Four years after the fantastic discovery of a 2500-year-old Illyrian helmet from Zakotorac in Peljesac, archaeologists on Wednesday morning, almost in the same place, found another even older one!
The news was reported by Marta Kalebota, a Croatian archaeologist from the City Museum of Korcula and a member of the archaeological team excavating with enthusiasm in Zakotorac.
The same team that found the first helmet in 2020 also found a second one, slightly older, but the details will be determined by detailed analysis, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.
“Hrvoje picked up a stone and started shouting that he had found another helmet! The feeling is, at least, phenomenal, I feel very excited, an unbelievable discovery and for the second time,” she claimed.
The second helmet was found ten meters away from where the first one was found.
They are slightly different, differing in the sides and face, which leads us to conclude that the one found today dates back to the 5th-6th century, meaning it is slightly older than the first one, but details still need to be determined, stated the new archaeologist Kalebota.
In addition to her, the team consists of Dr. sc. Prof. Hrvoje Potrebic from the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, who found the helmet, as well as Domagoj Perkic from the Dubrovnik Museums who leads the team and finances the excavations.
Kalebota has revealed that the helmet was found in a semicircular annex, surrounded by stones in a large pile, while the first one was found in the area near the grave with many other artifacts such as spearheads, wheels, pottery, amber, and others.
Archaeologists are still speculating whether it is a helmet that was a dedication gift to a fallen warrior or whether it was valuable for the entire crowd, so if it was in the service of other burials. It is in very good condition, slightly polished at the top.
More details will be known soon, but the reason why such valuable helmets are found in Zakotorac is certainly the Peljesac Channel.
For thousands of years, the 12-kilometer-long sea channel that separates the island of Korcula and the Peljesac peninsula has been and remains the safest and shortest trade and passenger route to Dubrovnik.
The Peljesac Channel is the reason for many other archaeological sites on the island and peninsula, and the people who lived there were usually wealthy, either because of piracy or because of trade, as evidenced by the objects found, expensive.
Most likely, archaeologists have concluded that the first helmet most likely belonged to Illyrian pirates (or pirates), and more will be known about the second one after analysis.
