Zur latenezeitlichen Bevölkerung an Krka und Kolpa

Abstract

The Late Iron Age metal finds discovered in 1999 in the hillfort of Semenič above Gaber pri Semiču in Bela krajina, together with the well-known cemetery on Pungart at Metlika, prove that the northern regions of Bela krajina belonged to the Mokronog group of central Slovenia, Dolenjska (Lower Carniola) and Štajerska (Styria). In Dolenjska the group's population was most probably formed by the Celtic Taurisci and the indigenes. The central and southern regions of Bela krajina were occupied by the Vinica group, to which at present only the settlement at Črnomelj and the great cemetery of Stražni dol near Golek pri Vinici can be ascribed. The boundary between the Mokronog and the Vinica groups lay in the territory of Podzemelj, as La Tene pottery from the settlement on the Kučar hill can be closely compared to that from sites of the Mokronog group, while cremation graves on the margin of the great tumulus no. 32 at Brodaričeva loza contained objects typical for the Vinica group.

The population of the Vinica group has until now been attributed to the Iapodes. But the analysis of some types of grave finds shows that some are identical to those known from the sites of the Iapodes in Lika and in the Una valley, and some are just like those which appear in the Mokronog group. Moreover, numerous finds represent special types, known exclusively or predominantly from the sites of the Vinica group. The author's opinion is, therefore, that we must agree with Jaro Šašel, who in 1983 proposed that the Kolpa valley and Bela krajina (but not, of course, its northern regions) were settled by the south Pannonian tribe of the Colapiani.