Vičja Luka Archaeological Site, Bobovišća

Vičja luka is a deep bay on the western part of the island of Brač, in the municipality of Milna in Split-Dalmatia County. It divides into two smaller bays, the one beside the settlement of Bobovišća and Vičja luka itself, and both offer a safe anchorage for those sailing through the Split Gate. The site is protected both on land and under the sea.

The most important find consists of four prehistoric graves, discovered in 1908 during land clearing. They were covered with stone slabs, and the finds were bought from the farm labourer Frane Rakela by the Archaeological Museum in Split. Because experts were not present at the opening, information on the position of the skeletons and grave goods was lost. Metal objects have been preserved, among them three bronze helmets of the Greek-Italic type, bracelets, fibulae, pins, pendants and a ring with a depiction of a bird, along with fragments of imported Greek pottery. The investigation in 1957 yielded little, with a silver coin of the city of Croton and half of a glass gem.

It is assumed that there was a larger necropolis there belonging to the settlement at the nearby Rat hillfort, and the rich grave goods speak of exchange between the local population and Greek mariners for whom the bay was a shelter. The site is a protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5941.

Photo: Falk2, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).