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Trial Excavation of prehistoric hilltop settlement on Pliš near Velika
Marko Dizdar
orcid.org/0000-0003-3964-9002
; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
Hrvoje Potrebica
orcid.org/0000-0002-5474-4254
; Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
During March and April 2011 trial excavation of the site Pliš near Velika was carried out (township Velika, Požega-Slavonia County). The site is located on one of the prominent southern slopes of Papuk (altitude 559 m) above the valley of the Veličanka stream (Fig. 1). South-eastern and eastern part of the site are endangered by the activities of the quarry. Previously collected ceramic finds were dated to the Late Bronze Age (Potrebica, Ložnjak 2003; 2004; Ložnjak Dizdar, Potrebica 2004).
Test trenches are grouped into two groups along the edge of the quarry exploitation zones: four trenches (1-4) are located on the northwest edge of the quarry on the position Osredak (Fig. 3), whereas two trenches (5-6) are located on the southwest side of the quarry on Pliš (Fig. 4). A total area of 331 m2 was explored , with the intensely reviewed area located on the north side of Pliš spreading on 200 m2. In the trenches at the position Osredak there were no traces of any archaeological complex or movable finds.
In trenches 5-6 at Pliš remains of buildings were not found, however, a number of ceramic finds were collected. Fragments of pots with rounded body and horizontally drawn faceted edge decorated with plastic stripes and notches were singled out (Fig. 5), followed by rounded bowls with inverted rim, the bowl with the S-moulded body and the cup with the rounded body and a conical neck. Based on the typological-chronological analysis of pottery fragments collected as well as on those known from earlier, the settlement on Pliš can be dated to the Late Bronze Age, or the end of the older and younger phase of the Urnfield culture (Ložnjak Dizdar, Potrebica 2004; Ložnjak Dizdar 2011) and the Early Iron age.
The amount of detected findings indicates that this is a prominent high-altitude settlement that controls the southern slopes of Papuk and communication route to Podravina through the valley of the Veličanka stream. In the humus layer on Pliš very few pottery fragments from the Middle Ages were also found. Experimental studies on Pliš confirmed the existence of a prominent hilltop prehistoric settlement with its southeast and eastern slopes partly destroyed by the quarry operations, which is why it is important to undertake the explorations of a larger area of the settlement in order to examine its infrastructure and define the position of the housing objects.
Keywords
hilltop settlement; Požega basin; Papuk; Late Bronze Age; Early Iron Age; infrastructure
Hrčak ID:
106363
URI
Publication date:
12.6.2012.
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