Other
Trial Excavations and Supervision of the Construction of National Road Section D-34 – Donji Miholjac Bypass
Marko Dizdar
orcid.org/0000-0003-3964-9002
; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Due to the construction of the 2.5 km-long national road section D-34 – Donji Miholjac bypass (County of Osijek and Baranja), trial excavations were conducted and the route, which contained two known sites, supervised (Fig. 1). The bypass passes through a lowland area with mild elevations upon which archaeological sites are situated. In agreement with the investor, trial excavations were conducted along the central axis at parts of the route where no archaeological sites had been identified in order to precisely define the excavation area and to check for other possible sites (Fig. 2). Trial-trenching showed that AS 3 Donji Miholjac-Mlaka/Trafostanica needed to be excavated where prehistoric, classical antiquity and mediaeval surface finds had been documented (Minichreiter 2009: 131). The large number of surface finds from prehistory suggests that we are dealing with a significant archaeological site. Classical antiquity finds from surface maybe can be linked with one of the settlements along the route of the Roman road that used to connect Poetovio and Mursa. In the trial-trenches on the northern part of the route, AS 5 Donji Miholjac-Janjevci was unearthed. Pit fills and posts were documented here, suggesting the existence of a previously unknown prehistoric settlement (Lasinja Culture) on the western margins of a long elevation.
Future rescue excavations of AS 3 Donji Miholjac-Mlaka/Trafostanica and AS 5 Donji Miholjac-Janjevci will enable the gathering of new data of the area of Donji Miholjac, which lies on an important communication route that used to lead across the River Drava valley, connecting the Eastern Alps and Danube region. In addition, excavation of larger surfaces, in particular at AS 3, will enable data to be gathered on the infrastructure of prehistoric settlements in the previously almost unexcavated area of Donji Miholjac.
Keywords
trial excavations; Donji Miholjac; Donja Podravina; prehistory; settlements; infrastructure
Hrčak ID:
89771
URI
Publication date:
25.10.2011.
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