Four years after the fantastic discovery of the two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old Illyrian helmet from Zakotorac on the Pelješac Peninsula, archaeologists this morning, almost in the same place, found another one, and even older!
We learn the incredible news from Marta Kalebota, an archaeologist from the City Museum of Korčula and a member of the archaeological team diligently digging at Zakotorac. The same team that found the first helmet in 2020 has now found another, slightly older one, but details will only be determined through a detailed analysis, as reported by slobodnadalmacija.hr.
"Hrvoje lifted a stone and started shouting that he found another helmet! The feeling is, to say the least, phenomenal. I feel very excited, an incredible find for the second time. The second helmet was found about ten meters away from the location of the first. They are slightly different, distinguished by the cheekpieces, indicating that the one found today dates back to approximately the 5th - 6th century, which means it is slightly older than the first one, but we still need to determine the details," young archaeologist Kalebota told us breathlessly.
The lucky team, led by Marta Kalebota and the Korčula museum, also includes Dr. Hrvoje Potrebica from the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, who found the helmet, and Dr. Domagoj Perkić from the Dubrovnik Museums, who leads and finances the excavations. We must not forget Dr. Marko Dizdar from the Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb and the Slovenian archaeologist Borut Križ from the Dolenjska Museum in Novo Mesto, who, as Kalebota reveals, will rush to Pelješac tomorrow. It is worth mentioning Ivana Pamić from the Croatian Home Viganj Association, who provides logistical support to the team in the familiar terrain and, even before any official major discoveries, encouraged archaeologists to excavate by convincing them that Zakotorac is hiding something. Also participating were Vicenco Pijerov, a curator intern at the Dubrovnik Museums, Mirna Šandrić, a student at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Miroslav Vuković from the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
He was more than right, and the news of another excellently preserved and very old helmet has shaken scientists, archaeologists, and historians worldwide. This concerns the location of the ancient settlement of Zakotorac in Donja Banda on Pelješac and the village of Nakovana. Kalebota reveals to us that the second helmet was found in a semicircular annex surrounded by stones in a large heap, while the first was found in an area next to a grave with many additional items such as buckles, beads, ceramic vessels, amber... Archaeologists are still speculating whether this was a votive gift for a deceased warrior or if it was valuable for the entire heap, i.e., if it served other burials. It is in excellent condition, with just a slight dent at the top.
We will know more details soon, but the reason such valuable helmets are being found on Zakotorac is undoubtedly the Pelješac Channel. For millennia, the 12-kilometer-long sea channel separating the island of Korčula and the Pelješac Peninsula has been and remains the safest and shortest trade and passenger route to Dubrovnik. The Pelješac Channel is the reason for numerous other archaeological sites on the island and the peninsula, and the people who inhabited them were usually wealthy, either due to piracy or trade, as evidenced by the found valuable items. Archaeologists have concluded with great probability that the first helmet belonged to the Illyrians of Plera, and more will be known about the second after analysis.
Congratulations to the archaeological team on Pelješac for yet another fantastic discovery in the style of Indiana Jones, whose musical background archaeologist Kalebota used to announce the news on her social media.
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