It wasn’t until recently that the prehistoric pile-dwellings were thought to be a mostly Central European phenomenon. This sentiment has shifted in the last years and European pile-dwellings are currently being re-evaluated as part of large interdisciplinary and international projects focusing on other parts of the continent, especially the Balkans. This project aims to fill out the “blank” area on the prehistoric map between the Alps and the Balkans by researching three confirmed pile-dwellings in Croatia and starting the first prehistoric oak dendrochronological database there. Each of the three sites was carefully selected due to their specific surrounding environments – sea, river and marshland; and the different levels of research they represent. The submerged pile-dwelling in Zambratija Bay in the Northern Adriatic is the most researched of the three sites, whose 2008 discovery resurfaced an interest in prehistoric pile-dwellings within the local archaeological community. Preliminary research showed that Zambratija Bay is an excellent candidate for collecting wood samples for tree-ring dating and sediment analyses for modelling past sea-level and climate changes. The second site is located on a small islet of Dugiš on the Cetina River in the Dalmatian hinterland. Dugiš was excavated in the mid-20th century and the results revealed a Bronze Age fluvial pile-dwelling rivershore settlement with excellently preserved wooden remains, pottery and metal finds. The third site is in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region in the village of Budinščina where in the late 19th century, a local archaeologist described his findings from a drained artificial fishpond and compared it to the so-called Terramare culture, which at the time was synonymous to the newly discovered Italian pile-dwelling sites around the Alps. The site has never been excavated since. Several other prehistoric pile-dwellings have been confirmed in Croatia. Some of the project’s main objectives are publishing a comprehensive map of all known sites and collaborating with the local archaeological community to build capacity for further research.
Management: Dr. Katarina Jerbić
Duration: January 2023 – December 2024
Swiss National Science Foundation, SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship: TMPFP1_210241
