The beginning of Pharos – the present archaeological evidence

Abstract

The site of the Greek town of Pharos, today Stari Grad on the Island of Hvar in Croatia, during the last three decades has been a point of increased archaeological interest. Small excavation was undertaken by the team of the Adriatic Islands Project during 1990’s. The most intensive excavation so far was carried out by the Conservational Department in Split and, during the recent decade, these were followed by the rescue excavations in the same area by the Museum of Stari Grad. The publication of results by the three mentioned teams has created much vagueness, especially regarding the interpretation of the early phases of life on the site that pre-date the solid block built rampart. The interpretation presented by Jeličić Radonić and Katić (2015) was, recently, profoundly challenged by Popović and Devlahović (2018). Following this, our paper aims at clearing out some of the existing doubts on the early stages of the site occupation by presenting the interpretation of depositional processes based on the available archaeological evidence.