Abstract:

The archaeological excavations undertaken on the site of Srednje polje – Vašarište in Sotin in 2018 explored three trenches with a total surface area of 392.5 m2. Trenches 25, 26, and 27 included the area of a Dalj group cemetery from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The explored graves can be dated to phases II and III according to C. Metzner Nebelsick, i.e. to Ha B3 and Ha C1–C2. Roman remains were found in a part of a ditch that probably ran next to a road going along the Danube from Sotin towards Ilok. The discovered early medieval working area with a furnace shows that the settlement also grew towards the south-eastern part of Vašarište. The position of the explored trenches in Vašarište (2008, 2011–2018), considering the exploration area exceeding 5.300 m2, makes it possible to examine the stratigraphic layers from the Copper Age to the modern period. The finds from the site of Srednje polje – Vašarište are parts of a Copper Age settlement and pits from the Late Bronze Age. There are numerous Roman structures: the excavations uncovered pits from the 2nd century, remains of a Roman road, and a part of a cremation cemetery that stretched along the road. The same site was inhabited in the Early Middle Ages, when the infrastructure of the settlement on Vašarište included the foundations of regular rectangular structures, probably working areas, next to furnaces. There are fewer structures from the Late Middle Ages, but there are numerous modern ditches, which often damaged older complexes. Still, what makes the site on Vašarište stand out is the discovery of a large number of Dalj group cremation graves from the end of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron Age places Sotin among the largest explored sites from that period in the middle Danube area.

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