Plano mezolitsko najdišče na planini Pretovčav.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/56/AV_56_Turk_et_al_Pretovc.pdf · Sl. 3: Očiščen JZ profil pred izkopom sonde na Gorenjem Pretovču. Sl. 3: Outline

37Plano mezolitsko najdišče na planini Pretovč

Plano mezolitsko najdišče na planini Pretovč

Matija TURK, Miha MLINAR, Janez TURK, Janez BIZJAK in Pavel JAMNIKz dodatkom Metke CULIBERG

Izvleček

V prispevku obravnavamo kamenodobno najdišče na plan-ini Pretovč pri Tolminu, kjer so bile na dveh različnih mestihodkrite površinske kamene najdbe. Predstavljamo izsledkearheološkega izkopavanja na Gorenjem Pretovču. Najdišče raz-lagamo kot mezolitski lovski tabor.

Ključne besede: planina Pretovč, Tolminsko, mezolitik, kamenaorodja

Abstract

The contribution deals with the stone age site on Pretovčalp by Tolmin, where surface stone finds were discovered attwo different places. The results of archaeological excavationon Gorenji Pretovč are presented. The site is interpreted as aMesolithic hunting camp.

Keywords: Pretovč alp, Tolmin, Mesolithic, stone tools

Arheološki vestnik (Arh. vest.) 56, 2005, str. 37-47

UVOD

Planina Pretovč (sl. 1) na Tolminskem leži navišini med 1.100 in 1.200 m. Razteza se na ob-močju sedla med Mrzlim vrhom (1.359 m) na juguin Visoč vrhom (1.482 m) na severu. Sedlo, kipovezuje dolino Soče z dolino Tolminke, deli pla-nino na dva dela. Del, ki leži na severnem pobočjuMrzlega vrha, se imenuje Pretovč, del na južnihpobočjih Visoč vrha pa Gorenji Pretovč. Pastirskistanovi ležijo pod Mrzlim vrhom na višini 1.140m. Na obeh straneh sedla je več izvirov. Največjivodotok je Mrzli potok, ki izvira pod sedlom napoložnejši zahodni strani. Vzhodna stran sedla setakoj za robom strmo spusti v dolino Tolminke.Na planino Pretovč pelje iz Zatolmina slaba in ozkacesta, ki se nadaljuje naprej proti planinama Medrjein Sleme. V bližini lovske koče na Gorenjem Pre-tovču se cesta odcepi levo proti vasi Krn in kmalupreide v neprevozno pot.

Planina Pretovč leži na območju, ki je sestav-ljeno pretežno iz zgornjega krednega volčanskegaapnenca. Zanj je značilno menjavanje breč inkalkarenita, vmes pa se pojavljajo plasti laporja.

Sl. 1: Pogled na planino Pretovč z Mrzlega vrha. S puščicamista označeni najdišči na Gorenjem Pretovču (levo) in na Pre-tovču (desno).Fig. 1: View of Pretovč alp from Mrzli vrh. The sites on Goren-ji Pretovč (left) and Pretovč (right) are marked with arrows.

Za volčanski apnenec so značilne pole in plastiroženca, ki so debele do 10 cm. Roženec ima iz-vor v radiolarijih in spikulah spongij in je nado-mestil bolj debelozrnati del kamenine. V bližinije severno od planine nariv, ki ga sestavljajo zgornje

38 Matija TURK, Miha MLINAR, Janez TURK, Janez BIZJAK in Pavel JAMNIK

kredne f lišne plasti. Te gradijo svetlo sivi, zelen-kasti, rdeči in vijoličasti lapornati apnenci in la-porji. V nižjih plasteh laporja se lahko pojavljajodebelejši vložki apnenčeve breče z lapornatimvezivom (Buser 1986).

ODKRITJE KAMENODOBNEGA NAJDIŠČAIN PREGLED RAZISKAV

Kamenodobno najdišče na planini Pretovč jepri sistematičnem pregledovanju planin v okviruprojekta Triglavskega narodnega parka “Železarstvoin pašna kultura od železne dobe do 20. stoletja”,odkril Janez Bizjak. Spomladi leta 2002 je naGorenjem Pretovču našel prve roženčeve odbitke.Pobral jih je na cesti med prekopom pod lovskokočo in odcepom proti vasi Krn1. Ob ponovnihobiskih najdišča2 in površinskem nabiranju arte-faktov sta J. Bizjak in Pavel Jamnik ugotovila, daležijo ti na cesti in ob njej v dolžini najmanj 75 m,in sicer od prekopa pod lovsko kočo do ostregaovinka ceste v desno kmalu za odcepom k lovskikoči. Artefakte sta našla tudi na začetku ceste protivasi Krn in na pobočju pod ostrim ovinkom.

Med obiski Gorenjega Pretovča sta J. Bizjak inP. Jamnik pregledovala celotno območje planinePretovč. Tako sta spomladi 2003 na erodiranempobočju nad cesto, ki vodi do pastirskih stanovna Pretovču, našla nove roženčeve odbitke (sl. 2).O tem, da jih je izdelal človek, ni bilo dvoma, vendarpa med njimi ni bilo nobenega tipološko oprijem-ljivega elementa. Poleti istega leta so arheologiopravili strokovni ogled najdišča na GorenjemPretovču3. Ne da bi vedeli za novo odkritje s Pre-tovča, so svojo pozornost namenili tudi erodira-nim površinam pod pastirskimi stanovi. Našli sonove artefakte, med njimi tudi mikrolitsko orodje(Turk et al. 2004, 15; sl. 2.1). Ta najdba je okre-pila domneve o mezolitski kulturni in časovnipripadnosti najdišča na planini Pretovč. Da bipridobili nove mikrolitske najdbe in ugotovili stra-tigrafijo se je Inštitut za arheologijo ZRC SAZUv sodelovanju s Tolminskim muzejem odločil zamanjše arheološko izkopavanje, ki sta ga izvedlav septembru 2004.

