Tonocov Grad is a steep rocky hill rising above the Soča north of the
Kobarid. Owing to its naturally well protected position it had been used
as a refuge or a settlement for centuries. The oldest traces of its being
settled date several thousand years ago, from the middle Stone Age; it
continued until the late Middle Ages. The hill played the most important
role from the 4th to the 6 th centuries A.D., i.e. in the late Antiquity
and in the time of people´s migrations.
A powerful military squad lived there that guarded an important pass
from the Friuli lowlands to northern countries. Towards the end of the
5th century, a new settlement was built on the hill, with over twenty
houses and several churches. At easily accessible parts the settlement
was protected by walls. The already unearthed buildings, as well as those
the contours of which are visible on the surface, and the rich finds rank
Tonocov Grad among the most important and the best preserved late-Antiquity
mountain forts in Eastern Alps. |
