Editing Slovenia (section)

==== Prehistory ====

{{multiple image
| align             = right
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| image1            = Divje Babe flute (Late Pleistocene flute).jpg
| alt1              = A [[Divje Babe flute|pierced cave bear bone]], possibly a flute, from [[Divje Babe]]
| caption1          = A [[Divje Babe flute|pierced cave bear bone]], possibly a flute made by [[Neanderthal]]s dating to the [[Late Pleistocene]]
| image2            = Ljubljana Marshes Wheel with axle (oldest wooden wheel yet discovered).jpg
| alt2              = Ljubljana Marshes Wheel is the oldest wooden wheel yet discovered (Neolithic period)
| caption2          = The [[Ljubljana Marshes Wheel]], dating to the [[Neolithic]] period, is the oldest wooden wheel yet discovered.
| footer            = 
}}

Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since [[prehistoric]] times. There is evidence of [[human settlement|human habitation]] from around 250,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slovenia.si/slovenia/history/milestones/|title=Milestones&nbsp;-&nbsp;slovenia.si|website=slovenia.si|access-date=18 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222170919/http://www.slovenia.si/slovenia/history/milestones/|archive-date=22 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> A [[Divje Babe flute|pierced cave bear bone]], dating from 43100 ± 700 [[before present|BP]], found in 1995 in Divje Babe cave near [[Cerkno]], is considered a kind of flute, and possibly the oldest musical instrument discovered in the world.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9tDboBJ70EC |title=The Land Between: A History of Slovenia |chapter=From Prehistory to the End of the Ancient World |page=15 |first=Oto |last=Luthar |year=2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-631-57011-1}}</ref> In the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the [[Cro-Magnon]], such as pierced bones, bone points, and a needle were found by archaeologist [[Srečko Brodar]] in [[Potok Cave]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parc.si/index.html |title=Potočka zijavka |work=Parc.si |publisher=Palaeolithic Research Centre |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003053958/http://www.parc.si/index.html |archive-date=3 October 2012}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.dedi.si/dediscina/323 |title=Potočka zijalka |encyclopedia=Enciklopedija naravne in kulturne dediščine na Slovenskem – DEDI |first1=Irena |last1=Debeljak |first2=Matija |last2=Turk |editor=Šmid Hribar |editor2=Mateja Torkar |editor3=Gregor Golež |editor4=Mateja Podjed |editor5=Dan. Drago Kladnik |editor6=Drago. Erhartič |editor7=Bojan Pavlin |editor8=Primož. Jerele, Ines. |access-date=12 March 2012 |language=sl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515062641/http://www.dedi.si/dediscina/323 |archive-date=15 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2002, [[Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps|remains of pile dwellings]] over 4,500 years old were discovered in the [[Ljubljana Marsh]], now protected as a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]], along with the [[Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel]], the oldest wooden wheel in the world.<ref name="The_Oldest_Wooden_Wheel_in_the_World">{{cite web |url=http://www.koliscar.si/en/virtual-exhibition/ |title=The oldest wooden wheel in the world: Virtual exhibition |date=4 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123085747/http://www.koliscar.si/en/virtual-exhibition |archive-date=23 January 2013}}</ref> It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe.<ref name="Slovenia">{{cite web |title=World's Oldest Wheel Found in Slovenia |url=http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_relations/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/ |date=March 2003 |publisher=Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia |author=Alexander Gasser |access-date=19 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714033224/http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_relations/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/ |archive-date=14 July 2012}}</ref> In the transition period between the [[Bronze Age]] to the [[Iron Age]], the [[Urnfield]] culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the [[Hallstatt period]] have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of [[situla (vessel)|situla]]s in [[Novo Mesto]], the "[[Situla|Town of Situlas]]".<ref name="Situla1">{{Cite journal |last=Fabio |first=Saccoccio |title=Situla Art: An Iron Age Artisanal Tradition |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |pages=49–108 (volume 36) |publisher=Springer Nature |date=9 May 2023|volume=36 |issue=1 |doi=10.1007/s10963-023-09174-6 |doi-access=free }}</ref>