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Nakovana is one of the oldest settlements on Pelješac. Archaeologists have confirmed that the settlement existed 8,000 years ago. Nakovana is located in the western part of Pelješac along the road that leads from Vignje to Lovište. The area of Nakovana consists of two villages - Gornja Nakovana and Donja Nakovana. Although the settlement has existed for thousands of years, according to the 2021 census it has one resident. The settlement stopped developing during the 19th century, and the World War II was especially disastrous, when the Italian army burned Donja Ankovana. Most of the inhabitants then fled and moved away, and the settlement itself remained at the mercy of robbers who, in the years after the war, stole everything of value.

Today, the area of Nakovana is empty of people, but it provides a unique testimony of several thousand years of continuous living. Burying the dead inevitably goes along with living. Mortuary piles were found in the area of Nakovana. These are valuable archaeological sites of tombs of former inhabitants. All graves are located in the central part of the peninsula, while there are none towards the sea.

About fifty tombs were found in the entire area. Most of them are on the Zmijina Hill - ten of them. A burial site from the 4th century BC was found in that small area. Only two meters away, the remains of bronze ornaments were first found, and then bones. This tomb is dated to the 11th century BC. Remains of Roman projectiles were also found around the piles, which were used by the Romans during the attack from slingshots to target the local population.

Apart from the mounds on and around the hill, the best-researched archaeological site is the Spila cave. The cave was used from the early Neolithic to the late Bronze Age in different functions – for the needs of a temporary habitat, as a shelter. Today it is protected as a cultural asset. One side and somewhat hidden hall of the cave served as an Illyrian sanctuary for the inhabitants of that time, who sought help from higher powers in the cave. The use of the sanctuary is dated to the period from the 4th to the 1st century BC. In that part of the cave, numerous remains of ancient ceramic vessels, mostly of a utilitarian nature, were found. During their research, archaeologists found thousands of pieces of ceramic remains, mostly glasses, jugs and cups. Some of them are painted, and some contain short inscriptions in the Greek alphabet and Roman Latin.

Fun fact: The Spila Cave was discovered by chance during the usual archaeological research in 1999 in the area of Nakovane. The researchers kept its discovery a secret for two years in order to protect it from robbery before seriously investigating it in 2001.