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The archaeological site of Ribnica near Brežice has been known to the general public since the mid-1950s as the location of the Roman roadside station Romula. Between 2001 and 2004, extensive archaeological excavations took place on the site because of the planned construction of the Ljubljana – Obrežje highway; among other things, it proved that this location was att ractive not only to the Romans, but also to sett lers in prehistory, the Middle Ages, and modern times. The earliest archaeological remains at Ribnica date to the Eneolithic period, followed by the Bronze Age sett lement and a few pits from the La Tène period. Among the prehistoric fi nds, those from the Bronze Age are the most numerous, while those from the Eneolithic and the La Tène period appear only sporadically. Although two decades have passed since the excavations at Ribnica, the research results have not been published yet. In this paper, we provide an overview of the prehistoric remains discovered in Ribnica near Brežice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological excavations carried out at Virje-Volarski breg/ Sušine in the autumn 2013 covered 300 m2 in two trenches. The trenches were carefully chosen and positioned according to the results of geophysical investigations carried out in spring 2013, with a view to obtaining precise information regarding the recognition and appearance of the elements of a smelting workshop. The archaeological investigations corroborated the existence of the remains of a smelting workshop in Trench S-7 and remains of a settlement in Trench S-8 at Sušine. In the western part of Trench S-7 we documented and excavated a part of the space used for dumping smelting waste, while in the south-eastern part there was a space with the remains of four furnaces for smelting iron ore. In the north-western part of Trench S-7 we investigated an elongated prehistoric feature from the La Tène period. Trench S-8 yielded the remains of habitation with a recognizable larger structure and an open-air fireplace next to it. Based on the abundant collected remains of pottery of coarse texture, simple rim profilations and combed waveline decoration, as well as the indicative find of a part of a bronze belt strap-end, the structure can preliminarily be dated to the early medieval period. At Sušine we investigated the remains of a smelting workshop and the remains of a settlement from the Early Middle Ages. In the investigated workshop complex a significant portion of the surface was covered by the waste dumped from the workshop. The excavations covered only a peripheral part of the workshop with the remains of furnaces that presumably extended further, beneath unexcavated ploughland. Based on the present state of research we cannot determine whether the smelting workshop at Sušine was in operation during the life of the early medieval settlement located adjacent to it, and the answer to this question will be provided by future planned interdisciplinary analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rescue excavations of the La Tène culture cemetery Zvonimirovo - Veliko Polje during 2011 were conducted on the central part of the elevation where 11 incineration burials (LT 83-LT 93) were found. For the first time the grave was recorded (LT 86) with burnt remains of the deceased with parts of the costume and jewellery, placed in a bowl used as an urn (Fig. 5). Also, a grave was found with burnt remains of the deceased without any findings. The graves in which men were buried contain armament, toiletries and parts of the costume, with the findings from the grave LT 89 standing out indeed (Fig. 4). The grave LT 83 (Fig. 2) contained toiletries (scissors, razor), whetstone, iron fibula of the Middle La Tène scheme and an iron axe laid next to the bones of the deceased, which is the first finding of this type on the Zvonimirovo cemetery. Particularly prominent are the graves of the lavishly furnished deceased women with an unprecedented parts of costumes and jewellery, such as perfectly preserved bracelets with five smooth ribs made of transparent glass with a yellow foil on the inside of the Series 27 or group 7a (Fig. 5) or iron needles with a zoomorphic head in grave LT 91. Provisions (viaticum), recorded in the graves of both sexes, consist of pottery and animal bones, mostly pork, whereas the poultry bones are more frequently found inside the bowls. The sets consisting of a pot and a bowl are the most frequent finds in the graves, but kantharoi and cups can be found as well. The grave LT83 (Fig. 2) stands out with a number of ceramic vessels found in it; i.e. four enclosed ceramic vessels. Based on the contributed armament and parts of women's and men's costumes, the graves are dated to the Mokronog IIb phase, and confirm the importance of the site in the study of the Late Iron Age in northern