page_title: Paklenica
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Paklenica / History
caption_attribution_description: Paklenica valley
context_page_description: The Paklenica karst river canyon is a national park in Croatia. It is near Starigrad, northern Dalmatia, on the southern slopes of Velebit mountain, not far from Zadar. It contains two canyons, Mala and Velika Paklenica. Today there is no water flowing through Mala Paklenica. Near the entrance to the Velika Paklenica is an artificial tunnel complex built for Josip Broz Tito during the tension between Yugoslavia and the USSR in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
context_section_description: The area of South Velebit has been inhabited since prehistoric times. It is believed that, during the last ice age, the area was probably inhabited by small groups of Paleolithic hunters/collectors, as elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Sea level must have been 120 metres lower than today, and the Velebit Channel was a wide valley with a river flowing through it. The highest parts of the Velebit were covered with glaciers. When sea level began to rise in the late ice age, people moved to higher, hilly areas. The earliest records of humans in Velebit – Mesolithic flint tools found in Vaganačka Cave under Veliko Rujno – date back to this era.
  Approximately eight thousand years ago, the first cattle breeders and farmers arrived in the area, bringing wheat, domestic goats and sheep, as well as the knowledge of their breeding. Hunter-gathering lost its importance, and livestock-rearing began on Velebit. Plenty of material evidence, such as bones of domestic animals, tools and equipment used by prehistoric shepherds and decorated clay tableware, was found in the caves that served as shelter for people and cattle.
  During the last two thousand years BC, during the Bronze Age, the first fortifications and stone buildings were erected by Liburian peoples. They could serve as shelter to the population from the surrounding villages in case of danger, and some of them may have been permanent settlements where the local rulers had their seats. In addition, they oversaw important cattle and trade routes leading to Velebit and further to Lika via Paklenica or Rujan. Some of them served to oversee navigation. They are now destroyed, but ring-shaped mounds up to several meters in height can still be seen in some places. In the immediate vicinity of the fortifications, casket heaps – deposits of large round stone under which former rulers were buried in casket made of stone tablets – have been found. Most of them have been dug out and the graves robbed, but they are still visible, as in the area of the village of Ljubotić above Tribanj-Kruščica.
  Over the last two thousand years BC, the east coast of the Adriatic was gradually conquered by the Roman legions. After the Roman province of Dalmatia was founded in the early 1st century AD, permanent Roman reign was established. Starigrad (Roman name: Argyruntum) was established at the time, and it soon developed into an important trading center. In the 4th century AD, Emperor Tiberius had it fortified with walls and towers. The town cemetery was situated by the road that led southwest of the town.  Plenty of archaeological findings were collected from approximately 400 explored graves – jewelry, glassware and metalware, weapons and tools. The most interesting finding is certainly the ancient glass collection – as many as 146 vessels of different forms (bowls, glasses, bottled) – kept in the Zadar Museum of Archeology.
  Life in Argyruntum came to a standstill in the early 4th century AD. The era of peace was interrupted by attacks of barbaric nations that eventually led to the decline of the Roman state. In an attempt to bring the Adriatic coast back to Empire, East Roman Emperor Justinian built a system of fortifications to secure navigation and protect the local population. The ruins of forts and towers above Modrič and near Sveta Trojica not far from Tribanj are parts of this defensive system that briefly postponed the final decline of the ancient world in the Adriatic.
  The arrival of Croats in this area began in the early Middle Ages. The earliest preserved traces of their presence are the chapels of St. George (S. Juraj) in Rovanjska and the chapel of St. Peter (Sv. Petar) in Starigrad, built in the 9th or 10th century AD. Two forts – Večka Kula and Paklarić – were probably erected in the late Middle Ages (14th–16th century).
caption: Velika Paklenica gorge
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 30", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:10:14 17:14:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image ExifOffset": "324", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1234", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5828", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:06:12 16:43:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:06:12 16:43:11", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "309/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2048", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1536", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1084", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "64000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "64000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}