CULTURAL DEFINITION

AUTHOR

Name

Italic itinerant workers

Personal data/chronology

4. century - 5. century

Grounds of basing the dates

stylistic analysis

COMMISSIONER

Notes

Villa Maritima, which in its first phase was a property of the duumviri quinquennales of the Pula colony, it occupied the whole bay. The villa also included a homestead complex, a mooring and a production unit. After the fire in the 2. half of the 4. century the villa was thoroughly rebuilt (new owner). That was the time of the Ostrogoth invasions, but both complexes on Dragonera kept up continual habitation. In the 6. century Istria fell under the Byzantine Empire, which was followed by the immigration of the Slavs. The first and second phases, with all their building features, match Roman building standards of that period. The key features for accurate dating are the workshop stamps on the ceramics that were used in building the property. The whole complex contains a range of features which were used for dating the changes that happened over a period of 600 years, in which there was habitation in these two complexes. The building, in its basic concept, hasn't changed substantially during the whole period, and a series of outbuildings is important in many ways, for example a blacksmith’s workshop which was one of the first recorded in this area in general. Various items that were found here bear witness to many activities, events and living habits inside the complex. The last inhabitants left Dragonera in the 7. century and it is assumed they fled to nearby Veli Brijun.