1 Po pripovedovanju pastirjev so to pot proti planinama Medrje in Sleme prvič nekoliko razširili med 1. svetovno vojno. Leta1985 so jo poglobili in v poglobitev naložili skale in kamenje. Po posegu je na več mestih vse do danes ostalo razgaljeno pobočjeod nivoja ceste do travnika. Zadnji večji poseg je bil opravljen spomladi 2003, ko so že močno erodirano pot ponovno nasuli inizravnali.

2 Podatek o odkritju najdišča sta Janez Bizjak in Pavel Jamnik takoj po odkritju posredovala Mihu Mlinarju iz Tolminskegamuzeja. Ob končanem pobiranja artefaktov so bile najdbe izročene Tolminskemu muzeju.

3 Ogled so opravili Miha Mlinar iz Tolminskega muzeja, Ivan Turk z Inštituta za arheologijo ZRC, SAZU in Matija Turk.4 Med 1. svetovno vojno je bil Mrzli vrh poleg Mengor glavni steber obrambe tolminskega mostišča. Čez planino Pretovč je

potekala prva obrambna črta avstro-ogrske armade.

Sl. 2: Najdišče na Pretovču.Fig. 2: Site on Pretovč.

ARHEOLOŠKO IZKOPAVANJENA GORENJEM PRETOVČU

Že pri odkritju artefaktov na Pretovču je bilojasno, da je bilo to najdišče med 1. svetovno voj-no močno poškodovano. Le nekaj metrov stran sena grebenu ob ostankih betonskega objekta lepovidijo sledovi okopov in jarkov, v bližnji okolicipa je več granatnih kraterjev.4

Tako smo se odločili za izkopavanje na Goren-jem Pretovču. Izkop velikosti 2x2 m smo zakoliči-li tik pred odcepom, kjer se s ceste proti planina-ma Sleme in Medrje odcepi cesta k lovski koči.Za izkopavanje na tem mestu smo se odločili na


podlagi naslednjih dejstev: v bližini je bila na površjunajdena večja koncentracija artefaktov, teren je tubolj raven in brez vidnih sledov vkopov in terasi-ranja, večja erozijska ogroženost na tem mestu.

Sondo velikosti 4 m2 smo razdelili na 4 kvadrantepo 1 m2. Orientirana je bila v smeri JZ-SV. Zamerjenje relativnih višin smo izbrali točko 0 naedini večji skali na levi strani ceste proti planini-nama Sleme in Medrje, in to na vrhu rdeče označ-be, ki verjetno predstavlja parcelno mejo. Izhodiščekoordinatne mreže na sondi je bilo v spodnjemlevem vogalu (JZ vogal), ki je bil od točke 0 naskali oddaljen 15,60 m in od levega vogala lovskekoče (prvi vogal levo od vhodnih vrat) 71,50 m.

Pred izkopom sonde smo ob njenem JZ robu,ki ga je že močno načela erozija, odkopali profildo globine 76 cm (sl. 3). Ugotovili smo tri plasti:plast ruše s humusom debeline do 15 cm, plastilovnate zemlje debeline do 30 cm ter plast moč-neje ilovnate zemlje. Med kopanjem profila smougotovili koncentracijo najdb v 2. plasti. Matičnelapornate osnove nismo dosegli.

Sl. 3: Očiščen JZ profil pred izkopom sonde na Gorenjem Pretovču.Sl. 3: Outline of SW profile before excavation of the explo-ratory trench on Gorenji Pretovč.

5 Pod pojmom arheološke najdbe na tem mestu ne upoštevamo ostankov iz 1. svetovne vojne, ki bodo morda nekoč tudi prinas deležni pozornosti arheologov.

6 To je le domneva, saj kemične analize niso bile narejene. Na agresivno delovanje zemlje sklepamo zaradi močno zarjavelihželeznih ostankov iz 1. svetovne vojne.

Sondo smo izkopali stratigrafsko. Vso izkopanozemljo smo mokro presejali in pregledali na situprepustnosti 3 mm. Le del izkopane zemlje namje zaradi slabega curka vode in s tem posledičnopočasnega spiranja uspelo mokro presejati tudi nasitu prepustnosti 1 mm. Kjer je bila večja koncen-tracija najdb, smo shranili obe celotni sprani frakcijiza natančnejši pregled v laboratoriju.

Arheološke najdbe predstavljajo le kameni ar-tefakti5. V 1. plasti smo našli le en kameni arte-

fakt. Drugi kameni artefakti so bili najdeni v 2.plasti, predvsem v njeni zgornji polovici. Proti dnu2. plasti smo zasledili upadanje kamenih najdb innazadnje njihovo odsotnost. Drobci oglja so biliredki. Kostne najdbe so povsem odsotne, z izje-mo nedoločljivega, verjetno recentnega fragmen-ta. Vzrok za popolno odsotnost kostnih najdb jeverjetno iskati v kislosti zemlje.6 V vseh plastehso bili najdeni drobci granat in svinčene krogliceiz 1. svetovne vojne. Kljub tem najdbam, ki so semed vojno najverjetneje zarile v zemljo, nismo opazilinobenih znakov, da bi bile plasti na tem mestu žekdaj kakorkoli prekopane.

