The Archaeological Museum (Croatian: Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu) in Zagreb, Croatia is an archaeological museum with over 450,000 varied artifacts and monuments, gathered from various sources but mostly from Croatia and in particular from the surroundings of Zagreb.Its predecessor institution was the "National Museum" (German: Kroatisches Nationalmuseum Agram) in the Austrian Empire, open to the public since 1846. It was renamed to "State Institute of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia" in 1866. In 1878, the Archaeological Department became an independent institution within the State Institute, and the umbrella institute was dissolved in 1939, leaving the Archaeological Museum as a standalone institution. The archaeological collection of the State Institute had been kept in the Academy mansion at Zrinski Square from the 1880s and remained there until 1945, when the museum moved to its current location at the 19th-century Vranyczany-Hafner mansion, 19 Zrinski Square.The museum consists of five main sections: Prehistory, Egypt, Antiquity, Middle Ages, Coins and Medals.The section "Prehistory" contains 78,000 objects, ranging from the Paleolithic to the Late Iron Age. The section "Egypt" displays about 600 objects in the permanent exhibition. The section "Antiquity" contains an important collection of Greek vases (about 1,500 vessels) and stones with inscriptions. The Roman Antiquity is represented by many statues, military equipment, metal objects, Roman religion and art and objects from everyday life, acquired through systematic archaeological excavations in various Croatian regions in many Croatian cities founded during the Roman Empire. The numismatic section is among the largest collections of this type in Europe.Some of the famous artifacts include:As of 2021, the museum is closed pending repairs due to damage from the 2020 Zagreb earthquake.
By studying and analysing a great number of textile metal threads from different time periods in Croatia, from archaeological sites to preserved specimens from various museum collections, change can be seen through the centuries. Metal threads decorate textiles not only for aesthetic purposes, but also to display wealth, assert authority, and command respect. Primarily, such decorated clothing was worn for liturgical purposes, ceremonial folk customs, or to mark high military ranks. Through the characteristics of these threads, one can see the change in the customs and lives of the people who used them in different ways and for different purposes. The shine and luxury that the first gold metal threads have can be achieved with lower quality threads like silver, copper, and their alloys. As the quality of metal textile threads decreased, they became cheaper and more applicable in everyday life. The use of metal textile threads on clothing increased, and through the century, they became a clothing part for all people, not just the privileged. Analyses of metal threads were performed with scanning electron microscopy with an energy-dispersive X-ray detector (SEM-EDX) due to its sensitivity and suitability for the observation of metal threads from various textiles. The type of textile cores from the combined textile metal threads was determined through a laboratory optical microscope. Differences have been observed between archaeological and historical textile metal threads in terms of physical properties, as well as textile and metal composition. Archaeological samples are combined textile metal threads that have a metal component of gilded silver and a textile component of silk. While more recent historical samples have different types of metal threads, from individual threads of lamellae and wires to combined textile metal threads. Most samples have cotton as a textile component, while copper, alone or in alloys, predominates in the metal threads.
This paper is concerned with the orientation of a building excavated at Vučedol, a third-millennium BC settlement located in modern-day Croatia which gives its name to the regional Vučedol Culture. The building, known as the “Megaron II” house, was located at the Gradac, the “acropolis” of the settlement, and it had a complicated entrance complex comprising a northern edifice and a southern construction either side of a door at its west end. This door led into an antechamber, on the far side of which another door led into the main room. This arrangement allowed the Sun’s rays to penetrate for just 60 days of the year, with the summer solstice occurring at the mid-point of this period. In this paper, it is argued that “Megaron II” may have served the Vučedol populace as an analog “device” for determining – as far as the circumstances and the quality of the “instrument” allowed – the day of the solstice, while the southern wall of the northern edifice could have served as a symbolic “barrier” to the further advancement of the Sun. These features would have been part of the rituals performed at the settlement, and their incorporation into Vučedol mythology is corroborated by the ever-present solar symbolism on Vučedol Culture ceramics. These features are here contextualised through comparisons with some other prehistoric sites where similar methods of observing the solstices were apparently used, as well as with more recent traditions.
