History of Montenegro

The oldest monuments testifying to the fact that the earliest human communities on the present-day territory of
Montenegro settled the regions during the Early Stone Age (Paleolithic period) include: the cave of Crvena
stijena (Red rock) above lake Bileća, formerly the left bank of the river Trebišnjica, Mališina pećina (Mališa
Cave) and Medena stijena (Honey Rock) in the Ćehotina Canyon, as well as the Bioče rock shelter in the
Morača Canyon. The sites show that during the Pleistocene times, nearly the whole zone of what now
Montenegro offered more or less suitble conditions for permanent settlement. Favourable climate at certain
periods over that long-lasting age made it possible for numerous Mediterranean and continental animal species
to populate these areas, and they became the basic existential resourse to the Paleolithic man. Specific
geomorphological features of Montenegro were also suitable. Such are the engrossing natural formations like
caves and rock shelters that usually opened southwestward and southward. If sufficiently sunlit and protected
against the northern winds,and especially if potable water was available nearby, those natural shelters provided
optimum conditions for life in early pre-historic times. It seems that there used to be a lot such places all over
Montenegro, but only a small number of caves and rock shelters have undergone expertising.
In terms of suitability, Red Rock stood out: as archeologists have discovered, life was maintained in it almost
continuously from the very beginnings of the Middle Paleolithic, via the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and
Neolithic cultures, to the initial stage of the Bronze Age, this covering a period of more than 100 000 years. The
roughly chipped stone tools unearthed in the Paleolithic layers of the Red rock site have no direct analogues in
Paleolithic Europe, but display some specific traits evolved in response to the local geographic,
geomorphological and ecological conditions; the fact requires that the development of Paleolithic cultures in
that region is observed through the conspicious local influence. The local „colouring“ is even more striking with
more recent cultures, so that differentiation must be taken into account in any study dealing with the terminal
Paleolithic, Mesolithic and succeding periods. Therefore, Red rock is now taken by archeologists as a
representative sample of the evolution of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures of the Mediterranean region
and ,particularly, the Adriatic.