Velebit timeline of life

The entire northern Adriatic was dry land, a sprawling grassy plain supporting large herds of wild cattle and horses. Velebit Channel was a wide valley traversed by a river, while Velebit range itself was cold and uninviting, its highest reaches covered by glaciers.

Paleolithic hunter-gatherers kept close to their food sources, mostly located in valleys that were later flooded by the sea. Therefore, it is not surprising that we have not found any trace of them so far. It was only at the end of the Ice Age, when the sea levels began to rise, that the people had to seek out new ways of subsistence in higher, mountainous ground. They still hunted and gathered wild foods, but instead of cattle and horses, which disappeared together with the Adriatic plain, they hunted mountain goats and other animals inhabiting the rugged mountain terrain. The earliest evidence of human presence in the Velebit range, the unremarkable Mesolithic flint artifacts from the deepest layers of Vaganacka Cave near Veliko Rujno, belong to that period.

The prehistoric hillfort consists of four fortified terraces separated by ramparts, suggesting that this settlement was the center of the surrounding area. The inaccessible, steep slope of Tribanjska Draga protects it from the northwest, while concentric drystone ramparts surround its other sides. Judging by the finds, the hillfort was intensively inhabited during the Iron Age, in the 1st millennium BC. Its inhabitants were the indigenous Liburnians, then the rulers of the northern Adriatic.

The population mainly practiced seasonal herding and traded their products. An overland route led across the Velebit passes into present-day Lika, while maritime routes linked them with the entire Adriatic. Fragments of fine Hellenistic pottery dating from the 3rd century BC bear witness to trade links with the Greek and Hellenistic world.

The fort at the foot of Gradina hill was built much later, in the 6th century, during conflicts between the Byzantine authorities and the newly arrived Ostrogothic invaders. At that time, the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I had defensive forts built along the eastern Adriatic coast and on its islands to secure maritime traffic and protect the surrounding population.

The ramparts enclosed an irregular rectangle measuring 170 by 130 meters. Their northern section is fairly well preserved up to a height of 4 meters, while the full height of the walls originally reached 8 meters.

Traces of numerous small buildings can still be seen within the ramparts.

The small church of the Holy Trinity was probably built at the same time as the fort, since almost all Early Byzantine forts had places of worship inside or outside their walls. Its masonry, the interior of its apse and its mushroom-shaped triumphal arch point to an Early Christian origin. The church has since been adapted and serves as a cemetery chapel for the local Orthodox population. Beside it is a cemetery with simple, traditionally shaped gravestones that closely resemble mirila.

Pastures are scattered across the mountain at different altitudes, allowing seasonal use. When grass near the coast dries out in the late spring, herds move up to the still green meadows hidden among the limestone crags. They spend the summer in the highest part of the mountain, on the largest and most abundant pasture grounds. With the coming of autumn rains, as the weather gets colder, the herds descend once again towards the coast.

This seasonal movement of herds and shepherds has been going on for thousands of years, since the beginning of the Neolithic. Time and erosion removed all traces of the modest prehistoric shepherd’s huts and sheepfolds, but there are many caves in the karst that also served as shelter for people and their animals. About two dozen such caves are located in the National Park and its immediate neighborhood. Often they are walled off by drystone walls. The largest among them could have accommodated substantial herds of sheep and goats. Archaeological layers that accumulated inside those caves contain informative material remains - numerous bones of domestic animals, as well as discarded tools and accessories of the shepherds. Broken clay pots, variously shaped and decorated, are of particular interest. Pottery styles changed in time and, thanks to that, we can approximately determine the periods during which some of the caves were being used.

Hillforts clearly had a defensive purpose. In dangerous times, they could serve as shelter to inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Some of them may have been permanent settlements, seats of power of the local chiefs. Their ramparts, built without mortar of large undressed stones, today lie in ruins. Resembling large, ring-shaped cairns, their remains can be several meters high. Hillforts overlooking Modric, Seline, Starigrad and Milovac protected the largest tract of arable land in the area. They also controlled the important shepherds’ trails and trade routes that led into Velebit and across the mountain range into Lika.

The sea was the most important avenue of travel and trade, especially during the Iron Age, when Liburnian seafarers controlled the northern Adriatic. The probable purpose of a small hillfort on Veliki Vitrenik was navigation control. Located on a prominent peak above the entrance to Velika Paklenica gorge, this hillfort overlooks a large stretch of Velebit Channel. From it, timely warning could have been issued about approaching enemy ships, or return of friends and relatives announced.

Most of the hillforts are surrounded by burials of Bronze Age and Iron Age chiefs who held power over the area. They were buried under large, circular stone cairns, in rectangular tombs made of stone slabs. Most of the cairns have been dug up in antiquity and the burials plundered. At the northern edge of Starigrad, in the area called Matkovaca, there are several prehistoric burial cairns.

With the Romans came literacy, bringing the area previously controlled by Liburnians into the folds of history. Centuries of “Roman peace” followed, characterized by monetary economy and foundation of the earliest towns.

Starigrad, Roman Argyruntum, was founded at that time. It was located on a small peninsula, covering an area of only 3.5 hectares. Due to natural and artificial filling, the peninsula is today completely incorporated with the mainland. Argyruntum soon developed into a fairly important market town. The Roman Emperor Tiberius had it fortified by walls and towers in the fourth decade of the 1st century A.D. The town’s cemetery stretched along the road that led from the town towards the southeast. About 400 graves were excavated, yielding rich and variable archaeological finds: jewelry made of silver, bronze and amber, pottery, glass and metal vessels, tools and weapons. They show that the community was relatively affluent and kept lively trade links with many parts of the Mediterranean.

