Sotin and Opatovac, trial excavations of multilayered sites in 2014

Probna arheološka istraživanja na nekoliko položaja u Sotinu i Opatovcu potvrdila su nalazišta iz vremena neolitika, eneolitika, brončanog i željeznog doba te srednjeg vijeka, locirana prema prethodnim terenskim pregledima. Istraženi su dijelovi naselja iz različitih razdoblja. Pretpostavljeni položaji groblja iz kasnoga brončanog doba nisu potvrđeni arheološkim iskopavanjima.Trial research on three locations in Sotin and at Šanac in Opatovac confirmed the archaeological sites detected during field survey (Ložnjak Dizdar et al. 2014). Archaeological excavations have confirmed some of the periods documented on these locations according to surface finds. In Sotin, west of the village, at Trojstvo position closer to Vučedol, traces of Sopot and Baden settlements were found. In Sotin, in the north part of the present-day village, at Fancage position, traces of middle Bronze Age (Belegiš I) settlement were discovered, as well as parts of a late medieval settlement. In Sotin, at the south east edge of the present-day village, at Plandište, parts of a Sopot settlement and remains of a late medieval settlement were explored. At Šanac in Opatovac, parts of a Baden settlement and a halfdugout from the late Early Iron age period were discovered. Research did not confirm remains of a cemetery from the Late Bronze Age at any of the locations. These aimed archaeological trials suggest that systematic field survey and trial excavation are necessary to locate specific settlements and cemeteries from certain periods. High loess plateau, which was densely populated throughout history, illustrates how space was used differently during individual time periods, which has also been confirmed by this research. The results from new research and field survey and the already confirmed positions of sites, such as Baden and Belegiš II settlements in Vučedol (Težak-Gregl 1985), suggest a possibility for spatial analysis in terms of size and mutual relations between concurrent settlements