Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.33254/piaz.37.1

Traces of prehistoric human burials in the caves of the Dubrovnik area

Domagoj Perkić orcid.org/0000-0002-3815-9346 ; Dubrovnik Museums, Archaeological Museum, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Mario Novak orcid.org/0000-0002-4567-8742 ; Centre for Applied Bioanthropology of the Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Caves and other speleological features as archaeological sites can contain the remains of human bones. Most of these caves can be assumed to be a burial site, or a sort of a necropolis, but they can also contain single chance finds. The surrounding archaeological contexts or additional radiocarbon analyses of the bone samples lead us to conclude that they mostly originate from prehistoric periods. A similar situation can be seen in the wider Dubrovnik area, with analysed caves on the peninsula of Pelješac (Crno Jezero Cave in Ponikve, Gudnja Cave near Ston), the Dubrovnik littoral (Zmajeva Peć in Čepikuće), and the western part of the city of Dubrovnik (Vilina Cave above the source of the Ombla, Močiljska Cave above Mokošica, Kukova Peć in Brsečine). Bioarchaeological analyses have been done for some of the human osteological finds from these caves, complementing the scant information on caves as burial sites from the past.

Keywords

caves; necropolises; prehistory; Dubrovnik area; radiocarbon analysis; bioarchaeological analysis

Hrčak ID:

247804

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/247804

Publication date:

14.12.2020.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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