Gaspari, Mlinar

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK 56, 2005

Andrej GASPARI and Miha MLINAR

Grave with a machaira from Most na Soči
Last versions of single-edged swords with a bent hilt

Abstract

The article discusses the cremation grave 25 from the Repelc fallow at Most na Soči, which contained the remains of a warrior equipped with a curved single- edged sword and a pilum-like weapon. The fill of the badly damaged grave pit yielded a pottery fragment with combed decoration, while a bronze fibula of the Middle La Tène scheme was found on the grave’s surface and probably also formed part of the grave unit. The sword belongs to the group of the latest versions of Iron Age machairas, known exclusively from central and western Slovenia. Two of these were found in the Ljubljanica River, at the Ljubljana Moor, and two are of unknown provenance. The composition of the Repelc grave not being entirely reliable and other swords escaping chronological determination, both result in the date of the Ljubljanica type swords remaining open. Based on the similarity with the grave contents of the La Tène Idrija group, the presumed typological development of the machairas with a tendency towards prolongation of the blade, and other instances of the Hallstatt weapon forms being used during the Late Iron Age in the south-eastern Alpine area, the authors are inclined towards dating the grave in the last two centuries BC.

Keywords: Slovenia, Most na Soči, Repelc, grave, Iron Age, Sveta Lucija group, Idrija group, weapons, machaira

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