Review article
https://doi.org/10.21857/m16wjc6d19
The Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Požega and the Požega Valley
Kornelija Minichreiter
; Srebrnjak 17a, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The protection of the archaeological heritage of Požega and the Požega Valley commenced in 1924 thanks to Julije Kempf, founder of the Požega City Museum, who explored and collected the archaeological treasure.
In 1898, Milan Turković, a nobleman from Kutjevo, brought to the National Land Museum in Zagreb (today the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb) the oldest finds from the Požega region. By 1902, he brought, on several occasions, prehistoric and Roman finds from Treštanovci, Ciglenika, Draganlug, Mitrovica and his vineyard in Kutjevo.
With the arrival of the first archaeologist, Dubravka Sokač Štimac, in 1968 to the Museum of the Požega Valley (now Požega City Museum), systematic collecting of archaeological finds by field surveys and archaeological excavations began. In cooperation with the archaeologist of the Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Osijek (Kornelija Minichreiter), around 200 archaeological sites from the prehistoric period, the Antiquity and the Middle Ages were documented, among which 14 were added to the
Register of Protected Cultural Heritage as highly important.
In the period between 1972 and 1980, the Museum of the Požega Valley, in cooperation with the Osijek Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, conducted on several occasions the archaeological research of the Roman settlement and the necropolis
on the land of the Treštanovci fortress near the village of Tekić. During 1987, the graves of the Bronze Age necropolis of the Barice–Gređani group were discovered and saved from destruction in the village of Vlatkovac, situated about 25 km to the east of Požega. In the
northern part of Požega, in 41 Pavle Radić Street, the Požega City Museum (Dubravka Sokač Štimac), in cooperation with the Institute for Archaeological Research from Zagreb (Kornelija Minichreiter), performed small protective archaeological excavations in 1994, revealing the remains of a multi-layered prehistoric settlement belonging to the Neolithic Starčevo and Sopot cultures, and to the Bronze Age.
During field surveys conducted in 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2010, archaeologists from the Zagreb Institute for Archaeological Research (Kornelija Minichreiter and Zorko Marković) and the Požega City Museum (Dubravka Sokač Štimac) recorded numerous archaeological sites on tracks of planned express roads for the purpose of their protection. On the route of the express road from Brestovac via Požega to Pleternica, and from Velika to Požega in the length of 39 km, thirteen archaeological sites were recorded. One archaeological site was recorded on the track of the 8 km long Pleternica bypass road. On the route of the express road Našice–Pleternica–Lužani in the length of 62 km in the Požega region, seven archaeological sites were recorded, while on the route of the express road from Brestovac to Staro Petrovo Selo in the length of 16 km, three sites belonging to the Požega-Slavonia County were recorded. Assigned field surveys formed the first part of preparatory works for the construction of express and binding roads, as well as bypasses of larger settlements in the Požega region. Subsequently, the registration followed – preventive protection of the sites at the Conservation Department in Požega. In the Conservation
Study made for each express road route, a system of protection measures was enacted, including archaeological excavations on each archaeological site prior to the construction of the road, in order to save material remains from all historical periods from irretrievable
destruction.
Keywords
field survey; archaeological research; recorded archaeological sites; Register of Protected Cultural Heritage; Prehistory, Antiquity; Middle Ages; Požega; Požega Valley; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
215767
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2018.
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