VELA LUKA - A Stratified Prehistoric Site VELA SPILA (island Korcula)

This publication presents the most important results of two decades of exploration of Vela Cave, an archaeological site located near the western end of the island of Korcula, on the outskirts of the town of Vela Luka.

Korcula With an area of 276 km², is the sixth largest Adriatic island. It is 47 km long, while its width varies from 5.3 km wide between Ripna and Teklina inlets to 7.8 km between Ratak peninsula and Prigradica anchorage. Its coastline is 182 km long. A narrow channel, an important shipping lane only 1.5 km on the average and almost 20 km long, separates Korcula from Peljesac peninsula. Korcula’s terrain is markedly mountainous, with its central limestone range maintaining altitudes between 300 and 550 m. The island’s western part is less rugged, especially in wider vicinity of Vela Luka, where average altitudes range from 100 to 250 m.

The most remarkable topographic feature of the entire western part of the island, including the environs of Vela Cave, is the bay of Vela Luka. Geomorphologically, this bay is a continuation of a 25 km long fault line, which begins near the center of the island and stretches westwards through a series of relatively small karstic depressions. The largest and most important among them is the large, fertile depression of Blatsko polje, which used to contain a periodic lake extending over an area of some 1.24 km² before it was finally drained in 1912 (Radic 1999/2000). There are no major barriers between Blatsko polje and the low-lying, hilly surroundings of the modern town of Vela Luka and its spacious bay, which shelters several small islands and a number of inlets which can serve as safe harbors. The innermost arm of the bay, Kale cove, is completely sheltered from surf and winds from any direction.

Most of the wider hilly surroundings are covered by Aleppo pines. This widely distributed tree species intensively colonizes areas which used to be vineyards, and which today contain only occasional olive trees. Autochthonous perennial forest consisting of Mediterranean oak, strawberry tree, and other elements of degenerated Mediterranean plant community known as maquis can be found only in inaccessible locations.

Of all the cultivated plants, only olive trees still thrive on the terraced anthropogenic soils around Vela cave, making the sunny slopes of Pinski Rat famous for their tidy olive groves and excellent olive oil. Most of those terraced fields, however, support only a few neglected fig and carob trees, and are gradually being colonized by Aleppo pine

Ample supply of water in permeable karstic soil is a key precondition for survival. Most karstic depressions harbor layers of clay in their central parts. These layers create natural reservoirs or water holes which retain limited quantities of rainfall, and which used to be regarded as prime herding resources. We point out that a fairly abundant freshwater spring is located some two hundred meters below the cave entrance, at the end of Kali cove. Additional abundant springs are to be found in a nearby area called “Vrulje”. In the past, those springs used to be even more copious.

Location of Vela Cave is not convenient for vessels sailing along the coast, because the deeply indented bay of Vela Luka requires over 10 miles of unnecessary navigation. As opposed to that, its location represents a logical and easiest point of departure for trans-Adriatic journeys. While average width of Adriatic is some 80 to 100 miles, only about 70 miles separate Vela Luka from Gargano. It is important that this line follows the “island bridge” from Korcula to Sušac and Palagruža, with Tremiti islands lying farther to the south.

The Eastern Adriatic Current flows westwards along the coast. One of its branches changes direction at the latitude of Korcula, creating a vortex or a countercurrent in the area between Korcula and Gargano. This makes the passage easier and faster to accomplished navigators.

The view from the plateau in front of the cave entrance embraces almost the entire bay of Vela Luka, the western end of Blato depression, and the open sea from Vis, Saint Andrew, and Biševo, almost to Sušac and Lastovo. In good weather, from neighboring heights one can see Mount Gargano in Apulia and the Palagruža archipelago and, in the opposite direction, southern parts of Hvar and Pelješac, as well as the summits of Biokovo and other mountains farther inland.

Vela Cave opens in the southern slope of Pinski Rat hill, overlooking the Kale cove, the innermost and best-protected arm of the large branching bay. It is located in the northern of the two anticlines which delimit the Blato depression and its extension, the 9.2 km long bay of Vela Luka (Mirosevic 1994: 87.).

The easiest approach to the cave is provided today by a modern paved road, which climbs from Kale cove and reaches the entrance from the north. The entrance opens at 130 m above the sea level and faces southwest. A small, 20 x 20 m plateau hides it from view, so that it is visible only from immediate vicinity. The cave consists of a single, spacious hall of oval shape, some 30 m wide and 50 m long (including the area by the entrance). The ceiling is shaped as a fairly regular spherical dome, which was 17 m high before the beginning of the excavation. The entrance, shaped as a bent arch, is 10 m wide and 4 m high, while the difference in ground level between the entrance and the end of the cave is 5 m. Two openings, Velo and Malo zdrilo (“Big and Small Maw”, 11 x 9 m and 5 x 4 m, respectively) pierce the ceiling. Due to locations of the entrance and the ceiling openings, all parts of the cave are adequately lit for normal work and residence. The floor area of the cave was about 1100 m² before the beginning of exploration. Excavation showed that it widens sideways, which means that its area and its height have increased since that time.