Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.33254/piaz.39.1.4
Miniature Iron Age vessels from the shrine in Vilina Cave
Domagoj Perkić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3815-9346
; Dubrovnik Museums, Archaeological Museum, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Abstract
The paper examines the miniature votive vessels from the Illyrian shrine in Vilina Cave above the source of the Ombla near Dubrovnik. The excavations done by Dubrovnik Museums in 2014 and 2015 found a total of at least 45 miniature vessels of at least six different shapes. They all belong to local, hand-made prehistoric pottery. They are mostly low quality pottery, with coarse fabric and abundant inclusions of calcite and limestone. The shapes and decorations of some miniature vessels imitate the original normal-sized vessels, making it possible to date them on the basis of their typological and formal characteristics. However, most miniature vessels have very simple shapes and no decorations, so they can be dated only indirectly, by considering them in the context of the shrine, where all the other finds have been dated to the end of the 5th and the entire 4th century BC. The miniature vessels examined in this paper can be compared to other sites with a similar context and function, primarily the Iron Age shrines in the wider area, Greece, and the Italian peninsula.
Keywords
Illyrian shrine; cave; miniature vessels; local pottery; Iron Age
Hrčak ID:
280990
URI
Publication date:
28.7.2022.
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