The Land Between

The Ice Age and the Decline of the Hunter-Gatherer Community

The history of any country should reach back to the very first traces left by humankind. In the territory we now call Slovenia, this is most likely the end of the Lower Paleolithic Age (c. 250,000 years ago). Some rare stone artifacts from that period are known to originate from the caves Jama v Lozi and Risovec in the Pivka Basin. The Pivka Basin, rich in water sources, food for animals, and the raw material suitable for stone knapping, was an attractive living space for Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. It is therefore not a coincidence that this is an area with the highest frequency of Paleolithic sites in Slovenia.¹

While no fossil remains of Pleistocene hominins have been confirmed to date in Slovenia, Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) and anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) left many traces of their presence nevertheless.² The Neanderthals lived in Europe during the Middle Paleolithic (250,000 to 40,000 years ago), before they became extinct and were replaced by modern humans. The Middle Paleolithic sites in Slovenia are mainly found in caves and are between 120,000 and 40,000 years old. At that time, the Mousterian culture, attributed to the Neanderthals, was at its height. Interestingly, Neanderthals had visited those same caves from time to time without being aware of any predecessors, although they used the same routes and pursued similar goals throughout the millennia. This was especially true for the multilayered Paleolithic cave sites Betalov spodmol in the Pivka Basin and Divje babe I near Reka in the Idrijca river valley.

Caves were a natural shelter for both Paleolithic hunter-gatherers and cave bears. Neanderthal tools have often been found alongside cave bear remains which has in the past led to the conclusion that Neanderthals were specialized hunters of this mighty beast. However, newer findings and data obtained during systematic archaeological excavations of Divje babe I has allowed archeologists to at least partially understand the Neanderthals’ way of life.³ While many hearths have been preserved in the cave, only rare remains of hunted animals such as marmots, wolves, brown bears, chamois, and roe deer have been found around them. The Neanderthals visited Divje babe I mostly in search of limb bones and cave bear skulls. They crushed them in order to reach the nutritious bone marrow and brain. In the colder seasons of the Last Glacial Period, Neanderthals also sought shelter in the cave and might have then encountered cave bears that regularly used caves as hibernation dens. There may have been some competition for shelter between man and beast, although little is known about this. Interestingly, Neanderthals and cave bears, both highly adapted to Ice Age conditions, became extinct before the Last Glacial Period reached its peak, while anatomically modern humans and the brown bear—two far less specialized species—survived.

At Divje babe I, characteristic Neanderthal tools such as scrapers and denticulated tools were present for a very long time—from the Last Interglacial Period (c. 115,000 years ago) until their extinction—which suggests that tradition played an important role for the Neanderthals. Nonetheless, they were also innovative and were already working with bones to make a unique bone musical instrument. This approximately 60,000-year-old bone musical instrument (known as the Neanderthal flute) is the oldest wind instrument in the world to date (Fig. 1).⁴ This outstanding Slovenian Paleolithic find utterly transformed deeply rooted conservative conceptions of Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities, since until then they had not been credited with even the most rudimentary artistic skills up until that point. This Neanderthal musical instrument sheds a new light on both our extinct predecessors and on the origin of music. Divje babe I is also an invaluable cave site because it is the only Paleolithic site in Slovenia where cultural finds of the late Neanderthals and early anatomically modern humans have been found.

A large quantity of cave bear remains was found at Potočka zijalka, as well as the enigmatic teeth of a musk ox—a characteristically arctic animal—and, more recently, the teeth of another arctic species, the wolverine.⁵ Another important Aurignacian Alpine site is the cave Mokriška jama (1,500 m) on Mt. Mokrica, which was a typical cave bear den. In comparison to Potočka zijalka, Mokriška jama yielded only a scarce number of bone points and stone tools.

The Aurignacian was followed by Gravettian culture (30,000 to 20,000 years ago), which saw great prosperity of artistic expression in Europe. Higher population density and increased mobility accelerated the cultural and technological development of anatomically modern humans.

