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The last hunter-gatherers of the central and western Mediterranean are associated with the Castelnovian technocomplex, which developed during the seventh millennium BC and is characterized mainly by its lithic industries, which reflect important changes that occurred during the Late Mesolithic: debitage from this time is oriented towards blade production by pressure-flaking and the manufacture of special tools, such as trapezes (made by the microburin technique) and notched blades. Although rare, Castelnovian sites have been identified in the wider Adriatic region of south-central Italy, Albania, Montenegro and the Italian and Slovenian Karst. However, it seems that the Croatian coast and its hinterland in the eastern Adriatic lack any traces. No sites were found in Dalmatia and only a few questionable surface finds come from Istria. This study explores whether this absence is due to historical factors, such as depopulation during the Late Mesolithic or the region being outside the Castelnovian expansion route, or whether it is because of a combination of taphonomic causes (such as loss of sites by marine transgression) and lack of previous research. The paper also focuses on the hypothesis that the presence of the last hunter-gatherers can be detected indirectly through the persistence of Castelnovian elements in the oldest Neolithic Impressed Ware assemblages of the eastern Adriatic. I further propose that Castelnovian traits are observable in the Impressed Ware assemblages of Istria. This Mesolithic tradition consists of the use of local flint, blade production by indirect percussion and ‘simpler’ forms of pressure flaking in lithic production, while marine resources remain an important food resource.

Vorganjska peć važno je prapovijesno pećinsko nalazište smješteno na padini brda Organ iznad Batomlja kraj Baške na otoku Krku. Sredinom 20. stoljeća ovo, kao i druga pećinska nalazišta na kvarnerskim otocima, počinje istraživati Vladimir Mirosavljević. Zahvaljujući rezultatima njegovih istraživanja Vorganjska peć, zajedno s Jami na Sredi na otoku Cresu te Velom špiljom na otoku Lošinju, postaje značajan izvor podataka o neolitiku Kvarnera i time neizostavni dio rasprava o tome razdoblju na istočnojadranskoj obali. Kako istraživanja nikad nisu u cijelosti objavljena, revizijsko arheološko iskopavanje provedeno je kao provjera davno prikupljenih podataka o načinima korištenja špilje tijekom prapovijesti. Rezultati istraživanja dali su uvid u stratigrafski slijed intaktnih prapovijesnih arheoloških depozita s nalazima koji pripadaju razdoblju ranoga i srednjega neolitika. Analiza stratifikacije i prikupljenih pokretnih arheoloških nalaza doprinosi širenju uvida u kompleksne mehanizme procesa neolitizacije istočnoga Jadrana te govori o nedvojbenom informativnom i interpretativnom značenju ovoga nalazišta za razmatranja problematike sjevernojadranskoga neolitika

The beginning of the Neolithic in the Adriatic region dates back to approximately 6000 cal BC. The appearance of Impressed Ware pottery in an area that roughly covers the Strait of Otranto to the coastal plains of Southern Istria marks its generic development. By combining lithic, economic and paleoenvironmental data we propose a new arrhythmic model for framing Neolithisation in the Adriatic region. One the one hand, the data available suggest that in the south-central part of the basin (Dalmatia and Apulia) the transition to farming was relatively quick, resulting from the colonisation of an open landscape (seemingly linked to the “8, 2 ka event” and the installation of a dry climate). These newcomers settled mostly in the fertile plains of the Dalmatian and Apulian hinterland, basing their subsistence almost exclusively on agriculture and livestock, while the lithic blade production made of cherts from Gargano (southern Italy) testifies to important social aspects and complex management strategies (mining activities, more complex modes of pressure, specialized distribution networks). On the other hand, in the Northern Adriatic (Istria, Karst, Po plain? Marches?) the Neolithic emerged a bit later, possibly as a result of some form of acculturation. Although the data available are still scarce, some evidence suggest that the last Mesolithic groups played an active role in the process of neolithisation in these areas, as the presence of Castelnovian sites is documented and certain Castelnovian traditions are identified in the Impressed Ware lithic production (the use of local flint, lamellar production by indirect percussion and “simpler” forms of pressure flaking) and in the economy e.g. importance of fishing.

The lithic assemblages from the principal early Neolithic sites in Northern Dalmatia have been analysed with respect to the technological aspects and principles of schéma and chaîne opératoire, débitage economy and raw material economy. Northern Dalmatia, the most fertile region of the Eastern Adriatic, hosts the most important Neolithic open-air sites. Early Neolithic is associated with the Impressed Ware culture and dates back to c. 6000–5400 cal BC. The Early Neolithic lithic assemblages are characterized by the pressure blade production techniques on high-quality Gargano cherts reflecting important socio-economic and technical mutations that are specific to the Neolithic. Moreover, the almost exclusive reliance on these exogenous cherts emphasizes the social aspects of such networks and reinforces the idea of cultural uniformity of Dalmatian and Apulian Impressed Ware.

The Dalmatian coast has been occupied by Neolithic seafaring communities since the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. On the basis of pottery styles, a transition between the Impressed Ware and Danilo culture is defined, around 5300 cal BC. Nevertheless, bioarchaeological and archaeological data indicate general continuity between the two periods. In the current paper, we present an integrated technological and use-wear study of a large selection of lithics from several sites of both inland and insular Dalmatia. The results provide strong evidence for a change in harvesting techniques between the Impressed Ware and Danilo cultural phases. This change can be related to the pursuit of better performing inserts that could be used for longer periods and would be quicker to resharpen. Such a switch may have been associated with an initial increase in agricultural production during the Middle Neolithic.

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