<< Our Photo Pages >> Hvar Island - Ancient Village or Settlement
Submitted by thecaptain on Tuesday, 24 March 2015 Page Views: 7162
Multi-periodSite Name: Hvar IslandType: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Hvar Town Nearest Village: Hvar Town
Latitude: 43.167000N Longitude: 16.667000E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
TheCaptain has visited here
The earliest picture of a sailing boat found in Europe is that on a fragment of pottery from the neolithic settlement in the Grapèeva Cave on the island of Hvar, dating from 2500 BC.
There is more evidence of human settlement on the island during the Bronze Age, with a number of hilltop sites with bronze age pottery found across the island, several of which are very large and some equipped with defences. Hundreds of burial mounds from this period have been found across the island, several of them positioned in groups or cemeteries. Some of these mounds have massive proportions, up to four metres high and thirty metres in diameter. Within these tumuli the most frequent burial practice is a crouched burial within a rectangular stone cist.
During the Iron Age, there is an emergence of a settlement hierarchy amongst the Illyrian peoples who inhabited the islands and the shores of the Eastern Adriatic, and a series of defended enclosures dating to this period have been found. There is a wide variety of size for these sites, some not much more than a small wall sealing off a ridge, whilst others are large with massive ramparts and might have contained significant numbers of people. The Castle site above Hvar, which is possibly associated with the large barrow cemetery at Vira, appears to be in a position of power over the western part of the island. Pottery from this site indicates the settlement here as important within long distance trade networks from the eighth century B.C. onwards.
From this point, the Greeks became increasingly interested in the Adriatic, attracted to this area by the prospect of trade with the Illyrian people. Trade turned to settlement in 385/4 B.C. when the Greeks decided to start a colony on the Hvar island. The remains of this colony, known as Pharos, can still be seen in the town of Stari Grad at the head of the bay on the western side of the large northern plain. Some sections of its defensive wall still stand to several metres in height whilst excavation on the site has provided traces of Hellenistic houses.
Then along came the Romans in the first century BC, whatever did they do for the Hvar people? They were followed by the Byzantines, Slavs, Venetians, Turks, Austrians, French, English, Russians…… the rest is history.
Note: Explore the ancient sites and museums of the island via our map and nearby sites list
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Nearby Images from Flickr
The above images may not be of the site on this page, but were taken nearby. They are loaded from Flickr so please click on them for image credits.
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the areaKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
3.2km SE 130° Tor Hillfort (Croatia)* Hillfort
5.3km W 274° Purkin Kuk Hillfort* Hillfort
5.9km WNW 288° Pharos Town wall* Hillfort
5.9km WNW 286° Stari Grad Museum* Museum
12.5km NNW 330° Zmajeva Spilja* Cave or Rock Shelter
18.0km W 272° Hvar Castle Museum* Museum
18.3km W 273° Fortica* Hillfort
18.4km W 272° Hvar Museum* Museum
19.3km W 278° Vira (Hvar)* Barrow Cemetery
20.5km NNW 331° Brac Island* Ancient Village or Settlement
25.7km NW 323° Gradina Rat Hillfort
38.9km ESE 118° Nakovana Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
42.2km NNW 334° Diocletian's Palace* Ancient Palace
42.4km NNW 332° Split Archaeological Museum* Museum
44.0km NNW 340° Solin Town Gate* Ancient Village or Settlement
44.0km NNW 340° Salona Town wall* Hillfort
45.2km NNW 345° Klis Hillfort* Hillfort
54.2km NW 318° Sutilija Hillfort* Hillfort
55.9km N 4° Cetina Valley Ancient Village or Settlement
78.2km E 97° Narona Museum* Museum
78.3km E 97° Narona Town Wall* Hillfort
83.5km E 84° Citluk-Greda-Illyrian observatory* Carving
85.7km NW 326° Pokrovnik Ancient Village or Settlement
85.9km E 95° Klepci tumuli 1* Round Barrow(s)
86.0km E 95° Klepci tumuli 2* Round Barrow(s)
View more nearby sites and additional images