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Field Survey of Part of the Route of the Multipurpose Channel Danube-Sava
Marko Dizdar
orcid.org/0000-0003-3964-9002
; Institute of archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The field survey of the route of the multipurpose channel Danube- Sava in the Vukovar-Syrmia and Brod-Posavina Counties revealed 77 archaeological sites from all periods. Only a few of them were previously registered and published. Part of the sites between Gundinci and the Sava River was discovered during the first field survey of the route of the channel carried out by archaeologists from the Museum of Brodsko Posavlje in Slavonski Brod and the Institute of Archaeology. Archaeological excavations were undertaken until now only on the Jaruge-Gođevo-Berava and Jaruge-Gođevo sites prior to the building of the Zagreb-Lipovac highway in 2000. The documented numerousness of archaeological sites is not surprising with respect to the geographical position of East Slavonia, i.e. Pobosućje and Posavina and its importance both in prehistoric and historic times.
The field survey determined, on the basis of surface finds, the spatial distribution of archaeological sites which were photographed, cartographically documented and had their GPS position noted. The spatial distribution shows that the sites are evenly distributed along the entire route of the channel. The greatest part of the archaeological sites is situated on the mildly raised positions along the rivers Bosut and Biđ, or alongside smaller water currents such as Vezovac, Kalilo and Zmijino. This is especially visible on the part of the route which follows the river Bosut southeast of Andrijaševci where we find numerous sites from all periods on both sides of the river. In Posavina, the greatest part of the sites is located on mildly raised beams of east-west orientation alongside the Sava River, followed by mildly raised positions along the river Berava, or along some smaller water current such as Moravnik. The discovered archaeological sites belong to the periods of prehistory, Classical Antiquity and Middle Ages, the latter being the most numerous. On most sites we collected fragments of pottery, bricks and stone artefacts which enable their tentative chronological and cultural determination.
In this area some of the oldest prehistoric sites were recorded, belonging to the beginnings of Starčevo culture, while in the Bronze and Iron Ages this was an area where groups of various cultural origin came into contact, a process which culminated in Late Iron Age when Posavina, populated by Scordiscs and Breucs, becomes an area of intensive trans- European contacts. Ultimately, the south of Pannonia was taken by Roman legions. In the Roman period the Pobosućje and Posavina regions become a hinterland of the limes on the Danube, resulting in a large number of archaeological sites from this period, especially in Posavina, through which one of the most frequented Roman communications, the road Siscia-Sirmium, passed. In the Middle Ages, the areas of Pobosućje and Posavina retain their importance, as witnessed by dense population and the greatest number of discovered sites.
The presented results of the field survey point to the existence of a large number of sites in East Slavonija whose discovery opens many questions relating to topography of archaeological finds for each individual period and to defining their interrelationships. The work on this task is just beginning.
Keywords
field survey; channel Danube-Sava; East Slavonia; prehistory; Classical Antiquity; Middle Ages; settlements; cemeteries
Hrčak ID:
34066
URI
Publication date:
19.3.2009.
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