Page 17 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(1) (2024)

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Figure 2: Floor plan of the monastic complex at Sv. Petar with marked Iron Age grave locations (Bully et al. 2024, Death in Osor: Rituals and Practices of Prehistoric Burials
fig. 8, by Matthieu Le Brech and Laurent Fiocchi, adapted with permission by Martina Blečić Kavur, 2024)

Sv. Katarina southern part. The grave’s position on the edge
At the northernmost part of what is believed to of the perimeter, near the important Bijar Bay,
have been Osor's urban space, the oldest buri- and at the northern exit of the city is intriguing,
al from the Bronze Age has been partially exca- particularly given the presence of thick prehis-
vated (fig. 1). The grave was found beneath the toric cultural layers over 4 metres deep.
collapsed Chapel of Sv. Katarina, near the city
walls and in close proximity to the Bijar mon- Sv. Petar
astery (Sv. Marija od Anđela). Excavations were At the northernmost and highest position with-
conducted in 1962, although more detailed doc- in the city area, the medieval site of the Bene-
umentation has not been preserved. However, dictine Church and Monastery of Sv. Peter (fig.
records indicate the discovery of a skeletal bur- 1) has yielded seven new burials (Čaušević-Bul-
ial in a crouched position, preliminarily dat- ly et al. 2014; Čaušević-Bully et al. 2017; Bul-
ed based on material culture analysis, includ- ly et al. 2018; 2019). These graves, dated to the
ing fragments of pottery and a bone awl handle, Iron Age through radiometric analysis and ma-
placing it in the Early Bronze Age (Mihovilić terial culture, have provided significant in-
2013). Although the grave seems to have been lo- sights into the burial rites. A particularly valu-
cated within the prehistoric planned settlement, able find was the so-called Osor urn, discovered
it was likely much farther from the centre of the in the foundational structures of the complex
settlement at that time, then latter located in its outside the Church of Sv. Petar in 2009 (fig. 2).