As a part of the multidisciplinary project entitled ‘Archaeological Investigations into the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of the Lim Channel, Istria’, archaeological research has been conducted at four sites: Romuald's Cave, Abri Kontija 002, Pećina at Rovinjsko Selo and Lim 001 (Figure 1). There is much debate on issues related to biological and behavioural continuity, to patterns of changes and adaptations during this crucial period, and to external factors (e.g. changes in ecology and climate). For example, a clearer insight is needed into how climatic change affects the ecology of specific regions, including changing sea levels. Additionally, there continues to be debate centring on who produced the earliest (Initial) Upper Palaeolithic industries in Europe. To achieve a more precise insight into long-term diachronic changes and cultural relations around the Adriatic, and to document the presence of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic humans in Istria, we concentrated on a single microregion (the Lim Channel in Istria, Croatia). Here we report work on the two sites that to date have yielded Pleistocene material: Romuald's Cave and Abri Kontija 002.

Underwater cultural heritage sites are subject to constant change, whether due to natural forces such as sediments, waves, currents or human intervention. Until a few decades ago, the documentation and research of these sites was mostly done manually by diving archaeologists. This paper presents the results of the integration of remote sensing technologies with autonomous marine vehicles in order to make the task of site documentation even faster, more accurate, more efficient and more precisely georeferenced. It includes the integration of multibeam sonar, side scan sonar and various cameras into autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle. In total, case studies for nine underwater cultural heritage sites around the Mediterranean region are presented. Each case study contains a brief archaeological background of the site, the methodology of using autonomous marine vehicles and sensors for their documentation, and the results in the form of georeferenced side-scan sonar mosaics, bathymetric models or reconstructed photogrammetric models. It is important to mention that this was the first time that any of the selected sites were documented with sonar technologies or autonomous marine vehicles. The main objective of these surveys was to document and assess the current state of the sites and to establish a basis on which future monitoring operations could be built and compared. Beyond the mere documentation and physical preservation, examples of the use of these results for the digital preservation of the sites in augmented and virtual reality are presented.

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S.M.S. Szent Istvan, the only ship belonging to the Hungarian monarchy, met her end on June 10th 1918 shortly before dawn. It was sunk by Italian torpedo boats. On the 101st anniversary of this event the shipwreck was recorded for the first time by a multibeam sonar-mounted autonomous surface vehicle. The shipwreck has already suffered irreversible degradation of her steel and iron hull. Thus, the main objective of the bathymetric surveys was to assess the current state of the shipwreck and to set up a foundation which future monitoring operations could be built upon and compared with.

Kaštel Štafilić – Resnik prvi je sustavno istraživan podvodni paleolitički lokalitet u Hrvatskoj. Lokalitet je smješten u Kaštelanskom zaljevu u srednjoj Dalmaciji koja je, kao i cijeli jadranski bazen, prošla kroz geomorfološke promjene uzrokovane, među ostalim i marinskom transgresijom. Podizanje razine mora na prijelazu iz pleistocena u holocen utjecalo je na destrukciju pleistocenskih slojeva i potapanje lokaliteta. Nalazi su tipološki smješteni u mustjersku kulturu, uz iznimku nekolicine nalaza koji pripadaju gornjem paleolitiku. U radu su predstavljeni rezultati tehnološke i tipološke analize nalaza koje je prikupio I. Svilan u Kaštelanskom zaljevu i, po prvi puta, sirovinske analize litičkih nalaza iz sustavnih istraživanja, ali i iz zbirke I. Svilana, koji potvrđuju Kaštelanski zaljev kao mjesto boravka neandertalaca u srednjem paleolitiku.