In collaboration with the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Dolenjska Museum in Novo Mesto and ZVNKD Novo Mesto, guest appearance in the Cankar Cultural and Congress Centrem Ljubljana
Exhibition concept: Danilo Brešćak, Borut Križ, Želimir Škoberne, Zoran Gregl
Coordinators: Nina Pirnat-Spahič, Želimir Škoberne
Exhibition design: Miljenko Gregl, Nina Pirnat-Spahič
Poster design: Brane Žalar
“I became fond of the Gorjanci Hills particularly because they are not uniform, but instead full of differences and variations – wild here, and charming and idyllic there; a wasteland of stones in one direction, and a splendid, flowering expanse in the other. The historian and the archaeologist, the naturalist and the ethnologist, the geologist and the geognosist – all of them have a wealth of opportunity here for study, perhaps more than is offered by any other Slovenian mountain. These hills enchanted me so much that I chose them as the setting for my tales and legends. All of these tales were bred in my imagination, but in the spirit of the folk, including their perspectives on the world, their memories and their stories...”
This is what Janez Trdina wrote approximately one hundred years ago in his autobiographical memoir, Moje življenje (My Life).
Today the writer's vivid words ring just as true when the Cankar Cultural and Congress Centre presents the archaeological heritage of the Gorjanci Heights (also known as Žumberak in Croatian) from prehistory to the early Middle Ages, displaying finds that were sometimes discovered by mere chance, but more often through extensive and systematic excavations during the past twenty years. Archaeologists have what is indeed a wealth of opportunity for study here and, although they are continually carrying out research, it appears that their work has only just begun, since the area is extensive and findings profuse. Many of the findings discovered throughout the wide region serve to complement and build up existing knowledge, while others open up new questions, connect things in perplexing ways and demand the re-evaluation of current assumptions. Artefacts of material culture come to life and serve as testimony to their eras, telling stories that archaeologists, through their hard work and extensive knowledge, strain to hear and fashion into knowledge about ourselves, of humanity and, at the same time, human cultural difference. Through the development of new techniques in archaeology, the use of modern technology in dating and researching materials, and perfected reconstruction techniques, archaeologists are contributing to anthropological science in the widest sense of the word that is, to the recognition of new dimensions of human development, activities and belief through time.
I also mention Trdina because I, like many others, first encountered the region while reading his Tales and Legends of the Gorjanci Hills. It was only much later that I experienced them in person, in all of their powerful and mysterious beauty – and, of course, not without the influence of the enchanting scenes from his stories. One does not experience each landscape the same way, particularly in its “magical” dimension, its unique “genius loci” that these hills indeed possess: in the highlands – like in Istria – one perceives an almost mythic presence of the past, as though the entire region were ruled by the spirit of millennia.
We have tried to bring together the rich, turbulent past of the Gorjanci in an “exciting tale of our forbears”, to represent the lively pulse of the civilisations that settled this large region and especially to emphasise the cultural unity of this area during the periods from the past treated here. This magnificent mountainous area, bordered by the Sava, Krka and Kolpa Rivers, is today divided between two different countries. It is a very sparsely settled region, with underdeveloped infrastructure and links between communities, despite the fact that it is immediately adjacent to centres of urban development. The modern era has not touched Žumberak-Gorjanci, today the hills are still a large area of pristine nature that is ecologically and archaeologically well-preserved. And precisely for this reason they pose a formidable challenge for the present-day archaeologists!
Recent excavations – whether of majestic dimensions and significance, or those that are small but surprising – are extremely significant for a deeper understanding of the invisible and, silent strata that have built this inaccessible place through time and of the cultures that arose, developed and disappeared in the Gorjanci in past ages.
The exhibition of archaeological discoveries in the Gorjanci derives even greater value from the fact that, in mounting it, we have succeeded in bringing together the labours and knowledge of a large number of archaeologists, including experts on individual periods as well as contributions from cultural institutions from both sides of the Gorjanci Heights. On behalf of the Cankarjev Dom, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone that helped contribute to the final form of this exceptional display, and in particular to Mr Želimir Škoberne, museum adviser to the Zagreb City Museum, who successfully took on the demanding challenge of coordinating all of the work between the participating experts and institutions that are working to preserve the legacy of this rich inheritance from the past.
Nina Pirnat-Spahič
The exhibition Revived Cultures is the result of the joint efforts of a group of archaeologists from Croatia and Slovenia, working side by side in the border area of the two countries, in Gorjanci-Žumberak, which in the archaeological past was not divided by borders; it had one culture and one population, one characteristic lifestyle and economy and was marked by a single set of spiritual values and beliefs about life.
For almost two decades, our Croatian colleagues have been exploring prehistoric and classical archaeological sites in the Žumberak area. The Žumberak archaeological sites and their finds have proven to be surprisingly similar to the objects from the sites in the valleys of the Krka, Kolpa and Sava rivers on the Slovenian side of the border. The results of their work were presented in the exhibition Žumberak from Prehistory to the End of the Roman Period, opened in February 2002 in Zagreb. It is accompanied by a catalogue which for the first time presented some of the finds to the public. The catalogue offers basic analyses of the individual finds, together with discoveries about the area's geological past. The exhibition encouraged us to prepare an overview of archaeological sites on both sides of the Gorjanci-Žumberak Heights without borders. The archaeological area presented at the exhibition in Ljubljana is defined by the Kolpa River and the road linking Metlika, Vahta, Novo Mesto, Šentjernej and Kostanjevica on one side and the Krka River as far as its influx into the Sava River and the Čatež to Obrežje road on the other.