The Late Upper Paleolithic or the Epigravettian (20,000 to 11,500 years ago) was characterized by fast changes in the natural environment, such as glaciation, warming, extinction and the retreat of some animal species. Significant cooling approximately 20,000 years ago caused the last great advance of continental ice and Alpine glaciers, which forced the human population and animals from the affected area to move to the south. The Paleolithic hunting-gathering economy was at its height, and composite hunting weapons became widely used. Characteristic finds of this period are backed bladelets and points that served as barbs fastened to the tips of wooden spears. Pronounced microlithization of stone armatures indicates the invention and use of a bow. The richest Epigravettian cave site in Slovenia is the Ciganska jama, a cave near Kočevje, where the marmot and reindeer were the most haunted animals. Among the open-air sites it is worth mentioning Zemono near Vipava, where two engraved stones were found, a rare example of Paleolithic artistic expression found in Slovenia.

The end of the Ice Age brought about great change: the sea encroached on what had been the continental bay of Trieste up until that time, glacial lakes emerged in the Alps, and flora and fauna were altered. People began to establish permanent settlements, and with that, their population numbers increased greatly, since cultivation and animal husbandry provided extra food supplies. This development marked a major advance, perhaps even a revolution, in the Neolithic period. People began cultivating specific types of grains, such as wheat and barley, and raising domesticated animals such as goats, sheep, pigs, and cattle.

We now know that the Middle East had already been taken over by Neolithic man by the 8th millennium BCE, even though early evidence places agriculturalists in Greece early in the 7th millennium. Inhabitants of the upper Danubian region cultivated the land during the 6th millennium and made ceramic dishes, which they decorated with uniform patterns. Around that time, a Neolithic population inhabited the central Balkans, characterized by the Vinča culture and named after the Serbian site of Vinča, near Belgrade. Influences from the Carpathian basin and the eastern Adriatic coast also reached Slovenian territory. The oldest open settlement discovered so far is located in western Slovenia, in the foothills of Sermin near Koper—more precisely, the region of Capris, present-day Koper—and dates from the 6th or early 5th millennium BCE. Thus far, the only other finds from the oldest Neolithic are from the caves of the Karst hinterlands of Trieste. This area was probably still settled by hunters, who came into contact with herders from the Gulf of Kvarner and Dalmatia, from where sheep and goat herders brought Danilo ceramics and Hvar pottery to the Karst region. The ceramics are named after Danilo, a site near Šibenik, while the pottery is named after the island of Hvar. The Sermin site suggests that the herders had settled permanently in the littoral. Interesting information about the Eneolithic (Copper Age) in western Slovenia comes from cave sites (at Mala Triglavca and Podmol near Kastelec), which were still the main shelters for people who mostly raised livestock and hunted. Zoological and botanical studies provide evidence that herdsmen spent some time in several of the caves. The remains of sheep and goat feces in caves, the presence of grass pollen in the Neolithic cultural strata at Podmol, as well as the presence of mixed oak forest and typical pasture vegetation all indicate that herds grazed near the cave. Bones provide further evidence that sheep, goats, pigs, and domestic cattle were raised.

Stone tools of the time were mainly fashioned from local stone;⁶ the finds of crucibles (vessels used for smelting) indicate that Copper Age metal workers probably smelted the ore in open fireplaces. By blowing, they could increase ventilation and thus accelerate the smelting process. Ventilation aids included elongations for bellows and blowpipes. The oldest copper finds at Slovenian sites are from the first half of the 4th millennium BCE and include axes and daggers, which were probably fabricated in the Middle East. Domestic crafts began to develop somewhat later, as evidenced by the remains of smelting vessels with traces of copper, which originated in the mid-4th millennium BCE and are from Hočevarica in the Ljubljansko barje (Ljubljana Marshes). Remnants of a clay mold from the late 4th millennium BCE were found at the Maharski prekop (Mahar Canal). Single and double-part clay molds for small hatchets and clay vessels for molten metal from Dežman pile dwellings (Dežmanova kolišča) date back to the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e., the Late Copper Age, a time when metalwork was becoming more firmly established in present-day Slovenia. Nozzles for blowpipes and air bellows have also been found here, specifically in the pile dwellings at Špica by the Ljubljanica river in Ljubljana. The pile dwellings near Ig in the Ljubljana Marshes (Fig. 2) were first researched in the late 19th century by Karl Dežman (Deschmann), the curator and later director of the Regional Carniolan Museum in Ljubljana (the modern day National Museum of Slovenia). This period is characterized by the settlement of people belonging to the Vučedol culture (named after a site in northern Croatia), whose presence has been documented mainly on the Ljubljana Marshes.

