{"id":81137,"date":"2026-08-04T11:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rogatec.si\/donacka-gora\/rogac-archaeology\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T11:50:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:50:33","slug":"rogac-archaeology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rogatec.si\/en\/donacka-gora\/rogac-archaeology\/","title":{"rendered":"Rog\u00e1\u010d – Archaeology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LATE BRONZE AGE – the Ha A phase (1200 – 1000 BCE)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The results of the small-scale archaeological investigation conducted in 2016 indicate that people in the Late Bronze Age established a refuge settlement on Dvor, as Anton Kores and Ignacij Oro\u017een already presumed.<\/p>\n\n

The steep terraced southern slope of the settlement perched high above the lowland tell of the dangers to the people inhabiting these riverine plains of \u0160tajerska in the Late Bronze Age. This was a period marked by an abrupt break with old traditions and the appearance of new ones, which swept across the region of Podravje and the whole of central Europe. <\/p>\n\n

In the time when the terraced settlement on Dvor was established, there was great social turmoil in the Eastern Mediterranean. The once flourishing cities \u2013 centres of economic power that included Homeric Troy \u2013 were torn down and burnt. The once powerful states in the Near East were in decline, their development crippled. Only Egypt, under the rule of Ramses III (roughly 1189 – 1155 BCE), escaped the same fate, albeit barely. Even there, the economic strain brought on by incessant conflicts with neighbouring states and plundering Sea Peoples weakened Egypt so that it never again reached the greatness it enjoyed under Ramses II (roughly 1279 – 1213 BCE). <\/p>\n\n

Many scholars see climate changes as the root cause of the unrest that the Eastern Mediterranean witnessed in the late 13th and early 12th centuries BCE. A considerable drop in temperatures presumably caused a prolonged period of drought. The contemporary literary sources clearly relate severe food shortages, which in turn caused plundering and mass migrations. <\/p>\n\n

Is it possible that this turmoil spilled from the areas of the advanced civilisations into central Europe? It is certainly possible that we are dealing with a local response to the climate changes that resulted, at the onset of the 12th century BCE, in human migrations. These brought unrest to the flatlands of central Europe and, at least temporarily, a new strategy of survival in moving to more remote, mountainous locations. It has also been suggested that the widespread appearance of cremation burial across central Europe is a measure adopted to stop the spread of infectious disease that usually affect hunger-stricken populations. <\/p>\n\n

The refuge settlement on Rog\u00e1\u010d is associated with two Bronze Age hoards in its wider surroundings. The burial of valuable bronze artefact is seen as another indication of unsettling times in the region. The owners of these artefacts never returned to claim their possessions. The small hoard, of complete bronze objects (2 axes, 3 sickles) from Cerovec below the plateau of Bo\u010d, dates to a time just before the settlement on Rog\u00e1\u010d was established (roughly 1300-1200 BCE). The bronze axe found in Rogatec shares the same time frame. The much larger hoard comprises fragmented objects (3 swords, 17 axes, 10 spearheads, 19 sickles, 5 razors\/knives, 2 chisels\/awls, 10 jewellery pieces, 4 ingots and 21 unidentified items) that came to light at Pridna vas, below the neighboring Mt Resenik. It was buried in a time when the terraced settlement on Rog\u00e1\u010d was already inhabited (roughly 1200 – 1000 BCE). <\/p>\n\n

EARLY IRON AGE – the Ha D phase (600 – 500 BCE)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Several pottery sherds can be attributed to the late part of the Early Iron Age (6th century BCE). They suggest brief human habitation on the mountain that may be linked to the presence of Scythians, a tribe of nomadic warriors, in the Podravje region. Only 50 km east of Rog\u00e1\u010d, two tumuli also associated with Scythians were found at the village of Jal\u017eabet, Croatia. The recent archaeological investigations there have revealed that the large tumulus held the cremated remains of a Scythian dignitary buried in his costume. The smaller tumulus or burial mound contained the burnt remains of a horse and the outfit of a warrior, consisting of pieces of both offensive weaponry (arrowheads) and armour (scale armour). The horse certainly belonged to the deceased. The burials date to the first half or middle of the 6th century BCE. Next to the burial mounds is a settlement that still awaits investigation. <\/p>\n\n

The most visually compelling evidence of the presence of Scythian tribes in the eastern Alpine region is the bronze belt plate depicting a hunting scene, which was found in one of the graves on the hill of Molnik near Ljubljana. The grave has been dated roughly from the late 6th to the first quarter of the 5th century BCE. The scene shows a hunter with a bow and arrow wearing trousers and shirt \u2013 typical costume of mounted nomadic peoples. On his head is a Phrygian cap, the origins of which are to be sought in the Black Sea area. As a parallel, we should mention the fa\u00e7ade of the tomb of Persian King Darius I (522-486 BC), located in Naq\u0161-e Rostam (Iran), that shows warriors representing 28 subjugated peoples; three of the warriors wear a Phrygian cap and represent Scythians. <\/p>\n\n

