engleski

New Centers of Power in Early Medieval Istria: excavations at Tarovec (Stancija Blek, Tar-Vabriga)

The site of Tarovec (Stancija Blek, Tar-Vabriga) was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century during agricultural works. The main building is an impressive stone tower that controls the mouth of the Mirna River, built over the older walls of a Roman rural settlement. Systematic research on the site has been carried out since 2008 when most of the settlement was investigated by architectural analysis while several areas were strarigraphically sampled. These investigations analysed the various phases suggesting a Byzantine watchtower built over an abandoned Roman rural site. In 2016 and 2017 a new project has been undertaken by a team of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology, the Museum of Poreč and the University of Bologna. In this paper we will show the main results of these two seasons of excavations which point out the first phase of construction, documenting a continuity of use as a rural site, possibly linked to olive oil production, well into the 6th and 7th c.. Between the 8th and 9th c. the settlement was surrounded by an enceinte wall that included the central tower, a chapel and various rooms of an élite site, possibly surrounded by a wider village. This type of settlement has been recently discovered in other territories of the in early Medieval Istria and future research will try to better define the steps of the transformation from rural site functioning in Roman tradition to a new fortified settlement and its function as a medieval centre of power.

Stancija Blek (Tar) ; medieval fortification

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