The Adriatic Sea and the interactions between its two shores during the late Early and Middle Bronze Age

The role of the central Dalmatian coast and islands in the Adriatic interaction network has been often neglected in research on maritime contacts in the Bronze Age, as very few coastal and island sites have been excavated and published thus far. Study of the ceramic material from three sites – one located on the coast (Vranjic in the Gulf of Kaštela) and two on the Island of Brač (hillforts Rat and Škrip) – allows for the preliminary establishment of some ideas on the role played by this geographical district during the Bronze Age, not only within the framework of the Adriatic interactions, but also regarding connections between coast and hinterland. A distribution analysis of highly diagnostic shapes and decorations – namelyProto-Apennine or Apennine-like types, Istrian types and “Dinara” decorations– is used as a principle investigative tool.