LE COPPE SU PIEDE DEL CARSO TRIESTINO: CONTATTI E SCAMBI NEL III MILLENNIO A.C. TRA CAPUT ADRIAE ED EUROPA CENTRALE

One of the most interesting finds of the III millennium BC are undoubtedly the cross-footed bowls distributed over a large area of Central and Southeast Europe. They are particularly numerous in the sites ascribed to the Vučedol culture and also appear in other closely related contemporary or partly contemporary cultures in Southern and Central Europe. These bowls, which are in a different state of preservation, have also been found in six caves in the Trieste Karst: Ciclami, Cotariova, Pettine, Edera, Zingari and Pettirosso (fig. 1; 2). The main feature of the Karst bowls are the rich decorations, mostly executed with impressions of double twisted cord. Several scientists have linked these bowls, together with other finds from the Trieste Karst, with the finds from the Deschmann's pile-dwellings near Ig in the Ljubljansko barje in central Slovenia. In the latter pile dwellings this type of bowl is particularly numerous (fig. 3) and is related to the recently redefined Ljubljansko barje variant of the Vučedol culture. According to the latest study (Leghissa, 2017), two main phases in the life of the Deschmann's pile dwellings can be identified: the older phase is characterized by ceramics attributed to the variant of the Vučedol culture and those indicating an influential sphere of the Central European cultures. The younger phase is attributed to the recently redefined Ljubljana Culture, which comprises fine-grained vessels decorated with impressions of cord wrapped around a plate, and mostly undecorated fine and coarse ware, which bears numerous similarities to the ceramics of the Somogyvar-Vinkovci and Mako-Kosihy-Čaka cultures. With the aim of identifying possible imports and other links between the areas studied, an international team (University of Trieste; Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste; Multidisciplinary Laboratory of the The "Abdus Salam" International Center for Theoretical Physics; ZRC SAZU, Institute of Archeology, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Budapest Neutron Center, Hungary) has carried out several traditional and innovative scientific analyses on a large number of samples. Mostly non-destructive analyses were carried out, in particular X-ray computed microtomography (microCT) and Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA). The analyses showed that only one bowl from the Karst (n. 139461 from Cotariova - fig. 2 n. 4) could have been imported from Ljubljansko barje. Another 4 Karst bowls (n. 20591 from Ciclami - fig. 2 n. 1; n. 20419 from Cotariova - fig. 2 n. 3; nn. 139463 e 139462 from Pettine - fig. 2 nn. 7, 8) were most likely also imported, but not from central Slovenia. According to the results of the PGAA analysis, including a relatively high K2O content, and comparative typological data, two bowls (n. 20591 from Ciclami and n. 20419 from Cotariova; figs. 12, 13) could have been imported from Central Europe.