The prehistoric settlement in the area of present-day Ljubljana, built at the crossroads of many important trade routes, had acted as a trading centre since the time of the Urnfield culture. Inhabited from the 13th to the 5th century BC, it experienced a drastic population decline from the middle of the 8th to the 7th century BC, as evidenced by a small number of contemporary graves. The internal layout of the settlement found at Tribuna (in the area of the Prule district) suggests a thoughtful and well-planned design of the prehistoric settlement space. The location of the acropolis on the strategically important castle hill and the “lower town” of Tribuna, inhabited by craftsmen and merchants, also reveal distinct early urban elements. Given the natural affordances of the wider area, a neighbourhood of workshops and warehouses could be expected near the Ljubljanica River, while the area of the present-day Poljane district, with its fertile eutric soil, might have served as arable land.Prazgodovinska naselbina na prostoru današnje Ljubljane je bila zgrajena na stičišču pomembnih prometnic in je delovala kot trgovsko središče že od kulture žarnih grobišč. Življenje v njej je potekalo od 13. do 5. st. pr. n. št., pri čemer je od sredine 8. in v 7. st. pr. n. št. opazen drastičen upad v poselitvi, kar se odraža tudi v majhnem številu grobov. Notranja struktura naselbine, odkrite na Tribuni (predel Prul), nam priča o premišljeni, dobro načrtovani ter strnjeni poselitvi. V njej se zrcalijo zametki urbanih elementov, sploh upoštevajoč domnevo, da je akropola stala na strateško pomembnem Grajskem hribu in da je bilo na Tribuni »spodnje mesto« večjega naselbinskega areala, v katerem so živeli in ustvarjali obrtniki (rokodelci) in trgovci. Ob reki Ljubljanici bi smeli pričakovati predel z gospodarskimi objekti oz. delavnicami ter pristan, na območju Poljan pa zaradi rodovitnih evtričnih rjavih tal polja, na katerih so uspevale kultivirane rastline
