In this paper we present the first results of an interdisciplinary research project focused on Late Bronze Age metallurgy in the western and central Balkans. The comprehensive chemical and lead isotope analysis, and a strict consideration of archaeological criteria, has provided a deeper insight into supra regional metal exchange networks between the 14th and 9th century BC in this part of Europe. Particularly interesting and surprising are results regarding the provenance of raw materials for copper production, which have a chemical composition and lead isotope ratios that closely correspond to ore deposits in the southern Alps (North Italy). Based on the examination of 57 objects of different functions, chronology and distribution, it becomes apparent that copper from the southern Alps was almost an omnipresent raw material in the territories of the western and central Balkans with only a few finds from North Macedonia to indicate alternative sources. The analyses demonstrate that the reuse of fahlore-based copper is attested for the first time in the regions under study. The remarkable fact that other archaeological parameters do not indicate such an intensive connection between the Balkan area and Northern Italy raises a number of questions. The sustained and long-lasting networks of raw material procurement stand in contrast to the expected cultural interaction between metal producing and metal consuming prehistoric societies. The results of this work also highlight the currently underestimated role of the southern Alps as one of the main copper producing areas in Bronze Age Europe, and demonstrate for the first time that the region of western and central Balkans was one of the major recipients.

AbstractIn various prehistoric periods, the territory of Vojvodina became the target of the migration of steppe communities with eastern origins. The oldest of these movements are dated to the late Eneolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. There are at least two stages among them: I – dated to the end of the fourth millennium BC / beginning of the third millennium BC and II – dated from 3000 to 2600 BC and combined with the communities of the classical phase of the Yamnaya culture. The data documenting these processes have been relatively poor so far – in comparison with the neighboring regions of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. A big drawback was the small number of systematically excavated mounds, providing comprehensive data on the funeral ritual of steppe communities. This poor database has been slightly enriched as a result of the design of the National Science Centre (Cracow, Poland) entitled “Danubian route of the Yamnaya culture”. Its effect was to examine the first two barrows located on the territory of Bačka – the western region of Vojvodina. Currently, these burial mounds are the westernmost points on the map of the cemeteries of the Yamnaya culture complex. Radiocarbon dates obtained for new finds, as well as for archival materials, allow specifying two stages of use of cemeteries of Yamnaya culture: I – around 3000–2900 BC and II – around 2800–2600 BC. Among the finds from Banat, there were also few materials coming probably from the older period, corresponding to the classical phase of Baden – Coţofeni I–II. The enigmatic nature of these discoveries, however, does not allow to specify their dating as well as cultural dependencies.

Polish-Serbian excavations of barrows at Šajkaš and Žabalj yielded the first comprehensive data concerning the burial rites of the Yamnaya culture in Vojvodina. The Medisova Humka barrow in Žabalj, researched in 2017-2018, was raised in two phases. Two graves were discovered in the barrow, both dated within 2800-2600 BCE. These were typical Yamnaya culture burials, with good analogies in the eastern European zone. Grave 4 is the first example of burying mixed and incomplete human remains in Vojvodina (among others, long bones were missing), a ritual known from Yamnaya barrows in the north-western Pontic area.

Izvorni znanstveni članak Odjel za arheologiju Original scientific paper Obala kralja Petra Krešimira IV., 2 Primljeno / Received: 2010-03-22 HR-23000 Zadar glavicic@unizd.hr U trećem svesku zbirke latinskih natpisa Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum pod brojem 1745 objavljen je natpis ispisan na bazi spomenika koji je u prvoj polovici 2. st. bio podignut u počast epidaurskog uglednika P. Elija Osilijana (P. Aelius Ossilianus) Natpis je pronađen godine 1856., a tada su u zadarskim novinama Osservatore Dalmato (broj 79 i 96) objavljena dva zanimljiva članka o nalazu tog natpisa u Cavtatu. Autori su im Mato Vodopić i Šime Ljubić. Autor donosi prijepis objavljenih članaka te komentira njihov sadržaj, dajući pritom i osnovne biografske podatke o njihovim autorima. Mato Vodopić je teolog, književnik i prirodoslovac, koji pred kraj života postaje dubrovački biskup. Šime Ljubić je književnik, historičar i arheolog, kojega se zbog njegova samoprijegornog i nadasve stručnog rada s pravom drži za jednog od utemeljitelja suvremene arheologije u Hrvatskoj. Na temelju provedene epigrafske i onomastičke analize autor donosi i vlastiti komentar teksta natpisa CIL III, 1745. P. Aelius Osillianus bio je epidaurski odličnik, koji je po svoj prilici potjecao iz autohtone romanizirane porodice s teritorija kolonije ili bliže unutrašnjosti. Naime, kako se zaključuje iz njegova imenovanja, ta je porodica građansko pravo stekla u doba cara Hadrijana, a već se tijekom prve polovice 2. st. značajno uzdigla i uvrstila u sam vrh epidaurske aristokracije. To je razvidno iz teksta natpisa, jer zbog ugleda porodice, svakako i zbog osobnih zasluga, cjelokupno gradsko vijeće jednoglasnom odlukom iskazuje počast P. Eiju Osilijanu i određuje mjesto za postavljanje kipa. Sve poslove oko postavljanja spomenika s kipom i organizacije popratnih ceremonija, što predmnijeva i pokriće svih troškova, preuzimaju i vode Osilijanova majka Novia Bassila i baka Iustilla. One su pri inauguraciji spomenika podijelile članovima gradskog vijeća, augustalima i sevirima prigodne darove (sportulae), a za sugrađane organizirale održavanje šakačkih borbi. Natpis CIL III, 1745 neobično je važan, jer dokumentira gotovo cjelokupan postupak iskazivanja počasti zaslužnom sugrađaninu tijekom prve polovice 2. st. u Epidauru.