Dragan BOŽIČ

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK 60, 2009

Dragan BOŽIČ:

A Hallstatt grave containing a cuirass, excavated near Stična by the Duchess of Mecklenburg in 1913
The reliability of grave groups from the Mecklenburg Collection

Abstract

The burial deposits from the grave with a cuirass from tumulus 52 or IV at Stična, excavated by the Duchess of Mecklenburg in 1913, have already been published four times and have been differently presented each time. None of the four versions completely corresponds with the data in the notes of the Duchess’s secretary, Gustav Goldberg. Of the finds that have previously been attributed to this grave, only a cuirass, a kernos and a small pot can definitely be ascribed to it. In addition, a fluted ciborium and spearheads may derive from the grave. Two lids, two smaller ciboria and 67 dome-shaped loop-backed buttons are certainly not from this burial. The smaller ciboria and the lids are from another Stična grave, from Magdalenska gora or perhaps some other cemetery of the Dolenjska (Lower Carniola) Hallstatt culture, while the dome-shaped buttons originate from the cemetery at Stražni dol near Golek pri Vinici. Rainer-Maria Weiss ascribed a belt-plate with figurative ornament depicting a procession of men and a woman to a grave with a cuirass from tumulus 52. Biba Teržan ascribed the same belt-plate to a grave with a double-crested helmet from tumulus 55 or VI at Stična. However, the belt-plate is not from any of these graves.

The rave groups of the Mecklenburg Collection are unreliable. Finds from other graves from the same or even from a different site have sometimes been added to the Hallstatt period graves from Magdalenska gora and Stična. Some are undoubtedly from the Late Hallstatt-La Tène cemetery at Stražni dol near Golek pri Vinici (e.g. dome-shaped buttons of the Vinica type, bronze sun rings, bronze shepherd’s crook pins and amber beads of Palavestra’s types 8d and 8e). Conversely, some grave groups from Golek pri Vinici contain Hallstatt period finds that were excavated by the Duchess on Magdalenska gora and at Stična.

Keywords: Slovenia, Dolenjska, Stična, Magdalenska gora, Bela krajina, Golek pri Vinici, Metlika; Croatia, Grobnik, Kastav, Lika; Bosnia and Hercegovina, the Una valley; Early Iron Age, grave with a cuirass, Late Iron Age, dome-shaped buttons of the Vinica type, sun rings, amber beads, the Mecklenburg Collection)

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