Bronze-Age stone tumuli on Planinica Hill, obš. Tuzi, Montenegro

Abstract

Tumuli in Montenegro are regarded as Bronze and Early Iron Age structures, but the majority of those sites have not been explored. The archaeological record indicates significant differences in their construction. The tumuli on Planinica — the first investigated stone burial mounds in Montenegro — regarding their construction, have analogies with the Early Bronze Age site of Rječani near Nikšić only, they do not compare with sites with a later chronology. Giving the state of research on the topic however, it should be pointed out that this is only hinted at. The Brillenspirale found in the sarcophagus of Tumulus II, based on finds from the comprehensively published site Velika Gruda near Tivat, indicates a much later date — to the Late Bronze Age. The minimum number of 7 individuals (probably males) buried in Tumulus II — fitting the ancestral pattern — encourages the interpretation of a long-term burial