KAMENE NAJDBE

Na Gorenjem Pretovču je bilo do sedaj najde-nih približno 550 kosov kamene industrije (sl. 4).Površinsko nabiranje sta opravila J. Bizjak in P.Jamnik, malo več kot polovica vseh zbranih arte-faktov pa je bila pridobljena med izkopavanjem.Kamene najdbe lahko razdelimo na odpadke, kizajemajo razbitine, jedra, jedrne odbitke, lamelarneodbitke in luske, ter na orodja. Med orodja uvrščamovse retuširane artefakte, tudi takšne z uporabnoretušo. Uporabna retuša se pojavlja na odbitkih,klinicah in jedrnih odbitkih. Delež orodij med vsemiartefakti je približno 10 %.

TEHNOLOGIJA IN SUROVINA

Število, različne oblike in velikosti jeder kažejona izdelavo orodij in loco. To potrjujejo tudi robniodbitki ter veliko število manjših in večjih odbit-kov in lusk. Skupaj je bilo najdenih 16 jeder: 6enopolarnih (t. 1: 6,7), 4 navzkrižna (t. 1: 1-3), 3neizoblikovana, 2 prizmatični (t. 1: 4) in eno dis-koidno jedro (t. 1: 5). Vse naštete tipe jeder poz-namo že iz najdišča Viktorjev spodmol (Turk etal. 2004, 56).

Večina jeder ima ohranjen korteks. Manjša jedraso iz kakovostnega roženca, večja pogosto tudi izslabše surovine. Slednja so zaradi slabše kakovos-ti verjetno tudi prej zavrgli.

Pri nekaterih jedrih lahko po obliki in korteksuvidimo, da so izdelana iz prodnikov (t. 1: 1,4,6).V celoti ali v večji meri ohranjeni prodniki nisoprisotni. Jedrnih odbitkov, to je odbitkov, ki so


bili odbiti z namenom, da se popravi udarni robjedra, je skupaj 6.

Na mikrovbadalno tehniko lomljenja klinic kažemikrovbadalo (t. 1: 12). Pogostejša tehnika loml-jenja klinic je bilo enostavno lomljenje, brez po-moči izjede, saj smo našli večje število umetnoprelomljenih, segmentiranih klinic. Več kot polo-vica od skupaj 30 neretuširanih klinic je segmen-tirana (t. 1: 8-11). Dva bazalna segmenta klinicimata poleg bulbusa na dorzalni strani viden tudikontrabulbus (t. 1: 11). Tovrstne klinice lahkonastanejo le s pritiskanjem ob jedro s koščenim,roženim ali lesenim tolkačem. Imajo tanek talonzvončaste oblike. Kontrabulbus kaže na to, da sobile odbite zaporedno, ena za drugo. Nekaj arte-faktov ima na mestu bulbusa ligule (t. 2: 20). Takšnepoškodbe oz. ligule pogosto nastanejo pri upora-bi togih tolkačev. Tako med odpadki kot med orodjiso tudi krakelirani primerki.

Surovina je zelo raznolika. Med vsem zbranimkamenim inventarjem smo ugotovili vsaj 20 sku-pin posameznih različic roženca. Prevladuje ka-kovosten, raznobarvni roženec, ki se z lahkotoloči od avtohtonega roženca slabše kakovosti. Naj-dena sta bila tudi dva razbita kosa kamene stre-le, ki prav tako sodita v inventar kamenodobnihostankov.

KAMENA ORODJA

Med orodji prevladujejo retuširani odbitki. Tiso večinoma nepravilnih oblik in površno izdela-

ni. Med njimi so tudi pravilnejši odbitki s strmoretušo (t. 2: 18,19).

Retuširane klinice so redke, dve imata uporab-no retušo (t. 1: 13,14). Nazobčana orodja zastopa-jo trije primerki. Eno izmed njih ima tudi pošev-no prečno retušo (t. 2: 16). Poleg tega orodja seprečna retuša pojavlja še v dveh primerih. V pr-vem primeru je poševna (t. 2: 15), v drugem vbočena(t. 2: 17).

Izjedo imajo štirje artefakti. Bazalni del masiv-ne prelomljene kline (t. 2: 20) ima dobro izraženoizjedo na desnem lateralnem robu. Desni lateral-ni rob je na ventralni strani skoraj po celi dolžiniretuširan z manjšimi ploskovnimi retušami. Naventralni strani je na mestu bulbusa večja ligula.Zanimiv je odbitek s slabše izraženo izjedo, izde-lano z inverznimi retušami (t. 2: 21), ki ima nadorzalni strani več širokih ploskovnih retuš. Izje-da je dobro izražena tudi na segmentu klinice (t.2: 22).

Praskal je skupaj 5 (t. 2: 23-28). Delimo jih napraskala na klini (t. 2: 23-25) in praskala na od-bitku (t. 2: 26-28). Praskala št. 23, 24 in 27 imajočelo izdelano z lamelarno retušo. Praskalo na odbitkušt. 26 ima rahlo poševno čelo izdelano s strmoretušo in spominja na odbitek s poševno prečnoretušo. Praskalo na debelem odbitku št. 28 imadel čela odlomljen.

