K. Palágyi Sylvia szerk.: Balácai Közlemények 2005/9. (Veszprém, 2005)

GIRARDI JURKIC, VESNA: Roman Villa rustica in Cervar Porat (Croatia) - Excavation and Presentation

were exposed to high temperatures and atmospheric influences. Pétrographie analysis of the kiln yielded some interesting results.

13 Light-yellowish dross from one of the ribs of the kiln is from volcanic tuff stone, indicating its origin is not Istrian. Another result derives from the research of the six samples taken from various parts of the kiln surface scattered in the premises after the kiln was no more in use and the facility was turned into a yard. This gray-green porous dross is a silicate mineral, but the analysis could not establish beyond doubt whether the object of analysis was a raw stone or a new material resulting from exposition to high temperatures. The period in which the kiln in Cervar Porat was active can be dated to the second half of the 1

st century AD. The kiln was certainly not in use for a very long period of time. The production was abandoned, the upper part of the kiln's chamber was demolished, while the premises were used as a yard. The surrounding rooms (C, D, E, F, G, K, L) continued to be used, but fishing became the main occupation of the inhabitants of the building. The three circular containers (M), built at the same time as the ceramic kiln, were buried under debris dating to the end of the 1

st century AD. The third and fourth building phases of the complex of the villa rustica brought about changes in the architectural concept of the central part. Most of the walls belonging to the second phase continued to be used, with the exception of the kiln which was demolished and of the room called „cistern" (J). This larger room is completely buried under ceramic waste, fragments of tegulae and amphorae. In the area above this room a semicircular wall with exterior reinforcements was built. Over the former kiln area new rooms were built, one of them reveals the remains of the heating system and a small niche set in the semicircular exterior wall (H), which undoubtedly indicates the existence of a small thermal unit. In the 4

th century AD, by reconstructing the rooms situated north-east of the kiln, three residential spaces were created (F, G) with plastered floors upon which two fireplaces were set in a later period (at the end of the 6

th century AD) (a third fireplace was discovered in room C). A semicircular exedra (G) represents a find of particular interest. It was probably built on the buried area of the larger space - „cistern" (J) in the 5

th century AD. The fact that the semicircular apsidal wall with the external pilaster strip faces south does not speak in favor of the thesis that this was a space dedicated to a Christian sanctuary.

14 The western part of the semicircular wall did not survive, while the slightly elongated apsidal semicircle is interrupted on the northern side by a monolith base. One of the certainly plausible explanations is that we are talking about the apsidal part of a large hall belonging to a maritime villa, the part of the complex where the owner (dominus) of the estate resided, with private bathing equipment, reconstructed in general on the remains of the Roman villa rustica in the 4

th or at the beginning of the 5

th century AD.

15 The other explanation, according to which the mentioned area had a sacral function and that there is an altar partition wall introduced in the 4

th or 5

th century AD, is not acceptable.

16 Another architectural unit with the walls facing north-east, with a slight deviation towards east, was found a couple of meters to the north-east of this Roman rural complex with the kiln. The building is situated on a small elevation of the promontory and is