Page 33 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

are of Roman origin. However, the OSL-PD in- cated in the waterlogged karst depression to the
vestigation provided some insight on marine north-east and east of the city (fig. 4) can also
transgression in Jaz Bay: the base of unit 7 (dark be dismissed. The related question of whether
grey clayey silt, some iron straining, shells and Osor was ever located on an artificial island cre-
shell fragments) marks inundation by the sea, as ated by channels between Bijar and Jaz (Faber
these are the first marine sediments preserved 1980, fig. 4) also does not seem to be correct, as
in core. These sit unconformably on unit 8, rep- the results of previous small-scale geoarchae-
resenting an erosional contact. Unit 8 is light ological research seem to contradict that the-
olive-brown clayey silt, deposited in a terrestrial ory (Draganits et al. 2019). Firstly, the water-
setting. By AD 170 ± 100, the marine transgres- logged karst depression contains fresh water,
sion had reached the low-lying land to the south not salt water, and is therefore unaffected by
and east of Osor town. Unit 7’s base is erosional changes in sea level. Secondly, the study showed
and cut into terrestrial sediments with a deposi- that the depression was almost completely filled 33
tional age of 6.89 ± 0.44 ka, meaning that only with sediment around 6000 years ago, and con-
the last transgression can be dated. sequently cannot represent the harbour of Ro-
In essence, the Jaz area was part of the man Osor, particularly given the lower sea lev-
coastal land up to AD 170 ± 100 when rising els of the past. An additional core was taken in
sea levels led to saltwater advancing inland. For the karst depression in spring 2024 to corrob-
this reason, today’s Jaz Bay can be ruled out as orate the 2019 results, and sediment analysis is Dip Your Finger in the Sea...
the site of a (Roman) city harbour. After Roman ongoing.
times, as far as can be currently determined, the Additionally, the Roman walls and (late)
rise of the sea level, the natural sedimentation Roman graves were located at the edge of the
and erosion processes, as well as the anthropo- depression in the area proposed by Faber (1980,
genic interventions play the most important fig. 4) as the northern harbour. The graves and
role in further changes of the Jaz Bay (Stražičić building structures were excavated in the 1990s
1995, 74–88). Regarding the potential medieval (Majnarić Pandžić 1992, 270) next to the aban-
saltworks in the Jaz area, the drill core sample doned monastery from 15th century (Lemes-
offers limited insight as it was likely taken from si 1980, 148). While the archaeological excava-
outside the presumed location of the saltworks. tion has never been published and the material
The oldest historical sources date back to the been lost, some excavation documents remain
time of the Venetian Republic. Despite the in- in the Osor Archaeological Collection. Thus,
accuracies inherent in historical maps, they de- in addition to precise geological dating, the ar-
pict the Jaz area as a bay (e.g. Pavić 2000, fig. 6). chaeological evidence indicates that Osor was
The wetland contributed to the spread of ma- not naturally an island and that there was at no
laria, leading to its gradual filling in by the 19th time a seawater link between Bijar and Jaz Bay.
century. Stražičić (1995, fig. 3) suggests this oc- Therefore, the only possible location for a
curred after 1821. Subsequently, dredged sedi- city harbour is Bijar Bay. Evidence of anchor-
ments from the Lošinj Channel were deposited ing has been found in the form of scattered ce-
there, and the creation of the L-shaped channel ramic material at the bottom of the bay (Etting-
designed for fish farming through the middle of er-Starčić 2012). Although no remains of the
Jaz Bay was the last modern intervention (fig. 1 harbour structure have been found, the Roman
and fig. 4). No archaeological finds have been walls mentioned above in the area of the mon-
discovered in the L-shaped channel in the bay astery may be the first indication of harbour in-
(Ettinger Starčić 2012). frastructure outside the city walls. The 12 moor-
The suggestion by Faber (1980, fig. 4) that ing bollards that stretch along Bijar Bay and are
a section of the ancient harbour in Bijar was lo- carved from limestone have already been mapped