Early farming in Dalmatia : Pokrovnik and Danilo Bitinj : two Neolithic villages in Southeast Europe / Andrew Moore [and fourteen others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Moore, A. M. T. (Andrew Michael Tangye), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Excavations (Archaeology)--Croatia--Dalmatia.

Excavations (Archaeology).

Dalmatia (Croatia)--Antiquities.

Dalmatia (Croatia).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (119 pages) : illustrations (some color), 1 map

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Archaeopress Publishing Limited, [2019]

Summary:

The origins and spread of farming are vital subjects of research, notably because agriculture makes possible our modern world. The Early Farming in Dalmatia Project is investigating the expansion of farming from its centre of origin in western Asia through the Mediterranean into southern Europe. This multidisciplinary ecological project combines comprehensive recovery of archaeological materials through excavation with landscape studies. It addresses several key questions, including when and how farming reached Dalmatia, what was the nature of this new economy, and what was its impact on the local environment. Excavations at Danilo Bitinj and Pokrovnik have demonstrated that their inhabitants were full-time farmers. The two sites were among the largest known Neolithic villages in the eastern Adriatic. A comprehensive program of AMS dating indicates that together they were occupied from c. 8,000 to 6,800 cal BP. Our research has begun to illuminate the details of their farming system, as well as the changes that took place in their way of life through the Neolithic. Their economy was derived from western Asia and it is likely that their ancestors came from there also. It was these people who brought agriculture and village life to the Adriatic and to the rest of the central and western Mediterranean. Once in place, this farming economy persisted in much the same form from the Neolithic down to the present.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents Page

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Background to the research

Inception of the project

Selection of Danilo and Pokrovnik

Figure 1. Location map of Pokrovnik and Danilo, and other key sites mentioned in the text.

Figure 2. Aerial view of the Danilo Valley looking west. The site of Danilo Bitinj is in the middle distance

the Adriatic Sea is visible on the horizon (photo Šibenik Museum).

Figure 3. Aerial view of the site of Danilo Bitinj, looking southeast (photo Šibenik Museum).

Figure 4. View of the site of Pokrovnik from the northeast. The Pećina spring is in the grove of hackberry trees to the left of center.

History of research at Danilo Bitinj and Pokrovnik

Excavations at Danilo Bitinj and Pokrovnik 2003-2006

Danilo 2003-2005

Methods of excavation

The excavations at Danilo in 2004 and 2005

Pokrovik 2004-2006

The excavation

Figure 5. The site of Danilo from the northeast. The Dabar stream runs along the far side of the site beside the valley road.

Figure 6. Plan of the site of Danilo showing the locations of the trenches we excavated. The locations of the trenches dug by Korošec (1953, 1955) and Menđušić (1992) are also indicated.

Figure 7. Danilo, Trench A. General view of the Neolithic deposits looking southwest. Scale 2 m.

Figure 8. Danilo, Trench A. Burial of a young child (Level 48, object number DA05 A895) beside a hearth, upper left, looking northwest. Scale 10 cm.

Figure 9. Danilo, Trench B. The gully. Scale 1 m.

Figure 10. Danilo, Trench C. Pits and postholes dug into the clay subsoil. Scale 1 m.

Figure 11. Danilo, Trench E. The outline of a rectangular, single-roomed house. Scale 1 m.

Figure 12. Danilo, Trench E. Stake impressions in the subsoil. Scale 1 m.

Figure 13. View of the site of Pokrovnik from the Gradina hill looking northwest. The Čikola Gorge is visible in the middle distance.

Figure 14. Location of the four trenches we excavated in a single field that transected the site.

Figure 15. Plan of the site of Pokrovnik showing the locations of the trenches we excavated and also those excavated by Brusić in 1979.

Figure 16. Pokrovnik, Trench D. View of a massive wall in the Impressed Ware levels from the north. Scale 1m.

Figure 17. Pokrovnik, Trench A. View of a massive wall in the Impressed Ware levels and a pit dug from the overlying Danilo phase, looking north. Scales 1m.

Figure 19. Pokrovnik, Trench D. A seated baked clay female figurine from the Impressed Ware levels. (Level 22, object number PK06 D380

Scale 5 cm.)

Chronology of Pokrovnik and Danilo

Pottery from Pokrovnik and Danilo

Figure 20. Impressed Ware/Impresso pottery from Pokrovnik, illustrating characteristic shapes and decoration.

Figure 21. Danilo pottery from Pokrovnik and Danilo, illustrating characteristic shapes and decoration.

Pottery and the Early Farming in Dalmatia Project

Danilo Bitinj, Trench E

Decoration

Typology

Ceramic Technology at Danilo Bitinj, Trench E

Pokrovnik, Trench D

Evidence from the pottery for dairying at Pokrovnik and Danilo Bitinj

Conclusions

Table 2. Danilo Trench E pottery fragments.

Table 3. Decorations recorded among fragments at Danilo, Trench E.

Table 4. Lips, rims, handles and bases on fragments from Danilo Trench E.

Table 5. Manufacturing and paste characteristics at Danilo, Trench E (n=49

except where noted).

Table 7. Decorative techniques in Pokrovnik, Trench D, lower levels.

The chipped stone, stone tools and other artifacts

Chipped stone

Stone tools

Bone tools.

Table 8. The plant species with numbers of specimens recorded by Brusić in his excavations at Pokrovnik.

The plant remains from Danilo Bitinj and Pokrovnik

Earlier archaeobotanical studies at the two sites

Current archaeobotanical studies

The samples

Representation of crops and wild plants

Cereals

Pulses and oil plants

Wild plant foods

Discussion

Other wild taxa

Table 9. Volumes of soil processed by flotation at Pokrovnik and Danilo.

Table 10. Number of identified plant items recovered from Pokrovnik and Danilo.

Table 11. Average number of identified taxa per phase.

Table 12. Taxa identified in samples from Pokrovnik and Danilo.

Animal husbandry and environment

Bone preservation and recovery

Table 13. Preservation conditions at the two sites.

The faunal remains

Table 14. Percentages of species based upon counts of identified bones.

Table 15. Proportions of domestic species by mandible count*.

Table 16. Ratio of identified caprine mandibles to identified limb bones at various sites.

The mammalian species found at Pokrovnik and Danilo

Domestic Species

Pig, Sus scrofa.

Sheep, Ovis musimon, and Goat, Capra aegagrus

Cattle, Bos taurus

The wild species

Red deer, Cervus elaphus

Roe deer, Capreolus capreolus

The hare, Lepus capensis

Table 17. Ages of cattle from Pokrovnik and Danilo.

Table 18. Measurements of hare bones (mm)

The fauna of Pokrovnik and Danilo: environmental and economic considerations

Marine shells

Materials, methods and results

Table 19. Bivalve shells by taxa collected in the excavations at Danilo in 2004 and 2005, and at Pokrovnik in 2006.

Table 20. Finds of bivalve shell fragments by taxa collected in the excavations at Danilo in 2004 and 2005, and at Pokrovnik in 2006.

Table 21. Bivalve shells and shell fragments found by taxa collected in excavations at Danilo in 2004 and 2005, and at Pokrovnik in 2006.

Table 22. Bivalve taxa collected in research at Danilo in 1953, 2004 and 2005, and at Pokrovnik in 2006.

Geomorphology and soils in the vicinity of Danilo and Pokrovnik

Paleoclimatic and physiographic setting

Site pedology and geomorphology

Contemporary vegetation around Danilo and Pokrovnik

The agricultural survey

Commentary on results achieved thus far and their significance

References.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781789691597

1789691591