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Rescue excavations of the site AN 5 Poljana Križevačka 2 on the route of the highway A12 St. Helena – GP Gola
Daria Ložnjak Dizdar
orcid.org/0000-0002-5769-2269
; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
From September to November 2011 the Institute of Archaeology conducted rescue archaeological excavation of the AN 5 Poljana Križevačka 2 site on the highway route A12 St. Helena - GP Gola. An area of 29.560 m2 was explored.
The site Poljana Križevačka 2 is situated several kilometres south of Križevci (Koprivnica-Križevci Region), close to the western edge of thetoday’s settlement of Poljana Križevačka. It is a slightly raised oval ridge on the east side of the stream Glogovnica that changes to gentle hills to the east, while to the west of the site lays the Špiranečki Lug valley.
During the rescue excavations of the site AN 5 Poljana Križevačka 2, the remains of the prehistoric and medieval settlement were discovered. The oldest traces of the settlement can be associated with the Copper Age Lasinja culture, but most of the finds belong to the Virovitica group settlement dating to the Late Bronze Age next to which the cemetery with incineration graves that can be associated with the settlement, was discovered. A lodging dating to the La Tène culture period from the Late Iron Age was also found, while in the southern part of the site the remains of the late medieval settlement were explored. The settlement of the Lasinja culture was located on the highest point of the ridge where large oval pit-house cuts were found as well as the cuts of small pits. Given the increasing number of lodgings in this part of the site, it can be assumed that the centre of the settlement was near the Glogovnica creek. Large explored area of the settlement reveals an interesting infrastructure which is characterized by several structures linked together into groups that may correspond to an organized family settlement.
The largest number of structures belong to the settlement dating to the late Bronze Age, that is to the Virovitica group of the Urnfield culture - Br D and Ha A1 phase (13th to 12th century BC). Houses were used as the basic lodgings, of which the pole cuts remaining are arranged in rectangular bases measuring 6 x 3 or 6 x 6 m. The same type of houses was discovered during excavations on the area of Prekmurje in north-eastern Slovenia (Pod Kotom) (Kerman 2011: 45) which are attributed to the same Virovitica group. Cuts of many pits, usually oval in shape, some of which were likely to serve as a working space, are also the part the infrastructure of the Late Bronze Age settlement. An oval pit SU 1199 was discovered with the collapsed structure of the kiln in it. Stratigraphic relations between individual burials and typological forms of pottery and bronze objects preliminarily indicate that the population of the settlement from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age can be separated at least in two phases.
South of the settlement there was the Late Bronze Age cemetery from the same period with 50 incineration graves. The remains of the deceased are placed in urns, that is, in 47 graves burned remains of the deceased were placed in a pot that had the function of the urn and covered with the bowl used as a lid. In three graves the burned remains of the deceased were deposited at the bottom of the pit and covered with the bowl turned upside down. Only in case of two graves the grave pit was covered with the remains of the pyre. Very often fragments of broken pottery are laid in the grave.
According to preliminary analysis of the types of burials and of ceramic forms (pots with rounded body with a tunnel-shaped handle and the bukle decoration on the widest part of the belly, the S-profiled bowls with strap handles, jugs decorated with plastic tapes with fingerprints, cups), it is possible to conclude that the graves can be dated to the Br D phase, that is to the 13th century BC. The Late Bronze Age cemetery in Poljana Križevačka 2 is the largest excavated cemetery of the Virovitica group on the area south of the Drava river so far and the only investigated in relation to the settlement from the same period.
In the southern part of the site the remains of the houses measuring 4 x 12 m dating to the La Tène culture period was found. It was probably a farm or a family homestead. Fragments of ceramic pots were found which date these facilities to the late La Tene period (LtD1), that is to the period from the mid 2nd to the first half of the 1st century BC.
In the south-eastern part of the site remains of the settlement from the late Middle Ages were found. Along the eastern edge of the excavation partly dug-in large structures measuring 8.5 x 17.5 m were uncovered. On the northern edge of the village ditches and pits were discovered. In the pit SU 894 vessels were found in situ, and it can be concluded that it was a storage pit. Numerous fragments of ceramic vessels, stove tiles, heaters, and fragments of iron objects can be singled out. Based on the obtained results, the settlement can be preliminary dated from the mid-13th to the 15th century.
Given the preliminary results of exploration of AN 5 Poljana Križevačka 2 site, we can conclude that it is extremely important for the understanding of population of Križevci area during the Copper Age, the Late Bronze Age and Late Iron Age, as well as during the late Middle Ages, as well as for the wider infrastructural data on individual periods. The location of lowland settlement from multiple time periods on one of the natural communications that led along Glogovnica stream and connected Podravina and Posavina, testifies to the importance of this corridor in traffic throughout the millenniums, which is one of the reasons that modern highways use the same route.
Keywords
Poljana Križevačka; rescue excavation; settlement; cemetery; Copper Age; Late Bronze Age; Late Middle Ages
Hrčak ID:
106371
URI
Publication date:
12.6.2012.
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