Mikrolitskih orodij je 12 (t. 2: 29-40). Med nji-mi je enakokraki trikotnik, ki ima s polstrmo re-tušo retuširano najdaljšo stranico (t. 2: 29).

Kot klinice s hrbtom in prečno retušo smoopredelili štiri mikrolite (t. 2: 30-32,34). Pri mik-

Sl. 4: Pregled kamenih najdb, zbranih pri površinskem pobiranju in pri izkopavanju.

površinsko nabiranje izkopavanje razbitine 63 7 jedra 14 2 jedrni odbitki 5 1 odbitki 132 130 retuširani odbitki 15 8 lamelarni odbitki 8 2 retuš. lamelarni odbitki 1 / luske / 98 klinice 13 17 retuširane klinice 2 1 nazobčana orodja 3 / prečne retuše 2 / izjede 4 / praskala 5 1 mikrolitska orodja 2 10 Σ 269 277


rolitih št. 30 in 31 gre za tipični klinici s hrbtomin poševno prečno retušo. Primerek št. 30 imaretuširan tudi desni lateralni rob. Pri mikrolitihšt. 32 in 34 hrbet zvezno preide v prečno retušo.Čeprav nekoliko spominjata na krožni segment,ju kot taka ne moremo opredeliti, saj nimata po-polnega loka (G.E.E.M. 1969, 360). Fragmentamikrolita št. 33 ne moremo ožje opredeliti, saj grelahko bodisi za klinico s hrbtom in poševno preč-no retušo ali za krožni segment.

Klinici s hrbtom sta zastopani z dvema primer-koma (t. 2: 35,36). Prvi ima odbit bulbus, drugipa retuširan desni lateralni rob.

Kot sauveterrienske konice sensu lato smo op-redelili tri mikrolite (t. 2: 38-40). Prvi primerek jev celoti ohranjen in gre za dvokonico, pri drugempa za terminalni fragment konice. Pri primerkušt. 40 gre verjetno za fragment enojne konice zohranjenim bazalnim delom. Pri atipični konicišt. 37 stik lateralnih robov ne tvori izrazite koni-ce. Moteč je tudi precej debel desni lateralni rob.

Vse retuše pri mikrolitskih orodjih so direktne,le fragment sauveterrienske konice št. 40 ima desnilateralni rob izdelan z izmenično retušo.

SKLEP

Ne le iz bolj oddaljenih Dolomitov (Bagoliniet al. 1984), tudi iz naše bližnje okolice pozna-mo plana gorska najdišča, ki so bila predvsemna podlagi površinskih najdb pripisana mezoliti-ku: v zahodnih Julijskih Alpah Sella Bieliga in vKarnijskih Alpah Casera Valbertad ter več naj-dišč v okolici Mokrin (Bressan 1983, 170). Od-kritje gorskih mezolitskih postaj pri nas je bilotako le vprašanje časa.

Plano mezolitsko najdišče na planini Pretovčje prvo mezolitsko najdišče v slovenskih gorah z

značilnimi mezolitskimi najdbami. Jama za ska-lami nad Staro Fužino, v kateri so našli ostankekurišča in tik nad njim dve razbitini sileksa, je bilapripisana mezolitiku le na podlagi antrakotomskeanalize oglja, ki je bilo datirano v zgodnji holo-cen (Dirjec, Šercelj, Turk 1989). Od odkritja pr-vega kamenodobnega najdišča v Krnskem pogor-ju na planini Kašina pod Krnom7 (Jamnik, Bizjak2003) poznamo danes najdišča kamenih artefak-tov poleg planine Pretovč še na planinah Zaslap(1.360 m) in Zaprikraj (1.208 m).

Arheološko izkopavanje na Gorenjem Pretovčuin na površju zbrane najdbe kažejo, da gre po vsejverjetnosti za sezonski tabor mezolitskih lovcev,ki je stal na položnejšem delu prisojnega pobočjapod Visoč vrhom, kjer so danes pašniki planinePretovč. Del najdišča, ki ga počasi uničuje erozi-ja, je že poškodovala cesta, ki je bila od ceste protiplaninama Medrje in Sleme speljana k lovski koči.

Tabor je bil verjetno poseljen daljše časovnoobdobje v sezoni, saj so lovci s seboj prinesli su-rovino in tu izdelovali orodja. Na podlagi tipolo-gije artefaktov lahko sklepamo na ožjo kulturnoopredelitev najdišča znotraj mezolitika. Enakokrakitrikotnik z retuširano najdaljšo stranico, sauveter-rienske konice sensu lato in predvsem odsotnosttrapezov za zdaj kažejo na starejši mezolitik alisauveterrien.

Z arheološkim izkopavanjem na planini Pretovčin s kulturno umestitvijo najdišča v mezolitik paostaja, zaradi za zdaj premajhnega števila površinskihnajdb vprašanje ožje kulturne umestitve preosta-lih kamenodobnih planih najdišč v Krnskem po-gorju še vedno odprto. Prav tako ostaja odprto vpra-šanje baznih taborov v dolini. Edino vez z dolinopredstavlja spodmol pri Bjarču (Riparo di Biar-zo) v dolini Nadiže, kjer je bilo odkopano sosled-je plasti iz končnega epigravettiena, mezolitika inneolitika (Guerreschi et al. 1996).

