Recently my attention was drawn (again) by Alan Mandic,
the guy behind Secret Dalmatia.
He wrote about a highly interesting location, on which fragments of very old primitive life were found.
Supposed to date back the very first presence of human activity.
(Presumably Neanderthals).
Stunning news that is, but not uncommon for this area.
A couple of years ago, excavations on the Cetina borders produced a rich find of ancient and well preserved historic material.
See: Cetina in Wikipedia or Cetina in World Archaeology .
But more than that, as all around here are fragments of ancient life, historic and prehistoric.
As this area was and is offering all the basics for human life.
Water, wood, fertile soil, relatively mild temperatures,
trade routes both on shore and sea.
And, plenty of locations to hide when things got rough.
And rough they were, those ancient and more recent times,
with more fights and wars than "normal".
Sad enough, many of those conflicts resulted in destroying a lot.
Salonae (Solin) for instance, first by Avars and later by Ottomans.
Today's Solin and it's impressive Roman remains is absolutely a "must visit" !!!
Many times archaeologists have to reconstruct fragments, with tape and glue, in order to get the picture of what was going on in the area they are researching, so in the end they give us an idea of life before our's.
For that reason I do not dig or search for artefacts nor fragments,
and should I find something by occasion,
I will immediately register the exact coordinates with my little gps.
Next step is to inform the specialists,
as what may seem "nothing" to me/us,
can be that one and only missing link in a chain in restoring history.
Therefore I would like to ask you, walking or diving, to respect what you see or find, and leave it to the experts to do proper research,
so we can all learn from history, and enjoy it !!!
Those of you interested in Roman and other history, the whole Dalmatian area is blessed and sprinkled with hundreds of interesting and beautiful locations.
The Imperial palace in Split, Trogir as a whole, the fortress of Klis, the remains of Salonae, and many many more.
PS.
Recently heard about visiting divers from Belgium, who took some truly interesting artifacts they discovered under water
and took it (ILLEGALLY) home.
!! IDIOTS !!!
Shameless idiots, as it's stupid, highly illegal and without ány respect !
And.......: punished with severe penalties, up to imprisonment.
So if you see, find, discover something/anything,
behave as a guest in the most beautiful part of Croatia,
as that's what it is:
Dalmatia.
