The Croatian Adriatic [antikvár]

Tomislav MARASOVIC LEVELS OF CULTURE ON THE CROATIAN SHORE OF THE ADRIATIC Culturally, the Adriatic is the Republic of Croatia's most important macroregion. All past periods of history have left marks of the highest quality between Savudrija Point in Piran Bay in northern Istria and Prevlaka Point in the Gulf of Bokakotorska at the furthest end of Dalmatia. Life has continued uninterrupted on the east Adriatic coast and deep into its hinterland from the oldest times, and this enormous wealth of culture and art can still today be experienced. There are ancient cities and settlements, historic buildings and archaeological sites, and countless paintings, sculptures and works of applied art, most of them today found in Croatian Adriatic museums. The first traces of human settlements in Croatia date from the Early Stone Age (Palaeolithic). The remains of primeval man from Sandalj near Pula (over 800,000 years old) are among Europe's most valuable finds relating to the first human habitations (archanthrop). There are Late Stone Age (Neolithic) finds in the locality of Danilo near Sibenik. Of special importance are the remains of the Hvar Culture (between the fifth and third millennium B.C.), which include discoveries in Grabceva and Markova Caves on the island of Hvar and in other localities on neighbouring Dalmatian islands and on the mainland. Its variously coloured and decorated pottery proves that strong hnks with other Mediterranean centres of that period already existed. In the thousand years of the Bronze Age (between 1800 B.C. and 800 B.C.) pottery production continued on Hvar and in the Dalmatian hinterland (the so-called Cetina Culture), and the first settlements of pile dwellings appeared on the Adriatic rivers. The last millennium B.C. was the Iron Age and the time of the Illyrian tribes distributed along the east Adriatic shore and in its hinterland (the Histri in Istria, lapodi in Lika, Liburni in the north-Croatian Littoral, Delmatae in central Dalmatia, Daorsi in the Neretva region, Ardiaei in south Dalmatia). Their most important remains are numerous hillforts on the raised ground of coastal, island and hinterland areas, and grave mounds. Illyrian settlements like Nesaetium near Pula and in other lapodic and Liburnian localities enriched the Adriatic heritage with striking examples of plastic art and jewelry. With the Greek colonists came the urbanization of parts of the Croatian shore. Sailing in from various home ports, they brought with them their great experience in building cities, architecture, sculpture and pottery production. The Doric Syracusians came to the island of Vis in 389 B.C. and founded Issa, the first Greek colony in the eastern Adriatic. They brought all these specialist skills with them, and the Issaeians spread it further as they founded new towns on the islands (Lumbarda on Korcula) and the mainland (Salona,