Josipa Baraka Perica

Late Antique fortresses have dominated the islands and coastal landscapes of the eastern Adriatic for one thousand and several
hundred years. All this time they were continuously transformed, some deliberately by human hands, and some under the weight of years of exposure to the elements of nature. In the spirit of the topic of the congress, which focuses on the transformation of the Adriatic area, we decided to tackle an extremely interesting phenomenon of transformation which, although very cautiously, has long been mentioned in bibliography. It is the transformation of the Late Antique fortress in the Benedictine monastery at the site of Ćokovac near Tkon on the island of Pašman. Although there are many problems around fortress and the Benedictine
monastery at Ćokovac, our goal is to create a scientific framework through existing material findings which should be the basis for future research. In addition to Čokovac, we will deal with the material traces and continuity in regard to other late antique fortresses.

Cities are a growing factor in global change today, but urbanization as a process has played a significant role in shaping our planet's environments for millennia. Exploring the longevity or persistence of cityscapes can therefore reveal qualities that may have strengthened urban sustainability or resilience over long periods. In the Mediterranean, many ancient cities lie in ruin and are fully formed archaeological sites, while others reflect continuous growth and expansion into the modern era, often replacing what has traditionally been a rural mosaic of green space with a more homogenized urban landcover. Green spaces like cultivated lands, urban forests, recreational parks, and green belts are essential components of urban resilience, as they build adaptive capacity by improving human health and livelihoods, reducing surface runoff and erosion, and mitigating urban heat island effects, among others. Protection of green space in urban and peri-urban contexts also offers greater capacity to transform in the face of uncertain change. This paper centers on the ancient city of Zadar along Croatia's Adriatic coast to characterize broad millennial-scale changes in urban landcover and green space. The results suggest that the distribution of urban landcover and green space appears to have been fairly stable for much of Zadar's 3,000-year history, which arguably played a significant role in its persistence into the present era. However, the pace and scale of urban development, as well as the corresponding losses of green space, have accelerated from the mid-twentieth century onward, depleting a major source of socioecological resilience that has benefitted the city since the Iron Age. Archaeological and historical fields of study provide a deep temporal context to these contemporary challenges and are well-suited to identify and promote the locally and historically distinctive character of surviving green spaces. Land use legacies stemming from Roman surveying and historic field clearance practices around Zadar have resulted in one of the most distinctive and well-preserved physical manifestations of ancient and historic land use in the Mediterranean. Recognition of their cultural significance, even in their diminished state, would add further value for their protection and continued capacity toward urban resilience in the next century.

At the beginning of 2018, due to the preparatory works for the reconstruction of the City Hall in Hvar, rescue archaeological excavations were carried out, continuing from earlier excavations in the northern room next to the City Hall, the, so-called, Red lounge of the Palace Hotel. In this wider area, layers that can be dated to periods from the Iron Age to the modern days have been documented. Nevertheless, the most significant finds can be dated to the period of Late Antiquity. There were monumental stairs (13 meters long in total, which protrude outside today’s buildings in the north and south),
and a late Roman house in which an entire 5th century amphora was found in a burnt layer. A Burnt layer was dated to the 5th century by radiocarbon analysis. Also, outside the house, in the late Roman layer, a lamp was found. It belongs to the group of Hayes IIA lamps dated to the period between 420 and 500, i.e., the same period as the amphora and the burnt layer, which more precisely dates the entire site. Out of all known late Roman lamps found in the area of the City of Hvar, it is the only one with a more complex iconographic depiction, very similar to the one found in the Archaeological Museum in Split. The only major difference between Split and Hvar is the decoration on the shoulder of the disc, everything else is almost identical. In the area of the City of Hvar, especially the urban areas of Burak and Groda, a large number of late Roman sites have been recorded, among which houses are predominant. All these finds confirm that the existence of an important Late Roman settlement in the area.

