AV 68, 2017: Brina ŠKVOR JERNEJČIČ

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK

ARHEOLOŠKI VESTNIK 68, 2017

Brina ŠKVOR JERNEJČIČ

Early Iron Age tumuli in the Gorenjska region. Cremation burials at Vila Prah and Koroška cesta in Kranj

Abstract

This article presents the stone tumuli with cremation burials at the sites of Vila Prah and Koroška cesta in Kranj, Slovenia, which were excavated in 1939 by R. Ložar and V. Herfort respectively. A revision of the archive documents enabled the reconstruction of the positions of individual finds and grave good assemblages from the area of Vila Prah, which most probably belonged to several cremation burials within a stone burial chamber. Excavations at the site Koroška cesta also unearthed cremation burials with preserved individual grave good assemblages. In addition to this, the article presents further Iron Age grave finds from Kranj, Stražišče, and Stanežiče near Ljubljana that are kept in the National Museum of Slovenia. New findings regarding the tumuli and the mode of burial in Kranj as well as the comparative analysis of other cemeteries in Gorenjska indicate that in the region tumulus burial appeared as early as the Early Iron Age and was practiced simultaneously with the flat cremation burial, which had been in use already in the previous period. The cemeteries in the Gorenjska region that emerged with the beginning of the Iron Age were mostly abandoned at the end of the Ljubljana IIIa/Podzemelj 2 phase. Later material culture, such as the grave goods from Koroška cesta in Kranj, reflects the influence of the S. Lucia group, what further confirms the insights of Gabrovec, according to which the sphere of interest of the S. Lucia group spread into the territory of Gorenjska.

Keywords: Slovenia, Gorenjska, Kranj, Vila Prah, Koroška cesta, Early Iron Age, tumuli, stone burial chambers, cremation burials, funerary customs

Article (pdf)