Croatia. Excavations were carried thanks to financial funding from the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports through the research project ''Development and Mobility of the protohistoric communities settled on the territory of Continental Croatia'' (197-1970685-0711) and financial aid received from the Ministry of Culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the Zagreb - Sisak highway, section Velika Gorica, South - Lekenik, rescue archaeological excavations were conducted on the site Donji Vukojevac - North. During June and July 2010, a team of archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology explored the 1,000 m² area on which a part of the settlement from the early Iron Age - La Tène period, 2000 years old, was discovered. The area designated for the research, Donji Vukojevac crossing, on the flat part of the large terrace extended 65 m to the north and 35 m to the south of the moderate slope towards the valley of the stream Koravac. Although the width of the excavation area was limited to just 10 m, a series of working and storage pits, wooden pole cuts and foundation trenches of rectangular houses were discovered on a flat terrace. The most significant discovery was made in the southern part of the excavation area on a gentle slope of the plateau, where the palisades and fundamental part of the earthen rampart 2 m wide was discovered and excavated 34 m in length. The newly discovered settlement in Donji Vukojevac can be dated to the La Tène period; it (the earthen rampart) resembles the one discovered under the building of the Zagreb City Museum in Opatička street in Zagreb Upper Town. At that time, the area south of Turopolje was occupied by Kolapiani, with the central fortified shrine on Turska kosa near Topusko. North of Turopolje the great tribe Jazi resided, and one of their centres was Sveti Petar Ludbreški. The large La Tène fortified settlement discovered in Donji Vukojevac probably belonged to an independent Pannonian tribe Andizets, who were a part of the tribal alliance of Celtic Tauriscs . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From September to November 2011 the Institute of Archaeology conducted rescue archaeological excavation of the AN 5 Poljana Križevačka 2 site on the highway route A12 St. He lena - GP Gola. A area of 29.560 m² were explored. The site Poljana Križevačka 2 is situated several kilometres south of Križevci (Koprivnica-Križevci Region), close to the western edge of the today's settlement of Poljana Križevačka. It is a slightly raised oval ridge on the east side of the stream Glogovnica that changes to gentle hills to the east, while to the west of the site lays the Špiranečki Lug valley. During the rescue excavations of the site AN 5 Poljana Križevačka 2, the remains of the prehistoric and medieval settlement were discovered. The oldest traces of the settlement can be associated with the Copper Age Lasinja culture, but most of the finds belong to the Virovitica group settlement dating to the Late Bronze Age next to which the cemetery with incineration graves that can be associated with the settlement, was discovered. A lodging dating to the La Tène culture period from the Late Iron Age was also found, while in the southern part of the site the remains of the late medieval settlement were explored. The settlement of the Lasinja culture was located on the highest point of the ridge where large oval pithouse cuts were found as well as the cuts of small pits. Given the increasing number of lodgings in this part of the site, it can be assumed that the centre of the settlement was near the Glogovnica creek. Large explored area of the settlement reveals an interesting infrastructure which is characterized by several structures linked together into groups that may correspond to an organized family settlement. The largest number of structures belong to the settlement dating to the late Bronze Age, that is to the Virovitica group of the Urnfield culture - Br D and Ha A1 phase (13th to 12th century BC). Houses were used as the basic lodgings, of which the pole cuts remaining are arranged in rectangular bases measuring 6 x 3 or 6 x 6 m. The same type of houses was discovered during excavations on the area of Prekmurje in northeastern Slovenia (Pod Kotom) (Kerman 2011: 45 ) which are attributed to the same Virovitica group. Cuts of many pits, usually oval in shape, some of which were likely to serve as a working space, are also the part the infrastructure of the Late Bronze Age settlement. An oval pit SU 1199 was discovered with the collapsed structure of the kiln in it. Stratigraphic relations between individual burials and typological forms of pottery and bronze objects preliminarily indicate that the population of the settlement from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age can be separated at least in two phases. South of the settlement there was the Late