Submerged Ancient Port Discovered on Croatia’s Coast

News June 7, 2020

(Mate Parica)
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Croatia Liburnia Harbor
(Mate Parica)

POSEDARJE, CROATIA—Total Croatia News reports that Mato Ilkić and Mate Parica of the University of Zadar have found the remains of a port in the western Novigrad Sea, a bay at the foot of the Velebit Mountains, that sheds new light on Liburnia’s maritime role in ancient trade. Wood from the submerged structure has been radiocarbon dated to between 371 and 199 B.C., before the Roman conquest. “For now, it is the oldest port in Liburnia, and perhaps in the entire Croatian part of the Adriatic,” Ilkić said. The port was situated next to the site of Budim, a large prehistoric hillfort, he added. The Liburnians traded with Carthage, Numidia, and Hellenistic Egypt in North Africa, and then moved those goods inland, beyond the mountains. Pottery from Italy was also recovered at the site. To read about excavations along what was once a major trade route between Rome and the eastern empire, go to “Letter from Albania: A Road Trip Through Time.”

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