engleski

14C dating of Neolithic cultures in Croatia

Two early Neolithic settlements, Slavonski Brod – Galovo and Zadubravlje – Dužine in Eastern Croatia have been studied by both archaeological methods and 14C dating. Both settlements belong to the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture complex according to the typological and stylistic analyses of archaeological material. 17 dated charcoal and wood samples from Galovo and 8 samples from Zadubravlje have shown that the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture lasted over an extended duration of about 1000 years: for Galovo we found the time span 6050 – 5000 cal BC and for Zadubravlje 6000 – 5050 cal BC. Galovo is the oldest settlement where the residential part and the ritual-burial areas were strictly defined and separated by wooden fences. Archaeological methods applied resulted in the discovery of two construction phases (vertical stratigraphy) of the settlement development, which were proved by 14C dates. On the other hand, various pits that were not physically connected to each other contained pottery and other artefacts of the same type (horizontal stratigraphy) and it was not possible to distinguish their age by the archaeological findings only. The 14C dates placed the two pits to the youngest phase of the settlement, allowing thus, for the first time, a scientifically-founded portrayal of the horizontal stratigraphy of one of the oldest Early Neolithic settlements in continental Croatia. Excavations performed this year in the settlement Galovo resulted in an unexpected finding: an object above the ground level, of size 7  7 m. Until now, the objects above ground level were found at sites belonging to the later phases of the Starčevo culture, about 1000 years later than showed by the 14C dates of Galovo. Dating of the object is in course and the result will be presented here for the first time.

14C dating; archaeology; neolithic; Starčevo culture; Sl. Brod - Galovo; Zadubravlje - Dužine

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