Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T09:03:34.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pioneers in the hills: Early Mesolithic foragers at Šebrn Abri (Istria, Croatia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Preston Miracle ,
Nena Galanidou  and
Stašo Forenbaher
Preston Miracle
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Nena Galanidou
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Stašo Forenbaher
Affiliation:
Institute for Anthropological Research, Ilica, Zagreb, Croatia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the strategies used by early Mesolithic people as they moved into the karstic uplands of north-eastern Istria, Croatia. These strategies are inferred from detailed analyses of the lithic and faunal assemblages from Šebrn, a small upland rock-shelter occupied for a relatively short period of time in the early Holocene. We conclude that Šebrn's lithic assemblages are in technology and typology relatively homogeneous and can be treated as a single unit (related to the Sauveterrian and Epigravettian, sensu lato). The faunal remains, in contrast, reveal a dynamic situation of temporal changes in the scope and focus of activities on site. Drawing on several lines of evidence from the lithic and faunal assemblages, we suggest that the initial use of the site was intermittent and people who pursued a generalized subsistence strategy visited it. With the passage of time and as people learned about upland environments, they turned to a specialized procurement of red deer. Šebrn became part of a settlement system that related lowlands to uplands and the site gained significance in the cultural landscape as people brought to it expectations about what they would do and how long they would stay.

Les stratégies utilisées par les populations du Mésolithique ancien lors de leurs explorations des régions karstiques de l'Istrie du nord-est (Croatie), sont examinées dans cet article. Ces stratégies sont déduites de l'analyse détaillée des assemblages lithiques et de la faune de Šebrn, un petit abri sous roche des hautes terres, occupé pour une période relativement courte de l'Holocène ancien. Les assemblages lithiques de Šebrn apparaissent relativement homogènes du point de vue de leur technologie et de leur typologie et peuvent être traités comme une unité, apparantée au Sauveterrien et à l' Epigravettien sensu lato. Au contraire, la faune met en évidence l'évolution dynamique au cours du temps, de l'étendue et du type d'activités entreprises sur ce site. Les résultats fournis par l'étude des assemblages lithiques et de la faune nous permettent de suggérer que l'utilisation de ce site fut au début intermittente - des visites par des groupes avec une stratégie généraliste de survie. Mais, petit à petit, ces groupes apprirent l'environnement des hautes terres et se spécialisèrent dans la chasse au cerf. Šebrn faisait partie d'un système de peuplement qui reliait les basses terres aux hautes terres, et la signification du site dans le paysage culturel s'accrut avec les groupes apportant leurs espèrances de ce qu'ils pourraient y faire et le temps qu'ils pourraient y passer.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

In diesem Artikel untersuchen wir die Strategien, die frühmesolithische Menschen anwandten, als sie ins karstige Hochland Nordostistriens, Kroatien, einwanderten. Diese Strategien werden aus detaillierten Analysen der lithischen und pflanzlichen Inventare von Šebrn erschlossen, eines kleinen Hochland-Abris, das während einer relativ kurzen Zeit im Frühholozän benutzt wurde. Wir könnten feststellen, dass die lithischen Inventare aus Šebrn in Technologie und Typologie relativ homogen sind und als geschlossene Einheit betrachtet werden können (in Beziehung zum Sauvettien und Epigravettien, sensu lato). Die pflanzlichen Reste dagegen zeigen eine dynamische Situation von zeitweiligen Wechseln in Umfang und Fokus der Aktivitäten am Ort. Auf der Grundlage verschiedener Beobachtungen am lithischen und pflanzlichen Material erschließen wir, dass der Ort anfänglich periodisch genutzt und von Menschen aufgesucht wurde, die eine generalisierte Subsistenzstrategie verfolgten. Im Laufe der Zeit und durch das Kennenlernen der Umwelt des Hochlandes wandten sich die Menschen speziell der Rotwildjagd zu. Šebrn wurde Teil eines Siedlungssystems, das Tiefland und Hochland miteinander verband, und der Ort gewann an Bedeutung für die Kulturlandschaft, da die Menschen Erwartungen mit ihm verbanden über das, was sie dort tun würden und wie lange sie bleiben würden.