7 Najdišče na planini Kašina so leta 2001 odkrili Ivan, Matija in Janez Turk. Odkritje je spodbudilo ljubiteljska arheologa J.Bizjaka in P. Jamnika, da sta med drugim v okviru projekta ”Železarstvo in pašna kultura od železne dobe do 20 stoletja”, kiga izvaja Triglavski narodni park (Dovoljenje ministrstva za kulturo št. 616-9/99, z dne 4. 4. 1999), začela sistematično pregle-dovati planine v Krnskem pogorju in tako odkrila druga najdišča.

BAGOLINI B., A. BROGLIO in R. LUNZ 1983, Le Mésolit-hique des Dolomites. - Preist. Alp. 19, 15-36.

BRESSAN, F. 1983, Le Mésolithique au Friuli: les sites se referantau Mésolithique sur la base des decouvertes de surface.- Preist. Alp. 19, 169-174.

BUSER, S. 1986, Osnovna geološka karta SFRJ 1:100.000. Tolmačlistov Tolmin in Videm (Udine), L 33-64, L 33-63. - Beograd.

DIRJEC, J., A. ŠERCELJ in I. TURK 1989, Stara Fužina-Jamaza skalami. - Var. spom. 31, 202-203.

G.E.E.M., 1969, Epipaléolithique-Mésolithique, Les microli-

thes géométriques. - Bull. Soc. Préhist. Franç. 66, 355-366.GUERRESCHI, A. (ur.) 1996, Il sito preistorico del Riparo di

Biarzo (Valle del Natisone, Friuli). - Udine.JAMNIK, P. in J. BIZJAK 2003, Kamenodobno najdišče na planini

Kašina pod Krnom. - Triglavski razgledi. Znanstveno-izobraževalni časopis Triglavskega narodnega parka 7/10.Anthropos 2, Bled.

TURK, I. (ur.) 2004, Viktorjev spodmol in Mala Triglavca. Pris-pevki k poznavanju mezolitskega obdobja v Sloveniji. - OperaInstituti Archaeologici Sloveniae 9.


DODATEK

Lesno oglje z lokacije mezolitskega najdiščana planini Pretovč

Metka CULIBERG

Na planini Pretovč, na območju planega mezo-litskega najdišča, je bila izkopana manjša sonda.S spiranjem in sejanjem sedimenta so bili v 2. plasti(SE 2) najdeni tudi koščki oglja ter večje številodrobnih semen, velikosti od 1 do 2 mm. Večinasemen ni pooglenelih in so verjetno recentne sta-rosti. Njihova determinacija še ni dokončna, go-tovo pa je, da vsa pripadajo zeliščni, to je travni-ški vegetaciji.

Tab. 1: Planina Pretovč. Oglje.Table 1: Planina Pretovč. Charcoal.

V treh od štirih kvadrantov je bilo najdenih 11primerkov oglja, eden pa na površini (tab. 1). Taje bil močno impregniran in zato zelo trde struk-ture. Sedem primerkov pripada jesenu (Fraxinus),trije brinju (Juniperus) in dva bukvi (Fagus).

Na pobočjih okrog planote danes pretežno us-pevajo termofilni bukovi gozdovi združbe črnegagabra in bukve (Ostryo-Fagetum) (Marinček, Čarni2002). Opuščene senožete in pašnike, na katerihnajdemo tudi brinje, pa kot pionir zarašča jesen.

Glede na ugotovljene drevesne vrste bi oglje lahkoizviralo od recentne vegetacije, vendar bi v temprimeru pričakovali več primerkov bukve in pa mordatudi kakšen primerek črnega gabra. Prav tako pagre lahko tudi za oglje primarne, zgodnjeholocenskevegetacije, ko se je bukev pričela širiti (Šercelj 1996).Tem ugibanjem bi se lahko izognili le z radiokar-bonsko datacijo oglja.

MARINČEK, L. in A. ČARNI, 2002: Komentar k vegetacijskikarti gozdnih združb Slovenije v merilu 1:400 000. - Ljubljana.

ŠERCELJ, A., 1996: Začetki in razvoj gozdov v Sloveniji. - Dela4. razr. SAZU 35, 1-142.

Metka CulibergBiološki inštitut Jovana HadžijaZnanstvenoraziskovalnega centra SAZUNovi trg 2SI-1000 Ljubljana

SE 2, kv. 1 SE 2, kv. 2 SE 2, kv. 3 Vzorec s površine

Fraxinus 1 Fagus 1 Fraxinus 6 Juniperus 3

Fagus 1

INTRODUCTION

Pretovč alp (Fig. 1) in the Tolmin vicinity lies at an alti-tude between 1,100 and 1,200 m. It spreads over the area ofthe saddle between Mrzli vrh (1,359 m) to the south and Vi-soč vrh (1,482 m) to the north. The saddle, which connectsthe valley of the Soča with the valley of the Tolminka, dividesthe alp into two parts. The part lying on the northern slope ofMrzli vrh is called Pretovč, and the part on the south slopesof Visoč vrh is called Gorenji Pretovč. Shepherd huts are lo-cated below Mrzli vrh at an altitude of 1,140 m. There are anumber of springs on both sides of the saddle. The largestwatercourse is Mrzli potok, which rises below the saddle onthe more gently sloping western side. The eastern side of thesaddle drops steeply immediately after the edge, into the val-ley of the Tolminka. A bad and narrow road leads from Za-tolmin to Pretovč alp, continuing on towards Medrja and Slemealp. The road branches left near a hunting lodge on GorenjiPretovč, towards the village of Krn, and soon becomes undriveable.