LATE ANTIQUITY, EARLY MIDDLE AGES (4th – 10th century CE)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The Late Antique coins, pottery sherds and two stone sarcophagi from Rog\u00e1\u010d<\/strong> are silent witnesses of the turbulent times in the region during Late Antiquity and the early medieval period (4th – 10th century). The large-scale migrations of peoples across Europe, which was all but a peaceful affair, came to an end after the mounted nomadic Magyars settled in the Pannonian Plain. In Podravje, elements of the Slavic Belo Brdo culture appear at the transition from the 10th to the 11th century. These elements are harbingers of the ethnogenesis of the Slovenes in the \u0160tajerska region. Two terraces of the settlement in Dvor yielded the remains of a jar, the form of which dates to this time frame as well, i.e. the transition from the 10th to the 11th century. The dating of the jar chronologically corresponds with the radiometric dating (between 973 and 1049) of a piece of charcoal taken during the archaeological investigations in Dvor.<\/p>\n\n

The presence of Early Slavs on the mountain and its vicinity is reflected in two Early Slavic toponyms, namely Rog\u00e1\u010d for the mountain and Dvor for the terraced settlement. The masculine name for the mountain (Rog\u00e1\u010d) and feminine for the stream and hamlet below it (Rogatnica) indicate the possibility of a Slavic mythological landscape in an area where people already adopted Christianity. The vantage point where Castle Roga\u010d once stood, above modern-day Rogatec, offers a clear view of the southern slope of Don\u00e1\u010dka gora and its three peaks – horns. Could Rog\u00e1\u010d represent the symbol of the supreme divinity Triglav who inhabits the celestial Dvor – Court? Do the three peaks of Rog\u00e1\u010d personify the trinity from the central Slavic mythology, i.e. Perun – Moko\u0161 – Veles? <\/p>\n\n

MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL PERIODS (11th – 19th century)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The earliest artefacts from this period are two rim sherds of pottery dated between the 13th and 15th centuries. In this case as well, the use of the refuge settlement can be associated with mounted nomadic warriors from the East. <\/p>\n\n

More precisely, it was the Turks who struck fear and brought suffering to the local population. They reportedly first ransacked the flatland of Dravsko polje in 1396, enslaving roughly 16,000 persons. An anti-Turkish fire beacon was constructed on the top of the mountain in the first half of the 16th century. The beacon is depicted on a Josephinian military map from 1785. It used fire and mortar thunder to signal to the people far and wide of the impending danger. Between 1716 and 1719, the church of St Donatus was constructed on the mountain. It was heavily damaged by a lightning bolt in 1741 that also killed 59 of the more than 300 injured pilgrims. In 1743, renovation works began and the church was consecrated on 10 November 1743. <\/p>\n\n

MODERN PERIOD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

(20th century)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The last human intervention on Rog\u00e1\u010d is the quarries, in which stone workers extracted the raw material for the production of hand-mills. These were local craftsmen living in the farmsteads around Rog\u00e1\u010d. Not much is known of the beginnings of this craft. The absence of any notes of quarries, stone-workers or hand-mill production in the written records from the 18th and 19th centuries suggests that the craft must have started later, at the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. 19. The last stone-worker, Jakob Polaj\u017eer born in 1943, mentioned three generations of stone-workers in his interview with Bo\u0161tjan Odar on 11 July 2020. <\/p>\n\n

It is possible that the first one to make hand-mills was master Anton Vre\u0161, who lived in close proximity to the church of St Donatus. When needed, he hired ten or more assistants; stone working assistants thus came from almost every farm on the southern slopes of Rog\u00e1\u010d. Brothers \u0160tefan (1912-1960) and Vinko Kitak (1917-2000) come from the second generation of stone-workers; they learned their craft with master Vre\u0161, similarly as their father before them. Vinko Kitak went on to marry Vre\u0161\u2019s daughter. Jakob Polaj\u017eer represents the last generation. In 1965, he married into the home of then late \u0160tefan Kitak and trained as the assistant with Vinko Kitak. Stone-working also involved smithing, as the stone-workers made and repaired their own tools of steel. In the area of the quarry, they made terraces and on them built huts. Exhausted from work, they would often spend the night in these huts to save themselves the tiring journey. The craft died out in 1970. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tCross section of the mountain in the NW-SE direction.\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tRelief map of Mount Roga\u010d with the settlement Dvor\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tTest trench on the terrace. View to the west. A precipice in the background. \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCross section of the mountain in the NW-SE direction.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelief map of Mount Roga\u010d with the settlement Dvor\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTest trench on the terrace. View to the west. A precipice in the background. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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