Projects / Programmes
Archaeological investigations
January 1, 2004
- December 31, 2008
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.02.00 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
|
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H340 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic, Metal Ages, Antiquity, Epigraphy, Late Antiquity, Early Middle Ages, documentation systems, data collection, preservation and presentation of the cultural heritage, valorization of the cultural landscape, methodology of research work.
Researchers (19)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The main focus of the program is oriented towards basic research, to acquiring new knowledge about the development of man and society in the earliest periods of Slovenian history. As the program is multi-layered, an important segment is represented by the creation and examination of new methods of research, the analysis of data bases and documentation systems, as well as gaining new knowledge about the settlement structures, social processes, and the economy and lifestyle of the populations that dwelled from prehistory to the early Middle Ages in the southeastern Alpine region.
The program incorporates the following contexts:
Paleolithic investigations: final phase of the Divje babe I project; multi-disciplinary research, analysis and publication of the new Mesolithic site at Viktorjev spodmol.
Neolithic and Eneolithic: wood sampling at the pile dwelling sites at the Ljubljansko barje; sample trenching and processing of the fine materials from the pile dwelling sites.
Bronze and Early Iron Ages: evaluation of the material finds and data from the sample trenching at upland settlements in the Dolenjska region.
Late Iron Age: collection and interpretation of archaeological sources concerning the history of the La Tene period and intra-regional studies of aceramic finds from the La Tene and Roman periods.
Roman period: topography and further completion of the database of archaeological sites in Ptuj; the artisan's quarter in Rabelčja vas; the romanization of western and central Slovenia; archaeological investigations of the high mountains in the Kamniške Alpe.
Late Antiquity: Late Antiquity settlement structure; Early Christian architecture; barbarian fragments within the context of the romanized substrata in the eastern Alpine area; investigations and processing of material finds from the Late Antiquity site at Tonovcov grad.
Early Middle Ages: typological chronology of the burial goods, typological chronology of settlement finds and research of settlement structures.
Epigraphy and Roman history: historical-philological commentary and evaluation of Strabo's Geography; further investigations of Roman inscriptions throughout Slovenia; history of Celeia in light of epigraphical monuments.
Paleo-ecological investigations: a study of the development of the paleo-environment in Slovenia and neighboring countries during the late quaternary - multi-disciplinary investigations will be focused especially on the areas of the Ljubljansko barje, Bela krajina and the Bled area.
Our investigations will be built on data acquired through archaeological excavation of sites, cemeteries, topographic surveys, revisions of the archaeological material finds in museum depositories and the collection of old archaeological documentation for the archives. Standardized methods will be applied for the drawn and written documentation, and wherever applicable, the documentation process will be further supplemented with an informational procedure all to the form of a classified digital record. The archaeological analyses will be further supplemented with investigations of the paleo-environment. Archaeological sediments will be correlated and the influence human activity upon the environment determined. The appropriate anthropological, osteozoological, palynological, carpological, sedimentological, physical and chemical analyses will also be carried out. The pertinent infrastructure (for the Natural and Cultural Heritage) will execute the research program, as field research, laboratories and databases are essential for the successful rendition of such a program. The work of the infrastructure will encompass archaeological documentation systems (ARKAS, ZBIVA, LIBERA, the primary catalogue of archaeological literature, the collection of written documentation, the collection of illustrated documentation, the collection of material finds, epigraphic collection), field research (mobile documentation centers, laboratories) and prospecting snapsh...
Significance for science
Archaeology is a science which contributes to the understanding of human historical activity and development and to the creation of awareness of this development with a professional scientific apparatus. Thus it creates a critical distance towards various ideological and mythical explanations of historical phenomena which still have effect in the contemporary socio-political practice. As the geographical frontiers of communities who lived here before us do not match the current frontiers of our state the research must cross them. It represents an important part of archaeological research in central Europe. We developed a special morphometric method for the study and classification of bone points and confirmed the hypothesis that the Palaeolithic flute is indeed man-made. Thus we confirmed the existence of the oldest musical instrument and indirectly a different viewpoint of the Neanderthals’ stage of development. The results of several years’ research of prehistoric settlements are published in the monograph about the settlement pattern of the south-eastern Alpine region which represents the first synthesis of this kind and at the same time uses many various new methodological approaches and techniques. Several studies of non-ceramic material from the LaTene and Roman periods were elaborated. In Nauportus, a roman settlement in Vrhnika, a complex of emporia on the right bank of the Ljubljanica River was surveyed by geophysical techniques and evaluated. It represents one of the best preserved architectural units shedding light on Roman conquest politics in the second half of the 1st century B.C.: the importance of supply waterways on the Ljubljanica and Sava rivers, the connection between the merchant families and the regular Roman army, an exceptionally well preserved type of warehouse and port architecture. The monograph about the Greek historian Appian from Alexandria includes the text of his Illyrian history with a historical, philological and partly archaeological commentary and is important for the understanding of later prehistoric periods and of the Romanisation in the Balkans. The study of the hoards from Polhograjska gora is extremely important as it supplements and corrects earlier publications. On the basis of a thorough analysis of the finds it establishes a new dating of the hoard and indirectly revaluates similar hoard finds from the rest of the Empire. Studies on the settlement pattern in the Late Antiquity have changed the understanding of the settlement pattern between Constantinople and Ravenna and have emphasised the importance of the fortified hilltop settlements as nuclei of the last remains of the Romanised population.
Significance for the country
The research has a wide span of contents as it reaches from metallurgy, building basic databases and small finds publications up to syntheses in which the processes of society development from the first appearance of humans throughout prehistory and antiquity to the middle ages. It is of paramount importance for the consolidation of national identity and also for the maintenance and preservation of cultural heritage, valorisation of the cultural landscape and educational processes. During the research of the pile-settlement of Stare gmajne, which is approximately 5200 years old, we studied 1077 samples of piles. Using the distribution of differently dated piles we were able to define the growth of the settlement and various construction activities during approximately 100 years. The last radiocarbon analyses help us to improve the dating of various already dated pile-settlements in Ljubljansko barje and to promote it as an important tourist destination. We prepared the scientific background for a permanent installation of the Roman lapidary in the National Museum of Slovenia with an accompanying publication and the erection of a small lapidary in Sevnica with a short publication. The research deepened our knowledge of the dynamic processes at the beginning of the Roman period. The remains of a Roman post in Razdrto (Roman Ocra) were analysed: chronology, trade connections. The role of Nauportus in the wider area was studied on the basis of new field research and dendrochronological analyses. The development of settlement to the east of Ptuj in prehistory and antiquity and the human presence in the high mountains from Bronze Age to the High Middle Ages was studied in detail. A synthesis of Late Antique pottery is prepared which helped us to deepen our knowledge of pottery in the south-eastern Alpine region and to develop new methodological approaches in coarse ware studies. The study of the Slavic settlement in Bled which is of crucial importance for the understanding of the arrival of the Slavs and their coexistence with the Romanized population is completed.
Most important scientific results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
