Abstract
DEAN S., PAPPALAIIDO M., FEIJA I., }URACIC M. & BosCHIAN G., Karst landforms and prehistoric settlement patterns : a case study from Korlula Island (Croati.!. OT 0391-9838, 2020). This study is aimed at testing if and how a detailed assessment of geomorphological features in the territory nearby can complement pa laeoenvironmental evidence revealed by the archaeological stratigraphy from a cave site. In the test site, located in the western part of the Adriatic island of KorCula (central Dalmatian coast, Croatia), the stratigraphy of the prehistoric cave settlement of Vela Spila reveals a tight relationship between postglacial environmental changes and human settlement pat terns. In this work the territory outside the cave was investigated from a geomorphological point of view. A 1:25000 scale geomorphological map of the western part of the island was created through remote sensing and field survey. Two cores were drilled in Blatsko Polje, a large karst depres sion shaping the western part ofthe island to verify ifthe sediment record trapped in the depression was a suitable candidate for future palaeoen vironmental studies. The geomorphological context was also related to archaeological evidence from surface archaeological surveys in Western KorCula. The result of these combined methods shows a karst landscape typical of the Dalmatian coast and highly influenced by the island's un derlying structural and tectonic characteristics, with several landforms such as debris flows and pocket valleys indicating possible episodes of wetter, more erosive conditions both before and after the last ice age. The sediment cores from the Blatsko Polje, which is now artificially drained, show previous phases of intermittent flooding and a drier episode that led to the area being exploited more by humans in the Neolithic (8-4 ka BP). This is indicated both by the placement of archaeological sites of different phases around the Polje, and by finds of lithics, pottery, and microfauna in the cores themselves. Geomorphological analysis supports