New evidence for the Late Iron Age in the Posočje region, Slovenia

Abstract

Several archaeological sites from the Late Iron Age have recently been discovered in Posočje, a region along the upper and middle reaches of the River Soča/Isonzo (NW Slovenija, NE fringes of Italy), which compel us to re -examine the Latenisation of the region. Supra -regional La Tène forms began to appear in the material culture at the end of the Early Iron Age, in the late 4th and early 3rd centuries BC. This was followed by a marked decrease in habitation remains, a ‘hundred -year crisis’ with very little archaeological evidence available for the time between the initial decades of the 3rd and the mid-2nd century BC. The picture then changed again with the rise of the Late Iron Age Idrija group, as most of the sites connected with this group date between 150/130 BC and the Augustan period. This is also the period of the first ancient literary sources mentioning the wider area, which inspire ever newer attempts at ethnic identifications of the population living there. The sources reveal that the Romans appear to have associated the area with the Carni.

Keywords

• slovenia
• posočje region
• late iron age
• idrija group
• archaeological sites
• carni
• material culture