Archaeological investigations and conservation work at the Stancija Blek site near Tar in 2013

Ovogodišnja arheološka istraživanja na lokalitetu Stanciji Blek nastavila su se na istraživanja provedena 2011. i 2012. godine u tzv. Prostoriji 8 na području arhitektonskog kompleksa na lokalitetu Stancija Blek kod Tara, smještenog unutar antičkog agera Poreča. Na ovom je području prijašnjim istraživanjima pretpostavljena antička rustična vila, kasnoantički kompleks te srednjovjekovno naselje s crkvicom. Ovogodišnjim istraživanjima obuhvaćena je Prostorija 8, gdje su prijašnji radovi definirali niz zidova, paljevinskih slojeva i zapadni dio perimetralnog zida cisterne. Nakon istraživanja 2013. godine jasniji je kronološki slijed u P 8, osobito što se tiče kasnoantičkog i srednjovjekovnog razdoblja. Otkriće peći upućuje na gospodarsku namjenu ovog prostora u kasnoj antici. Uz peć treba vezati i slojeve paljevine južno od peći.The Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb, in collaboration with the Poreč Regional Museum, carried out the archaeological investigations within the architectural complex at the Stancija Blek site near Tar in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The site, situated on fertile land above the Tar Cove on the left side of the mouth of the Mirna river, was incorporated in Roman times into the ager of Poreč, as discussed by A. Šonje and R. Matijašić (Šonje 1982; Matijašić 1988). The history of the Stancija Blek site and the wider area of Tar were reviewed on several occasions by G. Benčić, based primarily on the study of sources, in which Tar was for the first time mentioned in 983 (a charter by Otto II) (Benčić 2006; Benčić 2012). This year\u27s research of the cremation layers west of the cistern yielded what is probably a bread oven as the cause of, if not all, then at least a part of the burnt layers. A similar oven found at Loron was attributed to the production of pottery within a larger workshop organised within a former villa. The remains of the oven are similar to a number of kilns published in the 2013 volume of the Gallia journal (Gallia 2013, Cuisines et boulangeries en Gaule romaine), dedicated precisely to kitchen installations during Antiquity. The many discovered small pieces of slag point to the possibility of the existence of another oven, although it is also possible that the discovered oven was used for processing metals. The wall investigated within the remains of the cistern belongs to one of the last phases of life in the architectural complex. It is preserved at the foundation level and its orientation follows that of all the earlier walls. Most of the pottery from the fill of the cistern belongs to the remains from Late Antiquity, which allows us to conclude that the cistern lost its function probably at the end of Late Antiquity. It did not suffer any greater damage in the lower part, as demonstrated by the appearance of water at a relative depth of 1.5 m