Abstract:

The Late Bronze Age settlement in Dolina at the location of Babine Grede stands on two elevated ridges lying along the course of the River Sava in the direction of west – east. The settlement is known on the basis of previously collected surface finds of potsherds and was confirmed by a geomagnetic survey conducted in 2014. Trench 1, located in the eastern part of the western ridge, was excavated in 2015 and 2016. The archaeological excavations of the location of Babine Grede – Tukovi in 2018 determined that the settlement on the east ridge was partly contemporary in Ha A2, i.e. in the first half of the 11th cent. BC. Trench 2 included younger horizons than those recorded in Trench 1. The excavations conducted in the spring of 2019 opened Trench 3, which is a smaller trench on the western part of the eastern ridge. Trench 3 is located south of the settlement on the western ridge. This trench was excavated with the aim of locating a flat cemetery, but it located a peripheral part of the settlement with a large buried structure. The new excavation results have supplemented the findings about the borders of the settlement and the directions of its expansion, as well as the assumptions about the position of the flat cemetery. According to the published findings, the Bronze Age settlement of Donja Dolina on the other side of the river was at least partly contemporary with the settlement at Babine Grede, and this fact raises a number of new questions about the specific use of landscape along the River Sava in the Late Bronze Age, especially during the younger phase of the Urnfield culture.

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