Original scientific paper
LATE MEDIAEVAL NECROPOLIS WITH "STEĆCl” UNDER BORINOVAC AT TRILJ
Ante Milošević
; Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika HR -Split 21 000
Abstract
The necropolis under B o r i n o vac at Trilj is one of rare up to now excavated
late mediaeval necropolis with stećci (massive stone tomb nwnuments of various
shapes) on the territory of Dalmatia. This paper is the first endevour to publish
results of excavations of such a necropolis. Although the excavations yieldedd
very modest finds, they brought new light concerning the brial rites and the form
of graves of the late mediaeval period in Dalmatia.
All together 56 burials were found, 17 of them were marked over the level of
the soH by stećci. Burials were not discovered under 8 stećci of this necropolis,
because they must have been later removed from the original place over the grave.
Most numerous are the graves of trapezoidal or more or less rectangular shape.
Oval form of burial was found only in two cases. The orientation of graves was varied,
but most graves were oriented in southwestern-northeastern direction. lt was
possible to establish some pecularities concerning burial rites. Small remains of
pottery, egg-shells and animal bones suggest the possibility of performance of funerary
banquettes over the grave. These remains may also be the remnants of traditional
pagan custom of leaving food in the grave for the dead.
The burials from Trilj necropolis show also some pecularities concerning the
grave architecture. The s·tone slabs composing a grave had the grooves in order to
be better mutually fixed. Some slabs and covers have incised signs. Thus, incised
cross appears on the inner side of the slab near the feet of dead person belonging
to the burial no. 14. The square divided by transversally engraved lines in three
unequal parts appears on the outer side of the cover of burial no. 33 (under the
stećak no. XIII). Neither the shapes nor ornament of stećci yielded any reliable
evidence for chronological sequence of graves on the necropolis.
It is very hard to establish the chronology of burial also because of very poor
finds. Thirteen objects in total, mostly simple ornaments: five bronze or iron
scrolls, a pearl of black glass, a small silver ring and four nails were found. None
of these objects could offer the base or establishing the chronological sequence of
graves, since all of them were used for long period. Similar finds were discovered
in burials of all late mediaeval necropolis in Dalmatia. Two iron scrolls found in
burial no. 31, beside other scanty remains of ornaments show, in relation to other
researched mediaeval necropolis in Dalmatia, the advanced stage of artistic decadance.
This fact could be an indication that the necropolis belong to the very end
of the Middle Ages. These burials did not yield any ear-ring which are very numerous
in cemeteries from this period. As ear-rings were discovered in burials in other
necropolis very likely dating from the end of 14th century in the region of Cetina
river and even the whole Dalmatia, it is possible that the earliest graves of
this necropolis could belong to the above mentioned period. The absence of late
mediaeval coins, especially those from the end of the 14th and the first half of the
ISth centuries, so common in the late mediaeval graves from Dalmat ia, speaks in
favour of the above mentioned conclusion. Thus, on the basis of all previously stated
indications, the necropolis under Barinovac can be dated to the second half of
the ISth and the beginning of 16th centuries.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
97569
URI
Publication date:
25.11.1982.
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