Page 26 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(1) (2024)

al discoveries from archival records ought to be Age cemetery under tumuli, extending to the
included. First, another prehistoric grave was north and northeast, where the terrain rises
excavated during rescue works in 1964 along significantly.
the road, in front of the modern cemetery and
the tumulus investigated in 1959 (Baćić 1964a). Mala Prepoved
Aside from descriptions in field reports by Boris In the area above and east of the Bijar cove, at the
Baćić, who conducted the excavation and trans- site of Mala Prepoved, behind the old military
ferred the material to the Osor Archaeological barracks, more than six tumuli were identified in
Collection, no detailed information on the type the 1960s, indicating the presence of a necropo-
and method of burial is available, but it likely lis in the wider area of Osor (fig. 1). This strategic
did not contain a representative inventory that position at the approach to Osor likely connect-
would attract more attention from researchers. ed with the settlement on the hill above Bijar,
26 Due to the lack of documentation, the items in where two large tumuli were also recorded (Baćić
the Osor Archaeological Collection cannot be 1967, 3–4). Rescue excavations were carried out
closely associated with this grave. in 1963 on one tumulus, significantly damaged
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 1 / volume 12 (2024), number 1
Further, during rescue archaeological and during stone crushing. The grave, carved into the
conservation research on the enclosure wall and bedrock to a depth of 20 cm, was then covered
the church of Sv. Marija at the cemetery, specif- with nearly 50 cm of soil and covered with a stone
ically the early Christian episcopal complex, a tumulus mound measuring about 7 metres in
rectangular stone chest grave was also excavat- width and 2.5 metres in height (fig. 9). The grave
ed in 2001 (fig. 1, 8). The grave was located at the architecture was defined by stone slabs forming a
base beneath the altar in the late chapel of the rectangular chest containing a single skeletal in-
‘northern church’. It was interpreted as a medi- dividual in a crouched position (Baćić 1963, 1–2;
eval grave with a reduced burial and remnants 1967, 3–4). A similar situation is known from
of a wooden coffin, possibly connected to the the tumulus near the cemetery and church of Sv.
veneration of St. Gaudentius (Čaušević 2003, Marija, except that this tumulus was intended
209, fig. 6–7). However, given the location, bur- for multiple, likely family, burials. The grave con-
ial method, and type, it seems unlikely to be a tained some of the largest examples of two-part
medieval grave. The early Christian architectur- spectacle fibulae and ornate Osor-type fibulae
al complex was built on an Iron Age burial site found to date (Glogović 2003, pl. 26: 175, pl. 45:
with tumuli, a practice not uncommon along 342; Blečić Kavur 2010, pl. 43: 579, pl. 44: 585),
the Adriatic coast and beyond, as seen in the Sv. a ceramic spindle whorl, and ceramic fragments
Petar monastery complex, which was also con- (Baćić 1963, 1). This individual grave can be con-
structed on an older Iron Age burial site. Grave fidently dated to the Early Iron Age, specifically
architecture constructed from four rectangular the 9th and early 8th centuries BCE. The items
slabs, one of which was cracked, and the miss- found in the grave, as well as the burial method
ing lid, is typical of Iron Age burial practices. and grave architecture, align with practices com-
These factors suggest that the grave, located mon in the Early Iron Age of the region.
near the previously investigated tumulus be-
hind the cemetery wall at Sv. Marija (fig. 1, 6–7), Konopičje
could not belong to the medieval episcopal com- Opposite and slightly to the east of Mala Pre-
plex. The skeletal remains, while possibly dating poved, at the location of Konopičje, a larger ne-
to the Iron Age, might perhaps represent a sec- cropolis was discovered during field surveys, lo-
ondary medieval burial, given the evidence of cated in a saddle, i.e. a depression between two
wooden coffin remains. Nonetheless, the grave larger ridges (fig. 1). There were two burial prac-
architecture points to a once much larger Iron tices observed: flat graves and those under tumuli.