Page 65 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

1). According to the current state of research, knowledge of individual valuable or distinctive
the most commonly accepted burial practice in- artefacts and, consequently, broadened per-
volved interment in flat graves or burials beneath spectives on the internal dynamics of the com-
tumuli (burial mounds). Inhumation predomi- munity, its economic practices, presumed social
nated, while cremation was considerably rarer, stratification, and symbolic and identity-relat-
reflecting specific cultural or ideological mean- ed patterns.
ings as well as chronological distinctions. In the Due to the lack of documentation from ear-
case of inhumation burials, the deceased were lier excavations and the questionable circum-
placed in a crouched or seated position within stances of discovery, scholarly focus was until re-
stone chests, from which the richer graves de- cently largely directed towards typological and
rive, containing a greater number and diversity stylistic analyses and the possible chronological
of grave goods (Blečić Kavur 2021; Blečić Kavur determination of a substantial number of met-
and Kavur 2024). al objects. These objects mostly originated from 65
This study broadens the concept of so- destroyed graves or from the ritual pyre of the
called Osor archaeology of death by analysing western necropolis at Kavanela (Glogović 1982a;
representative material culture contextualised 1982b; 1989; 2003; Ćus-Rukonić 1981; Blečić Ka-
in relation to individual graves and necropolises vur 2010; 2014, 25–7; 2015, 25–8; 2020), and to
from the initial phase of the Early Iron Age. By a lesser extent from other topographical loca-
comparing and evaluating both published and tions within and beyond the urban area (Mla-
previously unpublished artefacts within a ty- din 1960; Mihovilić 2013; Blečić Kavur and Ka-
pological–stylistic and comparative framework, vur 2013; 2024; 2025).
the study draws on data from archival, system-
atic, and rescue archaeological investigations, as Outside the City Walls
well as new absolute dates and bioarchaeolog- As described above, burial outside the perimeter
ical studies. The aim is to reinterpret material of the present-day settlement – and presumably
culture within newly defined closed assemblag- also outside the Iron Age settlement – certain-
es and a more precise chronological framework, ly took place at three deliberately chosen loca-
considering it as an indicator of social structures tions (fig. 1). Two necropolises were situated on
and identities, networks of interaction, and cul- the landward sides along the main approaches The Emergence of the Iron Age in Osor Through Representative Material Culture
tural connections within broader regional and to the settlement. The larger was located along
historical patterns from the 10th to the 8th cen- the south-western side of the fortifications, on
turies BCE. the approach to and on the Kavanela isthmus
from the Lošinj side. The second was established
Material Culture in Time and Space along the eastern extension of the fortifications,
To understand and reconstruct the ways of life near the present-day cemetery and the church of
of communities inhabiting the Osor area dur- Sv. Marija, marking the approach to the settle-
ing the dynamic periods of later prehistory, ma- ment from the Cres side (Blečić Kavur and Ka-
terial culture forms the foundation of all re- vur 2024, 20–8).
search. The first comprehensive overview of the
assemblage was provided by Glogović (1982b; Kavanela
1989), who identified Osor as one of the most At the so-called western necropolis, divided
important sites of this period in the Kvarner by the Osor isthmus of Kavanela, the first and
region. This was followed by specialised stud- most extensive investigations of the prehistoric
ies, syntheses, and overviews (e.g. Glogović and Roman necropolis – extending as far as the
1982a; 1988; 2003; Blečić Kavur 2010; 2012; chapel of Sv. Stjepan (St Stephen) – began in the
2014; 2015; 2017; 2020; 2021), which expanded 19th century (fig. 1). The beginning of the Ear-