Novensia: Studia i Materiały (21.2010)

Karol Szymczak
Małgorzata Anna Kot
Milos B. Petrićević
PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE FIELD WORKS
IN 2008 IN TAMNICA CAVE
NEAR RISAN, MONTENEGRO

Abstract: In 2008 two test trenches were opened in Tamnica cave in Kotor Bay in an effort to
establish site chronology. The cave was occupied mainly in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.
The ceramics can be dated to the Early Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Eneolithic and Early Bronze
Age. A Roman amphora sherd and a single microlithic backed piece found on the surface attest to
the site being occupied also in other periods. Amore detailed chronology could not be determined
owing to the mixed naturę of the deposits. Neither was it possible to analyze any aspects of the
settlement.
Key words: Rhizon/Risinium, Tamnica cave, Neolithic
Archaeologists from the Center for Research on the Antiąuity of Southeastem Europę, Uni-
versity of Warsaw, directed by Prof. Piotr Dy czek, have been excavating the Roman-period
site of Risan in Kotor Bay, Montenegro, sińce 2001. Their findings and assistance led in
2008 to a broadening of the scope of the project to include archaeological research on Stone
Age settlement in Kotor Bay. A few caves around Kotor Bay were chosen for testing.
The first to be tested was Tamnica cave located above the town of Perast [Fig. 1], on
the steep southwestern slope of the Rudo Brdo mountain (871 m a.s.l.) in the Dinaric Alps.
The site is situated close to the Spiła cave, which was excavated in the 1960s. Six archae-
ological layers were identified. The bottom levels (I a-c) were dated to the Early Neolithic,
the upper ones (II a-c) to the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age.1
Tamnica is a large, cold and humid dripstone cave in a limestone formation. There is
presently no plateau in front of the entrance to it and it is very likely that nothing has changed
from prehistorie times. Anarrow seaward-oriented entrance at an altitude of 350 m led from
the south [Fig. 2 a] into a corridor, 3 m high and approximately 20 m long, which ran in
a northeasterly direction toward the main chamber. The floor of this chamber was situated
morę than 3 m below the level of the floor in the passage [Fig. 2 b]. The main chamber has
an area of approximately 15 m by 10 m and a height of over 5 m. It is filled with calcium
carbonate formations, including flowstones, draperies, stalactites and stalagmites. The
process of precipitation is still active and water constantly drops from the roof and walls.

1 Markoyić 1985.