A Contribution to the Study of the Early Neolithic in the Cetinska Krajina: Poljanice in Bisko – A Possible Open Neolithic Settlement

Abstract

This paper sets out the findings of rescue archaeology at Poljanice in Bisko, a settlement very close to Trilj. The hypothesis that this was an open settlement is based on available technical documentation from the excavations and portable archaeological material in the Museum of the Cetinska Krajina, Sinj, indicating human activity in the Cetinska Krajina in the early Neolithic period. The excavations were carried out in 1985 ahead of the construction of the access road to the Đale hydro power plant on the river Cetina. Eleven trenches dating from the early Neolithic were dug, within which four buried pit structures were found. Since this was a possible open Neolithic settlement, few of which are known in the Cetinska Krajina, it became necessary to publish the results of these excavations. The geographic location of the site suggests that the Neolithic population gave careful thought when choosing a place to live, as it allowed them to carry out a range of primary activities from hunting and fishing to animal farming and agriculture.