Page 20 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(1) (2024)

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studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 1 / volume 12 (2024), number 1

Figure 4: Iron Age grave during excavation of the Kaštel in 1953 (©Archive of the Archaeological Museum of Istria,
Pula, OK 1953 – FN 1938)

ously recorded in Osor's graves, relating both to in the context of the northern graves cannot be
the different burial rites and the varied architec- ruled out, opening up the potential for a larger
tural design. The very fact that a monastic com- necropolis that extended across the wider north-
plex with a mausoleum and a large cemetery was western urban area of Iron Age Osor.
built on a prehistoric necropolis (Čaušević-Bully
et al. 2014; Bully et al. 2024) underscores the im- Outside the City Walls
portance and perhaps the memory of that space Burials outside the city walls likely took place
within the town’s structure, extending through at three strategic locations (fig. 1). Following the
a truly remarkable historical continuum. natural terrain and its practical use, the necropo-
les were situated on the landward sides near the
Osor main approaches to the town. The larger one was
South of the monastery of Sv. Petar, in the town located along the southwestern side of the city
itself, along the existing route leading from the wall, at the entrance and on the Kavanela isth-
monastery to the southern perimeter of Osor, mus from the Lošinj side. Another necropo-
a new Iron Age grave was uncovered in exten- lis was established near the eastern extension of
sive rescue excavations in 2022/2023 (fig. 1). This the city wall, close to the current cemetery and
grave also contained a skeletal burial with a two- the Church of Sv. Marija, at the approach to the
part spectacle fibula and amber beads (Baričević town from the Cres side.
n.d.), closely linking it with the graves at Sv. Pe-
tar, both temporally and spatially. Since the bur- Kavanela
ial was made without a stone chest, it is likely On the southwestern approach to the town, at
a single burial. The possibility of considering it the once continuous but later canal-cut isth-