Roman age cemeteries around fort Ajdovščina

Cemeteries around fort Ajdovščina

In the area around the multi-period hillfort Ajdovščina we have two cemeteries from the time of Antiquity. The graves were discovered in two locations one is named Pod Jezerom (trans. Under the Lake) and the other Na Sedlu (trans. On the saddle).
 

Locations of cemeteries. 1 Pod Jezerom, 2 single grave on the edge of a forest road, 3 Na Sedlu

During excavations of the cemetery Pod Jezerom archaeologist found archaeological material that is published in the Journal of Archaeological 38 (Istenič 1987), while burial Na Sedlu has not been published. Both cemeteries are located on a steep hillside along the road that leads to the hillfort. The particularity of this place is that they are also very close to the ritual space-Lake at the hilltop of hill Čuk.

On the location Na Sedlu they also found iron age cremation tomb, but the exact location of it I could not find in the literature.

Graves in the cemetery Pod Jezerom does not intersect, which shows that they have been marked. All burials were cremation urn burials, which means that the deceased was burned at the stake, along with costume and burial grave goods. Incinerated bones of the deceased were then put with ashes into the urn. The urns in the graves were enclosed with stone slabs. One interesting feature is drywall that ran through the cemetery and the fortified edge of the road that led past the cemetery (on the photo below marked with a red line).

Photo of burials - site cemetery Pod Jezerom

Ground plan photo of trench on the Pod Jezerom site.

Grave goods are dated in both cemeteries (Pod Jezerom and Na Sedlu) in the 1st and 2nd century. On the basis of this and archaeological finds within the hillfort we can confirm that the people still occupied hillfort Ajdovščina during the 1st and 2nd century. Which is not common as in time when Romans came - 1^st century most of the hillforts in Slovenia were disbanded and population settled into the valleys and into the villages alongside roads.

One of the more interesting burials is grave number 3. It contained, among other things thin walled cup (no. 1), oil lamp (No.2) and iron spearhead (no. 7).

Grave goods form Grave 3.

In the cemetery we can recognize physical mixing of cultures and traditions. Thus we have from the Italic area of the Roman Empire a typical placement cemetery along the road (although here we can assume the continuity of the burial sites in the area around Jezero and the surrounding area) and grave goods as oil lamps, terre sigillate and thin wall pottery. On the other hand from the time of the Iron Age it preserves the typical location of the cemetery on the steep hillside, burials in urns and weapon grave goods in the graves - at the cemetery under these lakes we have have two such graves.

Thus, on the basis of the cemetery we see mixing of the Iron indigenous culture and people with the Roman way of life, which is mainly reflected in the use of imported luxury pottery vessels and oil lamps.

Literature

Istenič, J. 1987. Rimsko grobišče Rodik – Pod Jezerom - v: Arheološki vestnik 38, 1987, 69-136.