Gornji Koljani - Crkvina

The find spot Crkvina is located in Gornji Koljani, west of the hamlet Bodružići. Part of it is nowadays flooded by the waters of the Peruča Reservoir. It is one of the most important and famous sites from the time of the early mediaeval Croatian State. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, amateur archaeological excavations were conducted there during which the remains of a three-nave church were discovered. The church itself, from which fragments of early Christian and Pre-Romanesque furnishings derive, is no longer visible. It was surrounded by a large mediaeval graveyard. The latter has never been entirely explored and is flooded in the winter months. In this regard, rescue excavations were initiated in July and August 2007 during which a total of 52 graves were uncovered and documented. The graves belong to the Late Middle Ages, as evidenced by the finds of luxurious silver and gold-plated jewellery (earrings with three beads, corrugated earrings, rings with joints, rings). Particularly interesting is the hoard of coins that was discovered underneath the pelvis of the skeleton in one grave (9 coins in total, all dating to the mid and second half of the 14th century), which clearly chronologically determines the explored part of the graveyard at Crkvina. The excavations will be continued next year.

Staff members of the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments that participated in these excavation works are as follows: head Maja Petrinec, PhD, archaeologists Ante Jurčević and Nikolina Uroda, MA; documentalists Nada Šimundić Bendić; photographer Zoran Alajbeg.

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