to the likeli- and the variety and preservation of underwater hood that systematic surveys on both sides of the material, proceeding in chronological order from Pašman Channel would lead to new discoveries earliest to latest. 18 Croatia: Submerged Prehistoric Sites in a Karstic Landscape 349 Fig. 18.1 Distribution of underwater sites showing names of key sites and other places mentioned in the text and the boundary of the Exclusive Economic Zone. Site information from the SPLASHCOS Viewer http://splashcos-viewer.eu. Drawing by Moritz Mennenga sedimentation on the Adria microplate, which 18.2 Palaeogeography and Sea- continued throughout the Mesozoic era (240– Level Change 65 Ma), resulting in an 8-km-thick succession of dolomites and limestones—the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea is the northernmost basin of the Carbonate Platform. Uplift of this platform began Mediterranean, and the east Adriatic coast, towards the end of the Mesozoic with subduction including part of northern Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, of the Adria microplate beneath the Eurasian Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania, Plate and uplift of the Dinaric Alps with major is dominated by the maritime sector of the faulting oriented on a NW–SE axis. The main Dinaric Alps. This mountain range originated episodes of mountain building continued into the 240 million years ago (Ma) with shallow-water Miocene period (c. 23–5 Ma) accompanied by 350 I. R. Rossi et al. exceptional faulting, folding, and thrust struc- sea level was low during the Last Glacial period tures and the initiation of karst processes (disso- (Miko et al. 2016; Karavanić and Barbir 2017). lution of limestone and the formation of The maximum sea-level regression in the underground channels and caves) (Vlahović et al. northern Adriatic at the Last Glacial Maximum 2002, 2005; Mocochain et al. 2009; Pikelj and (LGM) was c. −112 m, exposing a very extensive Juračić 2013). area of coastal lowland (Fig. 18.1), and sea level The resulting landscape is one of mountain rose after 18,000 years ago to reach the modern ridges oriented on a NW–SE axis with intermon- level after c. 6000 years ago (Šegota 1983; Benac tane valleys in parallel, and this topography con- and Juračić 1998). Although the eustatic compo- tinues offshore to form an extensive submerged nent is the dominant contribution to relative sea- landscape that was exposed during periods of level rise, the position of palaeoshorelines has lower sea level, just leaving the hill tops above been affected by both tectonic and glacio- isostatic modern sea level as an archipelago of some 1200 movements as indicated by a variety of studies of islands and islets (Fig. 18.1). geomorphological, archaeological, and historical This pattern of offshore anticlines (ridges), markers of relative sea level during the past two represented by the present-day islands, and syn- decades (Benac et al. 2004, 2008; Lambeck and clines (valleys), represented by present-day bays Purcell 2005; Antonioli et al. 2007; Surić 2009; and channels, aligned in parallel with the coast Faivre et al. 2010, 2011, 2013; Lambeck et al. and the main strike orientation of the Dinarides, 2010, 2011; Florido et al. 2011; Furlani et al. is especially well developed along the Dalmatian 2011, Marriner et al. 2014; Benjamin et al.