Arheološki Vestnik (Jan 2015)
Early La Tène Graves from Orehova vas near Maribor
Abstract
At the archaeological site of Orehova vas near Maribor, where remains were discovered from various archaeological periods, in 2006 a small early La Tène cemetery with three graves was discovered. In addition to the most probably cremated grave 2, where only pottery vessels were placed, another two graves were excavated at the cemetery containing sets of weapons, consisting of a sword in a scabbard and a spear. In the case of cremation grave 1, the weapons were ritually destroyed, but not in grave 3. Grave 3 is exceptional not merely at the cemetery but also throughout the entire western Pannonian region. It is a double grave with a bi-ritual mode of burial. Considering the size and shape of the grave pit and the position of the deliberately undamaged grave goods it is very likely that the grave contained the remains of an inhumation burial of an armed male. Next to it were also discovered the cremated remains of a female with an iron fibula of the early La Tène type with a button on the foot. Despite the different funerary practices, grave 3 most probably represented the simultaneous burial of a man and a woman. All three graves from Orehova vas can be classified to the LT B2 or the Mokronog I phase. The cemetery has good analogies with the contemporary small cemetery from Srednica near Ptuj where Celtic newcomers from the northeast were most likely buried; some similarities were also noted with the La Tène cemetery at Kapiteljska njiva in Novo mesto, which was characterized by the preservation of a long continuity extending even from the Late Bronze and Hallstatt periods.
