Hvar

An island with a large number of Late Neolithic and Copper Age sites, off the Dalmatian coast and part of present-day Croatia. The caves have yielded striking Late Neolithic pottery - dark burnished ware with red crusted decoration. Hvar has been continuously inhabited since early Neolithic times, and an ancient wall surrounds the old city of Hvar. Since the vast majority of Hvar sites are caves, the economy was likely based on fishing and shell-collecting. In 385 BC Greek colonists founded Dimos (presently Hvar) and Pharos (Stari Grad), and in 219 BC the island became Roman. Slavs fleeing the mainland in the 7th century AD settled on the island. The pottery is found in neighboring areas of the mainland, where it is known as the Lisicice style. The island's occupation probably began in the 4th millennium BC.

Named after the island which boasts the largest number of its sites, the Hvar culture comprises the Late Neolithic and Copper Age sites of the south and central Dalmatian islands of Yugoslavia. In the absence of radiocarbon dates, a 4th millenium to early 3rd millennium be date seems reasonable. Since the vast majority of Hvar sites are caves in areas of low mixed farming potential, fishing and shellcollecting were presumably the economic mainstays. Copper artefacts are rare, an exception being a bracelet of almost pure copper from Grapceva Spilja. The pottery assemblage is dominated by dark burnished ware with red crusted decoration.