AV 67, 2016: Jana HORVAT, Pavla PETERLE UDOVIČ, Tjaša TOLAR, Borut TOŠKAN

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK 67, 2016

Jana HORVAT, Pavla PETERLE UDOVIČ, Tjaša TOLAR, Borut TOŠKAN

The port area of Nauportus

Abstract

Rescue excavation was conducted in 2007 in the Roman vicus of Nauportus, i.e. present-day Vrhnika. It was located on the right bank of the Ljubljanica River and also comprised the south-western corner of the Roman settlement at Dolge njive. Five phases of human activity (Phases 1 A–E) have been ascertained in the period between the 4th/3rd century BC and the middle of the 1st century BC on the area of the riverbank. These activities could be recognised by the disorderly deposited pieces of wood, which showed traces of working (chopping, splitting, and sawing). Signs of deforestation in the surrounding area have been detected in Phase 1 A, while at the same time the riverbank was probably consolidated with wood waste. The bank was consolidated with wood waste once more in Phase 1 C. The same area was paved with a stone base and a sand layer (Phase 2 A) in the Pre-Augustan or Early Augustan period when the trading settlement at Dolge njive was constructed. Afterwards, the paving was renovated twice in a rather short period (Phases 2 B–C). The pavement of the riverbank has been interpreted as a landing stage of the river port at Nauportus. The settlement and the port were abandoned soon after the Augustan period.

Keywords: Slovenia, Nauportus, Vrhnika, Dolge njive, river port, La Tène period, Augustan period, macrobotanical analysis, wood, animal bones

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