New Evidence of Iron Smelting and Smithing at the Turn of Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the Area of Continental Croatia

Scarce findings of iron-working smelting furnaces point to the fact that the earliest evidence of iron-working process in continental Croatia originate from the Early Iron Age. Somewhat more data is available for the period of Antiquity while, only recently, first archaeological evidence of these activities during the early Middle Ages emerged. Most data was obtained from the archaeological research of the site Virje in the Drava River valey where on the same area on two nearby hills, the smelting activity took place during both of these periods. At the end of the 4th and in the 5th century the ancient smelters used either both locations simultaneously as a smelting spot or they moved their workshops depending on the availability of natural resources. During the Early Middle Ages, i.e. the 8th and the 9th century, the smelting activity continued on only one of these locations. Therefore, Virje provides a wide range of data for the study of either continuity or discontinuity of tradition and skills in primary processing of iron at the turn of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Along with the knowledge about the smelting activities at Virje, the presentation will address the traces of early medieval blacksmith's workshops in the continental Croatia, with emphasis on the finding from Čepinski Martinci- Dubrava in Slavonia. At that site inhabited in prehistoric times and later from Late Antiquity to the High Middle Ages, in one interesting feature dating from the first half of the 8th century twelve iron objects that can be linked to the blacksmith activity have been found. The context of the findings and the findings themselves suggest their possible interpretation as a hoard of iron implements. The lecture raises the question of the occasion / cause of the deposit of this group of subjects deposited in a somewhat secluded location. In this sense, the distribution of features of the settlement dated to the beginning of the 7th century, then the features from the beginning of the 8th century settlement, to which belongs the discovery of a hoard, and the distribution of features from the later stages of settlement shall be discussed also.