Mesolithic open air site on Pretovč alp

Translation

Pretovč alp lies in an area composed predominantly of UpperCretaceous limestone of Volče formation. It is characterisedby alternating breccia and calcarenite, with layers of marl appearingin between. Limestone of Volče formation is characterised bysheets and layers of chert, up to 10 cm thick. The chert orig-inates in radiolaria and sponge spicules and replaced the larg-er grained parts of the stone. North of the alp nearby there isa thrust fault, consisting of Upper Cretaceous f lysch layers.These are constructed of light grey, greenish, red and violetmarly limestone and marl. In the lower layers of marl, thickerinsertions of limestone breccia with marl binding can appear(Buser 1986).

DISCOVERY OF STONE AGE SITEAND REVIEW OF RESEARCH

The archaeological stone age site on Pretovč alp was dis-covered by Janez Bizjak during systematic investigation of the


mountain pastures within the framework of the Triglav Na-tional Park project “Iron working and pasture culture from theIron Age to the 20th century”. He found the first chert f lakeson Gorenji Pretovč in the spring of 2002. He collected themon the road between the cutting below the hunting lodge andthe turn-off towards the village of Krn1. During revisits to thesite2 and surface collection of artefacts, J. Bizjak and PavelJamnik established that they are scattered on and beside theroad for a length of at least 75 m: from the cutting below thehunting lodge to a sharp bend in the road to the right soonafter the turn-off to the hunting lodge. They also found arte-facts at the start of the road towards the village of Krn and onthe slope below the sharp bend.

During visits to Gorenji Pretovč, J. Bizjak and P. Jamnikinvestigated the entire area of Pretovč alp. Thus in spring 2003,on an eroded slope above the road leading to the shepherds’huts on Pretovč, they found new chert f lakes (Fig. 2). There isno doubt that they are man-made, although there was no typo-logically identifiable element among them. In the summer ofthe same year, archaeologists performed an expert inspectionof the site on Gorenji Pretovč3. Without knowing about thenew finds from Pretovč, they also devoted attention to the erodedsurface below the shepherds’ huts. They found new artefacts,including a microlithic tool (Turk et al. 2004, 15; Fig. 2.1).This find strengthened the suspicion of a Mesolithic culturaland temporal affiliation of the site on Pretovč alp. In order toobtain new microlithic finds and establish the stratigraphy,Tolmin Museum and the Institute of Archaeology ZRC SAZUdecided on a small archaeological excavation, which was car-ried out in September 2004.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONON GORENJI PRETOVČ

Even at the time of the discovery of the artefacts on Pre-tovč, it was clear that this site had been greatly damaged dur-ing the First World War. Only a few metres to the side, on theridge beside remains of a concrete object, traces of cuttingsand trenches are easily visible, and there are a number of gre-nade craters in the near vicinity4.

A decision was thus made to excavate on Gorenji Pretovč.A cutting 2 x 2 m was marked out immediately before the junction,where the road to the hunting lodge turns off from the roadtowards the Sleme and Medrja alp. We decided to excavate atthat point on the basis of the following facts: a major concen-tration of artefacts was found on the surface in the vicinity,the terrain was more level here and without visible traces ofcuttings or terracing, and there was greater threat from ero-sion at this place.

We divided the 4 m2 exploratory trench into four quadrants of1 m2. It was oriented in a SW - NE direction. For measuring relativeheights we chose point 0 on the only large rock on the left side

of the road towards Sleme and Medrja alp, on the top of a redmarking which probably indicated the land boundary. The start-ing point of the coordinate net in the exploratory trench was inthe lower left corner (southwest corner) which was 15.60 m frompoint 0 on the rock and 71.50 m from the left hand corner of thehunting lodge (first corner left of the entrance door).

Before digging the exploratory trench, we dug a profile toa depth of 76 cm (Fig. 3) beside its southwest edge, which hadalready started to strongly erode. We found three layers: a layerof turf with humus up to 15 cm thick, a layer of clayey earthup to 30 cm thick and a layer of more strongly clayey earth.While digging the profile, we established a concentration offinds in the second layer. We did not reach the marl bedrock.

We excavated the exploratory trench stratigraphically. Allthe excavated earth was wet sieved and examined on a 3 mmsieve. Because of the weak jet of water and consequent slowsieving, we only succeeded in wet sieving part of the excavatedearth also on a 1 mm sieve. Where there was a greater concen-tration of finds, we preserved both entire washed fractions formore careful examination in the laboratory.

The archaeological finds consisted only of stone artefacts5.We only found one stone artefact in layer one. The other stoneartefacts were found in layer 2, mainly in its upper half. To-wards the bottom of layer 2, there was a fall in the number ofstone finds and finally their absence. Fragments of charcoalwere rare. Bone finds were completely absent, with the excep-tion of unidentifiable, probably recent fragment. The cause ofthe complete absence of bone finds can probably be sought inthe acidity of the soil6. Fragments of grenades and lead pelletsfrom the First World War were found in all layers. Despitethese finds, which were probably buried in the earth duringthe war, we observed no signs that the layers had ever beendug over at this place.

