A historical phenomenon near Novalja - Caska Bay hides a sunken city

The area of ​​Caska Bay is interesting for all lovers archeology, history and historical phenomena. Caska is located in the western part of Pag Bay near Novalja. It used to be located in the area of ​​this small place with a rich history Cissa, a Roman city, which according to historians sank in 4th century due to earthquakes.

Numerous researches have shown that it was a large and important city. That Caska had a special meaning is testified by the fact that a famous and rich senator's family from Rome had a luxurious summer house in it, Calpurnia.

However, whether Caska is a Roman city or was created much earlier, there are not enough clear conclusions or knowledge, but this Croatian Atlantis arouses public interest and hides many interesting and as yet undiscovered stories.

The antiquities of Novalja and Caska entered the travel literature very early. In the 15th century the prominent humanist Palladio Fusco wrote in his work entitled Description of the Illyrian Coast: - Local people claim that the island was previously called Gisom, and they show the remains of the city that is still called Gisom on it.

There are only a few houses in Caska Bay today, but it is located on its seabed submerged city. The remains of buildings can be found by diving, but most of the sunken city is inaccessible due to large deposits silt, sand and seagrass.

Of historical interest, the old tower known as Tuner that is, the tuna observatory, and here are the remains Romanesque church of St. George on a hill above Caska with a multitude of early medieval and early Christian exteriors.

The round stone tower for observing tuna movements, known as Tunera / Turan, was built by the Palčić family in 1888. The lucrative tuna hunt on Caska and Zrće lasted until 1960. Unlike many wooden structures along the Croatian coast, it is the only such tower made of stone. With its peculiarity, it arouses the curiosity of visitors and today it is a kind of symbol of Caska.

A special necropolis in Caska

Archaeological excavations carried out from 2003 to 2007, in the western part of the bay, close to the Zrće peninsula, revealed the extreme southeastern part of the cemetery that belonged to the ancient settlement. A total of forty-four cremation graves and one skeletal one, which can be dated to the first four centuries AD, have been excavated. The peculiarity of the necropolis in Caska is the special way of making graves, as it were so far it has not been confirmed at any other site

The ruin of the ancient settlement was often associated in the literature with great earthquake which shook the Mediterranean in the XNUMXs after Christ and because of its dramatic consequences remained recorded in the works of ancient writers.

As the previous archeological and geological research in Caska has not revealed any traces of any natural disaster, sunken archaeological remains in the bay should be attributed to the slow rise in sea level which has been going on continuously for at least seven thousand years.

However, the strong erosive processes characteristic of the eastern coast of Caska have in the past led to the breaking of rocks and thick coastal walls, which could easily have caused the local population to imagine a natural disaster and the merciless punishment of God.

Numerous legends have been recorded about the sunken city

Encouraged by the multitude of archeological finds along the coast and in the shallow sea of ​​the bay, legends about the dramatic sinking of the famous and rich town of Kisa have been transmitted by word of mouth in the Novalja region for centuries. The most frequently mentioned story is about two sisters, good Bonnie and evil Little, and about the angel whom God sent to find among the evil and corrupt population of Kise a good human creature. The angel found Bono and ordered her to flee the city which in a terrible earthquake, behind her back, had disappeared forever into the sea.

In another variant of the legend, the good sister with her beautiful and healthy children lived in bitter poverty, while the evil sister with her pale and unhealthy children swam in immeasurable wealth. When one day a good sister asked for help from the bad one, she was rudely refused. Dear God, he became very angry and drowned the whole city as punishment, having previously sheltered the good sister and her children on the hill of St. George.

In 1968 he was a folk poet from Novalja Ivan Šuljić-Iveša wrote down three more variants of the legend, of which he says: - Passing from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation over many centuries, it is understandable that the storytellers of various peoples who have changed on this island have added something to this day. Each of them narrated them in his own way and according to his own taste, in order to arouse greater sympathy in the listener; or he added a few words, so that they stretched over time. But they did not lose their own foundation.

Archaeologists are still exploring this bay and it is an interesting archeological site that will only tell the rich history of this bay which obviously hides a lot of interesting stories.

Photo: Novalja Tourist Board

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