San Rocco/Koromačnik military camps (2nd–1st centuries BC)

On the San Rocco hill, remote sensing and field-walking campaigns indicated the existence of a large Roman military camp (Camp 1) extending over the whole area, a small camp on the top of the hill (Camp 2), and a large area south of it where orthogonal structures have been identified. To clarify the function and chronology of the remains, three trenches were opened in 2019 and 2021. Part of a terrace construction dated between the end of the 2nd and mid-1st century BC was found in Trench 1. Together with orthogonal crop and shadow marks, it indicates that a large part of the hill was arranged in terraces. The northern rampart of Camp 1 was excavated in Trench 3. The 6.5-m-wide fortification of Phase 1 consisted of four lines of defence combining a low stone wall with a wooden superstructure, protected by a palisade, two lines of wooden obstacles, and a stone escarpment. The structure, dated to the 2nd century BC, was destroyed by a fire and restored by adding an earth bank in Phase 2 (end of the 2nd or beginning of the 1st century BC). Camp 2 on the top of the hill was protected by a low walkway that consisted of an earth rampart reinforced on the inside by a row of stones and on the outside by a stone accumulation (Trench 2). Its construction in Phase 1 is dated into the pre-Caesarean period and the renovation in Phase 2 into the mid-1st century BC.