In spring 2004 during a survey in East Serbia R.

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1 UDC 903.4»638«(497.11) 75 Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade PODGORAC IRON AGE HILLFORT KORNJET Abstract. In 2004 a survey of a prehistoric hillfort surrounded by a dry stone wall was carried out at the site Kornjet, in the village Podgorac, East Serbia. An amount of pottery from the Early Iron Age (phase Lani{te I) and some twenty arrow-heads of thin sheet iron were found on that occasion. Three bronze objects were found earlier at the same site, while in private collections there are some 40 large iron axes as well as several hundred iron arrow-heads. Key words. Iron Age hillfort, dry stone wall, pottery, arrow-heads, bronze objects. In spring 2004 during a survey in East Serbia R. Vasi}, M. Miljkovi} and the author of this paper visited the hillfort Kornjet in the village Podgorac, in the vicinity of Zlot, having heard that at that site some metal objects and Iron Age pottery had been found there earlier. The site Kornjet is situated on part of a mildly sloping hill, which dominates a vast valley. The hillfort is ellipsoid, approx. 150 x 130 m. Steep, almost vertical slopes protect one third of the hillfort, and the rest is preserved by a stone rampart up to a height of 1 m. There are, one large and several small entrances to the rampart. A road, cut deeply through the limestone foundation, leads to the large entrance. A large number of bronze and iron objects from this site exist in private collections. Most of the objects, according to our field collaborators, are arrow-heads (hundreds of samples) of extremely thin sheet iron with one or more holes and large double edge iron axes (over 40 samples). Several decorative bronze objects were also found at this site. 1 During a detailed survey of the hillfort, a certain amount of pottery and some twenty arrow-heads of thin sheet iron were found in the pits, which had been dug by unauthorised»researchers«(fig. 1). All the pottery belongs to the Early Iron Age, According to its characteristics, the pottery is typical of Iron Age IIb (ca. 8 th century BC), i.e. phase Lani{te I. 2 Among the pottery forms, urn type vessels were identified (indented vessels with various decoration) (Fig. 8, 4 10) as well as pots (Fig. 8, 2 3). Urn type vessels are decorated with channels,»s«stamped motifs and lines executed with a cogwheel tool. One of these urn type vessels was decorated on the shoulder with incised horizontal and slanting bands, in a way, which is not usual for the pottery of Iron Age IIb. Two bronze objects were also found at the same site: a fragment of a moulded bracelet, which is decorated at regular intervals with three granules (pseudogranulation technique) and stylised miniature bird figures with stretched wings, and a pendant in threeleaf form (Fig. 9). A motif resembling a very stylised bear head repeats three times on the pendant. There is no precise data concerning the iron axes except that, according to our collaborators, they were of double edge type. Pottery is typical of Iron Age IIb, i.e. phase Lani{te I. There are many analogies in the pottery from the earlier stratum in Lani{te and other contemporary sites in the Morava valley. 3 1 A bronze double-looped fibula with a twisted bow and catchplate in the form of an hourglass, dated to the 8/7 th century BC, was found in Podgorac, at the site»stremljena«(vasi} 1999, 56 No. 353). 2 Stoji}, 1996, Stoji}, 1986, 67 72, Stoji}, 1996, , T. II/1 8, T. II, T. III/1 13, T. X. STARINAR LV/ 2005.

2 76 Fig. 1. Podgorac, hillfort Kornjet, view from the south east Sl. 1. Podgorac, gradina Korwet, pogled sa jugozapada There is a parallel for the bronze bracelet with ornithomorphe decoration on a bronze bracelet from the Nemzeti museum in Budapest. 4 On this bracelet from Hungary, which is moulded in the form of a full circle, there are three granules in series, separated by bird figures on the outer side, as on the Podgorac example. On the bracelet in the Budapest museum the bird s wings are at rest. This bracelet was dated to the 5 th century BC. 5 In this museum there is also a ring with three granules as on the Podgorac example. 6 There are common elements between the bracelets with bird figures from Podgorac and some objects from the Thracian region (rings of various size on which three granules repeat several times). 7 There is no direct parallel for the Podgorac pendant, however it is similar to some pendants from the Thracian region 8 referred to above. S.Topalov considers these objects, as well as some other bronze types, as a pre-monetary means of 4 Hampel, 1894, Fig. I/3. 5 Celtes de Hongrie, 2001, kat. no Hampel, Fig. II/44; C. Tappert systematised bronze rings with animal representations from Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Tchechia, Hungary and Turkey. Rings with bird representations are marked as type 5. (Tappert, 1998, 183, Abb ). On the ring from Garching the bird is represented with outstretched wings, similarly to the birds from Podgorac (Tappert, Abb. 12/2). The ring from Epfach on which there are three bird figures and a series of three granules (pseudogranules), is dated to the period 1 st century BC 1 st century AD (Tappert, 200 and cited literature). The ring with the bird with outstretched wings from Garching was dated in the same period (Tappert, 201 and cited literature). 7 Topalov, 36, Abb Topalov, 36, 42, Abb. 47, 49, Topalov, Gara{anin, D. 125, sl. 22a/b; Parovi}, 1991, 85 92, Stoji}, 2000, Stoji}, 2000, Unpublished, in a private collection, but is documented in the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade.

3 PODGORAC. IRON AGE HILLFORT KORNJET 77 Fig. 2. Cliff (with the cave) which borders part of the hillfort Sl. 2. Litica (sa pe}inom) koja oivi~ava deo gradine Korwet Fig. 3, 4. Detail: stone rampart which surrounds the hillfort Sl. 3, 4. Detaq: kameni bedem koji opasuje gradinu Korwet payment from the Early Iron Age. 9 There are, however, no zoomorphe elements on the objects from Thrace, defined as a pre-monetary means of payment. Ornithomorphe decoration appears on several bronze objects from the Morava valley, of which the bronze buckle from Para}in is the best known. 10 The bronze buckle from Para}in with two birds is dated to the 7 th century BC. 11 On the basis of similarity between the birds from Paracin and Podgorac, we could assume that the objects from Podgorac are earlier than those from Thrace. There is a pendant from Svrljig, which is almost identical to that from Podgorac. 12 It is obvious that the small number of bronze objects known from East Serbia, which are similar to those from the hillfort Kornjet, is due to insufficient archaeological investigation of this area. Fig. 5. Detail: One of the entrances to the hillfort Sl. 5. Detaq: jedan od ulaza na gradinu Korwet STARINAR LV/ 2005.

4 78 Fig. 6, 7. Iron arrow-heads Sl. 6, 7. Vrhovi gvozdenih strelica cm Fig. 8. Pottery Sl. 8. Keramika

5 PODGORAC. IRON AGE HILLFORT KORNJET 79 Fig. 9. Bronze objects Sl. 9. Bronzani predmeti Arrow-heads of thin sheet iron, which we find in Podgorac, are very numerous in north-east Serbia. 13 A hundred arrow-heads of very thin sheet iron with various holes were found in the necropolis Ferigile in Rumania. 14 Being made of very thin sheet iron, they could not have had any practical purpose. It is possible that they served as a means of payment, i.e. pre-monetary means of payment or as symbolic»payment for transport of the soul to the other world«in the cult of the dead. Double edge iron axes were also found in large number in the necropolis Ferigile. 15 The bronze object with bird figures from Podgorac can be dated, on the basis of its similarity to the object from the Nemzeti Museum in Budapest, most probably to the 5 th century BC. 16 Iron arrow-heads and double edge axes in Ferigile are dated to Hallstatt C (the 7 th / beginning of the 6 th century BC). 17 Objects with bird decoration, which C. Tappert systematised, are probably similar to the object with birds from Podgorac (and Budapest) only in a formal way, as with the iron arrow-heads from Podgorac which are similar to Mycenean bronze arrow-heads. The fact that La Tene pottery was not found in Podgorac supports the dating of our object to the Early Iron Age. 18 Pottery, found and published here, belongs to Iron Age IIb, or to the 8 th century BC. It is obvious, however, that there is a later cultural horizon in this hillfort, which is confirmed by the bronze finds. The sites from the 6 th and 5 th century in the Morava valley usually contain little pottery, which is in disproportion to the number of particularly precious objects, like the Mramorac type silver belts, from the same period. 19 Based on the fact that only material from the Early Iron Age was found at this site, we can assume that the fortification and its approach road belong to the same period. Translated by Ana Vasi} 13 D. Jacanovi} from the National Museum in Po`arevac is preparing, for publication, a collection of several hundreds arrowheads of sheet iron from north east Serbia. 14 Vulpe, 1967, 65, Fig Vulpe, 62 63, 196, Pl. XXVII. 16 Celtes de Hongrie, 2001, kat. no Vulpe, See reference Stoji}, 1986, STARINAR LV/ 2005.

6 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY: Celtes de Hongrie, 2001 Catalogue of the exhibition, Musée de Saint-Romain-en-Gal-Vienne. Gara{anin 1970 D. Gara{anin, Miscellanea Illyrica IV: Novi grobni nalazi iz Para}ina i po- ~etak prelaza bronzanog u gvozdeno doba u Pomoravqu, Zbornik radova Narodnog muzeja u Beogradu, Beograd, Hampel 1894 J. Hampel, Múzeumi társulatok, Archeologiai Értesito, Budapest, Parovi} 1991 M. Parovi}, Poku{aj interpretacije votivne plo~ice iz Para}ina, Zbornik Filozofskog fakulteta, serija A: Istorijske nauke, kwiga XVII, Beograd, Stoji} 1986 M. Stoji}, Gvozdeno doba u basenu Velike Morave, Beograd Svetozarevo. Stoji} 1996 M. Stoji}, L âge du fer dans le Pomoravlje et le probleme de la culture Basarabi, in: Der Basarabi-komplex in Mittel- und Südosteuropa, Bukarest, Stoji} 2000 M. Stoji}, Ukras iz Sofronijeva, pojasna kop~a iz Para}ina i dupqajska kolica, sli~nosti religioznog zna~ewa, Mitolo{ki zbornik, Ra~a, Tappert 1998 C. Tappert, Ein keltischer Widderkopfring aus Straubing und verwandte Tierprotomringe, Historischer Verein für Strabing und Umgebung, Jahresbericht 100/I, 1998, Topalov 2004 S. Topalov, Nichtmonetäre Austauschgegenstände im Rahmen des Kleinhandels der thrakischen Regionen während des ersten Jahrtausends v. Chr., Archaeologia Bulgarica, 2, Vasi} 1999 R. Vasi}, Die Fibeln im Zentralbalkan, Prahistorische Bronzefunde XIV, 12, Stuttgart. Vulpe 1967 A. Vulpe, Necropola hallstattiana de la Ferigile, BucureÕti. Rezime: Milorad Stoji}, Arheolo{ki institut, Beograd PODGORAC GRADINA KORWET IZ GVOZDENOG DOBA Lokalitet Korwet u selu Podgorac nalazi se na delu blage kose uzvi{ice koja dominira prostranom kotlinom. Gradina je elipsastog oblika, dimenzija pribli`no 150 x 130m. Oko jedne tre}ine gradine za{ti}eno je strmim, mestimi~no vertikalnim odsecima, a ostatak bedemom od kamena koji je delimi~no sa~uvan do visine od jednog metra. Na bedemu postoji jedan ve}i i nekoliko mawih ulaza. Do ve}eg ulaza vodi duboko use~en put u kre~wa~ku stenu. U privatnim kolekcijama ~uva se ve}i broj predmeta od bronze i gvo` a sa ovog lokaliteta. Zna~ajan deo predmeta, po saop{tewu nalaza~a, ~ine velike gvozdene sekire (preko 40 komada), zatim vrhovi gvozdenih strelica (stotine primeraka) od izrazito tankog lima sa jednom ili vi{e malih otvora. Sa istog lokaliteta je i nekoliko ukrasnih bronzanih predmeta.