Slavonica Motorway Route – Rescue Excavations of the Prehistoric, Early and Late Medieval Bentež Settlement near Beketinci in 2007 and 2008

Institut za arheologiju iz Zagreba proveo je zaštitna arheološka istraživanja na trasi međunarodne autoceste Budimpešta – Ploče, koja pod imenom Slavonica Hrvatskom ide od Belog Manastira preko Osijeka do Svilaja. Na dionici Osijek – Đakovo istražen je lokalitet AN 18, na zemljištu Bentež kod Beketinaca. Tijekom 2007. i 2008. g. otkriveni su ostaci tri naselja: prapovijesnog naselja lasinjske kulture (oko 4 000 g. prije Krista), ranosrednjovjekovnog naselja (od 9. do 11. st.) i kasnosrednjovjekovnog naselja (od 14. do početka 16. st.).The Institute of Archaeolog y in Zagreb conducted rescue excavations along the route of the international Budapest–Ploče motorway, which passes through Croatia under the name of Slavonica from Beli Manastir via Osijek to Svilaj. On the Osijek–Đakovo section, the AN 18 site was excavated on a plot of land called Bentež near Beketinci. In 2007 and 2008, the remains of three settlements were discovered: a Prehistoric Lasinja culture settlement (ca 4,000 BC), an Early Medieval settlement (9th to 11th century) and Late Medieval settlement (14th to early 16th century). The Bentež plot is situated on the lowest part of the alluvial plain south of Osijek, intersected by the courses of the Karašica, Vučica and Vuka rivers. The excavated plot of the Bentež site lies approximately 3 km north of the present course of the Vuka river and it is the closest to the modern settlement of Beketinci. The oldest part of the site belongs to the Eneolithic Lasinja culture from approximately 6,000 years before present, i.e. to the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th millennium BC or the mid-Eneolithic (Dimitrijević 1979, 137-181). Part of a large Copper Age settlement was uncovered which in its western, working part, consisted of numerous clay pits and two larger kilns for baking pottery and other clay artefacts. In the eastern, residential part of the settlement, three very large pit dwellings (20 x 30 m) with wells on their margins and the foundations of fi ve aboveground houses were excavated. The largest above-ground house was 30 m long and 12 m wide, with three rooms and a smaller house (8 x 5 m, with two rooms) on its southern side (Raczky 2006, 379-398; Virag and Figler 2007, 345-364). A considerable quantity of pottery and spoons was found. According to the shape these are biconical bowls, at times supplemented with a tongue-shaped decorated handle at the biconical belly line, then there are round bowls and terrinae, bowls on a hollow foot with a thickening at the upper section and jugs with sometimes decorated handle reaching up to the brim. Decorations are mostly incised, depressed and stamped. They are composed of interlaced groups of various combinations of diagonal and straight lines and ladder-shaped motifs. Filled triangles also appear as well as curved and pointed stripes, while horizontal and diagonal sequences of dots or incisions sometimes function as trimming of the vessels or motifs (Marković 1983, 251-262, P. 1-3). In addition to pottery, some lithic objects were uncovered as well: fragments of stone tools, axes with holes for fi tting shafts. The Medieval part of the settlement, of which four fi fths of the entire surface were excavated on the given motorway route, existed during two separate periods. In the northern marginal part of the excavated section of the Prehistoric settlement two pits with early medieval fi nds were discovered and the remaining part of that settlement probably extended below today’s country road leading across the fi elds further north. Among the fi nds from this Early Medieval settlement, there are vessels with simple brims, decorated with combed wavy lines and fragments of a deep biconical vessel – a kettle,7 dating the settlement from the 9th to 11th century. The second part of the medieval settlement is much larger and can be dated to approximately the 14rh and 15th century and the very beginning of the 16th century, when it ceased to exist – most likely due to Ottoman invasions and wars. The settlement covered a surface of approximately 20.000 m2 out of which 17.000 m2 were explored. In the settlement, roughly 35 pit dwellings were excavated with an above-ground wooden structure and about 15 wooden houses with a rectangular fl oor-plan which contained small cellar pits. In some dwellings hearths were discovered and outside of them