Archaeometric analyses were performed on glass vessels, beads and window glass from the late antique fortified hilltop settlement of Tonovcov grad near Kobarid in western Slovenia. Most of the ...analysed material belongs to the late Roman (4th–early 5th c. AD) and late antique (late 5th–early 7th c. AD) settlement phases of the settlement. The results showed that the majority of the 43 analysed samples were made of the Levantine I glass mass of Syro-Palestinian origin while a few were made using raw glass of different provenance. Despite the generally very autarkic character of late antique hilltop settlements, the results of the glass analyses indicate that at least, in some ways, they were well integrated into the Mediterranean trade routes.
At the fortified hilltop settlement of Tonovcov grad near Kobarid in western Slovenia, window glass was found in the layers of use and destruction of a late antique house and church complex. Two ...natural colour types (yellowish and green) are represented. The glass shows the usual characteristics of the cylinder-blowing process; some of the panes were shaped by grozing. The most interesting discovery was a large number of carefully cut and grozed geometrical shapes (triangles and parallelograms), which must have formed one or more windows in the nave of the main church at Tonovcov grad. They represent a predecessor of stained (painted) glass windows. A brief review of a selection of contemporary sites shows that glazed windows were not a rare occurrence in the Late Antique south-eastern Alpine settlements but that they appeared in probably all the churches and in most houses.
This monograph presents the results of archaeological investigations of the Late Antique fortified hilltop settlement Tonovcov grad near Kobarid. This settlement is one of the best preserved Late ...Antique settlements in Slovenia and the southeastern Alpine area.In the first chapters, the geographical position and the research history are presented. Following are the overview of archaeological sites in the Soča River valley and the road network in Late Antiquity.
All finds from the field investigations at Tonovcov grad near Kobarid are published in the second volume. An exceptional number of finds represents the base for studies of the material culture in ...Late Antiquity (metallic finds, glass finds, pottery finds), as well as for the others archaeological (anthropological and zoological) remains.
The paper presents a Late Roman strap end with a rider from Tonovcov grad above Kobarid in western Slovenia and comparable belt sets with rectangular buckle plates and strap ends from the ...southeastern Alps and Pannonia. The author discusses the decorative motif of the rider or Bellerophon and Chimera which appears on belts sets and links it to the representation of victory over the enemy and the equipment of high military representatives on the Pannonian limes and its hinterground in the critical time of the late 4th and early 5th century.