Herders and livestock breeders did not settle in the interior of Slovenia, where only hunter-gatherers had previously lived, until the 5th millennium BCE.⁷ The new population settled on promontories above rivers (such as the town of Moverna Vas near Semič), along river bends, in caves, by lakesides and in marshlands, as well as on hills. They also had hillfort settlements (such as Gradec near Mirna), fortified by stone enclosures. A burial site, which marks the transition from the Late Neolithic to the Copper Age, was discovered at the cave Ajdovska jama, near Nemška Vas, and close to Krško, in the easternmost part of the Lower Carniola (Dolenjska) region. The cave has two entrances and a complex ground plan with several shafts. The dead were placed upon the cave floor according to a predetermined arrangement and usually surrounded by a circle of stones. Beside them various vessels, bracelets, pendants, and necklaces, as well as stone axes and arrowheads. Corn-filled vessels, various animal bones, and fireplaces suggest burial rites, which included eating at the site or offering food to the dead. Anthropologists have since identified the remains of 31 individuals: 7 men, 8 women, and 16 children.

Most of the known sites from the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE are found in the Ljubljana Marshes, whose inhabitants had maintained contact with Central Europe, the Pannonian Plain, Caput Adriae, northern Italy, Dalmatia and Balkan regions. Some finds even indicate a connection with eastern Europe and the inhabitants of the steppes. In the early 3rd millennium BCE, members of the Vučedol culture also started to establish permanent settlements in the Ljubljana Marshes and elsewhere in the area of contemporary Slovenia (specifically Vinomer, above Metlika, and the Ptuj Castle), but not in the Trieste Karst, where artifacts have been discovered in caves. The pile dwellings in the Ljubljana Marshes were an exceptional discovery. Over 40 of them from various time periods have been unearthed in the past 145 years, and even the imperial court in Vienna was interested in Dežman’s excavations. The reason for these pile dwellings was probably the desire for security.⁸

A characteristic feature of the lake dwellers is their beautifully decorated earthenware of good quality, which is indicative of creative, artistic practices. Clay spindles, bone needles, and remnants of threads reveal that women wove and sewed. Wool must have also been in use, as is indicated by the remnants of sheep of a suitable age and size. Interesting patterns on the ceramics, particularly on anthropomorphic statuettes, may suggest the type of patterns on women’s dresses. Statuettes, together with beautiful vases, are the most striking relics from that time (Fig. 3).

The transition from hunting-gathering to the cultivation of land was accompanied by a continuation of gathering as well as hunting and fishing, although grazing and dairy farming also became increasingly important.⁹ Indeed, food remains indicate that people ate not only fish and shellfish, but also stag, deer, wild boar, and even bear. Buffalo and bison were eaten too, though their remains are rarer. People also gathered forest fruits and nuts, while grape pips were found at several pile dwellings in the Ljubljana Marshes. The remains of harpoons consisting of three parts (a wooden shaft, a bone extension, and a horn-tipped prong), used for hunting beavers, otters, and larger fish, were discovered near the village of Ig. Inhabitants undoubtedly cultivated the land, as indicated not just by the permanent settlement but also by stone hoes, millstones, and harvest knives. Charred wheat grains have also been uncovered, as have cultivated plants like wheat and barley, and the remains of large clay pots, in which they probably preserved their food.