the remains of 56 bread ovens, suggesting that there were approximately 50 families living here at that time. Therefore, it is assumed that the settlement had between 700 and 900 inhabitants. Discovery of two forges in the south-western and north-eastern parts of the settlement also confirms the theory of existence of a large settlement for that time. Substantial quantities of dross were discovered in the pits containing large furnaces and in one room of the forge a bovine skeleton (possibly a ritual burial) was found. Besides residential facilities, work pits were uncovered (some of them with slots for wooden beams at opposite sides) in which most likely various crafts proceeded. Furthermore, three wells and the remains of large wooden fences were found. The house inventory consisted of numerous vessels: middle sized and small pots, bowls, lids and several big pots – pithoi (for food reserves) of various sizes in every household. Fine Gothic pottery (also referred to as Hungarian in the literature) – bottles, pots, jugs, cups and glasses – formed a constituent part of the inventory of every household. Among them are pots and jugs with rectangular motifs (nets, diagonal lines), motifs of the sun with sun-beams combined with dots, all painted red on a light ochre background. Besides pottery, a large part of the inventory of the medieval settlement facilities consists of metal artefacts (approximately 320) predominantly iron, of various functions: parts of weapons, military equipment, horse equipment, agricultural tools, leather tools, as well as household artefacts. Among the women’s jewellery, the remains of single-bead bronze earrings, bronze pendants and several fine bronze decorative needles were excavated. Part of the household inventory also included numerous clay balls (their average diameter being approximately 5 cm) that might have served sling ammunition. A big surprise was the discovery of a bull, the papal lead seal used for various charters, found in a collapsed furnace near the only house in the settlement that had wooden foundations, situated in the northern part of the settlement. The preserved half of the lead stamp bears the figure of St. Paul on the averse and above his head there is an inscription SPAS……. – an abbreviation for “St. Peter the Apostle St. (Paul the Apostle)”. On the reverse there are three rows of letters, rather illegible, but it was possible to identify the letters in the first row – GRE. According to the iconographic presentation of St. Paul’s head and according to the parts of letters and numbers, the inscription Gre(go)rius XI ( Ricci 1985, 156), who administered the Catholic Church between 1370 and 1378 (I. Papi 2002, 102), may here be identified. The Holy See with papal seals issued various charters – bulls (ceremonial letters) – appointing bishops and canons, permits to noblemen to build churches and monasteries, privileges to single churches or church altars. The question remains open as to whom a document from the Holy See may have referred to.8 Historical sources, according to which Pope Gregory XI in 1374 maintained correspondence with Peter, the Bishop of Đakovo, and other canons of the cathedral chapter, may be on the right track (Gulin 2001, 165; Gašić 2000, 84). A year after, Pope Gregory XI confirmed Duke Koloman’s Deed of Gift from 1239 by which he established the Bosnian Church with the support of the Pope Gregory IX and established a source of finances for the Bosnian cathedral chapter (Gašić 2000, 85). The size of the excavated Late Medieval settlement, the existence of two forges, the large quantity of luxury pottery in the houses as well as the find of the papal seal, suggest that the standard of living in the settlement was obviously higher than in neighbouring settlements and that it was probably a central settlement of the Gorjanski estate. In the Late Middle Ages the settlement played an important role among the estates of the powerful noble Gorjanski family, whose centre was in nearby Gorjani. This family attained the peak of their power in the Croato-Hungarian Monarchy precisely in the 14th and 15th century. Historical sources indicate that the Bosnian estates (referring to the cathedral chapter estates in Đakovo and its surroundings) were greatly damaged during the Civil War of 1398-1421 and completely disappeared after 1463 (Gašić 2000, 85). The settlement was burned down and destroyed in a fire perhaps precisely at the time of feudal conflicts or during one of the Ottoman invasions