Villae rusticae in Roman Dalmatia (islands of Central Dalmatia: Brač - Novo Selo Bunje; Hvar - Kupinovik, Ježe)
Leading institutions: Institute of Archeology, Zagreb; CNRS - UMR 7299, MMSH, Aix-en-Provence
Directors: Ph.D. Kristina Jelinčić Vučković, Ph.D. Emmanuel Botte; Ph.D. Audrey Bertrand
Theme: Environment and cultural landscapes
Duration: 2015-
An important part of Roman everyday life, economy, trade and balance were villae rusticae. In central Dalmatia, they were built gradually during the transition from 1st BC to 1st AD, with a strong momentum from the middle of the first century AD. They were also an important indicator of the political power of the newly conquered area, and the exploration of such sites is extremely important for understanding the Roman Empire. Political, military and economic crises, but also ups and downs, have left their mark on each villa, which means that each villa presents a closed unit suitable for studying wider events.
The Novo Selo Bunje site has been explored since 2015-2022. It is important because of the extremely well-preserved production structures, diverse archeological material and continuity that enables the study of the transformation of a rustic villa which in the first phase was a modest farm, then a luxurious villa of large dimensions and a significant economic part of a villa. Numerous presses for oil and wine production were found, basins for oil purification of oil as the most important part of the economic part of the villa, and in the residential part the most impressive are private baths. Late Antique tombs were found next to the outer walls of the villa.
In order to gain broader knowledge regarding the area of Central Dalmatia in terms of villas, comparative research has begun on the island of Hvar in 2021: a villa in Kupinovik known for its oil presses and a lesser-known villa located on the east of Starogradsko polje at the Ježe site.
Preserved production structures at Novo Selo Bunje and Kupinovik will enable the reconstruction of grape and olive processing in Dalmatia and enrich the knowledge of the typology of presses with well-known presses on large Roman villas such as Muline and Mogorijelo, but also in urban areas such as Salona.
The research at Villa Novo Selo Bunje was funded by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the Municipality of Selca and the VILLEADRI program (l'Ecole française de Rome) (E. Botte, A. Bertrand and C. Rousse) and the VLADO program (Villae de l' Adriatique Orientale) (E. Botte) funded by the Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic.
Research on the island of Hvar is currently funded by the VILLEADRI project (l'Ecole française de Rome) and the VLADO program (Villae de l'Adriatique Orientale) of the Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic and with the logistical support of the Stari Grad and the Public Agency for management of Starogradsko polje.
List of published papers and those in preparation:
Botte, Bertrand, Jelinčić Vučković, 2016, Bunje (Novo Selo, Croatie), Chronique des activites archeologiques de l’Ecole francaise de Rome [En ligne], Balkans, mis en ligne le 10 mars 2016. URL: http://cefr.revues.org/1519 ;DOI: 10.4000/cefr.1519
Botte, Bertrand, Jelinčić, Leys, Boisson, 2018, Bunje (Novo Selo, Croatie), campagnes 2017-2018, Chronique des activites archeologiques de l’Ecole francaise de Rome [En ligne], Balkans, mis en ligne le 23 janvier 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/cefr/2419
Botte, Bertrand, Jelinčić, Lemaire, Leys, Boisson, Rozak, 2019, Bunje (Novo Selo, Croatie), campagne 2018, Chronique des activites archeologiques de l’Ecole francaise de Rome [En ligne], Balkans, mis en ligne le 05 septembre 2019. URL :https://doi.org/10.4000/cefr.3481
Botte, Bertrand, Drpić, Jelinčić, Lemaire, Leys, Rosak, Huvet, Boisson, Cagnard, 2020, Bunje (Novo Selo, Croatie). Chronique des activités archéologiques, 2019, Chronique des activités archéologiques de l’École française de Rome [En ligne], Balkans, mis en ligne le 16 juillet 2020, URL:http://journals.openedition.org/cefr/4606; DOI: ttps://doi.org/10.4000/cefr.4606
Botte, Jelinčić Vučković, Konestra, Ožanić Roguljić, 2021 (2022) First results of the excavations of the Roman Villa of Bunje (Brač Island, Croatia), in: Roman Ceramic and Glass Manufactures. Production and Trade in the Adriatic region and beyond. Proceedings of the 4th International Archaeological Colloquium (Crikvenica, 8 - 9 November 2017) G. Lipovac Vrkljan, A. Konestra, A. Eterović Borzić (eds), 2021/2022 in press.
