Results and Problems in the Archaeology of the Late Antiquity in Slovenia

Abstract

The review introduces a short characterization of the contents and terminology of the period. The development and implementation of the Late Antiquity in Slovenia is presented, in which intensive investigations carried out since the seventies and onwards shed light on the as of yet poorly known heterogeneity and density of the settlement pattern. Changes in the settlement structure are discussed in greater detail: the process of towns and other settlements in the lowlands perishing on the one hand, and the rise of a multitude of fortified hill-top settlements, especially in the more remote regions, on the other. Hill-top settlements can be well distinguished according to typology and chronology, they represent the most commonly investigated settlement phenomenon during the Late Antiquity in the eastern alpine region. Cemeteries serve to supplement the settlement picture; they are only partly well researched and likewise, so are the various types of fine material finds that are highly illustrative of the lives of the then population. The supplemented settlement picture of the current day Slovene region prior to the arrival of the Slavs is quite influential upon our understanding of the ethnogenesis of Slovenes.