The hill Kozlov Rob, rising above Tolmin, was bursting with activity during this spring and summer when two project activities of the MerlinCV project were carried out in the vicinity of the castle ruins.
In May, the construction of an access road to Kozlov Rob started. Extensive logging was first performed on the northern side of Kozlov Rob along the existing forest road, followed by road widening and consolidation. Passing places and water drainage systems were also provided. The new forest road is primarily meant for landowners to enable them to remove timber. The first to use the road after its construction were the archaeologists from the Group STIK - Ljubljana who were in charge of the second project activity, i.e. archaeological research.
A group of archaeologists led by Miha Mlinar of the Tolmin Museum explored around 200 square meters of the surface along the northern wall in July and August. Excavations were performed at different depths, reaching rock foundations already at 50 cm in the shallowest part, whereas in some parts, the excavations continued to the depth of 150 cm.
»The excavated material gives us plenty of work for further analysis, and our expectations were totally confirmed,« said Mlinar, adding that late medieval and early modern strata had brought forth finds from the last period of castle settlement, among others pieces of ceramic pottery and small items of everyday use, i.e. iron scissors, knife, two bronze coins and a bronze pin, in addition to a large number of animal bones, weaponry remains (arrowheads for crossbows and cannonballs). A special find worth mentioning is the gold coin of the Doge Marino Grimaldi from the late 16th century.
Thanks to the MerlinCV project, a great step forward was made in the discovery and evaluation of the castle heritage in Tolmin. In addition, easier access will open up new possibilities for introducing new activities in the area thus boosting the tourism product.
Author: Matej Kavčič
Operation co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