Keywords

CroatialandscapeMesolithicrock-sheltertechnologyuplandszooarchaeology
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , 2000 , pp. 293 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 Sage Publications 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bagolini, B., Broglio, A., and Lunz, R., 1984. Le Mésolithique des Dolomites. Preistoria Alpina 19:15–36.Google Scholar
Barker, G., 1987. Prehistoric subsistence and economy in northern Italy: the contribution of archaeozoology. Archaeozoology 1(2):103–114.Google Scholar
Beaton, J.M., 1991. Colonizing continents: some problems from Australia and the Americas. In Dillehay, T.D. and Meltzer, D.J. (eds), The First Americans: Search and Research: 209–230. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Binford, L.R., 1978. Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Binford, L.R., 1979. Organization and formation processes: looking at curated technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35:255–273.Google Scholar
Bobrowsky, P.T. and Ball, B.F., 1989. The theory and mechanics of ecological diver-sity in archaeology. In Leonard, R.D. and Jones, G.T. (eds), Quantifying Diversity in Archaeology: 4–12. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Boschian, G., 1993. Continental deposits and archaeological data in the Trieste Karst area (north-east Italy): evidence of sea-level changes and possible tectonic activity in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Geologische Rundschau 82:227–233.Google Scholar
Boschian, G., 1997. Sedimentology and soil micromorphology of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene deposits of Grotta dell'Edera (Trieste Karst, NE Italy). Geoarchaeology 12:227–249.Google Scholar
Boschian, G., and Montagnari Kokelj, E., 1984. Siti mesolitici del Carso triestino: dati preliminari di analisi del territorio. In Preistoria del Caput Adriae: 40–50. Atti del convegno intemazionale, Trieste, 1983.Google Scholar
Bradley, R., 1998. The Significance of Monuments. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Broglio, A., 1996. The formation of the Mesolithic complexes in the Alpine-Po valley region. In Kozłowski, S.K. and Tozzi, C. (eds), The Mesolithic, 41–46. Proceedings of UISPP XIII, Forli: ABACO.Google Scholar
Broughton, J.M. and Grayson, D.K., 1993. Diet breadth, adaptive change, and the White Mountain faunas. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:331–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, R.J., 1998. Reassessment of seasonality at the early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, Yorkshire based on radiographs of mandibular tooth development in red deer (Cervus elaphus). Journal of Archaeological Science 25:851–856.Google Scholar
Christenson, A.L., 1980. Change in the human food niche in response to population growth. In Earle, T.K. and Christenson, A.L. (eds), Modeling Change in Prehistoric Subsistence Economies: 31–72. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Clark, G.A., 1983. Boreal phase settlement/subsistence models for Cantabrian Spain. In Bailey, G. (ed.), Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory: 96–110. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clark, G.A., 1987. From the Mousterian to the Metal Ages: long-term change in the human diet of northern Spain. In Soffer, O. (ed.), The Pleistocene Old World: Regional Perspectives: 293–316. New York: Plenum Publishing.Google Scholar
Clark, J.G.D., 1972. Star Carr: A Case Study in Bioarchaeology. Addison-Wesley Modules in Anthropology, 10.Google Scholar
Clark, J.G.D., 1980. Mesolithic Prelude: The Palaeolithic-Neolithic Transition in Old World Prehistory. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, P.C., 1989. Revising the broad spectrum revolution: and its role in the origins of Southwest Asian food production. Antiquity 63:225–246.Google Scholar
Gamble, C., 1986. The Mesolithic sandwich: ecological approaches and the archaeological record of the early postglacial. In Zvelebil, M. (ed.), Hunters in Transition: Mesolithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and their Transition to Farming: 33–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gamble, C., 1991. The social context for European palaeolithic art. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57:315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grayson, D.K., 1984. Quantitative Zooarchaeology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Grayson, D.K., 1991. Alpine faunas from the White Mountains, California: adaptive change in the late Prehistoric Great Basin? Journal of Archaeological Science 18:483–506.Google Scholar
Harris, D.R., ed., 1996. The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia. London: UCL Press.Google Scholar
Housley, R.A., Gamble, C. S., Street, M. and Peititi, P., 1997. Radiocarbon evidencefor the late glacial human recolonisation of northern Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 63:25–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobi, R.M., 1978. Northern England in the eighth millennium bc: an essay. In Mellars, P. (ed.), The Early Postglacial Settlement of Northern Europe: An Ecological Perspective: 295–332. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Jones, G.T., Grayson, D.K. and Beck, C., 1983. Artifact class richness and sample size in archaeological surface assemblages. In Dunnell, R.C. and Grayson, D.K. (eds), Lulu Linear Punctated: Essays in Honor of George Quimby: 55–73. Anthropological Papers No. 72, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.Google Scholar
Jones, K.T. and Metcalfe, D., 1988. Bare bones archaeology: bone marrow indices and efficiency. Journal of Archaeological Science 15:415–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, R.L. and Todd, L.C., 1988. Coming into the country: early Paleoindian hunting and mobility. American Antiquity 53:231–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, K.W., 1984. Measuring archaeological diversity by comparison with simulated assemblages. American Antiquity 49:44–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozłowski, J.K. and Kozłowski, S.K., 1984. Le Mèsolithique à l'est des Alpes. Preistoria Alpina 19:37–56.Google Scholar
Leben, F., 1976. The first Adriatic neolithic in Slovenia. Archaeologia Iugoslavia 17:3–7.Google Scholar
Leonard, R.D. and Jones, G.T., eds, 1989. Quantifying Diversity in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lyman, R.L., 1985. Bone frequencies: differential transport, in situ destruction, and the MGUI. Journal of Archaeological Science 12:221–236.Google Scholar
Lyman, R.L., 1994. Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Malez, M., 1960. Pecíne Ćićarije i Učke u Istri. Acta Geologica 11:163–260.Google Scholar
Mccartney, P.H. and Glass, M.F., 1990. Simulation models and the interpretation of archaeological diversity. American Antiquity 55:521–536.Google Scholar
Madsen, D.B., 1993. Testing diet breadth models: examining adaptive change in the Late Prehistoric Great Basin. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:321–329.Google Scholar
Malez, M., 1981. Krško podzemlje Istre kao prostor za naseljavanje fosilnih ljudi. Liburnijske teme 4:117–135.Google Scholar
Malez, M., 1987. Pregled paleolitičkih i mezolitičkih kultura na području Istre. Izdanja Hrvatskog arheoloၡkog druၡtva 11/1986:3–47.Google Scholar
Mellars, P.A., 1976. Settlement patterns and industrial variability in the British Mesolithic. In Sieveking, G., Longworth, I., and Wilson, K. (eds), Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology: 375–399. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Mihailović, D., 1999. The upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic stone industries of Montenegro. In Bailey, G., Perles, C., Adam, E., Panagopoulou, E. and Zachos, K. (eds), The Palaeolithic of Greece and Adjacent Areas: 343–356, British School at Athens Studies 3. Athens: British School of Archaeology at Athens.Google Scholar
Miracle, P.T., 1995. Broad-Spectrum Adaptations Re-examined: Hunter-Gatherer Responses to Late-Glacial Environmental Changes in the Eastern Adriatic. PhD dissertation. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Miracle, P.T., 1996. Diversification in epipaleolithic subsistence strategies along the eastern Adriatic coast: a simulation approach applied to zooarchaeological assemblages. Atti del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Trieste IX (1994–1995): 33–62.Google Scholar
Miracle, P.T., 1997. Early Holocene foragers in the karst of northern Istria. Poročilo o raziskovanju paleolita, neolita in eneolita v Sloveniji (XXIV:43–61.Google Scholar
Miracle, P.T. and Forenbaher, S., in press. Pupičina Cave Project: Interim report on the 1998 season. Histria Archaeologica.Google Scholar
Miracle, P.T. and O'Brien, C.J., 1998. Seasonality of resource use and site occupation at Badanj, Bosnia-Herzegovina: subsistence stress in an increasingly seasonal environment. In Rocek, T. and Bar-Yosef, O. (eds), Seasonality and Sedentism: Archaeological Perspectives from Old and New World Sites: 41–74. Peabody Museum Bulletin 6. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Mithen, S., 1994. The Mesolithic Age. In Cunliffe, B. (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe: 79–135. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Morales, A., Roselló, E. and Hernández, F., 1998. Late upper Paleolithic subsistence strategies in southern Iberia: Tardiglacial faunas from Cueva de Nerja (Málaga, Spain). European Journal of Archaeology 1(1):9–50.Google Scholar
Neeley, M.P. and Clark, G.A., 1993. The human food niche in the Levant over the past 150,000 years. In Peterkin, G.L., Bricker, H.M. and Mellars, P. (eds), Hunting and Animal Exploitation in the Later Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Eurasia: 221–240. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association No. 4. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Nicholson, R.A., 1993. A morphological investigation of burnt animal bone and an evaluation of its utility in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:411–428.Google Scholar
Nowak, R.M., 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World, Fifth Edition. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Plog, S. and Hegmon, M., 1993. The sample size-richness relation: the relevance of research questions, sampling strategies, and behavioral variation. American Antiquity 58:489–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radmilli, A.M., ed., 1984. Il Mesolitico sul carso triestino. Trieste: Quaderni Società per la Preistoria e la Protostoria del Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 5.Google Scholar
Rhode, D., 1988. Measurement of archaeological diversity and the sample-size effect. American Antiquity 53:708–716.Google Scholar
Rowley-Conwy, P., 1986. Between cave painters and crop planters: aspects of the temperate European Mesolithic. In Zvelebil, M. (ed.), Hunters in Transition: Mesolithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and their Transition to Farming: 17–32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shipman, P., Foster, G. and Schoeninger, M., 1984. Burnt bones and teeth: an experimental study of color, morphology, crystal structure and shrinkage. Journal of Archaeological Science 11:307–325.Google Scholar
Stiner, M.C., Kuhn, S.L., Weiner, S. and Bar-Yosef, O., 1995. Differential burning, recrystallization, and fragmentation of archaeological bone. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:223–237.Google Scholar
Straus, L.G., Eriksen, B.V., Erlandson, J.M. and Yesner, D.R., eds, 1996. Humans at the End of the Ice Age: the Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Tilley, C., 1994. A Phenomenology of Landscape. Places, Paths and Monuments. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Tilley, C., 1996. An Ethnography of the Neolithic: Early Prehistoric Societies in Southern Scandinavia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Turk, I., Bavdek, A., Perko, V., Culibmerg, M., Šercelj, A., Dirjec, J. and Pavlin, P., 1992. Acijev spodmol pri Petrinjah, Slovenija. Poročilo o raziskovanju paleolita, neolita in eneolita v Sloveniji XX:27–48.Google Scholar
Turk, I., Modrijan, Z., Prus, T., Culibmerg, M., Šercelj, A., Perko, V., Dirjec, J. and Pavlin, P., 1993. Podmol pri Kastelcu - novo večplastno arheološko najdišče na Krasu, Slovenija. Arheološki vestnik 44:45–96.Google Scholar
Whittle, E, A., 1996. Europe in the Neolithic. The Creation of New Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M., 1986. Mesolithic prelude and Neolithic revolution. In Zvelebil, M. (ed.), Hunters in Transition: Mesolithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and their Transition to Farming 5–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar