Archaeological Experience in the Neretva River, 2023
Neretva River is about 225 km long, and is the biggest river of the Dinaric Alps in the Eastern Adriatic basin. Most of it flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the last 22 km of its watercourse are in Croatia, where it creates a delta, covering around 12.000 hectares. In regard to its ecosystems, in the Ramsar Convention this area is listed as internationally important. During the recent past, the original twelve branches of the river in the delta were reduced to three, as a result of extensive land reclamation projects. The salty sea water penetrates deeply into the mainland, seriously affecting the agriculture. Therefore, it was decided to build an artificial barrier on the main course, that would stop, or at least slow up the process.In the area of presumed construction works, an archaeological site was detected, consisting of the scattered amphorae of five different types, and some pottery from the Roman period. In May and June 2023, under the direction of the Institute of Maritime Heritage ARS NAUTICA, and the University of Zadar, the archaeological research was performed, and all the excavated finds recovered. The survey done about 100–200 m downstream resulted in the discovery of at least three log boats, two of which dated to the 12th century AD.Extremely poor visibility drastically reduced the possibility of documenting finds. Since it was almost impossible to determine the exact position of the trenches using traditional methods, the Geomar Ltd. Company from Split, contributed to the research by performing a multibeam survey of the site.