Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Vlakno Cave on the island of Dugi otok (Dalmatia, Croatia) – lithic perspective.

In this paper we present the results of the analysis of lithic industry from Vlakno Cave, which was discovered during excavations in 2004 and 2007. Radiocarbon dating positions the analysed lithic industry at the time of Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The technological and typological features of the lithic production show continuity during the abovementioned transition. Very clear continuity may also be observed in terms of the procurement of raw material, albeit with certain differences between the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, which could be the result of environmental changes. Certain adaptations of the hunter-gatherers from Vlakno to new environmental circumstances can also be traced through the more significant role of marine food sources and continental malacofauna in subsistence strategies during the Mesolithic. Vlakno cave was used as a residential base of a smaller group of hunter-gatherers at the time of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]