The article discusses the early medieval ironwork hoards from Slovenia, particularly the four hoard finds from Camberk above Cerov Log, Stari grad above Unec, Ljubična above Zbelovska Gora, and Zidani gaber above Mihovo. The objects in them were originally connected to three activities: farming, crafts, and warfare. In terms of function, we can distinguish between agricultural implements, woodworking tools, blacksmith’s tools, riding and horse gear, weaponry, multipurpose tools, ingots and lumps of iron. In terms of composition, the hoards can be divided into three groups: tool hoards, horse gear hoards, and hoards of varied composition. The objects in them have survived in varied conditions (either complete or damaged objects). The hoards were buried at different locations (within a settlement, along communication routes). Taking into consideration all these criteria and close analogies, primarily from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, it can be observed that the hoards from Slovenia form part of a wider phenomenon in south-eastern and part of central Europe ranging from the late 8th to the first half of the 10 th centuries.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38842669
The author has collected all relevant documentation about the small silver Taurisci coins of the Đurđevac type. It was possible to prove that two groups of small change of this type had been minted. The first group has a so-called head of Apollo on the obverse, with a horse on the reverse, while the coins of the second group have a horse depicted on both sides. The coins correspond to one third of a drachm or one twelfth of the large silver coin of that type. Similarly to the tetradrachms of this type, the minting of their small change can be chronologically classified to the end of the 2nd century BC.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38851885
The Palaeolithic of southern Central Europe has a long history of archaeological research. Particularly, the presence of numerous osseous projectile points in many early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) assemblages in this region has attracted the attention of the international research community. However, the scarcity of properly identified and well-dated Aurignacian contexts represents an obstacle for investigation of the nature and timing of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. In this context, the question of whether Neanderthals made Aurignacian osseous projectile points, either on their own or as a consequence of cultural interaction with anatomically modern humans (AMH), still remains an open issue. Here we reassess the EUP record of Slovenia by evaluating the Aurignacian character of the assemblages from Potočka zijalka, Mokriška jama and Divje babe I in the light of their suggested roots in the local Mousterian. We provide a comprehensive description of the lithic industry from Potočka zijalka, which represents one of the rare EUP assemblages of southern Central Europe with a representative number of lithic artifacts to be analysed from the perspective of lithic technology and raw material economy. Our re-analysis of the Slovenian assemblages is backed by a series of 11 new ultra filtered collagen 14C dates obtained directly on associated osseous projectile points from the studied assemblages. The Aurignacian of Potočka zijalka underlines the remarkable consistency of the Early Aurignacian with low typo-technological variability across Europe, resulting from a marked dependence on transported toolkits and raw material conservation. The new radiocarbon determinations for the Aurignacian of Slovenia appear to post-date the 34e32 ka BP (thousands of years before present) threshold for the last Neanderthals in the region. Although not falsified, the hypothesis of Aurignacian bone tools in southern Central Europe as a product of late Neanderthals is not supported by our re-examination of the EUP record of Slovenia.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37760045
Recent finds from Grad near Šmihel pod Nanosom, have shed a new light on an assemblage of Roman republican weapons excavated at this site as early as ca. 1890. In the Notranjska region, Roman weapons and parts of military equipment are known from Baba and Ambroževo gradišče near Slavina, Kerin above Pivka, Primož above Raduhova vas, Gradišče at Čepna, Gradišče above Knežak, Stari grad above Unec, Žerovnišček near Bločice, Ulaka above Stari trg pri Ložu, and perhaps Gradišče above Gornja Košana and Ahac. Nadleški hrib in the valley of Loška dolina harbours the remains of a Roman stronghold. This paper examines the materials from these sites and identifies Roman military presence through several periods, from 2nd century BC until the Late Roman period.
COBISS.SI-ID: 9072992
The paper describes and discusses the archaeological evidence from Gradišče in Cerkno and Vrh gradu near Pečine in the Posočje region (the Tolmin-Cerkno area). The Roman weapons (various projectiles) and military equipment recovered there indicate Roman military activities and closely resemble those from Grad near Reka and its environs that are probably connected with Octavian's Illyrian wars (35–33 BC; Istenič 2005).
COBISS.SI-ID: 9091168