Drinking Cups
Thousands of pieces of Hellenistic drinking cups were discovered. These partially reconstructed examples date from the 3rd and 2nd century BC. The date of these cups suggests that the cavern was in use for hundreds of years before being sealed sometime in the 1st century BC.
Juglet
Excavating and cleaning the pottery and ivory was no easy task. All the artefacts in the cave were found mixed up in a sticky cave clay. This image shows one of the juglets.
Sleving Artefacts
The artefacts had to be carefully sieved, cleaned and conserved. It was through this process that the ivory fragments were discovered. In this picture ceramics and white pieces of bone can easily be seen.
Adriatic Sea
The key to determining how the astrology board got to this cave may lie in the Adriatic Sea, which this cave overlooks. It was a route of commerce in antiquity and the people who lived in Croatia, the Illyrians, likely traded and stole goods from passing ships. In this photo, taken near the cave, an Illyrian burial cairn can be seen in the middle foreground and the mainland can be seen in the distance.
The Sea
An atmospheric picture of Pelješac Peninsula, at left, with Nakovana cave located on its right extremity. Further to the right the island of Hvar can be seen.
