Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Hilltop Settlement Gradec above Vratno in the Gorjanci Hills

Abstract

This article presents the results of a test excavation at the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age settlement of Gradec above Vratno in the Gorjanci Hills. In a trench measuring 8 × 3 metres, more than 7,000 pottery fragments were unearthed. The excavation revealed two construction phases. In the first phase (the first two-thirds of the 9th century BC), the settlement was unfortified, and most pottery fragments date from this period. Most likely in the final third of the 9th century BC, the settlement was fortified with a 1.5-metre-wide stone wall. The radiocarbon analysis suggests that the fortified settlement remained inhabited for at least another decade or two, but was abandoned shortly after 800 BC. The absence of iron finds and iron slag indicates that the site was deserted before the beginning of the Iron Age.