GEOARCHAEOLOGY & GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE DANILO BITINJ AND POKROVNIK SITES, DALMATIA, CROATIA: ONGOING RESEARCH

Our investigation at the Danilo Bitinj and Pokrovnik sites is an interdisciplinary effort toward understanding the local and regional environmental context and post-depositional alteration of Neolithic settlements in central Dalmatia. These sites, farmed since ~8 ka, are located in poljes in the well-developed karst terrain of central Croatia. Dalmatia's polje karst consists of fields of NW-SE trending flat-bottomed valleys containing unconsolidated sediments of variable thickness. Excavations both on- and off-site reveal organic-rich soils fed by variably degraded limestone. In many instances soils contain high percentages of gravel and cobble-size clasts, emplaced either via high-velocity/-viscosity transport or through in situ weathering of bedrock parent material. The following analyses are currently underway: GIS-modeling of local hydrology and geomorphology, measurement of soil biophysical properties and stable isotope geochemistry, petrography of ceramic artifacts, and measurement of stable isotopic variability in domestic sheep teeth. Using a DGPS-constructed base map, GPR data, and ArcGIS Modelbuilder^®, we aim to represent slope stability and sedimentation throughout the poljes as a function of vegetative cover, precipitation, and groundwater hydrology. We are using soil properties to aid interpretation of local paleoenvironmental conditions and site taphonomy. We are building a ceramic typology using macro- and microscopic variability in artifact mineralogy and fabric. Though the time-depth of the current practice of summering sheep herds in the Dinaric Mountains is currently unknown, we aim to assess the possibility of its occurrence in the Neolithic using stable isotopic characterization of modern and paleofaunal teeth.