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of the Impresso accumulation marks the end of the Early Neolithic.
Transition from Early to Middle Neolithic is immediate and continuous.
The Early and the Middle Neolithic layers are clearly distinct,
however. Basic distinctive attributes of finds from younger layers
have little in common with those from levels that preceded them.
We do not see any connection with finds of Impresso culture. It
should be noted that, when compared to the previous (and also to
the later) phases, the strata belonging to this phase are relatively
poor in all classes of archaeological evidence.
These strata belong to the Middle Neolithic. According to characteristic
finds, we attribute them to Vela Luka culture, named after the town
that lies directly below the cave entrance. For the time being,
we can distinguish two stages: an older one, dominated by monochrome
burnished pottery, and a younger one, defined by trichrome painted
pottery.
The main characteristic of the older stage is common use of fine,
uniformly fired pottery, which usually has black (and sometimes
gray or red) burnished surface. In comparison with corresponding
wares from the previous phase, considerable improvement of production
technology can be noted. This involves more careful preparation
of the raw material, as well as introduction of pottery kilns that
allow production of vessels with uniform black outer surface. Thinner
vessel walls allow vessels of more complex shapes to be built, such
as carinated bowls, S-profile bowls, pedestalled cups, etc. Burnished
vessels are usually left plain, and when they are decorated, incision
and plastic appliqué are the most common techniques. Most
of the coarse pottery is plain, aside from a limited number of sherds
that are decorated by series of incised hanging triangles filled
with crosshatched or similar motifs. Top of rim is decorated by
incision. Various types of lugs and plastic protrusions are common.
Only a small number of vessels were painted. They were made in a
manner that is typical for Middle Neolithic painted pottery. Painted
decoration is always monochrome (red), with a resistant paint usually
applied to a well-prepared surface.
There is no apparent progress with regard to lithic and bone artifact
production. Artifacts made of Liparan obsidian are rare from Middle
Neolithic onwards.
The dominant incised ornamentation and frequent plastic appliqué
decorations have a linear character that to some degree resembles
the Pannonian Linear-band Complex. More than anything, that similarity
is a consequence of their simultaneous emergence and similar transformation
processes which led from Early to Middle Neolithic.
The attributes described above indicate that mixing of traits from
two different cultural regions is a fundamental characteristic of
the culture present in Vela Cave at the beginning of the Middle
Neolithic. The first influence is represented by a new, wide-spread
process, which has not been very well studied in these regions,
and whose carriers are identified with the early Vin?a stratum,
Tsangli level of Dhimini, the Late Neolithic I Horizon (Dimitrijevic
1979: 260-263), and peripheral phenomena such as Kakanj and Sopot
cultures. The basic element of that process is massive appearance
of well-made, highly burnished pottery, usually with dark surface.
One can presume that this technique arrived to Vela Cave by a maritime
route, probably over the “island bridge”, from southern
part of the Apennine Peninsula. The second influence, which in the
beginning is less pronounced, has its origin in Apulian (or, more
generally, Mediterranean) red painted ware, which reaches the island
of Kor?ula by the beginning of the Middle Neolithic.
Uniform and parallel development of Impresso culture along both
Adriatic coasts is discontinued in mid-sixth millennium BC, at the
end of Guadone phase, when carriers of the black burnished pottery
occupy Vela Cave. While they interrupt the Impresso culture and
commence a new process of development, they retain the old maritime
communications and discover new ones. Impresso traditions and sporadic
monochrome painting continue on the opposite coast of Adriatic,
in Daunia, where this transition is much gentler. New elements that
penetrate to Korcula along the “island bridge” Sušac
- Palagruža - Tremiti - Gargano introduce black burnished carinated
shapes that harmoniously fit into the existing life ways. The time
when these events took place corresponds roughly to the beginning
of the Middle Neolithic, or Masseria la Quercia phase, when painted
pottery penetrates from Apulia, along the “island bridge”,
to Vela Cave - only a few specimens at first, and in larger quantities
during the younger stage.
The younger stage of the Middle Neolithic is represented by finds
from strata that, like those of the preceding stage, are relatively
poor archaeologically. Among these finds, painted pottery stands
out as particularly characteristic. This phenomenon, which apparently
was short-lived, but very intensive according to its characteristics,
dates to the end of the Middle Neolithic. In Vela Cave, that was
the time of expansion of polychrome painting with mixed linear and
spiral motifs, under the influence coming from the Apennine Peninsula.
Exceptionally well-made decorative vessels with light colored surfaces,
painted with a red resistant dye that is sometimes outlined in gray
or brown color, mark the newly established phenomenon. Burnishing
of red, black or gray surface is still very carefully executed and
well represented. Due to uniformly glossy surface, burnishing is
not combined with other decorative techniques, and is gradually
replaced as a leading way of adorning vessels by trichrome painting,
which becomes ever more common.
Genesis of this stage is to be sought in development of painted
pottery styles, from Lagnano di Piede and Masseria la Quercia phases,
through both Passo di Corvo styles, to Scaloria Bassa and, especially,
Scaloria Alta phases. Closer similarities are evident only with
regard to the last two aforementioned styles. On the other side,
fragments of this ware are known from Obre II (Butmir I), Markova,
Gudnja and Jakasova caves. Great similarity exists with painted
objects from Danilo and Smil?i?. It is important to note that the
same layer contained some very typical excised Danilo pottery, as
well as fragments of four-legged Kakanj-Danilo rhyta.
We do not know what prompted rapid expansion and development of
one of the most decorative Adriatic Neolithic cultures. It may have
been stimulated by constant need for exchange of goods across the
wider region, which stretched from Central Bosnia to Lipari. Due
to its central geographical location, Vela Cave can be seen as the
key point within that region.
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