The spread of farming in the Northern Adriatic and the role of the Palaeolandscape: an ecological frontier?

Ongaro, Samuele (2026) The spread of farming in the Northern Adriatic and the role of the Palaeolandscape: an ecological frontier? Transformations: during the Mesolithic and Neolithic, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands. 07 - 10 Apr 2026.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Although recently our understanding of the spread of farming in Europe has improved significantly, this has not been the case for the Northern Adriatic, where unresolved issues include the paucity of Late Mesolithic sites, the problematic evidence for hunter-gatherer’s acculturation, and the sudden appearance of a fully developed farming economy. While archaeological evidence shows that different mechanisms of Neolithization would have been in place in different areas of the basin, some knowledge gaps persist. This is the case of the coastal sector of the Venetian-Friulian plain, where significant changes in landscape configuration caused by post-glacial sea level rise have not only reduced archaeological visibility, but also require us to consider the role that very different and highly dynamic environments would have played in the transition to farming. Here we present new palaeolandscape reconstructions for the Northern Adriatic to assess the palaeoecological implications of these environmental changes on the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition. The results presented are based on the analysis of unpublished geophysical data for the offshore sector, and a review of published sedimentological cores for the onshore sector, while SLIPs have been used to produce sea level predictions. We will argue that while the presence of extensive brackish environment (e.g., marshes, barrier lagoons, limans) would have attracted and supported foraging populations – thus suggesting a transition at least partially mediated by local hunter-gatherers – areas favourable to agriculture would also have existed (e.g., delta plains, fluvial ridges), therefore suggesting that farmers could have infiltrated this ecological frontier.

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