Page 24 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(1) (2024)

24

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

Figure 7: View of partially excavated stone grave chests and grave 5 during the opening
(©Archives of the Archaeological Museum in Pula)

in 1959, only part of the tumulus was excavated, ing numerous ceramic fragments, was laid down,
revealing 10 burial units, most of which had not into which the graves were dug. The boundary
been destroyed or looted. Seven graves with eight wall was then constructed using the classical dry
burials were uncovered in the southern part of stone technique, with worked stone blocks on
the tumulus (fig. 6–7), while three graves were the outside and smaller unworked stones on the
destroyed during earthworks (Baćić 1959). The inside. It is assumed that the lack of a wall on
graves were constructed using the classical dry the southern side suggests that the tumulus had
stone technique, with rectangular stone slabs an open access for future burials (Mladin 1960,
and irregular stone lids, many of which were pre- 212–214, pl. IIA). The graves, dug and placed in
served. The graves, along with a cremation site the bedrock at a depth of about 1 metre, were
for special funeral rituals and ceremonies, sur- aligned north-south. Their arrangement follows
rounded by numerous ceramic fragments, were a specific layout, suggesting that grave 6, the rich-
enclosed by a dry stone wall up to 0.40 m high. est in terms of grave goods, was centrally located,
The tumulus was about 6 m in diameter and while the other graves (1, 2, 3 on one side and 4, 5
0.80-0.90 m in height, with a mound made of on the other) formed a rectangular space around
mixed soil, stones, ash, ceramic fragments, and it, closing it off from the west and north (fig. 6).
animal bones. The area where the graves were ex- Among the entire assemblage of graves, the
cavated measured about 17 m². Initially, a layer of osteological material was extremely poorly pre-
0.50 m of anthropogenic deposited soil, contain- served, but graves 6 and 5 turned out to be the