Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. A Szent István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 27. 1993-1997 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1998)

Akten der "Tagung über Periode der pätlatene/frühkaiserzeitlichen Zeit - Novšak, M – Tica, G.: Trnava and matev – newly discovered pre-roman Settlemets in the lower Savinja Valley (Slovenia). p. 25–38.

ЩЩЕЙШ Fig. 2: Trnava. A view of the site (photograph - S. Olic). the entire site). It would seem a logical conclusion to interpret the shallow pit in close connection with casting and iron-working activities. All other material finds were scattered throughout the extensive area, partly within the thin cultural layer and partly within the upper, ploughed layer. They depict a typical spectre of settlement remains (pottery, metal fragments, stone querns, organic remains, slag and daub). Coarse pottery composes the majority (80%), the rest is graphite-clay (6%), fine-clay (12%) or undetermined. Traces of the building structures were entirely obliterated by the plough. The site has not been excavated in its entirety; considering that a larger concentration of finds was located at the far northern edge of the excavation, the settlement presumably extended beyond the area that was under investigation. Nonetheless, the stratigraphie data that could be acquired there would not necessarily be more clarifying. Smatevz The archaeological site of Smatevz is situated a little more than 1 km away from Trnava. The site is located upon a raised terrace which is elevated approximately 10 m above the flat land that was flooded by the Bolska river. Material finds were unearthed upon the terrace as well as at the foot of the terrace. Excavations were carried out in two phases. 2400 ITT were investigated in the summer of 1995 at the foot of the terrace, while 1500 m

2 were excavated at the southern edge of the terrace in the autumn of 1996 (fig. 4). A thick and eroded layer consisting of a mixed inventory from various prehistoric periods (from the Late Bronze Age to the 1

st century ВС) lay at the foot of the terrace. Three pits with the remains of ashes and material artefacts, some of which shall be presented here (fig. 10: 2,3)", were dug into the culturally sterile clay. The The authors co-operated in the excavations and any statements concerning the environs of sites and artefacts can be referred to in remaining layers do not provide a sufficient basis for the stratigraphical determination of artefacts as they are all in a secondary position. Only the southern edge of the raised terrace, which was exposed to the highest degree of erosion, was investigated. The layer that lay indirectly above the geological foundation measured between 40 and 100 cm. The upper layers presented a mixture of prehistoric material finds to recent material artefacts. Three structures were dug into the sterile foundation; one dated to the Late Bronze Age and two dated to the La Tcne period. The smaller La Tcne pit, situated at the eastern edge of the terrace, had a circular, shallow plan (lm in diameter) and was filled with ashes. The artefacts from within indicate that it should be dated to the Late La Tcne or Early Roman period (fig. 10: 6). There were no other cultural elements in its near vicinity. The remains of a La Tcne building structure were uncovered at the south-eastern edge of the terrace (jig. 5). An oval pit was dug into the geological foundation (depth: 0.5 m, width: 8-9 m, length: 15 m). It extended beyond the boundaries of the excavation to the North and was destroyed in the southern part by the construction of a local road. A fortified layer of stone lay upon the levelled surface in the excavated pit - quarried stone, partly also covered with a hard clayey layer that was completely burned. The remaining part of the pit was filled with a dark soil which consisted of a large quantity of pottery and daub. A series of six postholes (20 to 25 cm in diameter) were also located in the vicinity of the structure. The plan of the structure in its entirety is difficult to conceive as it was destroyed at its southern end and was not completely excavated at the northern end. The material artefacts that are presented here (jig. 8 and 9) are exclusively from the wreckage layer of this structure. An interpretation of the Artefacts Both sites present an inventory of a character indicating a settlement. The best analogies for these artefacts can be found in the Tauriscan region within the context of burials. Pottery predominates; this type of pottery can be found in larger quantities only in the burials at Brezice and Dobova. Metal fragments, which are easier to determine, are rare. Even these originate largely from Trnava (fig. 6: 1-3), while Smatevz presented an iron knife (fig. 10: 1) and a few other iron fragments. An iron fibula with two knobs (fig. 6: /), dating to the Middle La Tcne phase, pertains to the Manching type 1315; according to the shape of its bow it can also be compared with type 14. A similar example is presented in grave 92 at the Wederath cemetery and is dendrochrothe documentation preserved in the archives of the Institute for the Preservation of the Natural and Cultural Heritage in Celje (ZVNKD - Celje). 27