Field research of the Institute

Zvonimirovo – garden of house no. 34

The village of Zvonimirovo is situated in the Suhopolje Municipality between Gaćište and Lipovac (Gradinska Mitrovica), on a semicircular natural elevation rising above the surrounding lands of Okrugljak and Rječina by about 20 metres. A brook now flows in the plain—a former meander of the Drava river—next to the mentioned elevation on which Zvonimirovo was formed. A field survey of a large part of the territory of the Zvonimirovo village yielded surface finds of prehistoric and mediaeval pottery. It was established that in all likelihood the entire elevation now occupied by the present-day village had once been occupied by the settlement of the population buried at Veliko polje. Following an analysis of surface finds, a position in the garden of house number 34 was selected, located around 1 km as the crow flies from the position where a La Tène cemetery and a mediaeval cemetery of the Bijelo Brdo culture had been found previously. In order to locate the settlement of the community buried at Veliko polje, test archaeological excavations were carried out at a position inside the Zvonimirovo village.

The archaeological works at a chosen position began with the excavation of two sondages, covering a total area of 54 m2. Within these trenches, three large and seven smaller pits were documented, one of which yielded mediaeval finds. The finds from three prehistoric pits included a club-headed bronze pin, a part of a strongly profiled monosegmental fibula, a small jug with two handles and an abundance of pottery and daub. The remaining pits were protected and preserved for future investigations.

The fragmented remains discovered during the ten-day test excavations of the area at the site Zvonimirovo-Garden of house no. 34, allow the conclusion that a prehistoric and a mediaeval settlement existed there in the past.