Prehistoric Ceramic Sieves in Istria

Ten sherds were identified among pottery recovered in the course of an archaeological investigation in 2006 and 2007 of the Sveti Mihovil Bronze Age hillfort site near Bale that are parts of funnel-shaped and conical sieves (strainers). For most of the sherds the exact section of the body of the ceramic sieve they are from cannot be determined. Small parts of the preserved rim of the vessel are visible on only three of the sherds. The dating of finds of strainer sherds is a matter of broad interpretation given that they appear from the early Neolithic to the close of the Eneolithic period. The dating issue is further aggravated at the Sveti Mihovil site due to the already identified mixing of the stratigraphic layers by natural activity and by human activity in the course of the erection of the Bronze Age hillfort settlement.

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Finds of Ceramic Sieves in Istria, the Kvarner Bay Area, Dalmatia and Slavonia

 Finds of sieve sherds of this type, along with those from the Sveti Mihovil-Bale site, are also seen in the north and northeast of Istria, at the Pupićina peć, Laganiši and Jačmica sites. In western Istria, at the Zambratija site, four sherds have been identified that are from two conical sieves, one other sherd of an unknown section of the same type of vessel, and two sherds from hemispherical sieves. Several potsherds from sieves have been documented in the area of the Lim hillfort. Outside the bounds of the Istrian peninsula finds of sherds from these strainers have also been identified in the Kvarner Bay area at Vaganačka pećina, in Dalmatia (Danilo-Bitinj), and in Hvar Culture and Nakovana Culture layers at Pokrovnik and Vela spila. Among the sherds recovered in Neolithic layers at the Danilo-Bitinj site are those from likely funnel-shaped or conical sieves and base sherds at the edges of which we see perforated holes, leading us to conclude that they are likely from hemispherical sieves. These kinds of Neolithic sieves of funnel, conical or hemispherical form are also seen at some Neolithic sites in eastern Slavonia and neighbouring Serbia. Given the above-mentioned issue of the mixing of cultural layers we hypothesise for the sherds found at Sveti Mihovil that they likely appeared in the Neolithic period and remained in use through to the end of the Eneolithic period.

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Satellite image with the distribution of ceramic sieves in Istria:
1) Sveti Mihovil; 2) Pupićina peć; 3) Jačmica; 4) Laganiši; 5) Zambratija; 6) Limska gradina (Lim hillfort)

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Ceramic sieves were likely part of larger vessels used in the processing of milk or to strain beverages produced by the soaking and fermentation of grains or fruits. This is in part corroborated by the reconstruction of a ceramic vessel (from a later period) where we see part of the conical sieve, which served for the processing of dairy products, exhibited at a museum in Perugia.

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Artist's impression of Neolithic sheep milking (drawing: R. Zlatunić, alterations: I. Juričić)

Cheese thus produced was one of the chief sources of protein in the adult Neolithic population and of later prehistoric communities in the eastern Adriatic sphere. This manner of cheese production has been retained in traditional manufacturing in rural parts of the Herzegovina, Zagora and Lika regions.

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Dating the Emergence and Dawn of Dairy Processing

A biomolecular analysis of lipids in vessels has shown that dairy production existed in southwest Asia as far back as about 7000 BCE, and from about 6500 to 5500 BCE in central Turkey (Anatolia). In southern Europe, home to the early Neolithic Starčevo-Criş and Köros cultures, the oldest recorded use of dairy products dates to about 5950 to 5500 BCE. On the eastern shores of the Adriatic there are two regions in which we have evidence of the earliest traces of dairy product manufacturing through the analysis of residual milk fats on ceramic vessels. The first area in question is Dalmatia, with the Danilo-Bitinj and Pokrovnik sites dated to the early Neolithic and middle Neolithic periods (the Impressed Ware Culture of the eastern Adriatic and the Danilo Culture) from around 5700 to 5200 BCE, and the other is in neighbouring Slovenia, with the Vlaška Culture at the Mala Triglavca site dated to the period from about 5527 to 5467 BCE.

The following are the types of vessels at the Danilo-Bitinj and Pokrovnik sites on which lipid residues have been identified:

• Small early Neolithic vessels with impressed zig-zag decoration, vessel mouth diameter < 5 cm,

• Middle Neolithic Danilo Culture ware: figuline pottery, bowls, rhytons and conical perforated sieves. As cult pottery, rhytons are at times associated with fertility rituals and otherwise with the production of milk and cheese.

The results of DNA analysis of the bones of Neolithic adults in the eastern Adriatic area indicate the presence of intolerance to sugar present in milk, i.e. lactose. The level of lactose in fermented dairy products such as cheese was very low, such that they could be consumed in the adult population, preserved with greater ease and transported across greater distances.

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Conclusion

Ceramic sieves as parts of vessels for dairy production (cheese) and for straining various beverages obtained through the soaking and fermentation of fruits and grains appear in Dalmatia in the early Neolithic period. In Istria they see use into the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods.

Catalogue

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Prehistoric Ceramic Sieves in Istria

Exhibition

Carrarina 4, Pula

Window to the Past

4. 6. – 6. 8. 2019.

Exhibition and text author by:

Romuald Zlatunić

 Organizer and publisher:

Archaeological Museum of Istria

For the organizer and publisher:

Darko Komšo

 Editorial Board:

Darko Komšo, Adriana Gri Štorga, Katarina Zenzerović

Set up & graphic design:

Vjeran Juhas

Photographers:

Maja Čuka, Vjeran Juhas, Ida Koncani Uhač, Romuald Zlatunić

Drawings:

Ivo Juričić, Romuald Zlatunić

 Exhibition coordinator:

Monika Petrović

Translation in Italian:

Elis Barbalich-Geromella

English translation:

Neven Ferenčić

 Croatian language editor:

Dubravka Blaško

 Proofs:

Irena Buršić, Adriana Gri Štorga, Darko Komšo,
Milena Špigić, Katarina Zenzerović

Print: MPS Pula

Print run: 700

Pula, 2019.