The area of Gorjanci is connected with the nearby plains, particularly those in the valleys of the Kolpa, Krka and Sava rivers, which since the earliest times have been criss-crossed by important transport routes and connections between different nations and cultures. They were the doors to new civilisations and channels of mutual influences. To the people living in this area, the heights did not represent a restricting obstacle, but a commercial resource and a living environment. The range was abundant with resources (timber, mineral deposits), fertile ground for fields and grazing, and a safe haven in times of danger.
Although cultural development has been relatively slow in these parts, the natural area of the Gorjanci Heights has been a safe environment for the flourishing of a traditional lifestyle in harmony with the local area. According to archaeological finds, in the ancient times when European civilisation was first developing – the Bronze and Iron Ages, the Gorjanci Heights were the site of human settlements. It is also an undisputable fact that cemeteries from the Iron Age and the classical period stand as testimony to the exceptional economic status of at least part of the range's population and its surrounding area. Many finds speak of the highly stratified and complex social relations that once dominated this region.
The archaeological finds discovered in the heart of Gorjanci are identical to those found in the surrounding area of the hills. The settlements, the burial style, tools and weapons, jewellery and pottery from different time periods correspond entirely and show that these ancient dwellers were not only neighbours but one and the same people living both in the hills and in the surrounding lowlands. Apart from evidence of a single culture of the Žumberak-Gorjanci area from the time of the earliest settlements, the exhibition also features some finds and sites whose significance surpasses the local context.
The hoard from Črmošnjice from the early Bronze Age consists of several dozen bronze sickles, axes, circlets, sword fragments, vessels and several bronze ingots.
Then there are the important early Iron Age centres and prehistoric cemeteries of Brusnice and Budinjak. In Budinjak, archaeologists have discovered bowl-shaped helmets, the earliest examples of Iron Age (Hallstatt) helmets in Central Europe. This helmet type is characteristic of the area of the south-eastern Alps, although fragments belonging to the same type have been discovered all over the region between Emilia-Romagna, Slovakia and Baranja. Most finds of this kind, however, have been unearthed in Slovenia, in the region of Dolenjska. Technological research has cast light on the extremely intricate technique with which the bowl-shaped helmets from the princely warrior graves had been made, thus paving the way to new possibilities of classification and accurately establishing the age of this group of the earliest Hallstatt helmets.
An exceptionally rare sword from the early Hallstatt culture was discovered in Draganići. It belongs to the Mörigen type and dates from the end of the 9th and beginning of the 8th century BC. The solid-hilted sword represents the most southerly discovery of a specimen of this type in Europe.
The largest site in the entire area is Mihovo, with over 450 graves mostly from the Hallstatt to the La Tène culture, dating from the 5th century BC to the 1st century AD. When it was first unearthed, the Mihovo necropolis was the largest late La Tène burial site in Austria-Hungary. The most important among the 450 graves in the three cemeteries of Mihovo are the late La Tène and early Roman graves which have yielded weapons in addition to other objects. They are indicative of the burial traditions and material culture of the Tauriscis in the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD.
A large hoard of Celtic silver coins or so-called Samoborci was discovered by chance below Okić. Consisting of some 1600 silver coins, it represents one of the largest discoveries of this kind in Europe.
During the exploration of a necropolis from the early Roman Empire in Gornja Vas, exceptional glass urns, house shaped urns and elements of Norical-Pannonian attire were discovered.
We must also mention Gradec above Mihovo, featuring a prehistoric settlement and late Roman graves from the 4th and 5th century around an early Romanesque church. In Verdun near Stopiče, a Roman cemetery with a total of 254 cremation graves has been discovered. Special features of this burial site are male graves with weapons and elements of Norical-Pannonian attire.
A special find is a sarcophagus from Zidani Gaber. It is composed of two parts of unequal size and covered with a composite stone lid.
Let us conclude this brief selection of the most important finds from the Žumberak-Gorjanci area with the most recent finds, which were discovered in 2002 in the Camberk quarry in Cerov Log: Slavic, Karantanian graves dating from the 9th century. The aim of this exhibition is to present the so-far unearthed archaeological sites from the Gorjanci-Žumberak area and the need for further archaeological research to the expert and general public.
The heights rise between the Pannonian plain, south-eastern Alps and Dinaric mountain range of the Mediterranean. It lies at the crossroads of transport routes where different cultures met and blended. For this reason, we can expect that the gentle, sunny slopes of Žumberak-Gorjanci will continue to shed light on our past.
Mate Dolenc
Exhibition catalogue
Revived Cultures : Archaeological Excavations in the Gorjanci/Žumberak Hills / edited by Nina Pirnat-Spahič and Želimir Škoberne.
Ljubljana : Cankarjev dom, Cultural and Congress Center, 2002
