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Ornamental traditions in the Eastern Adriatic: Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from Vela Spila (Croatia)

Ornamental traditions in the Eastern Adriatic: Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from Vela Spila (Croatia)
Ornamental traditions in the Eastern Adriatic: Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from Vela Spila (Croatia)
This paper advances the current knowledge on past foragers’ ornamental traditions by comparing the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from the southeastern Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the site of Vela Spila (Korcula island, Croatia). The assemblages we discuss here date from c. 19,500–8150cal BP, with occupational evidence both before and after the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the region. The assemblages from Vela Spila comprise one of the largest and richest records of prehistoric personal ornamentation in Southeastern Europe. Our analysis has allowed us to reconstruct changing traditions and technologies of social expression and symbolism in the Adriatic during a crucial period of social, technological, and environmental transition. In particular, our data reveal an apparent shift in ornamental traditions and technologies from the Late Palaeolithic, when diverse marine and terrestrial raw materials were collected and modified to make ornaments, to the Mesolithic, when a single marine gastropod was used exclusively. When these results are contextualised and compared across the Adriatic region, and, more broadly, at sites throughout southeastern Europe, Vela Spila appears unique in its significance as a procurement and processing centre for one important type of Mesolithic ornament, Columbella rustica. The repeatedly and exclusive selection of this marine gastropod to make ornaments during the Mesolithic seems to be a clue that it was fundamentally important for the construction and maintenance of identity and personhood.
0278-4165
21-31
Cristiani, Emanuela
c7f9ac6a-addc-4d53-bc7f-d04078d1b3b6
Farbstein, Rebecca
54cac522-b7f7-4f5f-9ac1-7d6db126e8e2
Miracle, Preston T.
c6f72943-e061-4180-94c0-701ea7b27543
Cristiani, Emanuela
c7f9ac6a-addc-4d53-bc7f-d04078d1b3b6
Farbstein, Rebecca
54cac522-b7f7-4f5f-9ac1-7d6db126e8e2
Miracle, Preston T.
c6f72943-e061-4180-94c0-701ea7b27543

Cristiani, Emanuela, Farbstein, Rebecca and Miracle, Preston T. (2014) Ornamental traditions in the Eastern Adriatic: Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from Vela Spila (Croatia). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 36, 21-31. (doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2014.06.009).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper advances the current knowledge on past foragers’ ornamental traditions by comparing the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic personal adornments from the southeastern Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the site of Vela Spila (Korcula island, Croatia). The assemblages we discuss here date from c. 19,500–8150cal BP, with occupational evidence both before and after the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the region. The assemblages from Vela Spila comprise one of the largest and richest records of prehistoric personal ornamentation in Southeastern Europe. Our analysis has allowed us to reconstruct changing traditions and technologies of social expression and symbolism in the Adriatic during a crucial period of social, technological, and environmental transition. In particular, our data reveal an apparent shift in ornamental traditions and technologies from the Late Palaeolithic, when diverse marine and terrestrial raw materials were collected and modified to make ornaments, to the Mesolithic, when a single marine gastropod was used exclusively. When these results are contextualised and compared across the Adriatic region, and, more broadly, at sites throughout southeastern Europe, Vela Spila appears unique in its significance as a procurement and processing centre for one important type of Mesolithic ornament, Columbella rustica. The repeatedly and exclusive selection of this marine gastropod to make ornaments during the Mesolithic seems to be a clue that it was fundamentally important for the construction and maintenance of identity and personhood.

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Submitted date: 5 August 2013
Accepted/In Press date: 18 June 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 August 2014
Organisations: Archaeology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 377375
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377375
ISSN: 0278-4165
PURE UUID: 89065eef-7dcb-48c4-9542-8a3547626425

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Date deposited: 29 May 2015 14:53
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 20:02

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Contributors

Author: Emanuela Cristiani
Author: Rebecca Farbstein
Author: Preston T. Miracle

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