Botte, Jelinčić, 2017, Bunje (Novo Selo, Croatie), Chronique des activites archeologiques de l’Ecole francaise de Rome [En ligne], Balkans, mis en ligne le 16 mai 2017. URL: http://cefr.revues.org/1723 ; DOI: 10.4000/cefr.1723
Drpić, Botte, 2020, Arheološko istraživanje lokaliteta Novo Selo Bunje na otoku Braču 2019. godine, Annales Instituti archaeologici, XVI, Zagreb 2020, 298-299. https://hrcak.srce.hr/248473
Jelinčić 2005a, Rustična vila na Bunjama kod Novog Sela na otoku Braču, Vjesnik za arheologiju i povijest dalmatinsku, 98, Split, 121-132. https://hrcak.srce.hr/2522
Jelinčić, 2005b, Topografija rustičnih vila na otoku Braču, magistarski rad, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Zagreb 2005, Filozofski fakultet. https://www.bib.irb.hr/232727
Jelinčić Vučković, 2013, Terenski pregled lokaliteta Novo Selo Bunje na otoku Braču, Annales Instituti archaeologici, IX, Zagreb 2013, 167-174. https://hrcak.srce.hr/112049
Jelinčić Vučković, Botte, Bertrand, 2017, Archaeological excavation on the Novo Selo Bunje site on the island of Brač, 2016, Annales Instituti archaeologici, XIII, Zagreb, 111-116. https://hrcak.srce.hr/189483
Jelinčić Vučković, Ožanić Roguljić, Botte, Garnier, 2021, Evidence of Dalmatian Beekeeping in Roman Antiquity, in: D. Wallace-Hare (ed.), New Approaches to the Archaeology of Beekeeping, Archaeopress Publishing, Oxford 2021, 130-145.
Jelinčić Vučković, Botte, 2018, Archaeological excavation on the Novo Selo Bunje site on the island of Brač, 2017, Annales Instituti archaeologici, XIV, Zagreb, 127-135. https://hrcak.srce.hr/209239
Jelinčić Vučković, Botte, 2019, Arheološko istraživanje na lokalitetu Novo Selo Bunje na otoku Braču, 2018. godina, Annales Instituti archaeologici, XV, Zagreb, 201-216. https://hrcak.srce.hr/231638
Lattard, 2020, Rapport d’étude anthropologique, Stručni izvještaj, Aix-en-Provence.
Novak, 2017, Bioarheološka analiza ljudskih koštanih ostataka s nalazišta Novo Selo – Bunje, Stručni izvještaj, Zagreb 2017.
Turkalj, Šegvić, Botte, Bertrand, 2016a, Brač Novo Selo Bunje 2015, Annales Instituti archaeologici, XII, Zagreb, 155-159. https://hrcak.srce.hr/167338
Turkalj et al. 2016b
Turkalj, Šegvić, Botte, Bertrand, 2016b, Novo Selo Bunje 2015, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak 12, Zagreb, 699-701.
Participation in conferences:
Botte, Bertrand, Enjeux problematiques d’un programme de recherches, u: E. Botte et A. Bertrand (eds.), Les premiers pas de Rome. Chronologies comparees des formes d’exploitation et d’organisation des territoires au temps de la conquete (Dalmatie, Espagne, Gaule, Istrie), Journee d’etude tenue a l’Universite d’Aix-Marseille le 1er fevrier 2018.
Botte, Bertrand, Jelinčić, L’apport des fouilles de la villa romaine de Brač, in: E. Botte i A. Bertrand (eds.), Les premiers pas de Rome. Chronologies comparees des formes d’exploitation et d’organisation des territoires au temps de la conquete (Dalmatie, Espagne, Gaule, Istrie), Journee d’etude tenue a l’Universite d’Aix-Marseille le 1er fevrier 2018.
Botte, Jelinčić Vučković, La villa romaine de Bunje (Ier-Ve siecle) en Dalmatie centrale, in: G. Ciucci, B. Davidde, S. Marzocchella i C. Rousse (eds.), Villae Maritimae del Mediterraneo occidentale. Nascita, diffusione e trasformazione di un modello architettonico, colloque international, Naples du 5 au 9 mai 2019.
Botte, Bertrand, Jelinčić Vučković, Rome et l’Adriatique: de la conquete d’un espace a l’exploitation economique des territoires, in: A. Bertrand et E. Botte (eds.), Dalmatia and Ancient Mediterranean: 50 years after John Wilkes’s Dalmatia, colloque international organise a l’Ecole francaise de Rome (25 et 26 novembre 2019), MEFRA.
Bertrand, Botte, Jelinčić Vučković, Garnier, Wine production evidence on Novo Selo Bunje site (island of Brač, Croatia), Vine-growing and Winemaking in the Roman World: An international conference in honour of Jean-Pierre Brun, 27-29 October, 2021, Rome.
Jelinčić Vučković, Botte, Bertrand, Villa rustica na lokalitetu Novo Selo Bunje, (otok Brač): Salona, Znanstveni skup između Sredozemlja i Panonije, Solin, Hrvatska, 11.-15.10.2021.
