Evidence of reuse of Roman stone funerary urns at the Late Antique fortified settlement on Lukovac islet (Rab Island, Croatia)

This paper presents and contextualises a set of stone receptacles and a lid recovered during recent excavations at the Late Antique fortified settlement on the islet of Lukovac (Rab Island, NE Adriatic, Croatia). On the basis of stylistic and technical features, supported by regional analogies from Roman Dalmatia, the Po Valley and the Italian Regio X, the finds are interpreted as Early Imperial cinerary urns. Their original sepulchral context is further suggested by the co-occurrence of a fragmentary strongly profiled fibula of provincial type. All the objects appear in stratigraphic contexts associated with the post-7th-century phase of the site, characterised by dry-stone walls and wooden architecture, indicating their secondary deposition several centuries after manufacture. The Lukovac evidence is discussed within the wider phenomenon of Late Antique and Early Medieval reuse of Roman funerary monuments, with particular attention to the distinct legal and conceptual status of the burial itself (res religiosa) and to the practical dismantling of funerary architecture. The probable provenance of the urns is sought on the nearby Lopar peninsula, where Roman settlement is well attested but no necropolis has so far been securely located. Paralleled at Cickini on the island of Krk, the Lukovac assemblage points to a regionally significant pattern of recovery and reuse of grave assemblages, and provides the first direct testimony for stone cinerary urns from the island of Rab, confirming the adoption of Roman cremation practices on the island during the first centuries AD.