Lithic Assemblages from Nakovana (Croatia)

Raw Material Procurement and Reduction Technology from the Early Neolithic until the End of Prehistory

Authors

  • Stašo Forenbaher Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb
  • Zlatko Perhoč Institut für Geowissenschaften, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.35405

Keywords:

Adriatic Bronze Age, chert, lithic technology, Neolithic, raw materials

Abstract

A large and complex lithic collection from Pelješac, a peninsula on the eastern Adriatic seaboard of southern Croatia, provides extensive information about raw materials, formal typology, and technology of flaked stone artifacts from the Early Neolithic up to the Iron Age. Most of the evidence comes from two stratified sites: a cave named Spila and the hillfort of Grad, both located on the Nakovana Plateau. The most conspicuous characteristic of the Nakovana lithic collection is continuity, both in production technology and in the choice of raw material. Changes are manifest in frequencies of lithic artifact classes, rather than in kinds of lithic artifacts. Virtually all the lithics are made of cherts imported from the Gargano Peninsula, which testifies to persistent trans-Adriatic connections throughout post-Mesolithic prehistory. Prismatic blades were brought to Nakovana as finished products. They are present from the Early Neolithic, their frequencies peak during the Copper Age, and they disappear from the record soon after the transition to the Bronze Age. An ad hoc flake-production technology is present throughout the sequence, but its importance diminishes as the prismatic blade technology takes over. After the disappearance of prismatic blades, Bronze Age lithic assemblages consist mainly of flakes and expedient flake-based tools. While the Nakovana sites did not yield any Mesolithic finds, comparison with other eastern Adriatic sites indicates that raw material procurement patterns changed radically at the time of the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, which also coincided with the introduction of prismatic blade technology.

Author Biographies

  • Stašo Forenbaher, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb
    Stašo Forenbaher is Research Advisor at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia. He received his PhD from Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas. His research interests cover Mediterranean prehistory, with a focus on the Adriatic, and include the transition to farming, the formation of early elites, the archaeology of caves, and lithic analysis.
  • Zlatko Perhoč, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
    Zlatko Perhoč received his BA in archaeology from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and is currently working on his doctoral thesis at the Institut für Geowissenschaften, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg. His research interests cover Adriatic prehistory, with a focus on the provenance of raw materials used for lithic artifacts.

Published

2018-01-11

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Forenbaher, S., & Perhoč, Z. (2018). Lithic Assemblages from Nakovana (Croatia): Raw Material Procurement and Reduction Technology from the Early Neolithic until the End of Prehistory. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 30(2), 189-211. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.35405