One of the main routes of the spread of farming into Europe follows the eastern Adriatic
coast as far north as the Caput Adriae, where the Karst is located: specific physiographic
conditions, history of field research and of studies make the Neolithisation of this area
similar but different from that of the surrounding ones.
In the Karst, since the first discovery of the Mesolithic in the Azzurra cave in the early
1960s, its presence has been detected in 18 cavities and 1 probable open-air site. The
following Neolithic – named Vlaška Group, Danilo-Vlaška, Gruppo dei vasi a coppa – is
recorded in 14 of these caves, but almost everywhere (with one possible significant
exception at Edera cave) after a sedimentological/chronological gap.
14C dates are few but would indicate that the Neolithic started at around 5600-5500 BC
and lasted for at least 1 millennium. Danilo-Vlaška materials – pottery, flaked blades and
polished stone axes, faunal remains of domesticated animals (mostly ovicaprines) – are
present in more than 40 caves in total, but in highly variable numbers, from one to many
hundreds, presumably due to the nature of modern discovery (occasional findings vs.
systematic excavations) on the one hand, and of ancient use on the other. Geoarchaeological
studies have in fact demonstrated that many caves were used by
shepherds with their flocks of sheep and goats for millennia, with variable intensity and
continuity. Archaeometric analyses of polished stone artefacts have contributed to
identifying the extent of their movements and to hypothesizing the exchange
mechanisms involved, in which the availability of sea salt along the coast could have
played an important role.
Under current paradigms, these data would suggest an “incomplete Neolithic package”,
but an alternative interpretation would value the smart site-specific adaptation of human
groups to Karst areas.