Dostupni podatci o avarskome razdoblju u Baranji zasad se uglavnom temelje na slučajnim nalazima koji su često izdvojeni iz izvornoga arheološkog konteksta ili nedovoljno dokumentirani prema suvremenim standardima arheološke prakse. Takva struktura podataka znatno otežava precizniju interpretaciju društvene organizacije, naseljenosti i svakodnevnoga života avarodobnih zajednica na ovome prostoru. Upravo je potreba za sustavnim sagledavanjem raspoloživih podataka potaknula izradu ovoga rada. Cilj rada bio je popisati sva poznata, ali i potencijalna nalazišta avarodobne provenijencije na području Baranje te analizom dostupnih rezultata zaštitnih istraživanja, sustavnih terenskih pregleda, arhivske građe i starije literature, kao i podataka iz zbirki hrvatskih muzeja i muzeja u susjednim zemljama, predstaviti cjelokupni korpus avarodobne materijalne baštine. Pri stvaranju ovoga rada posebna je pozornost posvećena kritičkoj reinterpretaciji starijih nalaza i podataka koji su u literaturi preuzimani nekritički, bez jasna uvida u izvornu dokumentaciju, bez okolnosti pronalaska ili valorizacije stupnja njihove pouzdanosti. Takav pristup omogućio je preispitivanje ranijih atribucija i uključivanje slabije poznatih ili dosad neobjavljenih nalaza u znanstveni diskurs. Rezultati analize prikupljenih podataka pokazuju da je prostor današnje Baranje bio naseljen već od ranoga razdoblja avarske prisutnosti u Panoniji. Prostorni raspored nalazišta slijedi prepoznatljive obrasce povezane s prirodnim i komunikacijskim obilježjima krajolika. Posebno se ističe povezanost avarodobnih nalazišta s trasama rimskih prometnica, koja upućuje na kontinuitet korištenja komunikacijskih pravaca te njihovu važnost u organizaciji prostora i oblikovanju mreže naselja i grobalja. Premda trenutno stanje istraženosti, obilježeno velikim brojem slučajnih nalaza i zasad neobjavljenim rezultatima novijih istraživanja, još uvijek ograničava mogućnost donošenja detaljnih interpretacija, rezultati ovoga rada pružaju cjelovitiji uvid u rasprostranjenost i karakter avarodobne materijalne baštine u Baranji. Rad donosi prvu kritičku sintezu avarodobnih nalaza i nalazišta s područja Baranje te revidira dosadašnje spoznaje o njihovoj distribuciji i kontekstu, čime se taj prostor jasnije pozicionira unutar širega panonskog prostora avarskoga razdoblja, otvarajući nove mogućnosti za komparativna regionalna istraživanja.
This study presents chemical (ED-XRF) and lead isotope (HR-MC-ICP-MS) analyses of 29 bronze axes recovered along the eastern Adriatic coast, offering new insights into the metallurgical background of archaeological types with distinct distribution patterns. The analysed axes date from the Middle to the early Late Bronze Age (17th − 14th centuries BC), a crucial period marked by intensified copper production in emerging Alpine mining districts and the decline of other metallurgical centres, such as those in eastern Serbia. Due to scarcity of analytical data and lack of closed contexts, the role of the eastern Adriatic within the dynamic copper supply networks of Bronze Age Europe has remained poorly understood so far. The region’s intermediary position between copper production centres in northeastern Italy and the inland Balkans, which from at least the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (14th century BC) were largely supplied with Italian copper is of particular relevance. The results presented here contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of regional metallurgical practices and help refine our reconstruction of the chronological and spatial dynamics of copper distribution across Central Europe, Italy, and the Balkans.
Knjiga Slojevi zaboravljenog vremena. Vučedolsko naselje na telu Tržnica u Vinkovcima donosi novo i kritičko sagledavanje jednog od najvažnijih nalazišta vučedolske kulture u istočnoj Slavoniji. Temeljena na dosad neobjavljenoj dokumentaciji i iznimno vrijednim crtežima keramičkog materijala Krešimira Rončevića, publikacija po prvi puta sustavno obrađuje građu s istraživanja provedenih na položaju Hotel Slavonija tijekom druge polovice 20. stoljeća. Monografija obuhvaća pregled povijesti istraživanja vučedolskog naselja u Vinkovcima, raspravu o kronologiji, prostornoj organizaciji i kulturnim obilježjima vučedolske kulture te opsežnu analizu keramičke proizvodnje i stilskih obilježja lončarstva. Poseban naglasak stavljen je na pitanja identiteta, tehnologije, organizacije proizvodnje i interpretacije neobjavljene arheološke građe, pri čemu autorice donose suvremeni interdisciplinarni i teorijski pristup analizi materijala. Publikacija istodobno problematizira odnos arheologije prema fragmentarno sačuvanoj dokumentaciji i pokazuje kako reinterpretacija stare građe može otvoriti nova pitanja o društvenim odnosima i svakodnevnom životu prošlih zajednica. Kroz suvremeni pristup donosi novo sagledavanje vučedolske kulture i nalazišta tel Tržnica u Vinkovcima te otvara prostor za daljnja promišljanja o organizaciji i životu prapovijesnih zajednica istočne Slavonije.
