Abstract:

With the objective of registering new, still unidentified archaeological sites, and with the aim of documenting the status of sites that are already familiar, a field survey project commenced in Eastern Baranja, along the Danube River. In the first stage of research, the field survey focused on the area between the villages of Batina and Zmajevac, where nine archaeological sites were documented, out of which six were thus far unknown. The large number of archaeological sites that could have been documented is by no means surprising if one considers the elevated geographic location of the extreme north-eastern part of Bansko brdo, rising above the Danube, with outstanding visual communication westward toward Transdanubia up to Pécs, eastward up to Batschka and southward to Eastern Slavonia. A significant European road passed along the margin of the elevated right bank of the Danube, and for millennia cultural influences flowed along it, linking all directions (north, south, east and west) of the Carpathian Basin. This same point was the border of the Roman Empire, still evident in the landscape by clearly visible fortifications in Batina and Zmajevac. Some of the oldest prehistoric archaeological sites belonging to the Starčevo and Sopot cultures were found here. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, cultural groups of different origin intermingled in this region, reaching its peak in the Early Iron Age, as Baranja – with Batina as a important centre of Southern Pannonia – became a junction for intense Transeuropean links. Its major role lasted into the Late Iron Age, as confirmed by the extraordinary find of the Early La Tène warrior’s grave from the Zmajevac-Grovišće site, with an iron helmet with reinforced calotte. During the Roman period, fortifications were built here, along which civilian settlements developed as well, as verified by numerous fourt century cemeteries. In the Early Middle Ages, Germanic troops settled here, to be replaced by the Avar troops who remained until Charlemagne’s conquest. Thanks to the fertile soil and favourable communications, the most dense population was documented in the Late Middle Ages in numerous, well-connected settlements. The results confirmed that the field survey of the area between Batina and Zmajevac was fully justified and allowed registration of a large number of archaeological sites from all periods. Although the results of the field survey rely on collected surface finds, the majority of finds can be chronologically and culturally defined. Furthermore, the field survey results prompted many questions regarding the archaeological topography of north-eastern Baranja in specific periods, at the same time facilitating the study of the relationships between sites in the narrower area. In view of the intense cultivation of permanent crops and the development of infrastructure, it is necessary to continue these surveys with the aim of drawing a map of archaeological sites of Baranja – the region with the largest number of finds in Croatia.

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