New Late Bronze Age hoard from Srebrenik: a preliminary report

Abstract

Late Bronze Age hoard from Srebrenik it turned up by chance in May 2016. It was discovered in shallow pit on the slope of the hill facing down towards small stream in the village Rapatnice near Srebrenik (Tuzla Canton). The Srebrenik hoard is the largest hoard of bronze metal work yet found. It consists of over 150 pieces divided into 5 groups: weapons, tools, ornaments, bronze sheets and raw materials (ingots), which defined the hoard to be of large quantity and mixed composition. In those aspects, it represents the application of a classical pattern of hoard finds from the wider Pannonian-Carpathian and Eastern Alpine region. According to the typological analysis and its chronological attributions artifacts from hoard show great similarity with findings from nearby hoards, as that from Boljanić dated to the IInd phase of the Urnfield period hoards of Bosnia and Herzegovina, culturally associated with Late Bronze Age Barice-Gređani group. In cultural and technological aspects, it is interpreted in closer association with characteristic pattern of manifestation of hoards over a wide area of south-western Pannonia basin with Slavonia and Serbian Danube region, i.e. with the hoards of the IInd phase of the Continental Croatia – Veliko Nabrđe and with the IInd phase of the Urnfield hoards of Serbian territory. Consequently, the Srebernik hoard is well synchronized with the Ha A1 phase i.e. with the late 13th first half of the 12th century B.C. of the corrected Central European periodization.