Original scientific paper
SOME NEW EVIDENCE CONCERNING THE ARCHEOLOGY OF THE LATE ROMAN TOWN OF HVAR
Nikša Petrić
; JAZU, Hvar
Abstract
The present report bears on the subject-matter of the previous article of the same author published in this journal (20/1975), in which he presented the archeological records concerning the Late Roman findings from the area of the city of Hvar and its suburbs. New, he undertakes to set forth the finds excavated in the last few years, especially those found at the sites located in the vicinity of the main town square, like the Gazarović insula, the premises of the shop »Razvitak« in the square itself, a port of the groundfloor of the Machiedo house and the area fronting the Cathedral.
At the site of the investigated insula of the Gothic-Renaissance Gazarović complex, a Late Roman structure, probably an apartment house, has been unearthed. Its masonry and accompanying archeological materials indicate that it may well date from the 4 th /5 th century. The findings, including Iron-Age ceramics, a valuable Apulian geometric olla from the 8th century BC, Hellenistic and Roman ceramics and a coin of Trajan, define the older layers of the site. Found inside the perimeter of the Late Roman house are Late Roman ceramics, amphoras, and a fragment of a Late Roman lucern of the »African type«. A pair of Late Roman amphoras from the 6 th /7 th century represent the most valuable pieces found autside the house.
At the site of »Razvitak«, apart from other Classical finds, especially interesting for the purpose of the present article are the Late Roman coins from the 4th century and Early Christian lucerns with gracefully patterned palm-leaves from the 5 th century.
On the groundfloor of the Machiedo house two walls of some Late Roman structure paved with slate, as well as a large quantity of Late roman ceramics from the 4 th /7 th centuries have been excavated.
Found in front of the Cathedral was a wall of a Late Roman structure formerly extending in the south direction, with a well conserved flooring which, according to the excavated fragments, was covered with a mosaic. In the cut made into the subsoil in front of the Cathedral, apart from the four tombs of stone masonry belonging to the Gothic Cathedral and two rustic pylons for the foundations of present-day front, a substantial quantity of medieval, Late Roman and Roman ceramics has been unearthed. Another important finding from this site is a coin of the byzantine Emperor Mauricius Tiberius minted in Ravenna in 583-584. Since from the stratigraphic point of view the coin corresponds to the level of the pavement of the Late Roman structure above which lies a distinct layer of Late Roman ceramics, we may conclude that the building was erected in the second half of the 6th century. In the area of the square, the Cathedral and the Dolac, the Late Roman settlement may be found on a uniform level, some 130 cm beneath soil horizon. The archeological findings from the area of the Cathedral prove that there in the Late Roman period the site was occupied by an important eclesiastical complex of comparatively large proportions.
Excavated in front of the Cathedral was also a bronze matrix of the seal of Peter, the bishop of the Albanian city of Sappa from the start of the 15 th century.
Apart from the new archeological information, the author has also pointed out some examples of residential architecture appearing from the Late Roman to the Romanesque period.
These recent archeological investigations complete the existing picture of the Late Roman city of Hvar which, figuring as an important post on numerous sea-routes in the Adriatic, early became an urbanized settlement, preserving its classical plan well into the Middle Ages so that the 13th century sources still call it »civitas quae aliis temporibus fuit.«
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
143221
URI
Publication date:
22.12.1989.
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