The History of the Archaeology Department

In the history of the National Museum, archaeology was closely connected with individual researchers and with the development of the field in general. The earliest archaeological finds arrived in the museum in an unplanned manner in the first half of the 19th century, mostly as gifts. The natural historian Karel Dežman was the first museum curator to devote himself methodically to archaeology. In 1875, he introduced excavation as a new source for acquiring archaeological material (the pile-dwelling settlements in the Ljubljana Marshes). He excavated and presented the most important Iron Age cemeteries and several finds from the Roman period in what was then Carniola. The acquired material greatly increased the importance and extent of the archaeological collection. They were presented in 1888 in the new museum building, another result of Dežman's endeavours.

Alonz Müllner followed him as curator in 1889-1903. He inventoried all the archaeological finds and published photographs of all the material. He also contributed a fundamental study about the history of iron working in Slovenia throughout the ages. Unfortunately it was exactly during this period that the majority of the excavated archaeological material from Carniola was sold to the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

His heir in 1905-1909 was Walter Schmid. He established the museum journal Carniola and led numerous excavations, including those of the Roman settlement of Emona with a cemetery at the site of Ljubljana and cemeteries from late Antiquity and the early medieval periods in Upper Carniola.

After he left, the line of curators dedicated primarily to archaeology was interrupted, and was only later continued by Rajko Ložar, who was curator from 1928 to 1940.

The greatest changes occurred after 1946 under the leadership of the director Jože Kastelic, an archaeologist of the classical period. He hired new staff and set up independent departments because of the need for specialized museum operations/functions. In 1948, Stane Gabrovec, a specialist for the prehistoric period, became the first head of the archaeological department. He was followed by curators specializing in prehistoric, Roman, and medieval archaeology, Peter Petru (also director of the museum in 1970-1983), Vinko Sribar, Vida Stare, and Sonja Petru. Stane Gabrovec organized the modern preservation and storage of material, and subsequently devoted himself to research into the Iron Age. With his fundamental studies of that period and his teaching of students at the university, he carved out a position for Slovenian prehistory within the central European region. He was followed from 1987 to 1999 by Drago Svoljšak, who directed his attention towards developing new facilities for the department, intensifying the documentation (data base), and hiring new curators. At the moment the archaeology department has five curators, three curator-record keepers, and expert consultants. Dr. Janka Istenič has been head of the Archaeological Department since 2000.