Traces of the earliest use of grapevine in the wider Nin region? Vitis Vinifera – analysis of bioarchaeological samples from the site of Mala glavica – Matakov brig (Ra？anac)

Sa？etak Use of grapevine in the wider Nin region (western part of Ravni kotari) from the Early Bronze Age has been assumed in the context of funerary rituals in the professional literature. This interpretation was based on the results of the archaeological excavations at the site of Mala glavica – Matakov brig near Podvr？je in the Ra？anac Municipality conducted in 1986-1987 led by ？ime Batovi？ and Sineva Kuko？. These are primarily samples of grapevine seeds (Vitis vinifera), recovered from (seemingly) intact layer of the mound so it was concluded that they originated from the archaeological context of the Early Bronze Age burial mound. Archaeobotanical and radiocarbon analyses of the samples were carried out in 2017-2018 in order to confirm the assumed age and determine the kind of seeds within the study of economic past of the wider Nin region. Radiocarbon analysis dated the seed samples to the 1960s, most likely 1966-1968 (Beta – 489417, 95.4 % 1966-1967 cal AD). In accordance with such dating logical conclusion is that the samples do not belong to the original context of the burial mound. Therefore, their finding should not be interpreted in the context of funerary rituals of the Bronze Age as previously suggested in the scholarly literature. Such (re)interpretation is put into wider context of previous insights and evidence of the earliest use of grapevine in the wider area of Ravni kotari in the hinterland of Nin and Zadar