A Preliminary Report on the Results of the Lovas Archaeological Project (LAP) in Eastern Croatia. Seasons 2011, 2017, and 2018
Abstract
The archaeological heritage of the Lovas Municipality, located in eastern Croatia (western Syrmia), has been known to the wider archaeological public since the middle of the 20th century, when a Middle Bronze Age (MBA) hoard of gold and bronze finds was discovered. However, apart from the importance of the hoard for the definition of the MBA in Croatia, any detailed systematic research in the area was not attempted until 2011, when the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb conducted its initial research season in the Lovas Municipality.
The project was restarted in 2017, in cooperation with the Lovas Municipality and the Institute of Classical Archaeology of Charles University in Prague, and has been continuously running ever since. In the last five years, research in the Lovas Municipality included a systematic field survey, targeted trial excavations, geophysical surveys, as well as a re-evaluation of the data collected through previous research and in 2011.
Moreover, the project included the re-study of the MBA Lovas and Vukovar hoards. This paper presents preliminary results of the 2011, 2017, and 2018 seasons, focusing primarily on the current insight into the archaeological topography of the Lovas Municipality.
Additionally, the paper brings the preliminary results of scientific analyses of the Lovas and Vukovar hoards that were conducted in 2020.