Bronze Age cemetery from the same period with 50 incineration graves. The remains of the deceased are placed in urns, that is, in 47 graves burned remains of the deceased were placed in a pot that had the function of the urn and covered with the bowl used as a lid. In three graves the burned remains of the deceased were deposited at the bottom of the pit and covered with the bowl turned upside down. Only in case of two graves the grave pit was covered with the remains of the pyre. Very often fragments of broken pottery are laid in the grave . According to preliminary analysis of the types of burials and of ceramic forms (pots with rounded body with a tunnel-shaped handle and the bukle decoration on the widest part of the belly, the S-profiled bowls with strap handles, jugs decorated with plastic tapes with fingerprints, cups), it is possible to conclude that the graves can be dated to the Br D phase, that is to the 13th century BC. The Late Bronze Age cemetery in Poljana Križevačka 2 is the largest excavated cemetery of the Virovitica group on the area south of the Drava river so far and the only investigated in relation to the settlement from the same period. In the southern part of the site the remains of the houses measuring 4 x 12 m dating to the La Tène culture period was found. It was probably a farm or a family homestead. Fragments of ceramic pots were found which date these facilities to the late La Tene period (LtD1), that is to the period from the mid 2nd to the first half of the 1st century BC. In the south-eastern part of the site remains of the settlement from the late Middle Ages were found. Along the eastern edge of the excavation partly dug-in large structures measuring 8.5 x 17.5 m were uncovered. On the northern edge of the village ditches and pits were discovered. In the pit SU 894 vessels were found in situ, and it can be concluded that it was a storage pit. Numerous fragments of ceramic vessels, stove tiles, heaters, and fragments of iron objects can be singled out. Based on the obtained results, the settlement can be preliminary dated from the mid-13th to the 15th century. Given the preliminary results of exploration of AN 5 Poljana Križevacka 2 site, we can conclude that it is extremely important for the understanding of population of Križevci area during the Copper Age, the Late Bronze Age and Late Iron Age, as well as during the late Middle Ages, as well as for the wider infrastructural data on individual periods. The location of lowland settlement from multiple time periods on one of the natural communications that led along Glogovnica stream and connected Podravina and Posavina, testifies to the importance of this corridor in traffic throughout the millenniums, which is one of the reasons that modern highways use the same route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, after two years long recess, archaeological research in Nova Bukovica, on the position Sjenjak, near Slatina was continued. Although financial resources were reduced and the weather conditions were adverse, new elements of prehistoric settlements dating from the Late Bronze Age and late La Tène period were discovered. Our aim was to elaborate on the area investigated in 2007 and 2008 and to penetrate deeper into the structure of the Late Bronze Age settlement. This goal was achieved, and the new structures of the Late Bronze Age were discovered. Two large buried objects, SU 1019, 1020 and SU 1025, 1026, and a small kiln - which survived ploughing activities only thanks to the fact that it is located on the very edge of the field - stand out in particular. The newly discovered objects, as well as the most significant finds from Nova Bukovica represent a valuable complement to the knowledge about the life during the Late Bronze Age in these parts of Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period from 22nd August until 6th September 2007 a continuation of rescue archaeological excavations was conducted on the site Veliko Polje in Zvonimirovo. The excavation was done on the northern edge of the elevation on which the site is located, encompassing the area between the orchard and the road Zvonimirovo-Gaki¡te. It was found one grave (LT 68) with cremated remains of a woman belonging to the La T&#00E8;ne culture. This is the northernmost burial on the cemetery. The cremated bones of the woman were placed in a heap with accessories in the western part of a rectangular grave with rounded edges. To the costume belongs a woven iron belt with stick-like iron buckle of the Bre&#017E;ice type, three bronze and one iron fibula of the Middle La T&#00E8;ne type, while the jewelry included melted fragments of a bracelet of colourless glass with remains of yellow foil. The finds from the grave LT 68 can be dated into LT C2 (Mokronog IIb), i.e. at the end of the 3rd and first half of the 2nd century B.C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]