During the ongoing excavations in the Split Pjaca on Wednesday morning, a skeleton was discovered at the site where HEP was laying new high-voltage cables. The skeleton lies on the remains of the Sv. Lovre church, dating from the late antiquity, and is known as one of the earliest Split churches, reports Splitski Dnevnik on March 27, 2019.
The Sv. Lovre church was in use from the 7th-century and was demolished in the 15th century. Research located the church in the 1970s, and in this area, walls appear to belong to an object that was then defined. For now, the western and southern wall of the church has been located, but its exact size is still unknown.
Slobodna Dalmacija Reader
“Finding skeletons in this location is nothing out of the ordinary. Namely, around the church itself, after it was demolished, it was buried quite deep. We assume that the church was built at the end of the fifth or early sixth century, and was demolished in the 15th century. Afterwards, the Pjaca was built here during the Renaissance transformation. The Pjaca is historically known as Sv. Lovre Square and the church itself dates back to the late antiquity. It is one of the earliest Split churches,” says Radoslav Bužančić, head of the Conservation Department.
The skeleton itself will be processed, and further research will decide what will happen to it next. Once all is said and done, the works will continue in this part of Pjaca, though no date is known as of yet.
This archaeological evidence shows the transformation of Diocletian’s Palace into the ancient city, showing the expansion from the palace to the west, Dr Bužančić adds.
Slobodna Dalmacija reported that the latest archaeological research on this site, which was a prerequisite for the start of the reconstruction of the Hotel Central, was carried out in 2010. It confirmed that there are remains of Romanesque houses, 19th-century sewers and medieval cemeteries, along with large stone blocks from ancient times under Pjaca, making today’s find not entirely surprising.
During the research conducted in 1978 southwest of the City Hall, in the middle of the Square, at a depth of only 30 to 50 cm, a cemetery was discovered with a total of 24 graves with skeletal remains.
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