Žukovica Cave, Račišće

Žukovica Cave is located on the island of Korčula, near the settlement of Račišće, in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. It is interesting because people lived there for millennia, from hunters and gatherers to the Bronze Age.

Research has shown that habitation was uninterrupted through several prehistoric periods. The oldest explored layer has pre-Neolithic features and probably belongs to the Mesolithic. Layers from the Early Neolithic (Impresso pottery) and the Middle Neolithic (Velika Luka culture) are also represented. Life was liveliest in the classical stage of the Hvar culture, and several finer vessel fragments are attributed to the Eneolithic phase of that culture, while some belong to the Early Bronze Age. The cave lies in a position that allows the shortest crossing over the Pelješac Channel, so it was one of the points of the trans-Adriatic link between the Apennine peninsula and the central Balkans. The period is reckoned from 8500 to 1500 BC.

The site is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-6484.

Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence.