As we’ve previously written, a sensational find earlier this year brought us closer to having the full document.
Lumbarda is, and is seen more an more like it by the modern archaeologists, a large archaeological site, as the entire landscape is worth exploring, not one isolated location at the time. That is how the team lead by Hrvoje Potrebica approached the site, and that is what help them uncover the part of Lumbarda psephisma which lay uncovered for centuries.
Psephisma is a document written in 3rd century BC, describing how the Greek colony was formed on Korčula and what rights the citizens of colony were given. While it was important in the early history of Lumbarda, it was forgotten, only to be found in 1877 by a local, in the ruins of a medieval church.
The piece found this spring by dr. Potrebica fits at the top right-hand side of the document, and although it hasn’t been completely read by the experts (it is in quite a bad condition, and it’s not easily legible) it has given some new insights into the contents of the document. Now we know how much land each of the colonists were given in a greater detail, and psephisma also explains the registry of the land which is to be kept.
The newly-found piece is, as one would expect, joined with the rest of psephisma in Zagreb Archaeological museum, where it will be kept and further research in it will be done in the future using most modern methods. dr. Potrebica said at the press conference where the new piece was presented how the entire tank where those pieces were found should be protected as an archaeological site.
Photo from lumbardanet.com
The director of the museum, Sanjin Mihelić, announced that they planned to popularize psephisma in the upcoming year, hold lectures and other events to get more people to see it and understand it importance. In early 2020 Croatia and Greece will further deepen their cooperation in the field of research of Greek culture on our soil.
Greek ambassador, Stavros Tsiepas, to Croatia said that the cooperation is excellent, especially as Croatia is one of the countries in the European Union where the Greek sites have not been plundered.
The local community in Lumbarda has been extremely supportive of the research into their history, Igor Kršinić, municipality commissioner said, adding that they are hoping that the segment of archaeological tourism will grow further in Lumbarda.
