Bronze cuirass from Novo mesto

The Early Iron Age, or Hallstatt era, was a period in which Dolenjska was wealthy and flourishing. This is reflected by the strong stone ramparts surrounding hill-forts, which are still today the most visible prehistoric feature of the Dolenjska landscape, and by the mighty burial mounds, or barrows, in the vicinity of hill-forts, which also date from this time. The features of the graves and the number and quality of grave goods allow conclusions about the social hierarchy in the Hallstatt era. Exceptional finds such as the bronze cuirass from Novo mesto indicate the existence of a ruling social elite. It is a two-piece bell-shaped cuirass, with pronounced musculature. Similar armour appears in very occasional rich graves from Greece
to Central Europe, from the Late Bronze Age onwards. The same grave also contained a helmet, two spearheads, a shield, horse fittings and a set of ceramic vessels. Spearheads were normal funeral offerings in the graves of Hallstatt warriors in Dolenjska; helmets and horse fittings mark only a few dozen of the richer graves. A two-piece cuirass, however, only appears in three cases in Dolenjska, and even in Slovenia as a whole; in addition to that from Novo mesto, there are two from Stična. In all three cases, these are graves of exceptional men from the end of the seventh century BC. Judging by the funeral offerings, Dolenjska at that time was clearly a militant society, in which elites from individual centers competed for ascendancy.