The Sava Valley (Posavina) – a heritage of communication Some examples from the Late Bronze Age

Abstract

Dolina na Savi is a settlement and cemetery dated to the younger phase of the Late Bronze Age and the transition to the Early Iron Age. It is situated across the well-known site of Donja Dolina in northern Bosnia. Ten years of excavations in Dolina yielded numerous traces of communication between the communities along and across the river Sava through the centuries. A similar concentration of Late Bronze Age sites on the Sava can be observed near the settlement of Topolovaca Bregovi, some 70 m downstream. The data collected by archaeological research sheds new light on the role of the River Sava in the communication network of the transitional area between the Carpathian Basin, western Balkans, the Danube, and south-eastern Alps. In contrast to the modern perception of the River Sava as a border, the archaeological record from the Late Bronze Age clearly points to Posavina Region as a coherent cultural territory with a strong communication network both on local and regional scales. The distribution of specific bronze objects found in graves and settlements, but also discovered frequently as single finds along the riverbank, indicate the integration of the Posavina communities from the younger phase of the Late Bronze Age (late 12th – 10th centuries BC) into the communication network spanning eastern Austria, Moravia, Bohemia, and western Hungary. Better knowledge of the local communication heritage on both sides of the river is therefore crucial for the understanding of the wider contexts in a diachronic perspective, especially in the important and dynamic area of the middle Sava valley.