STONE FINDS

On Gorenji Pretovč, approximately 550 pieces of lithic scatter(Fig. 4) have to date been found. Surface collection was doneby J. Bizjak and P. Jamnik, slightly more than half of all col-lected artefacts were obtained during excavation. Stone findscan be divided into waste, which includes shatter fragments,cores, core f lakes and laminar f lakes and chips, and tools. Weclassified as tools all retouched artefacts, including those withuse wear retouch. Use wear retouch appears on f lakes, blade-lets and core f lakes. The proportion of tools among all arte-facts is approximately 10%.

TECHNOLOGY AND RAW MATERIALS

The number, different shapes and size of cores indicate theproduction of tools in loco. This is also confirmed by cortical

1 According to the stories of shepherd’s, the road towards Medrja and Sleme alp was first slightly widened during the FirstWorld War. In 1985, it was deepened and rocks and small stones laid in hollows. Since the intervention, bare slopes from thelevel of the road to the grasslands have remained in several places until today. The last major intervention took place in spring2003, when the greatly eroded path was again metalled and levelled.

2 Janez Bizjak and Pavel Jamnik communicated data on the discovery of the site to Miha Mlinar of Tolmin museum imme-diately after the discovery.

3 The inspection was carried out by Miha Mlinar from Tolmin museum, Ivan Turk of the Institute of Archaeology ZRC SAZUand Matija Turk.

4 During the First World War, Mrzli vrh, in addition to Mengore was the main pillar of defence of the Tolmin bridge. Theforward defence line of the Austro-Hungarian army ran across Pretovč alp.

5 The term archaeological finds does not here include remains from the First World War, which will perhaps also one dayreceive the attention of archaeologists here.

6 This is only suspected since chemical analyses were not carried out. We conclude the aggressive action of the earth becauseof the strongly rusted iron remains from the First World War.


flakes and the large number of both small and larges f lakesand debris. Altogether, 16 cores were found: six unidirectional(Tab. 1: 6, 7), four cores with cross-blanked removals (Tab. 1:1-3), three unshaped, two prismatic (Tab. 1: 4) and one dis-coid core (Tab 1: 5). All the enumerated types of core are alreadyfamiliar from the site Viktorjev spodmol (Turk et al. 2004, 56).

The majority of cores have the cortex preserved. Smallercores are from high quality chert, the larger ones also frequentlyfrom poorer material. The latter were also probably discardedearlier because of the poor quality.

It can be seen by the shape and cortex of some cores thatthey were made from pebbles (Tab. 1: 1, 4, 6). In entirety orto a large extent preserved pebbles were not present. Therewere a total of six core f lakes, i.e., f lakes that had been brokenoff in order to repair the striking edge of the core.

The microburin (Tab. 1: 12) indicates a microburin tech-nique of modifying bladelets. A more frequent technique wassimple braking, without the aid of a notch, since we found alarger number of artificially broken, segmented bladelets. Morethan half of the total of 30 unretouched bladelets are segment-ed (Tab. 1: 8-11). Two basal segments of bladelets have, in ad-dition to the bulb of percussion on the dorsal side, also a vis-ible contrabulb (Tab. 1: 11). Such bladelets can only be creat-ed by pressure along the core with a bone, chert or woodenstriker. They have a thin, bell-shaped butt. The contrabulb indicatesthat they were f laked off successively, one after another. Someartefacts have a ligula on a bulb of percussion (Tab. 2: 20).Such damage or ligula is often created with the use of rigidstrikers. There are also thermally cracked pieces among boththe waste and the tools.

The raw material is very varied. Among all the collected lithicinventory, we identified at least 20 groups of individual variantsof chert. High quality, variously coloured chert prevails, whichcan be easily distinguished from autochthonous chert of poorerquality. Two broken pieces of rock crystal were also found, whichsimilarly belong in the inventory of lithic scatter.

STONE TOOLS

Retouched f lakes predominate among the tools. These arefor the most part irregular in shape and roughly worked. They

also include more regular f lakes with an abrupt retouch (Tab.2: 18, 19).

Retouched bladelets are rare, two have use wear retouch(Tab. 1: 13, 14). There are three examples of denticulate tools.One of them also has an oblique truncation (Tab. 2: 16). Inaddition to this tool, truncation appears in two specimens. Inthe first example it is oblique (Tab. 2: 15), in the second con-cave (Tab. 2: 17).

Four artefacts have a notch. The basal part of a solid bro-ken blade (Tab. 2.: 20) has a well expressed notch on the rightlateral edge. The right lateral edge is retouched on the ventralside with smaller f lat retouches almost throughout the entirelength. There is a larger ligula on the ventral side on a bulb ofpercussion. A f lake with a poorly expressed notch, made withinverse retouches (Tab. 2: 21), is interesting, with a number ofwide f lat retouches on the dorsal side. The notch is also wellexpressed on a segment of bladelet (Tab. 2: 22).

There is a total of 5 endscrapers (Tab. 2: 23-28). They havebeen divided into endscrapers on blades (Tab. 2: 23-25) andendscrapers on f lakes (Tab. 2: 26-28). Endscrapers no. 23, 24and 27 have face made with a parallel retouch. The endscrap-er on f lake no. 26 has a slightly oblique face made with anabrupt retouch and is reminiscent of a f lake with an obliquetruncation. The endscraper on the thick f lake no. 28 has partof the face broken.

There are 12 microlithic tools (Tab. 2: 29-40). They includean isosceles triangle, which has the longest side retouched witha semi-abrupt retouch (Tab. 2: 29).

