Nadin-Gradina and the process of urbanization in the Eastern Adriatic

Summary

In the eastern Adriatic, the process of urbanization unfolded over the course of several thousand years, resulting in significant changes in landscape, environment, and human societal organization. With support from the National Geographic Society, our joint Croatian-American team recently engaged in a collaborative effort to evaluate urban change surrounding the archaeological site of Nadin-Gradina, a moderately-sized center located near the coastal city of Zadar along Croatia’s Adriatic coast. The overarching goal of the project was to lay the foundation for a long-term study concerning the links between urbanization, climate, and environment over the past three thousand years. Nadin-Gradina reflects a long, though intermittent, occupational history, stretching from at least the first millennium BCE into the 17th century CE. In 2015, our inaugural excavations were designed to delineate depth of deposits, chronology, and integrity of the archaeological record. In this paper, we discuss our results and characterize what appears to be the most significant physical transformation of the urban center – the transition from Iron Age settlement to Roman governance of Dalmatia. We also discuss the potential impacts of urbanization on human diet and mobility through stable isotopic analyses and the potential of such studies moving forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage