Mitja Guštin

On the Celtic tribe of Taurisci

Local identity and regional contacts
in the ancient world
MITjA GuŠTIN

History of Archaeological Research

In the Late Iron Age the area between the southern
edge of the Eastern Alps and the Northern Adriatic was
inhabited by diverse prehistoric populations living
there continually from the earlier periods, although
some newcomers arrived in to the area around 300
BC. They formed part of the Celtic communities of
Central European origin.
The presence of the Celts in this area was irst noted
in Styria and Carniola after 1829, when hoards of Celtic
coins were discovered in the area of Celje, in Vrhnika
and in Šmarjeta. Hundreds of Celtic silver coins drew
attention to the ‘barbarian’ Celtic coinage and based
on antique literary sources the historian Albert Muchar
determined in 1844 the Celtic tribes as the Taurisci,
Latobici, Sereti and Serapili.
Regarding the Celtic numismatic sources one should
mention the numerous inds in the riverbed of Savinja
in Celje (ancient Keleia, Celeia) where in the last 50
years thousands of small, as well as larger Celtic silver Figure 1
Map of Celtic communities between Pannonia and the Adria-
coins were discovered. Together with the discovered
tic, as well as the most important sites of the Taurisci group
Roman inds, e.g. examples of imperial coinage and (● settlements and necropolises, ♦ coin hoards):
jewellery parts, there is still a mystery concerning the 1 Vrhnika, 2 Bevke, 3 Ljubljana, 4 Vače, 5 Trbovlje, 6 Celje,
exact nature of these inds. 7 Lemberg, 8 Dobrna, 9 Magdalenska gora, 10 Stična, 11
The discovered Celtic coins were included in the Valična vas, 12 Roje, 13 Mokronog, 14 Novo mesto, 15 Vinji
group of so-called Tauriscan coinage (known also as vrh, 16 Mihovo, 17 Brežice, 18 Dobova, 19 Samobor, 20
Malunje, 21 Metlika, 22 Vinica, 23 jabukovac, 24 Sisak, 25
the eastern Norican type) displaying on the averse the
Kuzelin, 26 Ptuj, 27 Formin, 28 Ormož, 29 Murska Sobota,
motif of Apollo with a diadem and a horseman identi- 30 Križovljan, 31 Narta, 32 Đurđevac, 33 Ribnjačka, 34
ied with the name of a prince on the reverse (see Kos Virovitica, 35 Zvonimirovo.
1977). The principle area of circulation of these coins Compiled after Guštin 1984a, 306, Abb. 1.

119
Mitja Guštin
is concentrated in the area discussed (regarding their
northern distribution see Karwowski, Militký in this
book, p. 131-136). As can be seen from some hoards,
they must have been in circulation from the middle of
the 2nd century BC until the time of Tiberius.
Based on discoveries of Late Iron Age graves at
Mokronog (Nassenfuss) Carl Deschmann publically
presented and published the irst Celtic inds from
Carniola in 1885 in Vienna. Soon after, josip Brunšmid
(1899/1900) also published the irst Celtic objects from
northern and eastern Croatia. Half a century later Her-
mann Müller-Karpe (1951) was the irst to emphasize
in his analysis the similarity of Celtic objects from
Carinthia and Carniola and to ascribe all of them to
the Taurisci tribe.
A decade later Stane Gabrovec (1966) used the
inds from Celtic graves from Mokronog to deine the
so-called Mokronog group. For the inds and the sites
included in this group we can now assume an attribu-
tion to the Celtic Great Tauriscan tribal federation (see
also Guštin 1977; 2001; Božič 1999; and Dizdar in this
book, p. 99-118).
Apart from the Mokronog necropolis discovered
in 1885, a distribution of corresponding archaeological
inds was also recognised in the region between the
rivers Drava and Krka – the area between the southern
edge of the Eastern Alps and Northern Adriatic – which
was later extended also to the plains of the river Mura
and further to the southern parts of the rivers Sava
and Drava in eastern Croatia due to the similarity of
inds (ig. 1).
A need for the division of Celtic inds into pre-
cise categories led Nives Majnarić-Pandžić (1970)
to distinguish grave inventories from eastern Croatia
into four chronological phases. A further deinition of
characteristic Celtic inds included in the Mokronog
group and a division into six phases was proposed by
Mitja Guštin (1977; 1984a; 2001). Finally, Dragan Božič
(1987; 1999) reanalysed the corresponding Celtic inds
of the Mokronog group and created his phases I, IIa,
IIb, IIIa and IIIb, which correspond to the European
chronological phases Lt B, Lt C1, Lt C2, Lt D1 and Lt
D2. This precise division essentially matches the divi-
sion of the Celtic inds in their homelands north of the
Alps. Božič (2008) implemented this methodology again
120
for the last Late La Tène phase and it’s confrontation
with the neighbouring cultural groups in Italy.
Although the material culture of the Taurisci is
similar (sometimes identical) to that of other Central
and Eastern Celtic groups, some characteristics of the
attire, weaponry and the burial rite are distinct and
show differences in relation to other Celtic communi-
ties. With the help of ancient literary sources these
allow a clear deinition of a locally limited cultural
group, which may be correlated with the ethnic group
described as the Taurisci – a community inhabiting the
mountainous hinterland of the Caput Adriae and the
valleys of the rivers Sava, Drava and Mura (ig. 1; see
Guštin 1984a, 306, Abb. 1).
Literary sources from Antiquity
Although numerous texts mention the prehistoric
communities on the fringes of the Mediterranean world,
only modest descriptions of the Taurisci were preserved;
while not even the territory they inhabited was precisely
deined in epigraphical notes or historical commentaries.
During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC the territory between
the Adriatic Sea and the Eastern Alps was quite a terra
incognita for Mediterranean historians.
In 171-170 BC the Taurisci were briely mentioned
as allies to the Norici during the pillaging march of
the Roman consul, Gaius Cassius Longinus, whose
route passed partly through their territory. Cincibulus,
the Norican king’s brother, complained to the Roman
senate about the devastation this march had brought on
the Taurisci and their neighbours, the Histri, Carni and
Iapodi, and thereby received compensation for damages
incurred in the form of a license to buy highly prized
horses from Veneto. The Taurisci were also affected by
Cornelius Lentulus’ invasion of Celtic Segestica (Roman
Siscia, modern Sisak, south of Zagreb along the Colapis,
modern Kolpa estuary of the Sava) in 146-149 BC.
About a decade later, around 140 BC, gold was
discovered in Tauriscan territory. The inlux of this
new potential lowered the value of gold in the Italian
peninsula and when threatened with the rapid deple-
tion of this resource, Italic miners were banished from
the territory. As a consequence, the Roman consul G.
Sempronius Tuditanus was sent on a punitive retaliatory
march against the Taurisci and the adjacent tribes of

Iapodi and Histri, and presumably also the Carni and
Liburni in 129 BC. Only in 115 BC did M. Aemilianus
Scaurus succeed in defeating the Carni and probably
also the Taurisci, who must have been further plagued by
the encounters between the intruding Germanic Cimbri
and the Roman army in Noricum (ca. 109-100 BC).
According to Strabo, Nauportus was one of the
most important Celtic trade centres east of the Italian
peninsula in the 2nd century BC. The signiicance of the
trade route that passed over Ocra (Nanos) to the Caput
Adriae and along the river Ljubljanica (called Naupor-
tus in antiquity) was also described by Apollonius of
Rhodes in his version of the voyage of the Argonauts.
According to him, the Argonauts had sailed from the
Black sea up the Istros (Danube) and Sava to Nauportus
and then carried their legendary ship, the Argo, on their
shoulders all the way to the eastern shore of the Adriatic.
From the latter part of the 1st century BC through
to the following century AD various historians men-
tion a variety of tribes and their afiliates which are
uniformly identiied as Taurisci, together with a variety
of other Cisalpine tribes, including the Norici, Carni
and Iapodi. Strabo (ca. 63 BC - ca. 19 AD) mentions
the Taurisci in his Natural history as being strictly
Celtic (see IV 6, 9 - 10; IV 6, 12; V 1, 6; VII 2, 2; VII
3, 2; VII 3, 11; VII 5, 2); so too does Livy writing in
about 10 BC (History of Rome: XXXXIII 1, 4 - 12;
XXXXIII 5), as well as Pliny the Elder writing in the
mid-irst century AD (Natural History: III 20, 133;
III 25, 147 - 148). In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD both
Apian (III 16) and Cassius Dio (XXXXIX 34, 2; L
28, 4) mention the Taurisci as a warrior-like tribe that
often plundered Roman territory in the hinterlands of
Tergestica (modern Trieste).
In 56 BC, after the establishment of secure Roman
forts in northern Friuli, the Taurisci, together with the
Liburni and Iapodi were forced to pay tributes to Rome.
In approx. 41 (or possibly 50) BC the Taurisci united
with the Boï under their commander Critasiros, but
were defeated by the Dacian king Burebistas.
Eastern Tauriscan tribes were defeated by Octavian
between 35 and 33 BC, while western tribes bordering
on the Carni came under the dominion of the Kingdom
of Noricum, subsequently subdued by Rome in 16-15
BC at the hands of Drusus and Tiberius.
Mitja Guštin
Comments
In a rather cryptic passage Pliny the Elder (Natu-
ral History III 25, 148) tells us that the Taurisci were
situated on the western side (in tergo) of Mons Clau-
dius (presumably modern Moslovačka gora) and the
Scordisci on the eastern side (in fronte). Inventories of
contiguous tribes, the Carni, Norici and Boï, as well as
the Histri and Iapodi, enable us to locate the Taurisci
of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC in an area that extended
from Nauportus (Vrhnika) on the southern perimeter of
the Ljubljana plain to the river Kolpa in the southeast,
and from the Drava valley in the north-east to Mons
Claudius in the east (ig. 1).
The huge Celtic cemeteries from Novo mesto po-
sitioned in the strategic meander of the river Corcoras
(modern Krka) demonstrate from the onset a mainte-
nance of the tradition and a certain degree of symbiosis
with the native population – some forms of artefacts
and technological traditions like the shaft-hole axes
and hand-crafted pottery are still preserved in the Lt
C period. Obviously there was no direct replacement
of the indigenous populations by the Celtic arrivals;
moreover it seems that a long process of cultural as-
similation took place in Novo mesto.
However, quite a different process took place in the
vacant plains of the major river valleys and formerly
intensely inhabited mountainous landscape between
Krka and Sava. This was also a period of regionally
dictated developments in material culture, independ-
ent conigurations and inluences from neighbouring
tribes within the territory of the Taurisci, changes that
prompted the formation of yet smaller tribal entities.
Although Celtic inds from Vrhnika are scarce, a
large number of such inds, mainly metal items like
weapons and tools from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC,
was discovered in the river Ljubljanica. Among these
inds was also a hoard containing an Augustean gladius
and a so-called ‘Norican’ sword, together with some
agricultural tools. According to some sources Naupor-
tus, a Celtic port and emporium, existed as early as the
2nd century BC – an estimate indirectly proven by the
discovery of a 30 m cargo boat (pontonium) found near
Lipe in the central part of the Ljubljana moor (Gaspari
1998; Istenič 2010).
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Mitja Guštin
The ancient literary sources become more numer-
ous and begin to more clearly indicate the territorial
and ethnic division of the individual groups of the
Taurisci in the Late La Tène period, especially in the
1st century AD. On the edge of the South-eastern Alps
were mentioned: the Carni below the Carnian Alps,
the Taurisci in north-eastern and central Slovenia, the
Latobici between Krka and Sava, the Varciani along
Sava towards Sisak, the Serapili and Sereti along Drava
on the edge of Pannonia and the Iasi towards Varaždin.
The authors also list several smaller indigenous com-
munities, such as the Colapiani along the river Kolpa,
the Ambisontii in the Soča valley, the Subocrini around
Razdrto and the Rundicti in the Kras and Notranjska
regions (ig. 1). The Great Tauriscan tribal community
with some identiied smaller tribes (Latobici) never
developed into a state formation.
The Roman state gradually subdued the prehistoric
population and completely Romanised them through
a combination of military force, economic pressure,
political organisation and their own way of life. The
indigenous population survived in the towns and vil-
lage settlements, whose names frequently denoted the
area of a speciic tribal group (for example Praetorium
Latobicorum – Trebnje, Municipium Flavium Latobi-
corum Neviodunum – Drnovo near Krško).
Since the 1st century BC the local Celtic warriors
had been in contact and maybe also served as members
of auxiliary units in the Roman army. The process of
contacts can irst be observed on the hill fort of Šmihel
near Postojna with an interesting collection of Celtic and
Roman auxiliaria weapons (Guštin 1979; Horvat 2002),
in graves from Idrija pri Bači and later in Verdun with
old types of gladii and other parts of weaponry or even
with the Nova vas type ibulae (Božič 2008) produced
in the hinterland of the Caput Adriae and found in the
Roman legionary fortress of Càceres el Viejo, dated
to app. 78 BC (ulbert 1984) or the distribution of the
so-called Italic type helmets (Guštin 1990).
Later in the Augustan period Roman weaponry, e.g.
the short gladii and Wiesenau type helmets appear in
the territory of Taurisci. Their presence indicates that
especially the Celts above Gorjanci frequently opted
to partake in the Roman auxiliary units and preserved
some rights in the middle and the end of the 1st century
BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD.
122
This cooperation made a slow and peaceful transi-
tion from a prehistoric tribal social organisation to the
inclusion into the structure of the Roman state possible.
Burials continued from the earlier to the later period on
the same cemeteries in the area, as did also the Celtic
tradition of the burial rite with the deposition of ritually
destroyed weapons. These were still added long into
the 1st century, when the long period of political and
cultural inclusion took place. The prehistoric traditions
disappeared inally with the inal annexation of the
Balkans by the Roman Empire.
The Roman site of Nauportus (modern Vrhnika) is
mentioned as an important trading emporium for the
Taurisci in which Italic merchandise was transferred
from cargo carriers to boats and then transported along
the rivers Nauportus (modern Ljubljanica), Savus
(modern Sava) and Corcoras (modern Krka). As early
as the beginning of the 1st century BC Nauportus was
managed as a Roman vicus by merchants from Aqui-
leia with large warehouses and a sanctuary devoted to
the local goddess Equrna. With the formation of the
Emona colony in the beginning of the 1st century AD,
following a prehistoric Celtic settlement in the same
area, the importance of Nauportus decreased rapidly
(Horvat 1990).
Recent excavations beneath the Castle Hill in
Ljubljana demonstrated several settlement foci – a
presumably local settlement of a prehistoric population
and not far away the initial Roman military infrastruc-
ture. The same army was involved in the initial phases
of occupation and the construction in the area of the
later Roman city of Emona. One becomes tempted by
the idea that it was actually the indigenous population
that was involved (not voluntarily) with the building
of the Roman city (Gaspari 2010).
Further to the east, the numerous numismatic inds
also including semi-inished products discovered in
the river Savinja led to the assumption that we can
expect the existence of a prehistoric urban settlement
in the territory of the later Roman city of Celeia (see
Tiefengraber in this book p. 91-98). Moreover the recent
excavations on the fringes of the city demonstrated
this continuity with a monumental series of inds – a
religious area was discovered with continuity from a
prehistoric cultic pond to a series of Gallo-Roman and
 Mitja Guštin

Roman temples. They demonstrate that the Municipium

Claudium Celeia evolved out of the preceding Celtic
occupation of this strategic area. Its name – Celeia
– was probably taken from the Celtic name Keleia,
relections of which also appear in its medieval name,
Cillia / Cilli, as well as modern Celje.

Chronological and cultural phases

The traditional communication route – the ‘Amber
route’ – linking the Mediterranean with Central Europe
and the Baltic area further north played an important
role in the 9th and 8th centuries BC when the imports
of luxury goods from the Mediterranean production
centres triggered the formation of local aristocra-
cies in the territory of Styria (Rifnik, Poštela, Gornja
Radgona, Klein Klein, Strettweg… (Teržan 2007)) and
lower Carniola, which later became well known for its
mighty hill forts and large familial tumuli from the Early
Iron Age – a culture which has been justiiably famed
under the name of the Flourishing Carniolan Hallstatt
(Gabrovec 1966; Dular, Tecco Hvala 2007).
The irst contacts of the late Early Iron Age com-
munities with the Celtic creative spirit and its aesthetic Figure 2
Distribution of helmets with a reinforced calotte (● certain,
in the area south of Pannonia towards the Adriatic were
? possible, ■ depiction):
made possible by the arrival of imports at the end of 1 Mihovo, 2 Batina, 3 Holiare, 4 Felső Méra, 5 Ciumeşti, 6
the 5th century and in 4th century BC. This diversity of Apahida, 7 Orosfaia, 8 Lin, 9 Ohrid, 10 Arkovna, 11 Perga-
Celtic inluences from the area north of the Alps quite mon. After Schaaff 1988, 301, Abb. 14 and Rostoiu 2008, 23,
early, at the end of the 5th century, can be observed in Fig. 7, with additions; compiled by Andrej Preložnik.
some Hallstatt period inhumation graves, as for example
the two ingerings with a human face and outstanding Pannonian plain took place very probably at the end
ibulae from Vače (Teržan 2009), the zoomorphic headed of the 4th century BC - in the period of the great Celtic
ibula from Dolenjske Toplice, the bronze buttons with expansion towards Southern and Eastern Europe. It
Silenus igures from Šmarjeta and Vinica, and the short brought an end to the Early Iron Age (Hallstatt) culture
swords and belt set with characteristic bronze rushes and the communities in the hinterland of the Adriatic
from Magdalenska gora near Šmarje (Guštin 1984a, between Carinthia and Carniola were relatively rapidly
306 - 309). The latter are also known from Dolenjske assimilated by the Celtic newcomers, soon losing their
Toplice and from grave IV/3 from a tumulus at Kandija identity completely.
in Novo mesto (Knez 1986, T. 35). The most common New discoveries in the surroundings of Maribor and
artefacts of Celtic origin of this early period were Ptuj (but also the inds at Förk in Carinthia, at Kobarid
openwork bronze and iron belt hooks with basic decora- in the Soča valley and at Altino on the Adriatic coast)
tion elaborated in the form of opposing birds of prey, with characteristic warrior inventories determine the
monsters, dragons, or palmette derivatives (Frey 1987). beginning of Celtic penetration in the area between the
The arrival of the irst Celtic families (see Lubšina Eastern Alps and north-eastern Adriatic.
Tušek, Kavur in this book, p. 31-50) in to the region The further cultural development after the con-
between the southern edge of the Eastern Alps and the solidation and the inclusion of the inhabitants into the

123
Mitja Guštin
Figure 3
Ptuj-Srednica, Typical Central European Celtic Lt B2 pottery
(after Lubšina Tušek, Kavur 2008, Fig. 4: 4; also in this
book p. 31-50).
Celtic world could be observed as divided into several
cultural and chronological horizons represented by
typical objects from important Celtic cemeteries of the
Tauriscan communities. Little research has focused on
their settlement in the developed La Tène, although we
can trace their presence more securely during the later
phase, when they again occupied the mighty hill forts
of the Early Iron Age.
Lt B2 and Lt C
1. The late Early La Tène period, represented by
newly discovered small cemeteries near Ptuj at Sred-
nica and near Maribor at Orehova vas, together with
the earliest graves from Novo mesto and isolated inds
from Mokronog, Valična vas, Stična and Pobrežje near
Maribor, can be classiied as the earliest evidence of
early Celtic settlement in the decades around 300 BC.
One of the most important features of this period is
the evidence of skeletal inhumations at the sites of
Srednica and Orehova vas.
Iron helmets from Trbinc near Mirna and Novo
mesto-Kapiteljska njiva, grave 641 and 681 (Gabrovec
1990; Križ 2005) correspond to the famous Förk deposit
of weapons (Schaaf 1990), and can be regarded as
Figure 4
Dobova, grave 21 (after Guštin 1984a, Abb.18: 1-3).
124
symbols of the irst invaders in the region. The bronze
helmet from Šmarjeta, which was made in an Etruscan
workshop for an important Celtic warrior, should be
dated to the same period.
As a symbol of this horizon and as a demonstra-
tion of the Celtic military excellence which led them
all across the Balkans and the Aegean into central Asia
Minor, one can observe the distribution of the helmets
with a triangularly reinforced calotte (ig. 2), with a type
appearing in Mihovo, but most numerously represented
at the fringes of the Celtic world.
The geographical origin of these newcomers can be
determined by the provenance of their material culture.
These are not just the indicative helmets and weaponry,
but we can follow them also through argent jewellery,
like ingerings and bracelets made of twisted wire
and especially through pottery – the most outstanding
pieces come from Srednica near Ptuj where lasks with
a circular body, a narrow neck and an everted rim, the
so-called Linsenlaschen, were discovered (ig. 3).
In this early period of Celtic arrival the relatively
modest number of burials does not enable us to discuss
Figure 5
1 Metlika, 2 Veliko Mraševo, sword stamps (photo Mitja
Guštin).
the ethnic afiliation of the newcomers. In general we
can conirm their connections with the Central European
communities of the late Early La Tène.
2. The Middle La Tène period is represented by
larger cemeteries with cremation burials at Novo mesto,
Mokronog, Brežice, Dobova and others.
One of the main connecting elements demonstrating
the further development of the Early La Tène tradi-
tions could be observed in the production of weapons,
jewellery and of ine pottery. In the earliest Lt C1 we
still encounter lasks demonstrating the connection
with the Central European production centres, as for
example grave 21 in Dobova (ig. 4). But the decorated
 Mitja Guštin

cantharoi also demonstrate an orientation towards the

Eastern Central Celts, as for example the kantharos
from grave 40 in Novo mesto-Kandija (ig. 6).
In the Middle La Tène warrior graves are furnished
with uniform weaponry, which is individually decorated
and signed (ig. 5). Like in earlier periods the swords
with an open chape (Lubšina Tušek, Kavur in this book
p. 31-50), numerous swords corresponding to the types
north of the Alps and Central Europe territory also ap-
pear and together with other parts of weaponry show us a
very uniform picture of the weapons in the Celtic world.
Female graves contain bronze ibulae decorated
with iligree decoration or enamel, and the irst silver Figure 6
Grave 40 from Novo mesto-Kandija (after Guštin 1984a,
bracelets make their appearance. The distribution of
Taf. 46).
enamel decoration on ibulae Middle La Tène shape
shows us very well the contacts to the Eastern Celtic
communities (ig. 8). The same picture is repeated with
the distribution of bracelets made of twisted wire (Guštin
1991, Abb. 26; 2009, Abb. 2; Lubšina Tušek, Kavur
in this book, Fig. 15) and inger rings made from wire
(Guštin 2009), but also supplemented with the distri-
bution of ibulae with a iligree decoration (Brezinova
2008; see also A. Jovanović in this book p. 51-64).
These elements do not only demonstrate the areas
of origins and contacts which the Taurisci sustained but
also link the Celtic communities to the areas settled after
the migration in the hinterland of the Northern Adriatic
in the Po valley which was settled by the communities
of the Insubri, Cenomani, Boï, Senoni, and others.
It was in this period that the speciic traits of mate-
rial culture developed – traits on the basis of which we
can assume that the agricultural communities inhabit-
ing the area between the southern edge of the Eastern
Alps and the Northern Adriatic belonged to a unique
group. A group identiied by the ancient writers as the
communities of the Taurisci.
3. The late Middle La Tène phase (Lt C2) was repre-
sented by only short lived larger cemeteries containing
graves from only a single chronological phase, as for
example in Slatina in Rožna dolina and Zvonimirovo,
but also with a larger number of graves from Novo
mesto, Dobova, Brežice, and others.
The Lt C2 period is characterised by the develop-
ment of new forms in weaponry, especially the elonga- Figure 7
tion of the swords takes place and the entire surface of Dobova, grave 19 (after Guštin 1984a, Abb. 21).

125
Mitja Guštin
Figure 8
Distribution of Middle (●) and Late (▼) La-Tène shape
bronze ibulae with enameled plate:
1 Horní Věstoníce, 2 Holiare, 3 Beluša, 4 Blatnica, 5
Obišovce, 6 Törökszentmiklós-Surján, 7 Ilişua, 8 Căpuşu
Mare, 9 Berindia, 10 Alba Iulia, 11 Uilac, 12 Constanţa,
13 Oraovica-Kacipup, 14 Ostrovu şimian, 15 Orşova, 16
Banat-Iron Gates, 17 Mlava valley, 18 Zemun, 19 Novi
Banovci, 20 Boljevci, 21 Gospođinci, 22 Gomolava, 23
Breza-Kamenjača, 24 Donja dolina, 25 Baltine Bare, 26
Vinica, 27 Sela pri Zajčjem vrhu-Grac, 28 Mihovo, 29 Vinji
vrh, 30 Novo mesto-Kandija, 31 Valična vas. After Rustoiu
1997, Fig. 24; Popović P. 2002a, Fig. 2; Pieta 2008, Fig. 9,
with additions; compiled by A. Preložnik and M. Guštin.
the scabbard and its lower edge becomes decorated,
often terminating in opposing avian heads, but with a
motif of eyes on the back.
The spearheads become also more elongated and
the shield bosses begin to acquire outspread wings (e.g.
the shield bosses of the Skorba type), hammered chain
belts begin to replace ring belt sets, and the ibulae
made from iron wire become accompanied by bronze
and iron ibulae of the Mötschwill type.
In terms of cultural evolution we can observe an
undisrupted transition from the Middle to the Late
La Tène period. The elements of the Lt C2 become
forerunners of the succeeding phase and partly remain
present in its inventories.
126
Lt D1
The latest graves at Brežice, Dobova (ig. 7), Mokro-
nog, several graves in Mihovo and Šmarjeta-Vinji vrh
and a single grave at Magdalenska gora together with
part of Late La Tène cemetery at Novo mesto-Beletov
vrt represent the major inds of the early Lt D.
On the begin of this period we can still trace in the
material culture the tradition of the Middle La Tène
shapes, especially at sites where the burials continue
from the previous periods as in Brežice, Dobova and
Mokronog (Guštin 1977, 79-81; 1984a, 327-338), but
with the time the connection to great Celtic Central
European centres of innovations become less evident
and the local development creates several new formal
and stylistic traits of the material culture.
The swords with closed double-S clasps on the
scabbard become longer and shield bosses of the Mokro-
nog-Arqua Petrarca type develop. They were mainly
used by the Carni and the Taurisci but are spread also
on the territories of neighbouring communities in the
Northern Adriatic hinterland of the Po valley (Guštin
2002; Božič 2008).
The iron and bronze ibulae were produced in a
wide typological spectrum based on Late La Tène and
on the end of this period were already including also
Roman Republican forms. Enamel was common so on
ibulae (ig. 8), as well as on other decorated artefacts
of this period. Footed and ribbed beakers, characteristic
elements of the Late La Tène period, make their irst
appearance in the pottery assemblages of this period
Guštin 1984a; Božič 1999).
The Taurisci developed an independent and ar-
tistically unique creative oeuvre at the end of the
2nd century BC and in the 1st century BC, which was
mostly observable in the forms and decorations of
weapons. The originality of the helmets of the Novo
mesto type demonstrates the technical excellence of
their craftsmanship – they are produced as a ive-part
composition where individual elements of iron and
bronze are ixed together with rivets and cast with lead,
the cheek pieces are decorated with images of birds
and beasts and numerous red-enamelled decorative
bosses, which are spread also on the neck guard. This
type of iron, bronze and even silver helmets, which
are completely different from western Celtic forms, is
 Mitja Guštin

distributed from the Soča valley, through the numer- Roman ceramic and metal vessels). These funerary
ous inds in the region of the Taurisci, and further to inventories are similar to those from necropolises at
the North and East (Mihaljević, Dizdar 2007). These Novo Mesto, Mihovo and Strmec near Šmarjeta and
helmets represent the most visible connections with indicate a possibly connection to Roman auxiliaries.
other Celtic communities to the north and to the east. In Novo mesto the later graves from Beletov vrt
They are the principal and the last technological and contain ibulae of the Jezerine and Alesia types. These
aesthetic achievements of the prehistoric population were decorated in the openwork technique, which is
before the arrival of the Roman conquerors. the same as that on the bronze scabbards of the swords
from Šmarjeta and Ljubljanica. These artefacts date to
Lt D 2 the second half of the 1st century BC. Imported Roman
Horizon LT D2 or the Late Republican - Early
Imperial period is based on graves from this period Figure 9
at Beletov vrt at Novo mesto containing ibulae of Distribution of Laminci type belt plates:
the Jezerine and Alesia types. These were decorated 1 Novo mesto-Beletov vrt, 2 Sisak-Kolpa, Sisak-kod silosa,
3 Laminci (6x), 4 Breza, 5 Folkušová, 6 Nyergesújfalu, 7
in the openwork technique, which is the same as that
Törökszentmiklós, 8 Apatin, 9 Dalj, 10 Sotin-Zmajevac (2x),
on the bronze scabbards of the swords from Šmarjeta 11 Jarak, 12 Gomolava (3x), 13 Hrtkovci, 14 Beograd-Kara-
and Ljubljanica. These artefacts date to the second burma (3x), 15 Beograd-Rospi Ćuprija, 16 Židovar-Orešac,
half of the 1st century BC. Imported Roman metal and 17 Ram-Lederata, 18 Mala Vrbica-Ajmana, 19 Ušće Slatinske
pottery vessels frequently accompany footed beakers reke, 20 Ostrovul Şimian, 21 Hunedoara-Gradină Castelului,
in the graves (Istenič 2005; 2010). 22 Piatra Roşie, 23 Craiva-Piatra Craivii (6x), 24 Şura Mică,
25 Bratei, 26 Sighişoara, 27 Ocniţa, 28 Altimir, 29 Orlea,
For this horizon and followed Roman period in
30 Popeşti, 31 Chirnogi, 32 Vlădiceasca, 33 Piscu Crăsani,
very important the Celtic-Roman necropolis with 254 34 Pietroasele-Giuru Dării, 35 Cîrlomăneşti, 36 Poiana, 37
cremation burials dating from approximately 50 BC Poieneşti, 38 Boroseşti, 39 Lukaşevka, 40 Otveržiči. After
to about 300 AD, located south of Novo mesto near Babeş 1983 and Rustoiu 1996, with additions; compiled by
Verdun. Grave inventories from the oldest burials at A. Preložnik.
Verdun belong to the Late La Tène, while those from
the younger horizon date to the Augusto-Tiberian pe-
riod. Recently, in 2011, two similar graves were also
discovered in Ljubljana.
In Verdun older, large rectangular graves were
simply dug into the soil or rock with grave furnishings
and cremated remains placed freely at the bottom of
the grave pit. Younger, Roman graves were found in
different formats: sarcophagi made from stone plates,
in some cases also with compartmented walls and
roof plates and graves with stone frames constructed
in rectangular, oval or circular shapes in dry mortar
techniques. Cremated remains were placed in ceramic
or glass urns. Some of these graves had been robbed
in the past.
The graves of this period show typical inventories
comprising red burnt biconical pots, cups, grave vessels
with brushed ornamentation, and ritually destroyed
weapons (in addition to Celtic swords, also ive gladii,
two Roman helmets of the Weisenau type, and early

127
Mitja Guštin
metal and pottery vessels frequently accompany footed
beakers in the graves (Istenič 2005; 2010).
These furnishings indicate that the population
of Verdun, Novo mesto, Mihovo under the slopes of
Gorjanci was Celtic, perhaps belonging to the Latobici
– a small community mentioned in the texts of Roman
writers. Their territory was deined by ceramic footed
beakers typical of central Slovenia during the 1st cen-
tury BC and by characteristic house-shaped cinerary
urns from the Roman period. The Roman names of
some settlements as Praetorium Latobicorum (modern
Trebnje), as well Municipium Flavium Latobicorum
Neviodunum (modern Drnovo pri Krškem) bear wit-
ness to the Latobici (Petru 1971).
Later burials in Verdun contain grave goods that
are typical of the last Celtic inhabitants from the end
of the 1st century BC; however, ritually destroyed
weapons and traditional Celtic ceramic vessels are
still placed in graves until the middle of the 1st century
AD. In spite of this rite the construction of the graves
and their furnishings become typical of the central
Slovenian Roman period, especially of the Dolenjska
region (Guštin 1984a; Božič 2008).
Circular shield bosses, cleavers with flattened
handles and ring terminals, ibulae made from iron
wire, iron and bronze Beletov vrt type ibulae, bronze
ringlets with extrusions, mottled glass ringlets and large
amber beads become standard elements of the material
culture. In this period the irst silver ibulae (Metlika,
etc.) appear in an area inhabited by the Taurisci.
A belt plate with an iron core and decorated with
bronze sheets of the Laminci type and two handmade
Dacian cups with handles were discovered at the ceme-
tery of Beletov vrt in Novo mesto. The Laminci type
belt plate is the most western example of its type, which
is characteristic of the Dacian region (ig. 9). Together
with the so-called Dacian cups they are popular amongst
the Scordisci and the other tribes of the Central Balkans
and even as far as the distant Trans-Caucasian region.
128
They form the material conirmation of the historical
data claiming that the Celtic Taurisci and Boii were
collaborating in a battle against the famous Dacian king
Burebista, which took place in about 50 (or perhaps as
late as 41) BC. In Novo mesto these “Dacian” objects
were put in graves very late, at the beginning of the
1st century AD.
To conclude
The Celtic grave inventories, as well as the scant
settlement material discovered on the sites between
the southern edge of the Eastern Alps and the Northern
Adriatic and in the neighbouring regions for which we
can assume that in later prehistory they were settled by
the communities identifying themselves or being iden-
tiied by others as the Taurisci, can be compared with
those from the Celtic homelands in Central Europe.
Due to the technological development and the
development of forms as well as the areas from which
new inluences were arriving into this territory, they
can be roughly divided into two chronological and
cultural-historical horizons:
- In the Early and Middle La Tène the material cul-
ture demonstrates the connections and the inclusion of
the Taurisci in the international styles which are typical
for the central and eastern Celtic traditions.
In this early period of Celtic arrival the relatively
modest number of burials does not enable us to discuss
the ethnic afiliation of the newcomers. In general we
can conirm their connections with the Central European
communities of the late Early La Tène.
In the Late La Tène we can observe the evolu-
tion of local stylistic traits which were formed under
strong inluences and with imports from the powerful
neighbours from the Western Balkans (the communi-
ties of the Scordisci) and the oncoming of Roman or
Italic artefacts and close connection to the Romanised
communities of the Po valley and Veneto.

Contribution to chronology
Boris Kavur, Mitja Guštin
The dating of the last Heuneburg horizon with the
aid of absolute dates and Greek pottery (Brosseder et
al. 2003), an overview of dates for some of the bronze
vessels from Mediterranean Greek, Macedonian and
Etruscan workshops found in graves from the Central
European and Balkan world (Blečić Kavur, Kavur
2010; Rustoiu, Egri 2010, 221), an overview of Central
European imports in pan-Hellenic sanctuaries (Raub-
itschek 1998), and the presence of a relatively large
quantity of Late Republican Roman material in Celtic
areas (Werner 1979; Božič 2008) all form a base for
a consideration of some of the milestones of standard
La Tène chronology.
The congruence of absolute analyses and the dat-
ing of imported Greek pottery and therewith the last Ia
phase of the Heuneburg settlement into the irst decades
of the 5th century BC (Brosseder et al. 2003) marks the
absolute transition period from Late Hallstatt to Early
La Tène at this settlement (Teržan 2008, 276). Thus,
we must consequently search for the beginning of the
La Tène period - phase Lt A - in this chronological
framework. The end of Late La Tène undoubtedly
coincides with the period of the vastest expansion of
Celts towards south-eastern Europe. In their march
eastwards they came into contact with tribes from
the Balkans and especially the Macedonian Empire,
which was expanding its inluence area north at that
precise time.
The Celtic presence in the Central Balkans may be
approximated from the defeat and expulsion of Ardieans
in 359/358 mentioned by Theopompus (Zaninović
2003, 278; Šašel Kos 2005, 168-170), but certainly
490/480 Heuneburg I a
340/320 Waldalgesheim, Beograd-Karaburma
grave 22, Hurbanovo grave 18/64
ca. 140 End of graveyards at Brežice,
Dobova 16, 19, etc.
ca. 80 Novo mesto-Beletov vrt
Mitja Guštin
during Alexander the Great’s expedition against the
Tribali in 335 BC when the latter accepted a Celtic
delegation, as reported by Arian (Papazoglu 2007,
210-211; Theodossiev 2000, 80-82; 2005, 85; Guštin
2002; Džino 2008, 56).
This contact manifests itself in numerous Mace-
donian imports inding their way into graves of the
Celtic notables - the most exquisite examples being
a grave with a situla from Waldalgesheima, grave 22
with a situla and bowl from Beograd-Karaburma, and
grave 18/64 with a lekythos from Hurbanovo (Rolley
1990, 371-372; 2002, 57; Blečić Kavur, Kavur 2010;
Bouzek 2002, 53-55); which had until now been at-
tributed to a failed expedition to Delphi in 279/278.
On the other hand we can ind Celtic objects also in
Greece, e.g. walnut bracelets from Isthmia discovered
in a well of a Poseidon sanctuary complex (Raubitschek
1998, 70).
This is also the period the graves from Srednica near
Ptuj with their characteristic inventories are attributed to
(see Lubšina Tušek, Kavur in this book, 31-50), as well
as other material of these Celtic newcomers, who had
apparently come to the area of the southern perimeter
of the Eastern Alps in the decades prior to 300 BC.
Due to the lack of a clear break on the beginning
of the Lt D1 period – we are witnessing a mixture of
the classical Lt C2 and Lt D1 types on the end of Lt
C2 (ig. 7), we could assume the beginning of Lt D1
period earlier, maybe in the middle of the 2nd century
BC. Perhaps we could, as the change in the settlement
patterns suggests, link this change to the consequences
of the irst major Roman intervention on the continent
Begin of the La Tène period A
End of the Early La Tène period B2
Begin of the La Tène period D1
on the territory of Tavrisci
Intense presence of Roman material outside
the boundaries of the Republic – Lt D2
129
Mitja Guštin
– the Segestica campaign. The beginning of a turbulent
period was clearly visible in numerous hoards in western
Slovenia (Miškec 2003) as well as in new characteristics
of the local economy – the beginning of autonomous
coinage of the Taurisci (Kos, Žbona-Trkman 2009).
Much later, during Late La Tène, the ever greater
expansion of the Roman Republic in the 1st century
BC towards the Eastern Alps and into Pannonia also
brought numerous and variegated Roman material to
the area of the Taurisci. An important shift in dating
was rendered possible by a series of publications of
Roman material from grave contexts of the Late La
Tène period (Guštin 1991; Božič 2008; Istenič 2005;
130
2010), as well as absolute dates of individual Late
Republican contexts with similar inds, enabling us to
date the transition between Lt D1 and Lt D2 to around
80 BC (Ulbert 1984, 192-194; Božič 2008, 81-87;
Istenič 2010, 159).
The Lt D2 phase with its numerous inventory of
Roman provenance is important for the understand-
ing of the new circumstances, as during this time the
inhabitants of Late La Tène communities again settled
and fortiied the former Late Iron Age hill forts, most
likely due to the dangers of the Roman Empire expand-
ing in west and the Boï and Dacian conlicts in the east
(Guštin 1984a; 1996; Dular 1996).