A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 36. - 1994 (Nyíregyháza, 1995)

Paolo Biagi–Barbara A. Voytek: The Neolithisation of the Trieste Karst in North-Eastern Italy and its neighbouring countries

The Neolithisation of the Trieste Karst in ... by spring zones. These sites are characterized by cylindrical rubbish and, more rarely, storage pits, which have been somewhat damaged by recent agricultural activity. Even though the excavation of these settlements has been carried out on a rather limited scale, some observations can be made on their archaeological assemblages. Broadly speaking the pottery shapes show some similarities with those from the Early Neolithic cultures of the Po Valley by the presence of carinated handled cups, beakers, conical pots and pedestalled vases. Vague parallels with the Karst can only be extended to the presence of deep restricted-mouthed vessels and incised linear ornamentation, sometimes in the form of isosceles triangles. The flint tools, mainly obtained from goodquality Alpine material, are very similar to those from the Early Neolithic Po Plain villages of the Fiorano and Vhö Cultures. The industry consists almost exclusively of narrow bladelets. It includes burins on a side notch, long end scrapers with backed fronts, long straight perforators and rhomboids obtained with the microburin technique as well as a high percentage of end scrapers on blades and short end scrapers. These recall in terms of frequency Neolithic types from the Balkan sites (VOYTEK 1990.) including early Vinca assemblages. The greenstone tools from Sammardenchia are mainly polished from Piedmontese Western Alpine material (D'AMICO et al. 1992.). Their presence as well as that of one piece of obsidian of Carpathian provenance (RÄNDLE et al. 1993.) indicates that a long-distance trade network was already established between Friuli and the Western Alps as well as Central-Eastern Europe in the late 7th millennium BP. The observations are valid for the middle-low Friuli Plain, while new discoveries have recently been made along the actual shore-line of the Marano Lagoon. Little is known of the Neolithisation of this part of the north Adriatic coast even though one must consider that according to recent studies (BORTOLAMI et al. 1977.), the coastline was some 8-20 metres below the present sea-level, during the Early Atlantic at around 7000 BP. Considerations The Trieste Karst lies in a key area for understanding the relationship between the Neolithic cultures of the Dalmatian coast and the Friuli Plain in North-Eastern Italy. The 14C dates available from the Impressed Ware sites of Istria and Dalmatia (CHAPMAN et al. 1990., MÜLLER 1991.) generally predate the spread of the Danilo Culture, even though dates earlier than previously suspected have recently been published for this latter aspect (BATOVIC-CHAPMAN 1984.). The presence of the Impressed Ware Culture along the Italian North Adriatic is limited to a few potsherds recovered from unclear stratigraphic positions some of the Trieste cave sites. Better known is the so-called Vlaska tradition (BARFIELD 1972.) which recurs at a number of cave sites and has produced two dates very similar to the new ones from the Dalmatian coast Danilo Culture. The stratigraphy under study from the Grotta dell'Edera seems to support this view, even though the 14C dates from this site are not ready yet. Here the Vlaska horizon clearly lies above an Earlier Neolithic layer with a few atypical potsherds, a very specialized flint assemblage obtained from Komen raw material characterized by locally manufactured trapezoidal arrowheads and narrow bladelets. A change in the sedimentation of the cave also occurs after this earlier stage when the dark brown-brown clayey soil is substituted by the sandy-loamy deposit of yellowish brown colour that characterizes the Vlaska levels. The identification of Cotimis shrubs from this deposit should indicate that human activity on the landscape surrounding the cave had already affected the original woodland cover. In the Friuli Plain the appearance of the Neolithic seems to be a phenomenon clearly distinguished from that of the Karst. Here the Neolithic is known from several large open-air settlements from which has been documented an almost complete "Neolithic package", with the exception of the bone remains totally destroyed by the acidity of the soil. Seeds of domesticated barley and three types of wheat are known from Sammardenchia, where the evidence for prehistoric agriculture is further supported by upper and lower querns, sickle blades and greenstone tools. According to some authors (BAGOLINI et al. 1993.) the pottery decorations from the Early Neolithic sites of Friuli resemble some motifs seen in the Male Korenovo aspect of the Linear Pottery Culture of Croatia, whose distribution is bordered by the rivers Drava and Sava, east of Zagreb (TEZAK-GREGL 1993)- Examples of this pottery have been found amongst the Danilo assemblage, along the Adriatic coast at Smilcic (DIMITRIJEVIC 1979-). According to the same author this group is roughly contemporary with Vinca B (Early Vinca). Even though our knowledge of the Neolithisation of North-Eastern Italy has significantly increased during the last decade, many questions are still waiting to be answered. In fact, at least two areas lack reasonable archaeological data: the coastline with the problem of the sea-level rise and the shore retreat during the Early Holocene; and the basin of the river Sava up to the Tarvisio Pass, a natural wide saddle leading into Italy at an altitude of some 1000 metres, whose importance as a natural trade route between the Balkan Peninsula and North-Eastern Italy should be taken into greater consideration. Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 1994 65