Archaeologia Adriatica, Vol. 4. No. 1., 2010.
Original scientific paper
The Early Croatian Cemetery of Stranče - Gorica: the Horizon of Graves with a Pagan Burial Ritual
Željka Cetinić
; Maritime and Historical Museum of Coastal Croatia, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
The Early Croatian cemetery of Stranče-Gorica is located in the Vinodol basin in the hinterland of Crikvenica. A total of 186 graves were discovered and excavated in the course of many years of systematic archaeological excavations. Two chronologically and culturally distinct horizons of graves were recognized and distinguished at the cemetery:
- Graves in rows with a pagan burial ritual,
- Graves in rows with a Christian burial ritual.
The horizon of graves with a pagan burial ritual is spatially separate and distinct in terms of the grave inventories. The most numerous finds were objects of everyday use, followed by individual examples of weapons and rider equipment, and bone containers. Particularly valuable finds include cult pottery, and among jewelry examples of aesthetically prestigious necklaces. The pagan burial ritual is clearly exhibited through several noted ritual elements, and this is especially reflected in the placement of pottery vessels in the graves containing victuals for the deceased in the afterlife. The appearance of the osteological remains of birds and domestic animals is related to concepts of the afterlife, tied to the Slavic funerary feast of the dead – known as the trizna ceremony. The importance of this site has been confirmed many times. It is reflected primarily in the established continuity of burial, through which the period is delineated not long after the arrival of the Slavs/Croats in their new homeland along the coast and the hinterland of the eastern Adriatic, along with the maintenance of cultural contacts and the retention of their primordial cultural traits that is manifested in the distinctive identity of the material and spiritual culture in the chronological span from the 8th to the 11th centuries.
Keywords
Early Croatian cemetery; pagan burial ritual; cult pottery; bone and horn recipients; spurs with attachments
Hrčak ID:
73089
URI
Publication date:
4.10.2011.
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