University of Birmingham Assessing the Environment

University of Birmingham Assessing the environment archaeology of the Cetina Valley, Croatia Smith, David; Gaffney, Vincent; Howard, Andrew; Smith, W; Tetlow, Emma DOI: 10.1179/174963106x123197 Document Version Early version, also known as pre-print Citation for published version (Harvard): Smith, D, Gaffney, V, Howard, A, Smith, W & Tetlow, E 2006, 'Assessing the environment archaeology of the Cetina Valley, Croatia', Environmental Archaeology, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1179/174963106x123197 Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. 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Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive. If you believe that this is the case for this document, please contact [email protected] providing details and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate. Download date: 23. Sep. 2021 Assessing the later prehistoric environmental archaeology and landscape development of the Cetina Valley, Croatia David Smith, Vince Gaffney, Darja Grossman, Andy J. Howard, Ante Milosˇevic´, Krisˇtof Ostir, Tomasˇ Podobnikar, Wendy Smith, Emma Tetlow, Martin Tingle and Heather Tinsley This paper describes preliminary work on the environmental and archaeological potential of the Cetina River Valley, Croatia. Two seasons of fieldwork and assessment have suggested that the valley contains a preserved landscape, much of which is waterlogged. It is clear that there is the potential to address many local and regional questions concerning land use, subsistence and environmental change in an area where previously only limited environmental archaeology has been undertaken. One pressing issue is how to prospect for both cultural and environmental archaeological deposits within this regional landscape. This is especially true in cases where little ‘base-line data’ exists. This paper outlines the current practice and suggests a number of new approaches to prospecting for environmental ‘hotspots’. Keywords: environmental prospection, Cetina Valley, Dalmatia, Lidar Geology and topographical background the catchment and include dolomitic limestone and The Cetina River rises from a spring at Milasˇevo and flysch. The underlying karst geology controls relief flows a distance of 105 km to the Adriatic Sea with a series of structurally aligned basins separated (Fig. 1). In total, the drainage area of the catchment by high ridges, forming a dramatic landscape. is around 12,000 km2 (Bonacci and Roje-Bonacci The Cetina Valley itself (Figs. 2 and 3) is divided 2003). Today the river has an annual discharge of into four large flat-bottomed basins (known locally as 105 m2 s21 as a consequence of a mean annual the ‘polje’ or ‘fields’) linked by narrow valley floors. rainfall of 1380mm (Bonacci and Roje-Bonacci 2003). The two smaller basins in the north of the area, Pasˇko The Cetina Valley is bounded to the east by the and Vrlicˇko Polje, are at present not used for bulk of the Dinaric Alps, which rise to an altitude of agricultural production. South of the modern reser- 2000 m, and to the west by Mount Svilaja (1500 m). voir at Perucá, the small basin of Hrvatacˇko is again The majority of the catchment drains calcareous mainly uncultivated. It contains the Roman colonia ˇ rocks of Cretaceous age, predominantly limestone. at Citluk and to the south is bounded by the dramatic Rocks of Triassic and Jurassic age also crop out in limestone ridge at Glavice. The southern basin, Sinjsko Polje, is approximately 6 km by 4 km and is the main area of cultivation around the small town of Sinj. The landscape is characterised by channalised David Smith (corresponding author), Vince Gaffney, Andy Howard, Wendy Smith and Emma Tetlow, the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, drainage ditches, lines of willow trees, long open University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; e-mail: fields and black peaty soils. To the British observer, it [email protected]; Darja Grossman, Department of Archaeology, Zavetiska 5, PO Box 580, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Ante Milosˇevic´, is strikingly reminiscent of the Somerset Levels (see Muzej Hrvatskih Arheolosˇkih Spomenika, Stjepana Gunjacˇeb.b,HR- Coles and Coles 1988). A modern bridge is located 21000 Split, Croatia; Krisˇtof Ostir, Tomasˇ Podobnikar, Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies at Scientific Research Centre of just below the confluence of the Cetina with the Ruda Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Gosposka 13, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Martin