Roman villa in the Soline cove on the Island of St. Clement near Hvar Preliminary analysis of the architecture according to geophysical investigations and sondages
U uvali Soline na otoku Sv. Klement kod Hvara vršena su arheološka istraživanja od kolovoza 2007. do srpnja 2012. godine. Istraživani su ostaci rimske vile, smještene uz plodno polje i more, koja bi se prema položaju i funkciji u krajoliku i akvatoriju mogla smatrati maritimnom vilom. Razdoblje je aktivnosti i naseljavanja datirano po nađenom pokretnom i građevnom materijalu te teksturi zidova od ranog carstva do kasne antike. Vidljivi ostaci vile pretežno su iz kasnoantičkog razdoblja. Vila je građena u dvije ili više faza. Kasnoantička nadogradnja je reupotrijebila mnoge elemente ranije vile. Različite spolije nalazimo ugrađene u kasnoantičke zidove i ispod kasnoantičkih podnica, kao npr. pragove ulaza u prostorije, dijelove hipokausta terma, obrađeno kamenje iz zidova koje je kombinirano s grubo pritesanim kamenom upotrijebljenim u kasnoj antici. Kasnoantičke preinake, vjerojatno, su vezane uz solane u uvali Soline. Kompletni areal vile nije ni približno definiran, kao ni svi sadržaji iz tih razdoblja koji su se nalazili na otoku Sv. Klement. Nakon šest godina arheoloških istraživanja proširena su saznanja o lokalitetu čija su istraživanja započela 1956. i 1957. godine. Preliminarni rezultati daju znatan doprinos općem saznanju o ruralnim naseljima na srednjodalmatinskim otocima i njihovoj povijesnoj ulozi u privredi i navigaciji u Jadranu. Pojedinačni nalazi pokazuju raspon od 2. st. pr. Kr. do 6. st. U istraživanjima su korištene neinvazivne metode očitavanja zračnih snimaka i elektromagnetske detekcije te istraživanje arhitekture na terenu i otvaranje manjih probnih sonda koje se, nakon završene kampanje, zatrpavaju.In the Soline cove on the island of St. Clement near Hvar, archaeological excavations were conducted from August 2007 to July 2012. The object of the investigation were the remains of a Roman villa located next to a fertile plain and close to the sea and its position and function in the landscape and the maritime zone indicate that it may have been a maritime villa. According to the movable material, building material and texture of the walls, its period of activity and habitation was dated to the Early Imperial period until Late Antiquity. The visible remains of the villa are mostly from Late Antiquity. It was built in two or more stages. The annex from Late Antiquity reused many elements of the earlier villa. We find different spolia built into walls from Late Antiquity and under floors from Late Antiquity, such as doorsteps on entrances to rooms, parts of the hypocaust of baths, dressed stone blocks from the walls combined with rough-hewn stone blocks used in Late Antiquity. The reconstructions from Late Antiquity were probably linked to the salt works in the Soline cove. The complete area of the villa is not even roughly defined, as is also the case with all the structures from those times located in the island of St. Clement. Six years of archaeological investigations have enriched our knowledge about this location where investigations began in 1956 and 1957. The preliminary results are a significant contribution to the general knowledge on rural settlements on the central Dalmatian islands and their historic role in the economy and navigation in the Adriatic. Individual finds show a range from the 2nd century BC to the 6th century. The investigations employed non-invasive methods of aerial imagery and electromagnetic detection, as well as architectural field investigations and opening of small-scale sondages which are then filled up again with earth after the end of the campaign
