Kaštelina, Roman villa
The cooperation of the IRCLAMA and the Italian partners, Archaeology Department at the University of Padova, set off with the joint archaeological research of the site Kaštelina on the north-west of the island of Rab (2005-2009). The team has changed the perception of the site which was thought to be a Byzantine fortification and discovered rests of a luxurious Roman villa. The results show that the villa went through two phases of construction during the 1st century AD and that it may be associated with a famous Roman Baebius family. During the later period (most probably during the 6th-century crisis), some parts were abandoned, while the other ones were fortified.
Publications:
M. Jurković, I. Marić, Kaštelina, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 2/2005 (2006), 264–266.
M. Jurković, I. Marić, Kaštelina, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 3/2006 (2007), 292–294.
M. Jurković, I. Marić, Kaštelina, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 4/2007 (2008), 338–341.
M. Jurković, I. Marić, Kaštelina, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 5/2008 (2009), 416–418.
M. Jurković, T. Turković, Kaštelina, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak 6/2009 (2010), 436–439.
M. Jurković, T. Turković, Kaštelina – vila obitelji Bebija, Ars Adriatica, 9 (2019), 7-20.
Saint Cosmas and Damianus, Byzantine castrum
The Croatian-Italian team has conducted a survey of the Byzantine castrum of Saint Cosmas and Damianus above the Barbat area in 2009. Due to the inconsistency of older documentation, the site needed a revisional survey. The vast fortification complex, dated to the period of the emperor Justinian (6th century), was surrounded by approximately 300 meters of defense walls and was consisted of numerous housing structures together with the central church of the St Cosmas and Damianus, reorganized in the following centuries. The archaeological potential of the site has been recognized, and further research is planned.
Publications:
Saint Lawrence, Banjol
Following former projects: The transformation of the historical landscape of the island of Rab (University of Zagreb grant, 2014) and the LLP Erasmus Intensive program: IntSYSTEM, Integrated systems of sources, technologies and methods – remote sensing of historical landscape (funded by the EU commission, 2014), and after the workshop held in Padova in April 2015, it has been decided that the island of Rab should become a good case study in verifying new methodologies and implementing new technologies in research. One of the first archaeological sites where the new approach was implemented was the site “Lovrijenac”/”St Lawrence” in the Banjol area.
The campaigns (2015-2016) led by IRCLAMA and the University of Padova have discovered an unknown church and its two main construction phases: the first one, a monumental single-nave early Christian church (33×13 m) with a rectangular plan, a vestibule, and a Noricum type sanctuary with a free-standing synthronon (5th/6th century); and a posterior phase, much smaller single-nave church with a semicircular apse lying on the western part of the older church. Besides the structures, a significant amount of smaller artifacts has been found, together with fragments of 6th-century sculpture and a relocated mass tomb with the findings dated to the 7th century.
Publications:
Jurković, M., Kranjec, I., Banjol – Sv. Lovre/Lovrijenac, HAG, 12/2015 (2016), 451-452.
G.P. Brogiolo, A. Chavarria Arnau, F. Giacomello, M. Jurković, G. Bilogrivić, The Late Antique Church of Saint Lawrence, Banjol (Island of Rab, Croatia) – Results of the First Two Archaeological Campaigns (2015-2016), Hortus Artium Medievalium, 23/2 (2017), 666-673.
Saint Peter, Supetarska draga
The IRCLAMA in cooperation with Croatian partners has been conducting archaeological research in front of the Saint Peter church in Supetarska draga since 2016. The three-nave basilica with three apses is one of the best-preserved examples of the “new” Benedictine architecture imported in the 11th century in the Eastern Adriatic region. The main goal of the research is to define the area in front of the western facade of the church, where numerous graves of the monks have been found, excavated and sent to analysis.
Publications:
“Ciprijanovo”, Gožinka
The structures located on a heavily forested site commonly known as “Ciprijanovo”, at the eastern border of the Kalifront peninsula and the western border of the Kampor valley, were recognized as the remains of an early Christian church back in 1990, but the site has not been protected since, no matter it was heavily jeopardized by the construction of a modern road. The IRCLAMA and the University of Padova began the excavations in 2017, confirming the great archaeological potential of the site. The first campaign has defined the outer perimeters of the building, and the continuation is planned for the following years, together with an extensive survey of the surrounding inaccessible terrain.
Publications: