Odd Croatian necropolises protective researches at the villages of Smilclc and Biljane Donje near Zadar

Abstract

This study deals with the results of ithe old-Croatian necropolises protective researches at the locations of Kullica in Smilčić and Pržine in Trljuge, a hamlet near Biljane Donje. Five old-Croatian graves have been preserved at the necropolis of Smilčić. These graves belong to the early horizon of the Dalmato-Croatian necropolises concerning their archaeological features, stone-grave architecture and the contents of the finds. They can be dated In the 8th and the first half of the 9th cent., the remnants representing part of a bigger but owing to the soil cultivation destroyed necropolis. The graves researched have pagan features together with burial cult (characterized by the peculiar grave architecture producted under the influence of autochthonous population) and in the contents of the objects found in rthe graves and represented only by artefacts including ceramic ware and iron knives. Old-Croatian necropolis at the village of Biljane Donje represents also part of a bigger but owing to the sand excavations destroyed old-Croatian necropolis with only 23 graves preserved. These preserved graves belong to two horizons concerning their archaeological features and on the basis of the research results analyses. The graves numbered from 1 to 13 belong to the early horizon of the Dalmato-Croatian necropolises and they can be dated in the 8th and the first half of the 9th cent., while the graves numbered Iran 14 to 23 belong to a later phase of the necropolis and they can be dated in a range spanning the 10th to the 12th cent. Though the results of the old-Croatian necropolises' protective researches ai the villages of Smilčić and Biljane Donje are arc bacologie ally incomplete owing to the destruction of the terrain, the author thinks they still served to offer a series of distinctive scientific knowledge contributing l:n the further explanations of the material a n d spiritual culture with the Croats in Dalmatia. This field is still inadequatelly researched and hardly known.