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Early Neolithic communities in southern Dalmatia: Farming seafarers or seafaring farmers?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Bryon Bass
Bryon Bass*
Affiliation:
University of Zurich, Switzerland
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Abstract

Palaeoenvironmental data and vegetation histories derived from local datasets are examined in the light of Early Neolithic agro-pastoral activities and resource exploitation in the southeastern Adriatic Sea. Palynological evidence is summarized from three locations within the study area and compared to contemporaneous archaeological evidence. Coastal marine archaeological assemblages in the study area indicate that Early Neolithic inhabitants expended significant energy on terrestrial and marine hunting and gathering, and long distance maritime travel, well after the regional introduction of agro-pastoralism.

Données paléo-environnementales et histoire de la végétation, dérivées des ensembles de données locales sont examinées sous l'angle des activités agro-pastorales du Néolithique ancien et de l'exploitation des ressources dans la mer Adriatique du sud-est. On revient sur les évidences palynologiques provenant de trois endroits au sein de la région d'étude, et on les compare à des preuves archéologiques contemporaines. Les ensembles archéologiques marins et côtiers de la région étudiée indiquent que les hommes du Néolithique ancien déployaient considérablement d'énergie à la chasse terrestre et marine, au ramassage ainsi qu'aux voyages maritimes à longue distance; et cela longtemps après l'introduction régionale de l'agro-pastoralisme.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden Daten zur Paläo-Umwelt und zur Vegetationsgeschichte, die aus lokalen Datenserien gewonnen wurden, im Bezug auf ackerbäuerlich-viehzüchterische Aktivitäten und Ressourcenausbeutung der südöstlichen Adria untersucht. Von drei Plätzen im Bearbeitungsgebiet werden palynologische Belege zusammengefasst und mit Daten aus gleichzeitigen archäologischen Kontexten verglichen.

Marine archäologische Fundkomplexe des Küstenraumes des Arbeitsgebietes weisen darauf hin, dass die frühneolithischen Bewohner noch eine geraume Zeit nach der regionalen Einführung der bäuerlichen Lebensweise große Energie für das Jagen und Sammeln zu Land und zu Wasser sowie für weitreichende Reisen über See aufwendeten.

Keywords

Adriaticarchaeo-ethnobotanyDalmatiaEarly Neolithicmarine resource exploitationMljetpalaeoenvironmentpalynologySušacAdriatiquearchéo-ethnobotaniqueDalmatieNéolithique ancienexploitation des ressources maritimesMljetpaléo-environnementpalynologieSušacAdriaDalmatienMljetSušacFrühneolithikumAusbeutung mariner RessourcenPaläo-UmweltArchäoethnobotanikPalynologie
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 11 , Issue 2-3 , 2008 , pp. 245 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Sage Publications 

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