Tingle, Dial House, High Street, Creaton, River at Trilj. South of this, the Cetina River flows Northamptonshire NN6 8NA, UK; Heather Tinsley, School of Geographical through a series of narrow gorges before it enters Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK. Received November 2004; revised manuscript accepted October 2005 the sea through the passage at Omisˇ. A more easily ß 2006 Association for Environmental Archaeology Published by Maney DOI 10.1179/174963106x123197 Environmental Archaeology 2006 VOL 11 NO 2 171 Smith et al. The Cetina Valley, Croatia functioned as a principal trade route between the Dalmatian coast and the central Balkans. Strategically, its position has been pivotal to the development not only of the Balkans, but also of significant parts of Europe. Although surveyed by Dr Ante Milosˇevic´ and colleagues at the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments (Milosˇevic´ 1998), the area has never been the subject of a major academic landscape and environmental archaeology research programme, despite its long chronology of habitation. The earliest evidence for agricultural activity is from the Early Neolithic, recorded in the upper Cetina Valley (Mu˝ller 1994). In the Early Bronze Age the Cetina Culture, a geographically pervasive group with contacts throughout the Adriatic basin became dominant (Marovic´ 2002; Marovic´ and Cˇ ovic´ 1983). Extensive ‘mound fields’ are recorded on the lower valley slopes at several locations such as around Cetina, Vrlika and Bajagic´. The core area of the Figure 1 The location of the Cetina Valley culture has never been adequately defined or dated, though the Cetina Valley appears to be particularly passable way out of Sinjsko Polje for both the ancient ‘wealthy’ when compared with other contemporary and modern traveller lies to the south-east of Sinj areas of the Balkans (Marovic´ 2002; Marovic´ and through the narrow gorge at Klis that passes through Cˇ ovic´ 1983). The economy and landscape, which was the coastal mountains behind Split. the basis for this rich culture, has not been studied in detail. The evidence for the nature of settlement in the Archaeological and environmental background: valley at this time is limited, but where it exists it is Cetina in context dramatic. In the early 1950s, Marovic´ (2002) exca- In terms of both archaeology and history, the Cetina vated a number of exceptionally well preserved Valley and the narrow passage at Klis have always Bronze and Early Iron Age timber settlements along Figure 2 Sketch map of the topography of the Cetina Valley 172 Environmental Archaeology 2006 VOL 11 NO 2 Smith et al. The Cetina Valley, Croatia Figure 4 Pollen sites from the Balkans and North Mediterranean (taken from the European Data Base for pollen (www.ngdc.noaa.gov)) provincial capital at Salona. The valley also contains the colony at Aequum (Cˇ itluk). During the early medieval period, toponymic evidence suggests that the Cetina Valley and perhaps the Cetina River itself, became a frontier between Slavic and Late Roman power. The area around Sinj eventually emerged as a centre of Slavic power ultimately establishing itself as a heartland of the Early Croatian State. Figure 3 Hrvatacˇko Polje and Sinjsko Polje showing the location of the sites investigated During later periods the area was highly contested and passed between a number of regional and local the river (Cˇ ovic´ 1987, 444-5; Marovic´ 2002), which powers before conquest by the Ottoman Empire are assumed to be contemporary with multi-period during the early 16th century and re-organisation as hillforts that dominate the surrounding uplands. part of the Klis Sandjak after which, it retained a As in other parts of Europe (Bradley 1998), the frontier role until the re-conquest of the area 150 river appears to have been the focus of the intentional years later (Malcolm 1994, 90). This period is deposition of artefacts throughout prehistory. This is particularly known for the construction of a number particularly true at the confluence of the Cetina and of dramatically positioned castles, such as that at Ruda Rivers at Trilj. In recent years several hundred Klis, as well as others at key ‘choke points’ in the metal objects have been recovered from the riverbed Cetina gorge downstream of Trilj. including 30 Greeco-Illyrian helmets, over 15 Iron In contrast to this rich and dramatic archaeological Age swords, and even weaponry associated with the and historical record, there is an almost complete Roman legions (Milosˇevic´ 1998).

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