Page 79 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

7–9) (Bully et al. 2017, fig. 21; Čaušević-Bully et memory remained permanently integrated into
al. 2017, fig. 15). Bioarchaeological analysis iden- the daily life of the community. Such diversity re-
tified the burial as that of an adult female (No- flects not only chronological changes but also the
vak and Carić 2019; Patterson et al. 2022). Un- longevity and complexity of the social and identi-
like the graves in the tumulus at Sv. Marija, no ty choices of these people (Blečić Kavur and Ka-
animal bones were found in these graves. vur 2024; 2025).
New absolute dating data have enabled the
Osor precise chronological anchoring of burial units
During extensive rescue excavations in 2022– at Sv. Petar and Sv. Marija to the 10th and 9th
2023 in the so-called Zone C (fig. 1), another in- centuries BCE, fully corroborating the results
dividual Iron Age grave with an inhumation but of typological, stylistic and comparative anal-
without grave architecture was investigated. The yses of attire and ornaments. This makes Osor
grave contained a damaged Adriatic-type spec- one of the few sites on the eastern Adriatic coast 79
tacle fibula and several amber beads (Baričević et where prominent graves from the initial phase of
al. 2025). Bioarchaeological analyses confirmed the Early Iron Age can be reliably linked to abso-
that the burial was of an adult female (Novak et lute dates, thereby defining more precisely both
5
al. 2025). Given its location, it cannot be ruled the period of use and the deposition of specific
out that this grave should be considered in the items.
context of the northern graves at Sv. Petar, to The sex of individuals in the presented
which it is connected not only chronologically graves has been confirmed through convention-
but also spatially, possibly forming part of a larg- al bioarchaeological methods (Novak and Carić
er cemetery extending across this broader, high- 2019; Novak 2025; Patterson et al. 2022; No-
est north-western urban grid of Iron Age Osor vak et al. 2025). This is important for interpret-
(Blečić Kavur and Kavur 2024, 20). ing social structure, as it demonstrates that cer-
Conclusion tain items were specifically associated with adult
women as bearers of symbolic capital, status and
This multi-layered reinterpretation of Osor buri- tradition. Where bioarchaeological analyses did
als from the 10th to the 8th century BCE is based not yield results, the possible sex of the individ-
on the integration of archaeological data, materi- ual was, when feasible, inferred based on the ty- The Emergence of the Iron Age in Osor Through Representative Material Culture
al culture studies, bioarchaeological research, and pological and chronological classification of
radiocarbon dating. For the first time, Osor graves characteristic items. Such attributions relate to
and their associated finds have been considered as socially and visually constructed gender identi-
interconnected, spatially and chronologically dif- ties rather than necessarily to biological sex (cf.
ferentiated units, significantly expanding the con- Arnold and Wicker 2001).
cept of the so-called Osor archaeology of death. The prominent graves at the churches of Sv.
The results show that, from the Late Bronze Age Marija and Sv. Petar, as well as at the Mala Pre-
and the early phases of the Iron Age, Osor devel- poved site (fig. 1; 5; 7; 11) – similar to those that,
oped a complex funerary landscape characterised judging by the material culture, were certainly
by the parallel use of different spaces and burial also present at Kavanela – indicate a structured
practices, including the less common cremations practice of burying prominent individuals with
and the more frequent inhumations, either on flat clearly defined funerary ceremonies. They pri-
ground or under tumuli. The presence of hetero- marily attest to the existence of social groups re-
geneous burial practices within the urban area in- sponsible for performing these rites, while also
dicates a flexible relationship between the worlds reflecting the hierarchy within the broader com-
of the living and the dead, in which ancestral
5 The analyses were carried out at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb.