Archaeological Excavations of the Medieval Burg of Vrbovec in Klenovec Humski 2008

U 2008. godini nastavljena su sustavna arheološko-konzervatorska istraživanja srednjovjekovnoga burga Vrbovca u Klenovcu Humskom, na istočnome dijelu lokaliteta, izvan jezgre burga te u istočnom dijelu dvorišta. Izvan jezgre burga definiran je gabarit prostorije, zidane istočno uz palas, istraženo je vanjsko lice istočnoga obrambenog zida burga, a nastavljena su i istraživanja manjeg zida za sada nepoznate namjene i datacije. U dvorištu su otkriveni ostaci drvenog objekta iz razdoblja ranoga novog vijeka, stradalog u požaru.The archaeological excavations of 2008 encompassed the area of the eastern zone outside the centre of the burg, where a narrow, long room was discovered (currently its function remains unknown), which can be associated with some form of approach system, i.e. the entrance to the burg at a certain stage of its use. Finds of disposed ceramic pot fragments and animal bones from the deepest excavated layers (SU 176) in that part of the site originated in the first half of the thirteenth century, and the excavations here need to be continued. The south-eastern part of the courtyard was excavated as well, and the existence of a burnt wooden construction was registered. The ruins of the wooden structure lay directly at the south-eastern part of the defence wall of the core of the medieval burg (SU 50), and the stratigraphic situation – along with other indicators – clearly suggests the sequence of construction; thus the wooden structure originated in the period after the medieval burg had already fallen into ruin. The remains of this burnt wooden structure are manifested in the form of an upper layer of burnt red earth (SU 172) and a lower layer (SU 180) – burnt black earth with the remains of several carbonized beams in situ. The inventory of finds from the wooden structure (remains of a tiled stove, richly decorated with tiles representing figures of riders hunting, and tiles with the front perforated tile decorated by architectural motifs in the spirit of the Renaissance) suggests a personage of high rank; probably the commander of a military unit that used this abandoned burg as a control defence point for the broader area in the periods of the Ottoman threat in the sixteenth century