Judging by the finds from the cemetery, Argyruntum was abandoned early in the 4th century A.D. Peace was shattered by incursions of the “barbaric peoples” who eventually brought down the once-powerful Roman state. The last attempt to reintegrate the Adriatic coast with the remains of the Empire was made by the Eastern Roman emperor Justinianus. In mid-sixth century A.D., Justinianus built a system of fortifications in order to secure shipping routes and protect the coastal population. Ruined walls and towers above Modric (east of Seline) and Sveta Trojica (near Tribanj) were a part of that defense system, which only briefly postponed the final collapse of the Classical civilization in the Adriatic.

The first urban settlement, Roman Argyruntum, was founded on the site of present-day Starigrad-Paklenica. It occupied a small peninsula covering no more than 3.5 hectares. The peninsula has since become fully joined to the mainland through natural infilling and more recent construction work, including the Adriatic Highway.

Argyruntum soon developed into a significant trading center. Several inscribed monuments found in present-day St. George Street bear witness to its early history. One indicates that the Roman emperor Tiberius had walls and towers built for the town. Argyruntum probably received the status of a municipium at that time, granting its inhabitants Roman citizenship.

At the beginning of the 20th century, archaeological excavations by M. Abramić and A. Colnago uncovered the remains of the Roman town walls beneath present-day Starigrad. A regular street grid, with a cardo and decumanus, is thought to have existed within the walls. Outside them, an ancient necropolis, the town cemetery, extended along the main road leading southeast.

Archaeologists investigated about 400 graves in the ancient necropolis. Following a custom widespread throughout the Roman Empire, the townspeople cremated their dead and placed their ashes in glass, ceramic or stone urns. Various objects placed beside them in the graves reveal the prosperity and refined taste of the population, as well as trade links with distant parts of the Roman Empire. Notable finds include jewelry made of silver, bronze and amber, oil lamps, tools and weapons, and ceramic, metal and glass vessels.

The collection of glassware is particularly valuable, comprising 146 vessels of various shapes. Some were imported from Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, Italy, Pannonia and the Gallic and Rhineland regions, while others were made in local glass workshops.

The collection of Roman glass from Argyruntum is held at the Archaeological Museum in Zadar.

As the Roman Empire weakened at the beginning of the 4th century, Argyruntum lost its importance as a trading center. Its impoverished population withdrew to safer locations on the nearby slopes of Velebit, where they would witness the end of Classical civilization.

The valuable finds from the necropolis of Argyruntum confirm that present-day Starigrad-Paklenica experienced the full splendor of Roman civilization during Classical Antiquity.

The medieval church of St. Peter shows that Starigrad was again inhabited. The cemetery around the church was used since the 13th century, while the most impressive burial monuments - massive stone slabs, sometimes decorated by simple, shallow reliefs - date from the very end of the Middle Ages (14th to 16th century). Two forts were probably built at that time: Vecka Tower, on a cape just east of Starigrad, and Paklaric, on top of a long-abandoned prehistoric hillfort, overlooking the entrance to Velika Paklenica gorge.

Wars with the Turks that followed lasted for two centuries, devastating the coast and the maritime slope of Velebit. In 1527, Turks occupied Lika and the hinterland of Dalmatia, including the nearby Obrovac on the river Zrmanja. Three decades later they occupied a large part of Ravni Kotari and reached the bay of Novigrad, severing the link between northern and southern parts of Croatia. Velebit’s maritime slope became a “no man’s land”, the scene of action of frequent clashes and raids. Its inhabitants fled and emigrated, leaving the area deserted.

Desolation lasted for some 150 years. With the decline of the Turkish might, Venetian authorities began repopulating Starigrad in 1671. By the end of the 17th century, almost the entire maritime slope was settled once again. The settlers were Bunjevci, a Croatian population from the neighboring areas that were still under Turkish occupation. When the Turks finally withdrew in the year 1700, the area was reunited with the rest of Dalmatia under Venetian rule.

The village stood in the area of present-day Seline, and the Romanesque church of St. Peter is also thought to have belonged to it. Apart from references in historical sources, no remains of the village survive today.

The tower’s position at the edge of Večko Polje was strategically important, allowing navigation through Velebit Channel to be monitored. The two busiest routes linked the area with the Zadar hinterland via Vinjerac and Cape Pisak in Seline, and with Lika through Velika Paklenica gorge. The Paklarić fort above the gorge entrance also confirms its strategic importance. In the second half of the 17th century, historical sources mention Večki Porat as the main port for exporting timber cut in Paklenica. They also mention Večka Tower for the last time. The village of Veche is thought to have already disappeared during Turkish raids, with the tower destroyed or abandoned.

Judging by the visible remains, the tower was surrounded by a rectangular courtyard, now partly submerged. The tower itself was built of coursed dressed stone. Sockets for floor beams visible on its inner walls suggest that it had three stories. Narrow windows with deeply splayed sides, used as firing slits, can still be seen on the highest story.

Many legends are told about Večka Tower, the best known being the legend of King Pasoglav, the dog-headed king.