A complete terracotta Greek theater mask was found in an excavation of the Black Lake cave on Croatia’s Pelješac peninsula. It is has a hanging hole at the top of the head and is hollow in the middle, so was probably designed to be hung, like on the wall of the cave when it was used as a cult sanctuary.
Archaeological investigations in 2025 and earlier this year found evidence of human use of the cave entrance and side areas dating back to the 2nd millennium B.C. Bronze Age peoples used it for temporary habitation, taking refuge there during times of conflict, inclement weather or for seasonal stays. In the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, it was used as a necropolis. Radiocarbon analysis of the skeletal remains found they date to between 1012 and 481 B.C. After this 500 year period, burials stopped.
The use of the cave did not stop, however. In the next phase of occupation from the late 4th to the mid-1st century B.C., the Illyrians used the cave as a sanctuary. Miniature vessels, most of them imported Greek forms but also some made in local workshops, were deposited in the cave as votive offerings. Fragments of larger Greek vessels — amphorae used to store wine and vessels used to drink it — were also found. Illyrians did not use these very expensive objects in everyday life, so they must have had religious reasons to include them in the rituals performed in the cave or to leave them for the gods.
While none of the votive offerings name the god or gods worshiped at the site, the mask strongly points to Dionysus, the god of wine and patron of theatrical performances, or the Illyrian version thereof. The fragments of Greek wine vessels also suggest a Dionysian cult.
“We can only speculate whether we can connect Dionysus or his Illyrian counterpart with the wine vessels, and at the same time with the aforementioned mask, and whether we can find in them the deity to whom the cave served as a sanctuary and what rituals were performed there. The fact is that most of the finds associated with the sanctuary are located in the entrance and side parts of the cave, which were almost hidden and buried until excavation. Thanks to their location in a hidden, intact part of the cave, the finds have remained intact and almost completely preserved, almost like a frozen image more than two thousand years old,” said archaeologist Domagoj Perkić, head of the Archaeological Museum [of Dubrovnik Museums].
* This article was originally published here
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