Page 15 - Kavur, Boris. Everything counts (in small amounts) … Koper: University of Primorska Press, 2015.
P. 15
Kettledrum type fibula from Mali grad. the end of the old era 15
Modest archaeological finds from this period discovered on the territory of Ptuj come from Turnirski prostor
on Grajski grič and the area of Mali grad at its foothill. They do not demonstrate only traces of settlements but
also roles of networks of contacts at the end of Early Iron Age. Presented territory was located in a border region
between cultural networks which were spanning on one side across Dolenjska, Posočje and northern Adriatic
to Tirol and on the other side from western Hungary and eastern Austria across Moravia all the way to the Bo-
hemian mountains. In both cases finds from Ptuj do not indicate the existence of a large prehistoric center, but
rather a final range, the last point still connected to the network of contacts between communities.
During the 1999 excavations in Mali grad a small bronze fibula was discovered in the oldest layers. Its architec-
tural complex is located on the western end of today’s Prešeren Street running along the foothills of the Grajski
grič. It is a rare form of fibulae with a crossbow shaped coil and 4 kettledrum-shaped decorations on the foot.
Until recently such fibulae were known from Caverzano below Dolomites in Italy, Most na Soči in the Posoč-
je region in Slovenia and the ancient istrian city of Nesactium in Croatia. Similar fibulae, produced in the same
way, but having only 2 kettledrum-shaped decorations were more numerous. Their current number is about 20
examples spread across important prehistoric centers of the 5th century BC from Southern Alps in a zone run-
ning from Trento across Posočje, Carinthia and Dolenjska. It is most important that they were discovered in
coastal cities – examples are known from Etruscan Spina and Syracusan Adria, the most important sites from
this period in effusion of river Po. There, archaeologists interpreted them as attire of newcomers which, origi-
nating from prehistoric hinterlands, settled in the cities.
Modest archaeological finds from this period discovered on the territory of Ptuj come from Turnirski prostor
on Grajski grič and the area of Mali grad at its foothill. They do not demonstrate only traces of settlements but
also roles of networks of contacts at the end of Early Iron Age. Presented territory was located in a border region
between cultural networks which were spanning on one side across Dolenjska, Posočje and northern Adriatic
to Tirol and on the other side from western Hungary and eastern Austria across Moravia all the way to the Bo-
hemian mountains. In both cases finds from Ptuj do not indicate the existence of a large prehistoric center, but
rather a final range, the last point still connected to the network of contacts between communities.
During the 1999 excavations in Mali grad a small bronze fibula was discovered in the oldest layers. Its architec-
tural complex is located on the western end of today’s Prešeren Street running along the foothills of the Grajski
grič. It is a rare form of fibulae with a crossbow shaped coil and 4 kettledrum-shaped decorations on the foot.
Until recently such fibulae were known from Caverzano below Dolomites in Italy, Most na Soči in the Posoč-
je region in Slovenia and the ancient istrian city of Nesactium in Croatia. Similar fibulae, produced in the same
way, but having only 2 kettledrum-shaped decorations were more numerous. Their current number is about 20
examples spread across important prehistoric centers of the 5th century BC from Southern Alps in a zone run-
ning from Trento across Posočje, Carinthia and Dolenjska. It is most important that they were discovered in
coastal cities – examples are known from Etruscan Spina and Syracusan Adria, the most important sites from
this period in effusion of river Po. There, archaeologists interpreted them as attire of newcomers which, origi-
nating from prehistoric hinterlands, settled in the cities.
