History of Croatia before the Croats

In Šandalja Cave near Pula, and in Punikve near Ivanec, flints made by pre-Neanderthal people have been found, while the remains of Neanderthal prehistoric humans have been discovered on Hušnjakovo near Krapina.

Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger discovered bones and other remnants of a Neandertal, subsequently named Homo krapiniensis, on a hill near the town of Krapina.

During excavations from 1899 to 1905, led by the palaeontologist and geologist Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger, abundant remains of Palaeolithic items and the bones of extinct prehistoric animals were discovered.

In the early Neolithic period, the Starčevo, Vinča and Sopot cultures were scattered between and around the Sava, the Drava and the Danube.

Notable are the excavation sites of Ščitarjevo near Zagreb, Sopot near Vinkovci, Vučedol near Vukovar, Nakovanj on Pelješac.

In Nesactium, bronze pails decorated with figures, fragments of jewellery, weapons and ceramics have been found, along with examples of monumental stonework, representing the greatest achievements of prehistoric artistic creativity on Croatian soil.

In the village of Prozor near Otočac, the remains of a settlement and necropolis belonging to the Illyrians Iapodes (first millennium BC) have been discovered.

Other tribes such as the Liburni and Iapodes, whose ethnicity is less clear, inhabited various parts of the Adriatic coastline and interior between modern Istria and Herzegovina.

Other notable people from these areas in this period included the Christian Jerome, Saint Marinus (builder of San Marino), emperors Valentinian I and Valens, and Pope John IV.

Forebears of Croatia's current Slav population settled there in the 7th century following the Avars, reportedly under instructions from Byzantine emperor Heraclius.