We identif ied four microlithic tools (Tab 2: 30-32, 34)as backed and truncated bladelets. Microliths no. 30 and31 are typical backed and obliquely truncated bladelets.Specimen no. 30 is also retouched on the right lateral edge.With microliths no. 32 and 34, the back f lows into a trun-cation. Although they are slightly reminiscent of circularsegments, they cannot be categorised as such since they donot have a complete arc (G.E.E.M. 1969, 360). The frag-ment of microlith no. 33 cannot be more narrowly defined,since it is either a backed and obliquely truncated bladeletor a circular segment.

There are two specimens of backed bladelets (Tab. 2: 35,36). The first has a f laked bulb of percussion, and the othera retouched right lateral edge.

Fig. 4: Survey of stone finds collected on the surface and during excavation

surface collecting excavation shatter fragments 63 7 cores 14 2 core flakes 5 1 flakes 132 130 retouched flakes 15 8 laminar flakes 8 2 retouched lam. flakes 1 / chips / 98 bladelets 13 17 retouched bladelets 2 1 denticulate tools 3 / truncations 2 / notches 4 / endscrapers 5 1 microlithic tools 2 10 total 269 277


We defined three microliths (Tab. 2: 38, 39, 40) as Sauve-terrian points sensu lato. The first specimen is preserved inentirety and is a bipoint and the second is the terminal frag-ment of a point. Specimen no. 40 is probably a fragment of aunipoint with the basal part preserved. The contact of the lateraledges does not form a pronounced point with the atypical pointno. 37. The fairly thick right lateral edge is also atypical.

All the retouches on the microlithic tools are direct, onlythe fragment of Sauveterrian point no. 40 has the right lateraledge made with an alternating retouch.

CONCLUSION

Open air mountain sites which have been ascribed to theMesolithic mainly on the basis of surface finds, are known notonly from the more distant Dolomites (Bagolini et al. 1984)but also from the near vicinity: Sella Bieliga in the westernJulian Alps and Casera Valbertad and a number of sites in thevicinity of Mokrine in the Carnic Alps (Bressan 1983, 170).The discovery of mountain Mesolithic camps in Slovenia wasthus only a question of time.

The open Mesolithic site on Pretovč alp is the first Me-solithic site in the Slovene mountains with typical Mesolithicfinds. The cave Jama za skalami above Stara Fužina in whichthe remains of a hearth were found, and immediately above ittwo broken fragments of f lint, was only ascribed to the Me-solithic on the basis of anthracotomic analysis of charcoal,which was dated to the early Holocene (Dirjec, Šercelj, Turk1989). Since the discovery of the first stone age site in theKrn massif on Kašina alp below Krn7 (Jamnik, Bizjak 2003),sites of stone artefacts are known today from Zaslap (1,360m) and Zaprikaj alp (1,208 m), in addition to Pretovč alp.

Archaeological excavation on Gorenji Pretovč and findscollected on the surface show that it was in all probability aseasonal camp of Mesolithic hunters which stood on the gen-tler part of the sunny slope below Visoč vrh, where today thereare the pastures of Pretovč alp. Part of the site, which is slow-ly being destroyed by erosion, was already damaged by the roadwhich leads to the hunting lodge from the road towards Medrjaand Sleme alp.

The camp was probably used in season over an extendedperiod, since the hunters brought with them raw materials and

made tools here. On the basis of the typology of the artefacts,we can conclude a narrower cultural classification of the sitewithin the Mesolithic. The isosceles triangle with retouchedlonger side, the Sauveterrian point sensu lato and, above all,the absence of trapezes, for the moment indicate the EarlyMesolithic or Sauveterrian.

The archaeological excavation on Pretovč alp and identify-ing the site as from the Mesolithic culture, however, leavesopen the question of the cultural placing of other stone ageopen sites in the Krn massif, because of the too few surfacefinds so far. The question of base camps in the valley remainssimilarly open. The only link with the valley is the overhangcave by Bjarč (Riparo di Biarzo) in the valley of the Nadiža,where successive layers from the end of the Epigravettien, theMesolithic and the Neolithic have been uncovered (Guerres-chi et al. 1996).

Matija TurkLunačkova 4SI-1000 [email protected]

Miha MlinarTolminski muzejMestni trg 4SI-5220 [email protected]

Janez TurkLunačkova 4SI-1000 Ljubljana

Janez BizjakRečiška 1SI-4260 Bled

Pavel JamnikKočna 5SI-4273Blejska Dobrava

7 The site on Kašina alp was discovered in 2001 by Ivan, Matija and Janez Turk. The discovery encouraged the amateurarchaeologists, J. Bizjak and P. Jamnik, to begin, within the framework of the project ”Iron working and pasture culture from theIron Age to the 20th century”, which is being carried out by Triglav National Park (Ministry of Culture permit no. 616-9/99, of4.4.1999), systematically to examine the mountain pastures in the Krn massif and they thus also discovered other sites.


T. 1: Gorenji Pretovč. Kamena industrija. M. = 1:1.Pl. 1: Gorenji Pretovč. Stone industry. Scale = 1:1.


T. 2: Gorenji Pretovč. Kamena industrija. M. = 1:1.Pl. 2: Gorenji Pretovč. Stone industry. Scale = 1:1.

Plano mezolitsko najdišče na planini Pretovčav.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/56/AV_56_Turk_et_al_Pretovc.pdf · Sl. 3: Očiščen JZ profil pred izkopom sonde na Gorenjem Pretovču. Sl. 3: Outline

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