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Field Survey of the Area between Batina and Suza

Zvonko Bojčić ; Arheološki muzej Osijek, Osijek, Hrvatska
Marko Dizdar orcid.org/0000-0003-3964-9002 ; Institut za arheologiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Tomislav Hršak orcid.org/0000-0002-5586-6501 ; Arheološki muzej Osijek, Osijek, Hrvatska
Igor Vukmanić ; Arheološki muzej Osijek, Osijek, Hrvatska
Domagoj Dujmić ; Arheološki muzej Osijek, Osijek, Hrvatska
Tino Leleković orcid.org/0000-0001-6983-8854 ; Odsjek za arheologiju, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Sažetak

In 2009 the field survey of the Baranja region continued, with the aim of finding and protecting new, unknown archaeological sites, and documenting the sites that had already been identified before. Numerous finds unearthed at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries had originated from this area, but they ended up in European museum collections (Berlin, Mainz, Vienna, Budapest). The aforementioned finds and the attempt at defining the original context of their sites, as well as the protection of numerous other archaeological sites were reasons for conducting the field survey, which should contribute to a better understanding of Baranja’s archaeological heritage (Bojčić et al. 2009).
The 2009 field survey concentrated on the area between Batina and Suza. The north-eastern slopes of Bansko Brdo were surveyed, which gradually fall towards the Danube. Above the Danube, the loess plateau ends in a steep, almost vertically cut edge. The surveyed surface is cross-cut by deep ravines, and in their immediate vicinity all the sites were documented, mostly on spots where the ravines come out at the edge of the loess plateau. It was noted that the sites are mostly distributed 300-400 meters from the Danube edge of the plateau towards its inner part, although sometimes they may continuously stretch for more than a kilometer along the ravines’ edges towards the plateau’s centre. On the surface of the sites, fragments of pottery, tiles and stone artefacts were collected, on the basis of which their territorial and chronological distribution was determined. In the survey, a total of 37 sites from all periods were documented (Tab. 1). The largest in number are sites from the Bronze Age (27), while those from other periods appear to be rather evenly distributed: 14 from the Neolithic/Aeneolithic, 10 from the Iron Age, 13 from Classical Antiquity, 13 from the Middle Ages. At certain sites, large quantities of finds from different periods were collected. Among these sites are, for example, Zmajevac-Csatari Szanto 1 (Tab. 1: 19; Fig. 3), Zmajevac-Kishegy Fóle 1 (Tab. 1: 24), Zmajevac-Várhegy (Tab. 1: 27), Suza-Csatár 1-2 (Tab. 1: 30-31; Fig. 4), Suza-Kerekhegy (Tab. 1: 34; Fig. 5), Kotlina-Cigány Heverós 1 (Tab. 1: 35; Fig. 6), which suggests that the settlements have multiple layers. For Zmajevac-Várhegy this was documented in the northern profile of the site, where an approximately 5 m thick stratigraphic sequence with numerous Roman and prehistoric layers is evident. The oldest settlements located along the Danube margin of the loess plateau, but also along the ravines in its inner part, particularly around Kotlina, can be classified as part of the Starčevo or Sopot cultures. This is where, at a location in the eastern part of the village (Legelej 1-3) pottery finds were documented, showing the characteristics of the Lengyel culture. The Zmajevac-Kishegy Fóle 1 site (Tab. 1: 24) is classified as part of the Aeneolithic, i.e. to the Lasinja culture. Many Bronze Age sites were documented at the same locations where pottery fragments were collected which are richly ornamented and filled with white incrustation, and which can be assigned to the so-called southern group of Pannonian incrusted pottery from the end of Early Bronze Age and to the Szeremle group from the beginning of Middle Bronze Age. Furthermore numerous finds can be assigned to the Late Bronze Age Virovitica group, and to the Dalj group that marked the beginning of the Early Iron Age. At the end of Late Bronze Age and during the Early Iron Age, the Baranja region was extraordinarily densely populated, and one of south-Pannonian regional centres was the nearby Batina. At several sites, characteristic La Tène culture pottery was unearthed. Ten sites belong to the classical antiquity period, their centre being in the Várhegy fortification in Zmajevac (Ad Novas), with its surrounding cemeteries. This was confirmed by rescue excavations of cemeteries at the Mocsolás site (Tab. 1: 29), dated in the 4th century. The Várhegy fortification probably hosted a Germanic troop, as confirmed by the finds of a spathe sheath belt mount and a solidus of Theodosius II. Roman settlements were also found in the south-eastern part of Kotlina. Between Batina and Zmajevac, at three sites, a small number of pottery and tile fragments were collected, possibly suggesting a trace of the so-called Limes Road. In the remaining surveyed territory, no Roman finds were documented, which testifies to the organization of the territory along the border. On the plateau’s edge, there were fortifications with observation posts, the road passed several hundreds of meters from the edge, and the first settlements were located 2-3 km towards the inside of the border. A larger number of sites were discovered that belong to the period of the Middle Ages. The discovery of pottery fragments from the Avarian-Slavic period is interesting, to which the long-known finds from Zmajevac and Kotlina belong. From the Late Middle Ages finds from Suza are mentioned, which were assigned to a settlement and a cemetery. The Kotlina-Legelej 1 site (Tab. 1: 37) might be contemporaneous. On the basis of collected surface finds it is possible to chronologically determine most of the documented sites, which provides an overview of the population of the surveyed territory in each period, and enables a better understanding of the spatial utilization in one of the most fruitful areas of southern Pannonia, situated on an extraordinarily significant European communication route following the Danube course.

Ključne riječi

field survey; Baranja; prehistory; classical antiquity; Limes; Middle Ages; settlements; cemeteries

Hrčak ID:

65257

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/65257

Datum izdavanja:

3.3.2011.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

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