Трагови средњевековне материјалне културе са локалитета Градина на Јелици
Traces of Medieval Material Culture at the Gradina Site on Jelica Mountain

Summary/Abstract: The remnants of the multilayer fort at the Gradina site on Jelica Mountain have been attracting researchers since the 19th century. The site was visited in 1865 by Janko Safarik within the framework of research of antiquities in the Rudnik and Cacak districts. This was followed by another visit of the great researcher Felix Kanitz, especially valuable due to the sketch that he had left us with. Gradina was sketched by a team of the Cacak National Museum and the first archaeological excavations started in 1984. Gradina is located on one of the ridges of the Jelica Massif in the area of the Grab village at a height of 846 m. Being a few kilometers away of the present urban center of Cacak, it offers a splendid view over the Western Morava River on the north, and the whole Dragacevo region to the south-west. A relatively simple approach to the town was from the west, with an easy slope towards the present CacakGoracici road. From the other sides, the fort is surrounded by steep slopes and bluffs. The Early Byzantine road has been continuously used as confirmed by the find of a gate on the present forest road. The paper deals with medieval remnants, primarily ceramic material, on the basis of which their secondary utilization during the early Middle Ages has been observed at several Early Byzantine sites. These are sites number I, II, III, IV, V and VII. On the basis of this material too the rampart reducing the original fort to the zone of Upper Town only has been dated as a medieval one. The finds of the ceramic material in basilicas A, B and E confirm the secondary use of these sites most probably for housing purposes, for there is no proof that the church was used for cult practicing. The chronological span of the site has been determined according to the ceramic material. Pots and earthenware covers are mostly represented, while earthenware dishes for baking bread and bottles are rather rare. The way in which they were made is different too, from kneading on the slow wheel to their make on the fast wheel, although this does not determine the chronology, for we have seen the same shops making dishes both on the slow and on the fast wheel. The dating of dishes was made according to the existing analogies. However, we have to note that the medieval pottery from the neighboring sites differs from the Gradina pottery both by shape and by make. This confirms that the dating of the medieval phase of neighboring sites represents a terminus ante quem for our material, being the beginning of the 10th century. We could conclude that in the stratigraphy of the Jelica Mountain one can observe clear traces of the town destruction by fire, provoked probably by the devastating campaign of either the Avarians or the Slavs. When had it happened exactly we do not know – in the eighties of the 6th century or at the beginning of the 7th century? However, Jelica has a specific feature throwing a different light to the period immediately before the Slav conquests: it is the continuation of life after a short period , until the second half of the 9th century or the beginning of the 10th one. It is possible that the reasons for abandoning Gradina and moving to new sites in the vicinity of Cacak were in the expansion of the Serbian territory in the thirties. Therefore I am of the opinion that the remnants of the material culture from Jelca could be ascribed to the Serbs, linking the ceramic material which helped us to establish the chronological framework of the site with the territory that the Serbs occupied upon settling, and with all historical data at our disposal. One should not exclude the presence of some other small Slavic groups, for some material characteristic for areas under the Avarian domination has been found too. Besides, one should expect similar finds on the northern borders of the Serbian territory of that time, where the Serbs have fulfilled their duties as federates of the Empire.

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