Page 9 - Discovering Hvar
P. 9

The island’s elongated shape is its unchanging determinant, accentuated by the point-  ALDO ČAVIĆ
           ed end on the side facing the Dalmatian mainland, 6 km away. On this side the tip of
           the island almost pierces into the wide delta of the river Neretva. The shape resembles
           an awl, as it is reflected in Lesina, one of the island’s Italian names. To some, it also re-

           semblesa flint stone dagger, as a poet had observed. At the tip of the dagger lies Sućuraj
           (Sveti Juraj = St. George), and at the opposite end is cape Pelegrin. They were named
           after  the  small  medieval  churches,  built  at  the  opposite  tips  of  the  island. The  holy
           knight George, killing the dragon with a spear, was a saint and a patron of pilgrims.
           The church devoted to Pelegrin, at the island’s tip open to the Adriatic Sea, was the first
           the pilgrims on the galleys spotted on their long voyage from Venice to the Holy Land.
           Lying between these two endpoints is the island, green from the pines and olive trees,

           grey from the washed-out stone, red from the soil and white from the labours of human
           hands that had for thousands of years stacked the stones into piles and buildings,
           bringing order to the wild beauty of God’s creation. Very few spots on the island can
           be found where man has not made his mark. When a summer fire burns some impass-
           able  green  thicket,  from  the  ashes  often  emerges  a  terrace-supporting  wall,  a  stone
           path,  a  drywall  field shelter – trim, or just a neatly stacked pile of stones. Traces of
           human labour are everywhere.
           Man  has  been  present  on  the  island  of  Hvar  since  the  Neolithic.  Of  the  many  caves
           that were his shelter or venues of cult rituals, the best known is Grapčeva Cave on the

           island’s  south  side,  above  Gromin  Dolac.  Archaeologist  Grga  Novak,  native  of  Hvar,
           discovered  in  it  a  multitude  of  broken  fragments  of  round-bottomed  vessels  with
           geometric  motifs  in  the  shape  of  spirals  and  meanders,  executed  with  a  chisel  and
           painted  in  white  and  red  on  blue  and  brown  background.  He  introduced  these
           findings to the science of archaeology as Hvar’s Neolithic Culture of Painted Pottery.
           In  early  Bronze  Age,  approximately  2500  years  B.C.,  Hvar  was  colonised  by  Indo-
           European  peoples  who  built  settlements,  called  gradine,  on  the  island’s  many

           strategic  hilltops.  The  remains  of  their  building  endeavours  are  to  be  found  in  the
           form of numerous tumuli, burial stone mounds, scattered all over the island. In the 1st
           millennium  B.C.  Greek  writers  began  to  call  this  population  by  a  common  name,
           Illyrians.  These  mysterious  peoples  had  no  script,  but  were  skilled  seamen,  as  we
           learn  from  ancient  sources.  Greek  colonists  encountered  the  native  population
           when  in  385/84  B.C.  they  sailed  to  Hvar  from  the  Aegean  island  of  Paros. This  date
           marks the beginning of Hvar’s written history.
           ‘’Late that year in Athens, Diotreph became archon, and in Rome Lucius Valerius and
           Aulus Malius became consuls, and the Eleians held 99th Olympic Games in which Diony-

           sius of Syracuse won. At this time the people of Paros who colonised Pharos founded
           and fortified a town on the shore, and the barbarians who lived there before were left
           to  live  in  peace  in  some  fortification that was hugely inaccessible.’’ (Diodorus of Sic-
           ily, Bibliotheke historike, Book XV) In the following year, Greek colonists fought against

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