Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ornamental Traditions in the Eastern Adriatic Coast and Hinterland

Archaeological finds of personal ornaments reveal not only behavioural patterns of the society they belong to, but also their forms of manifestations indicate connections, contacts and communication paths, exchange networks and movements of prehistoric populations. This paper advances the current knowledge regarding ornamental traditions in Eastern Adriatic area during Late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Thirteen prehistoric sites from this area have yielded more than thousand finds of ornamental assemblage, making Eastern Adriatic coast and hinterland fruitful area for the research of this type of archaeological assemblage. Results of the analysis have shown existence of diachronic changes in the selection of raw materials from Upper Palaeolithic to Mesolithic period. Personal ornaments are less abundant during Upper Palaeolithic, but are typologically diverse compared to Mesolithic period when the selectivity of the raw material with the large increase of the number of finds is present.