The Cemetery at Crkvina in Gornje Koljane – Research conducted in 2007

Autor izvještava o novijim istraživanjima na lokalitetu Crkvini u Gornjim Koljanima. Prema nalazima može se zaključiti da je riječ o dijelu kasnosrednjovjekovnoga groblja koje se uklapa u već poznatu sliku sličnih grobalja iz ovoga razdoblja.In the most recent excavations, a new segmentof the cemetery at Crkvina in Koljene was researched. Unfortunately, at this point the documentation from the most recent research cannot be tied to the ground plan drafted in 1956 during Gunjača’s last research and published in 1998 by A. Milošević, so future field activity should be directed toward solving this problem to obtain a comprehensive picture of the size and extent of the cemetery. In the interest of better explaining the cemetery, it is necessary to point out the grave finds made during earlier archaeological research which are stored in the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments. These primarily consist of luxurious women’s jewellery and components of riding harnesses dated to a chronological range spanning the ninth to fifteenth centuries. Burials conducted in the ninth century were confirmed by two pairs of massive bronze spurs with clasping gear and a pair of Carolingian iron spurs, and gilded single-bead temple ornaments. Based on these finds, it can be concluded that during this period a cemetery began to form around the pre-Romanesque church at Crkvina in Koljene, at which even members of the highest social castes were interred, as in the cemeteries of Crkvina in Biskupija, Begovača, Biljani Donji, Gradac at Drniš, etc. That one of the most important centres of the Croatian principality was located in the area of Koljane and its surroundings is also confirmed by the nearby, somewhat older, cemetery where examples of Early Carolingian weapons and riding harnesses were found, i.e. the cemetery next to Vukovića most. Burials during the tenth and eleventh centuries are confirmed by a post-Carolingian type × sword presented as a gift to Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and individual examples of post-Carolingian iron spurs which also have spikes in the spur arch, which chronologically pinpoints them in the period from the tenth to almost the end of the eleventh century. In the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, burials alongside churches became obligatory, and it is likely that the cemetery at Crkvina began to be more intensively used and assumed the functions of the other cemeteries in the vicinity. Continued burials during the High (12th and 13th centuries) and Late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries) at Crkvina in Koljane are demonstrated by the discovery of small loop-andknot type earrings, small plaited links and three-bead earrings, and, in particular, by examples of spurs with bent yokes which appeared during the First Crusade, and were in use during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as well as individual examples with rowels at the tip of the point characteristic of the Gothic period (14th and 15th centuries). The newly-examined part of the cemetery belongs to this phase, which, besides discoveries of women’s jewellery, is also confirmed by the discovery of coins in grave 49. Ongoing research at the cemetery at Crkvina in Koljane will probably add much more to the knowledge of this important site