Ljubićeva pećina: Preliminary Analysis of the Pottery Recovered during Archaeological Investigation in 2021

Rad donosi rezultate preliminarne obrade keramičkih nalaza pronađenih prilikom arheološkog istraživanja Ljubićeve pećine 2021. godine, u sklopu projekta Hrvatske zaklade za znanost pod nazivom „Prapovijesni lovci i sakupljači u Istri i obližnjim regijama: obrasci života i kretanja tijekom kasnog pleistocena (PREHISTRIA)“. Prilikom tog arheološkog istraživanja zabilježeni su brojni ulomci keramike koji obuhvaćaju razdoblje od ranog neolitika do brončanog doba. Ulomci koji pokazuju karakteristike srednjeg/kasnog neolitika i ranog eneolitika od iznimnog su značaja jer to razdoblje u Istri nije jasno definirano i s njime u vezi brojne su nepoznanice.This paper presents the results of the preliminary analysis of pottery recovered in the course of the 2021 archaeological investigation of the Ljubićeva pećina cave site in the frame of the Croatian Science Foundation’s “Prehistoric Hunter and Gatherers in Istria and Adjacent Regions: Patterns of Late Pleistocene Lifestyle and Mobility” (PREHISTRIA) project. The archaeological investigative work identified numerous potsherds covering the period from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The recorded potsherds, with characteristics of the Middle/Late Neolithic and Early Eneolithic periods, are exceptionally significant because the period in question has yet to be clearly defined in Istria and presents numerous open questions