The genesis and evolution of Bronze Age communities in Northern Croatia
(2007-2013)
The Bronze Age is a very important period in the prehistory of Europe, as well as Croatia. It spans the period from around 2000 to 750 BC, the time of flourish of advanced civilizations in the Mediterranean and the Orient, which were linked with European lands through trade, imports or transfer of cultural influences. In Croatian archaeological scholarship, the Bronze Age is one of the better-studied prehistoric periods in terms of the established relative and absolute chronologies, definition of archaeological cultures and their distribution areas, which is at the same time the greatest contribution in the research in that area. The new research aims at a comprehensive reconstruction of life of the Bronze Age populations on the basis of their material culture, i.e. artefacts. This will be carried out by means of a re-evaluation of the already published results, analysis of unpublished archaeological assemblages collected at settlements and necropolises, as well as by new excavations of Bronze Age settlements and necropolises. In keeping with this, we shall answer questions pertaining to the social, economic and spiritual life of Bronze Age communities in Northern Croatia. This territory is at the same time the southern part of the Pannonian Plain, which is open to influences from the neighbouring regions of Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Bosnia and Serbia. Due to this, all finds and sites will be placed in the context of similar sites in Europe. In order to answer the posed questions, we shall apply contemporary methods of archaeological research, both in the field and indoors, taking into consideration the methods and results of research in natural sciences (physics, geology, chemistry etc.).
Snježana Karavanić