Investigating the Submerged Prehistory of the Eastern Adriatic:

Stable Isotope Palaeodietary and Radiocarbon Evidence from the Early Neolithic Site of Zemunica, Dalmatia, Croatia

“…Archaeological faunal remains from the wider region show that wild terrestrial and aquatic (freshwater and marine) resources were available locally during all periods dating back to at least the Late Upper Palaeolithic (Schwartz, 1988;Miracle et al, 2000;Miracle, 2001;Komšo, 2008;Rainsford et al, 2014). Palaeoenvironmental analyses confirm that the relative sea level in the area during the Neolithic was roughly comparable with that of the present (van Andel, 1990;Šegota, 1991;Forenbaher, 2002;Benjamin et al, 2011). For this reason, the proximity of the Zemuncia cave to the current coastline (about 25 km away) suggests that Neolithic people could have had access to marine foods.…”

Croatia: Submerged Prehistoric Sites in a Karstic Landscape

“…One is in the shallow bay of Veruda south of Pula where dredging of the harbour recovered two polished axe heads made of volcanic rocks, chipped stone artefacts made of local dark chert, and a shaft-hole axe ( Fig. 18.8; Mihovilić 1992Mihovilić , 1995aBenjamin et al 2011). At the second site on the shore of Cape Gale in Peroj, potsherds, some 500 stone artefacts made on chert, other stone tools, and faunal remains have been found in the intertidal zone to a depth of c. 0.5 m. However, their status as evidence of a submerged settlement is unclear since they could have been eroded from a settlement located on the presentday shoreline.…”

“…Elsewhere, Eneolithic material found underwater is limited to chance finds of limited material or uncertain provenance. These include pottery fragments found beneath a c. 200-year-old wooden ship's hull between the islands of Oruda and Palacol at a depth of 5 m (Mihajlović 2011;Benjamin et al 2011) and long chert blades and core fragments disturbed by ship propellers at a depth of 5-6 m at Baška Voda near Makarska (Zubčić 2004;Benjamin and Črešnar 2009;Benjamin et al 2011). Perhaps the most intriguing find is a submerged structure at Ljubačka Vala 2.6 m below present sea level east of the Gulf of Nin (Parica and Ilkić 2017).…”

“…Underwater archaeological research in Croatia, as in many other Mediterranean countries, focused for decades mainly on Classical Antiquity, thanks to abundant evidence relating to Greek and Roman seafaring (Vrsalović 2011). Submerged prehistoric sites were rarely reported in archaeological bibliographies (e.g., Brusić 1977;Mihovilić 1992Mihovilić , 1995a, and it is only during the past decade that increased attention has been paid to this theme, notably an overview of selected finds by Benjamin et al (2011).…”

“…During the past decade, several factors have promoted new interest in the detection and interpretation of submerged prehistoric sites. These include more detailed investigation of sea-level change and submerged karstic features (Benac et al 2004(Benac et al , 2008Surić et al 2004Surić et al , 2005Surić 2009;Surić and Juračić 2010;Faivre et al 2010;Furlani et al 2011;Marriner et al 2014;Radić Rossi and Cukrov 2017;Lončar et al 2017Lončar et al , 2018Faivre and Butorac 2018;Radić Rossi et al 2018), leading to increased awareness of the prehistoric archaeological potential of the Croatian seabed (Benjamin and Črešnar 2009;Benjamin et al 2011) and of the threats to the coastal and underwater heritage posed by construction works and environmental change .…”