The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Northern Adriatic

This paper investigates the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the northern Adriatic by testing theoretical models of Neolithization through a review of the available radiocarbon evidence. While our understanding of the spread of farming in Europe has improved significantly in recent years, especially due to an increasing body of ancient DNA evidence, this does not seem to be the case for the northern Adriatic. Here, not only is there a lack of ancient genetic material, but significant changes in landscape configuration caused by postglacial sea-level rise have affected archaeological visibility. Unresolved aspects of the transition include the scarcity of Late Mesolithic sites, the debated role of hunter-gatherers, and the swift establishment of a fully developed farming economy. In this paper, chronological data obtained from radiocarbon dating is used to argue for a ‘spectrum of possibilities’, with different dynamics in different subregions and different lines of evidence supporting distinct mechanisms of Neolithization, often with an equifinal outcome. It is shown that the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the northern Adriatic occurred over the entirety of the sixth millennium BC, but also that different readings of the data suggest leapfrog colonization and frontier mobility occurring in different areas, or even in a single subregion. Online Supplementary MaterialSupplement 1