Dragan Božič

Late La Tène-Roman cemetery in Novo mesto.
Ljubljanska cesta and Okrajno glavarstvo

1. Introduction

Section of the plan showing the moving of the Zagreb state road near Novo mesto, drawn by Anton Žužek in August, 1891.

In September 1890 the construction of a new section of the state road from Novo mesto to Bršljin was started, which before that time had run steeply across the hill Kapiteljski hrib. On the Skaberne's field just behind the town cemetery a previously unknown flat cremation cemetery came to light. The Provincial Museum in Ljubljana was very quickly informed about the discovery.

The curator Müllner sent his assistant Ferdinand Schulz to Novo mesto, under whose direction 38 graves (4 Iron Age and 34 Roman graves) were excavated. After the excavation Schulz prepared an exhibition of the finds in the hall of the Casino association of Novo mesto. During the excavation of the Roman cemetery he also dug a trench into the isolated Hallstatt period tumulus at Portovald (Mestni gozd) close to the right bank of the Krka river. He found in it five ceramic vessels, one having handles in form of an ox head, as well as bronze beads and harness decoration.

It was already clear by then that the graves also spread to the north and to the south of the new road. Müllner planned a continuation of the excavation in 1891, but his plan was not realized.

Nearby, in 1902, even before the digging for the construction pit for the foundations of a new building of Okrajno glavarstvo began, it was known that old graves lay here. The Zentral-Kommission for monument conservation in Vienna authorized Jernej Pečnik to excavate any graves that were found using proper archaeological procedures. But the president of the provincial government, Baron Hein, whose name is written on the Dragon's bridge in Ljubljana, built in 1900-1901, forbade him to do this. As a result many finds were destroyed. Those items that were preserved were transported by Schulz to Ljubljana.

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2008, Katalogi in monografije 39, 240 pages, 91 colour and b-w photos, drawings, tables and maps, 33 plates, 24 x 32,8 cm, hardcover, ISBN 978-961-6169-60-8.

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