The lake inhabitants of the time also used simple, hollowed-out canoes, known as logboats, which have been found in considerable numbers. Besides the logboat, remains of one of the oldest wooden carts (a wheel with an axle) in Europe was found on the site at Stare Gmajne, dating from the late 4th millennium BCE. According to radiocarbon dating, the largest number of logboats belongs to the 1st millennium BCE, yet logboats from Stare Gmajne were in use ever since the 4th millennium BCE. Pile dwellings disappeared in the mid-2nd millennium BCE, most likely because the lake gradually drained and became marshland.

During the Early Bronze Age, between the 22nd and the 16th century BCE, the Ljubljana culture reached its height and spread into the littoral region and along the coast to southern Dalmatia. However, its decline at the end of this period has not yet been fully explained. The transition to the 2nd millennium BCE was certainly not as important a turning point in central Slovenia as it was in the Aegean regions, where society was already based on a more highly developed economy. People in the Aegean regions became socially stratified and lived in cities as this was the age of the blossoming Minoan and Mycenaean cultures. In the Danubian region, the population enjoyed a higher level of development as well, due to ore deposits in the Carpathians and contacts with more developed cultures.

At that time, the Slovenian regions were on the sidelines of a changing cultural landscape. During the Middle Bronze Age, between late 16th to 14th century BCE, two characteristic cultures had settled in the region. A population that buried its dead in barrows lived in northeast Slovenia (Styria). Their settlements were located in the lowlands and on the hills. Their material culture (which has been poorly researched) was characteristic of Central Europe. To the west, in the Karst region and in Istria, the population known as the Castellieri (written as kaštelirji in Slovenian) cultural group lived in fortified hilltop settlements encircled by defensive stonewalls.

While the settlements in Slovenia have been poorly researched, those in the Trieste hinterland are far better known. It is interesting that the inhabitants of the Karst settlements lived according to the old ways as recently as the late 14th and 13th centuries BCE, and their flat cremation burials (known as the Urnfield Culture) were a significant novelty throughout Europe. The Karst inhabitants faced great changes. One of the most significant and best-preserved settlements is Debela Griža in the vicinity of Volčji Grad, near Komen. It had been reinforced with an imposing double defensive wall in low-lying places and with a single wall where karstic sinkholes protected the settlement. Caves still remained attractive occasional dwelling places for Bronze Age man, for example, at Podmol near Kastelec, and the cave below the Predjama Castle. The Karst dwellers began to bury their dead in flat cremation burial grounds as late as the 10th century BCE. The main finds from the Late Bronze Age and in the area of the Castellieri culture are in the vicinity of Škocjan.

These new peoples, who cremated their dead, also settled in present-day Slovenia, leaving their traces in Styria, in the Prekmurje region, and in central Slovenia. Among the two most significant settlements are Oloris near Doljni Lakoš, and Rabelčja Vas in Ptuj. These diverse Slovenian sites have yielded various types of bronze axes and bronze jewelry (sometimes intricately wrought), and different, simply shaped ceramic urns and other vessels. In some places, like the cemetery of the Rabelčja Vas settlement, these are the only objects to have been found in graves. The settlements in Slovenia belonged to a culture which was relatively uniform throughout the broad expanse from western Hungary to eastern Croatia and northern Bosnia. However, there were not many settlements in the Slovenian region during the Early Bronze Age.