Početkom 2018. godine, zbog pripremnih radova na obnovi Gradske vijećnice - Lože u Hvaru, provedeno je zaštitno arheološko istraživanje, koje se nastavilo na ranija istraživanja u sjevernoj prostoriji uz Ložu, u tzv. Crvenom salonu hotela Palace. Na tom širem prostoru dokumentirani su slojevi koji se mogu datirati od željeznog doba pa sve do novog vijeka. Ipak, najznačajniji nalazi pripadaju razdoblju kasne antike. Dokumentirani su: monumentalne stube (ukupna istražena dužina 13 metara), koje na
sjeveru i jugu izlaze iz gabarita današnjih građevina, te kasnoantička kuća u kojoj je pronađena cijela amfora iz 5. stoljeća u sloju gareži koji je radiokarbonskom analizom također datiran u 5. stoljeće. Isto tako, izvan kuće, u kasnoantičkom sloju iz 5. stoljeća, pronađena je jedna keramička
kasnoantička svjetiljka kojoj je u ovom radu posvećena posebnu
pozornost. Na prostoru grada Hvara, pogotovo na gradskim područjima Burak i Groda, zabilježen je velik broj kasnoantičkih lokaliteta, među kojima dominiraju nalazi stambene arhitekture. Svi ti nalazi potvrđuju da se ondje nalazilo značajno kasnoantičko naselje.

The paper deals with a fragment of a funerary mensa recovered in the archaeological excavations of the site of Galovac – Crkvina near Zadar. It is a rare example of this type of find in our region. Analogies can be found in funerary contexts of northern Africa. It is associated with the Roman pagan burial, from the 3rd – 4th centuries.
U radu se obraduje ulomak pogrebne mense (mensa) pronađen pri arheološkim istraživanjima lokaliteta Galovac – Crkvina kod Zadra. Rijec je o rijetkom primjerku takvog tipa nalaza na našim prostorima čije analogije nalazimo unutar funeralnih konteksta sjeverne Afrike. Povezuje se s rimskim poganskim pokopom iz 3. - 4. stoljeća.

Bases of Glass Goblets/Chalices were found at the archaeological site of Majsan, a presently deserted islet of a mere 0.153 sq. km in the Pelješac Channel. This unique site hosts a villa rustica, which in Late Antiquity was transformed into a monastery/sanctuary and subsequently flourished. Literary sources from the 11th century suggest that, as a monastery/sanctuary, the site was visited for centuries. This holy place faded from memory until C. Fiskovic began archaeological research there in the 1960s, with its former identity preserved only in its place name. Approximately one hundred fragments of chalice bases were found next to the memoria, cemetery, and adjoining rooms of this architectural complex. These included fragments of footed beakers or chalices made of light green glass. Fiskovic did not assign precise dates to the artifacts but rather attributed them to the Early Christian period in general. We suggest that chalice lamps were used individually on the grave or altar. The organization of space and the arrangement of openings (windows of the memoria and the door of the yard) towards its central grave suggest that there was an intention to make the holy place visible, or most likely the light that burns above the holy place – central grave.

U Muzeju grada Kaštela čuva se reljef nedostajućeg donjeg dijela na kojemu je mogao stajati i natpis. Izrađen je od lokalnog vapnenca na vrlo rustikalan i gotovo naivan način. Prikazuje ljudski lik u stojećem položaju, s njegove lijeve strane krošnju stabla, a glava s rogovima ispod stabla sugerira kako se na reljefu nalazila i figura jelena. Na temelju specifične ikonografije, prikazanih atributa i dostupnih usporedbi antropomorfni se lik prepoznaje kao božica Dijana / Artemida, prikazana u statuarnom obrascu lovkinje u pokretu, a reljef datira u raspon od kraja 2. do početka 4. st. po Kr.

Il museo civico della città di Kaštela conserva un rilevo mutilo nella parte inferiore. Il rilevo è realizzato in calcare locale in modo molto rustico e alquanto ingenuo. La figurazione è realizzata tramite un’incisione a bassorilevo ed è talmente semplice che sembra realizzata dalla mano di un bambino. Per lungo periodo non era chiara la sua l’identificazione e si pensava fosse un orante cristiano. Come tale era indicato sulla didascalia nella vetrina del museo.
Comunque, sulla base dell’iconografia, si può concludere che si tratta di un rilevo cultuale e probabilmente votivo della dea Diana (Artemide) qui rappresentata nella variante di una delle più popolari tipologie statuarie delle Antichità Romane: il tipo della Diana cacciatrice in movimento. Sulla base di altri simili rilievi si può inoltre constatare che nella parte inferiore mutila poteva essere ubicata l’iscrizione dedicatoria.
Il rilevo è databile all’arco cronologico compreso tra la fine del secolo II e l’inizio del secolo IV. Si tratta del rilevo di questa tipologia più semplice e più ingenuo tra tutti quelli rinvenuti sul territorio della provincia della Dalmatia.