When archaeological science was created as an academic discipline the research of settlements assumed that there was, following the evolutionary paradigm, a connection between the type of settlement and the social evolution of the past society. As the focus of interpretation in the second half of the 20th century started to acknowledge more and more the importance of the environment, archaeologist embraced in their work the importance of the relations between the subsistence settlement systems of past societies and their natural landscape. People in the past lived in and by their nature…
In caves, on lakes and on the land
Prehistory is an uncharted territory often lost between oblivion and imagination. Nothing attracted the interest of public more than the unusual life styles, habits, religions and settlements of prehistoric communities. Caves, palafittes and prehistoric villages were not only archaeological reconstructions but also metaphors for the cultural and social evolution of prehistoric societies illustrating the triumphant march from the dark caves in to neon-illuminated cities of the future.
Introduction
Too often, we make mistakes and assume that people in the Palaeolithic used caves as settlements – this assumption contains two basic misapprehensions. First of all, people in the Palaeolithic lived and erected their settlements mostly outside, where it is harder to discover them, and only rarely or in extreme situations inhabited such moist and cold places as caves. And secondly,...
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Divje Babe 1
One of the most infamous archaeological sites in Slovenia, which produced several sensational discoveries that changed the perception of the past and the scientific methodology we use to describe it, is the cave Divje babe in the valley of river Idrijca in western Slovenia. Made accessible through a narrow path descending from Šebrelje plateau above, this cave is hiding almost 100.000...
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Zaljev na Koskite / Bay of the Bones
Documented in the first half of the 19th century, the palafittes, settlements on platforms erected in shallow waters of New Guinea, were soon discovered in Alpine lakes. The existence of such types of settlements became a part of our collective imagination and is today still often being considered as a fact in the period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age....
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Sodolek
So close but also so far was life in a prehistoric village. Reconstructions presented an almost familiar architecture and the village was roamed by animals looking so average. But it was the people positioned on a stage telling a story being so different from the life we know today. Cultivating the fields, making pots and casting bronze tools and weapons were...
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Conclusion
Today archaeology is not only a science of artefacts and landscapes – it is the proper way to understand and to promote the cultural achievements of our predecessors. Moreover, when presenting them today, we shall not forget that the humans in the past were much more directly articulated to the natural environments they inhabited. It was their technology that they used...
Read moreOn hillforts
European archaeology often used prehistoric hillforts as suggestive illustrations of differences between prehistory and civilization. Massive ramparts surrounding settlements on elevated positions escalated their defensive advantage. Nevertheless, modern archaeology turned away from their military functions and regarded their massive construction elements as symbols of wealth and power. Narrow streets, irregular ground plans and wooden architecture were just elements of a different kind of urbanism, a reflection of a stratified society in which the social elite slowly took over the habits coming from the Mediterranean…
Introduction
Archaeologists have studied hillforts for the last 140 years. The variability amongst them in terms of their size, form, defensive structures and duration of occupation is immense. They were being constructed all across Europe from the end of the Bronze Age until the end of the Iron Age. Several hillforts were later used again in Late Antiquity and the Medieval period....
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Omrož
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was considered that the modern small town of Ormož in eastern Slovenia is located within the medieval city walls. However, the archaeological excavations demonstrated that the medieval town was located within the prehistoric fortifications erected at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The prehistoric settlement was abandoned several centuries later and inhabited...
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Vilazora / Bylazora
No other story in history triggered so much our adventurous imagination than the rumours of a lost city, and no other archaeological find could ever compete with the presentation of such a discovery. It is not so much about the material remains coming to light; the public is fascinated with the historical processes that led to the destruction, abandonment and oblivion...
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Skopsko Kale
On the hill called Kale, dominating today’s vista of the city of Skopje, archaeological excavations have discovered remains of 6000 years of continuous occupation. The archaeological site exceeds mere regional importance – it can be observed as a metaphor for millennia of history on the Central Balkans. Fragments of pottery discovered are not just museum exhibits, fascinating due to their materiality;...
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Conclusion
Each hillfort seems to be the expression of a local group and was an individual site rather than a part of a defensive system. In their interior were discovered numerous areas featuring remains of economic as well as religious activities. Nevertheless, numerous, located on strategic position controlling the main communication routes in Europe, became integrated into the networks of developing states...
Read moreIn cities
In the study of ancient civilizations, a city is generally defined as a larger populated urban centre of commerce and administration with a system of laws or at least with a religious or political authority performing the law. Further, the cities up to modern times were surrounded by fortifications, but numerous explanations focus on the regulated means of sanitation within these urban agglomerations – it was the presence of a sewer system that made the city.
Introduction
In the ancient and medieval world, a city describes an urban centre of dense population and a certain pattern of building and public infrastructure spreading out from a central place, mostly a religious complex such as a temple, church or monastery. From the demographic perspective, these were settlements with social heterogeneity meaning that these were large communities of people that have...
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Scupi
Ever since the Renaissance, when in Central Europe the interest in classical antiquity developed, cities, especially capitals, started to look for their origins. And of course, roman ancestry was considered prestigious, especially if ancient ruins were still visible in the urban tissue. The ancient town of Scupi is considered to be the predecessor of the modern city of Skopje, although it...
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Stobi
Today the ancient city of Stobi is one of the most important archaeological sites in Northern Macedonia. It is located in a strategic position on the estuary mouth of the river Crna in the river Vardar. It is of major importance for Balkan archaeology since research there started already in the 19th century, while systematic research is conducted for almost 100...
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Koper
Already, in the period of the roman republic, the island in the northern Adriatic was covered with several complexes of luxurious Roman villas with baths, mosaic floors and frescoes on the walls. However, it was in the 6th century when the population from the surrounding area settled the island in turbulent times and the Byzantines fortified the city they called Iustinopolis....
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Conclusion
The biggest problems in the past was the population increase. If prosperous villages attracted more people and grew steadily it was the subsequent separation of human beings from their natural environment that produced an artificial world in which people no longer had to concern themselves with the cycles of nature. Demographic increase avoiding economic pressure, led to suburbanization and the spread...
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