Original scientific paper
Lithic Artifacts from Nakovana (Pelješac): Continuity and Change from Early Neolithic until the End of Prehistory
Stašo Forenbaher
; Institute of Anthropology, Zagreb, Croatia
Zlatko Perhoč
; Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Abstract
This paper presents results of raw material, typological, and technological analyses of a large and complex lithic collection from Pelješac Peninsula in southern Dalmatia. Most of the evidence comes from two stratified sites, a cave named Spila and the hillfort of Grad that cover the time span from the Early Neolithic until the Iron Age. There is a pronounced continuity in the choice of raw material and in production technology. Virtually all lithics are made of cherts that were imported from Gargano Peninsula. Changes are manifest in frequencies of lithic artifact classes, rather than in kinds of lithic artifacts. Prismatic blades were brought to Nakovana as finished products. They are present since the Early Neolithic, gradually they become more common, their frequencies culminate during the Copper Age, and they disappear from the record after the Copper Age to Early Bronze Age transition. A simple flake tool production technology is present throughout the sequence. Its importance diminishes as the prismatic blade technology takes over, but after the disappearance of prismatic blades, Bronze Age lithic assemblages contain almost nothing else but products of flake technology.
Keywords
lithic technology; raw materials; chert; Neolithic; Copper Age; Bronze Age; Adriatic
Hrčak ID:
148843
URI
Publication date:
9.12.2015.
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