2010 Archaeological-Conservation Research of the Stancija Blek Site near Tar

Arheološko-konzervatorska istraživanja lokaliteta Stancije Blek nastavila su se na radove iz 2008. godine. Radovi su nastavljeni u prostoriji 5 koja je prepoznata kao srednjovjekovna dogradnja unutar ovoga građevnog sklopa. Skidanjem srednjovjekovnog sloja u kome se 2008. godine pronašao veći broj staklenih predmeta došlo se do kasnoantičkih i antičkih slojeva te na jednom dijelu i do zdravice. Unutar antičkih slojeva pronađeno je keramičkih, staklenih i metalnih predmeta uglavnom kasnoantičkih odlika.Historical and earlier archaeological works have already been published (Benčić 2006; Cuscito, Riavez 2008). This year we continued the work from 2008 in room 5 (Šiljeg 2009). After cleaning the probe, we continued removing the layers, but for the sake of the vertical stratigraphy, this time we left a control profile in the north-eastern part of the room (Fig. 1). The entire surface was covered by a layer of rubble SU 020. Under the 20-cm-thick layer of rubble, there was an extraordinarily dark layer of soot SU 021. In the layers beneath, there were exclusively late antiquity finds (coarse pottery with a wavy line and plastic decoration). Of particular significance is a pot with a plastic band (Fig. 4), which is characteristic of the 5th and 6th centuries in the region (Juroš-Monfardin 1986: T. III: 1; Marušić 1986: 83, Fig. 6: 1; Ruffieux 2010: 251–252, 254, 266, Fig. 6). The room’s northern wall ends on a layer of soot and the remains of a wall familiar from earlier excavations (Cuscito, Riavez 2008: Tal. 2. US 023). The remains of wall SU 027 (038), oriented north-south, and passing under SU 009, testify to the affluence of life in classical antiquity. The remains of two floors directly above sterile soil are also associated with this wall. Alongside the northern wall, the remains of a smaller wall SU 042 enclosing a smaller basin were found. The basin was covered by hydraulic mortar opus signinum SU 040 (Fig. 2). In room 5a, the removal of the 14th-century layer, in which there was still glass of the same shapes as in the 2008 excavations (Šiljeg 2009: 114–115), continued. Within the same layer, two small, almost entirely preserved ceramic bowls were unearthed (SF 75 and 79) (Fig. 3), decorated with engobe, over which a green coloured glaze had been coated. Their manufacture is associated with the Italian region of Veneto, and they are particularly widely distributed in north-eastern Italy. They can be dated to the 14th and 15th centuries. (Bradara 2006: 19–21, Gusar 2007: 178). From the same layer, there is also a pottery fragment, probably of the majolica type with multicoloured decoration on the outside and a maiolica policroma glaze on the inside (SF 77), also dating from the period of the Late Middle Ages. The excavations inside room 5 have enabled the relationship between the walls found there to be determined. The latest wall is southern wall SU 034, which divided the largest room into two: rooms 2 and 5 (Cuscito, Riavez 2008: Tav. 1). Older than this wall are walls SU 006 and SU 009, which were partly utilised in the structure of wall SU 034. Walls SU 036, 037 and SU 035 are mediaeval. Wall SU 027 (038), the smaller wall SU 042 and the wall below wall SU 034 belong to the classical antiquity stage. The numerous walls and layers discovered and defined in 2010 confirm assumptions concerning the affluence of life on the Stancija Blek site in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages