摘要:Systematic archaeological excavations at the site Gropi - Stari Guran, located west of Vodnjan, were carried out in the period 2002-2008. Documented was a thin cultural layer that followed the shape of bedrock, containing prehistoric pottery (Fig. 1 - 6; ft. 1 - 12). Among recovered ceramic fragments, those that are most probably parts of the same vessel decorated with applied sharp cone-shaped bossets, are distinguished (Pl. 12). The closest typological parallels to the vessel in question are vessels found in North and Middle Dalmatia, on sites already dated to the Late Aeneolithic or Early Bronze Age (Fig. 8; Pl. 13; ft. 13 - 18). This area belongs to the cultural area of the Cetina culture. Therefore, the find from Guran represents an element of the Cetina culture in Istria and once again connects the finds from the caves in the Trieste Karst and those in Dalmatia belonging to the Cetina culture (ft. 19 - 20). In addition, elements of the Cetina culture are represented by the fragments of bowls with a thickened rim edge (Pl. 1: 6; 6: 63 - 65; 11: 105 - 109). Pots and amphorae with “x’’ handles display inf luences from the Danube-basin region in the Early Bronze Age (Pl. 5: 40, 41; 6: 66; Fig. 2). Fragments of handles narrowed in the upper section, where they are often attached to a small linguiform plate, can be dated to the same period (Pl. 4: 28 - 32; 9: 84, 86 - 90). Among modestly decorated fragments is the part of the base of a vessel with decorated outside surface, an usual find of the Middle Bronze Age in Istria, but it can also appear earlier (Pl. 3: 24). Termoluminiscence technique for dating the ceramic fragments found in US 33 (in the area of the basilica) was used and gave the age of 2800 BC (+ 380) (ft. 29), while typological analysis gave the datation to the Early Bronze Age, around 1800 BC. Even if we take into consideration the earlier dating (proposed by Batović) of the vessels decorated with applied bossets, we still do not manage to relate the data obtained. With several newly discovered sites, Gropi - Stari Guran corroborates the statement of the existence of open-air settlements in the Istrian region during the Bronze Age (Fig. 9, ft. 36 - 39). Even though they are still inadequately known, the existence of this type of settlement was documented even earlier in the area of the Posušje culture in West Herzegovina, as well as in Middle and North Dalmatia (ft. 32 - 35). The reason for the small number of known open-air settlements is their difficulty to be recognised in the landscape.