The end of the 2nd millennium BCE brought about even more changes. New peoples most likely arrived in these parts again and altered the appearances of settlements, although their inhabitants were still recognizable by their flat cremation cemeteries. In the southeastern Alpine area, one may speak of a cultured region only in the Late Bronze Age (specifically, in the late 11th and 10th centuries BCE). Various groups were formed at that time, which did not differ greatly, but had local particularities indicated by their material culture. In Slovenia, along the Drava and Mura rivers, these groups are categorized as the Ruše group (Ruše, Maribor, Ormož), the Dobova group, which was the second largest and was represented by the inhabitants of Posavje along the Sava River, and the third group, in central Slovenia, which encompassed those who belonged to the Ljubljana cultural group (Ljubljana, Mokronog, Novo Mesto). Their burial goods did not essentially differ and indicate that the society of the time was only slightly stratified. However, long-term changes began to occur during the approach of the 1st millennium BCE. These would end in the 8th century BCE, with the onset of the Iron Age.¹⁰

The majority of Bronze Age settlements originated only in the Late Bronze Age, although some had already been occupied throughout the entire Bronze Age, such as Brinjeva gora near Zreče. The houses were, for the most part, wooden, single-room huts: some rested on a stone foundation and featured a clay-covered hearth on the inside. Two important lowland settlements were Oloris (near Dolnji Lakoš) and Ormož.¹¹ Oloris was established in the foothills of the Lendava slopes. This is the first lowland settlement of the middle and Late Bronze Age to have been discovered in Slovenia. The settlement was situated in the bend of a nearby stream, the Črnec, whose moving river-bed left a swamp in its wake. A wooden fence encircled the village. Remains of a wooden conduit for drinking water were found on the settlement’s northern border, in a ditch of the original stream. The walls of the houses, which probably had double-eave roofs, were made of wooden posts, interlaced with branches and plastered with clay. The houses were built close together around a central courtyard, where stoves were placed and around which the life of the settlement revolved. The houses had fireplaces, and pits were dug under the floor to preserve produce. Paleobotanical research has shown that the settlers had cleared the forests to create arable surfaces and had cultivated pastures.

The settlement in Ormož was partly protected by the Drava River and partly by a natural gorge. The exposed sides of the settlement were protected by an earth embankment with palisades and a deep ditch in front of it. This was one of the most significant settlements of the Late Bronze Age in the southeastern Alpine region.¹² It was constructed according to a plan, as revealed by the remains of a road network and the remnants of houses alongside it. The houses were constructed similarly to those in Oloris, except that they were larger; one even had two rooms. According to analyses of animal bones, the inhabitants raised livestock, mainly cattle, but also pigs, sheep, goats, and horses. The adjacent burial grounds were also uncovered. The settlement was still inhabited in the Iron Age, but disintegrated after 600 BCE.

Burial customs elsewhere were different.¹³ Little is known about the cults of those times, except for burial rituals, which are accessible to historians through an analysis of burials and burial objects: vessels are almost always found in graves, as well as jewelry and various other objects. Possibly, the anthropomorphic figurines from Ormož, and various amulets in symbolic shapes (wheel—sun, sickle—moon), which were used as pendants, could indicate the presence of religious ideas at that time.

Bronze Age hoards, especially of tools and weapons, are particularly remarkable.¹⁴ They are thought to be the unrecovered property of traveling traders, buried during times of migration and danger. Although their significance has not yet been clearly explained, the prevailing opinion suggests that these were cult offerings by individuals or larger communities who dedicated them to deities and demons. The Karst region of Škocjan, with its renowned Škocjanske jame (Škocjan Caves), as well as other caves in the vicinity, are an expressive natural phenomenon, which itself evokes a religious atmosphere. The people undoubtedly felt that the region of Škocjan was a holy place, while the cave Mušja jama (Fliegenhöhle, Grotta delle Mosche) has since been proven to be a cult site by the discovery of material evidence. The cave, which measures 50 m in depth, was inaccessible to the people of those times, who threw precious objects into the cave, mainly bronze weapons and vessels which they had previously ritually burned. With these offerings, one guesses, warriors were commending themselves to the gods of the underworld. This must have been a well-frequented area, since the objects, which testify to its supra-regional importance, reflect influences not only from the Pannonian Plain but also from Italy and the Aegean world, as well as the western Balkans. The significance of this cult site disappeared almost completely after 500 years, in the 7th century BCE.¹⁵ Nevertheless, it was not completely forgotten, as some objects in the cave date back to Roman times.