The new epigraphic monument of Otilovici near Pljevlja

The remains of an early Christian church were discovered, by chance, during the leveling of the terrain in Otilovići near Pljevlja where there were two monuments, or pyramidal cipi. At the same time, the older Roman necropolis was totally destroyed, so that only the bottoms of tomb holes filled with soot could be seen in the terrain. Following the protected archaeological excavation, the aforementioned church and a small arched tomb by its northern wall were uncovered in full. Another Roman tombstone was found on this occasion, a stela which was used as a stairway from pronaos to naos in the church. The stela belongs to a very large group of tombstones from this part of the province and its compositional schema is a unique example in the area of Pljevlja. From the epigraph we collected the names of four deceased persons (Pletor, Maximina, Victorinus and Statia Fuscina). The name Pletor, which was seen for the first time in the area of Pljevlja on this epigraph, can be added to a large group of Illyrian names that were acknowledged in Municipium S. The name of the deceased female Fuscina, whose nomen was Statia, and whose names appeared on more than one epigraph in Komini and Kolovrat, represents inhabitants who probably came from the coastal region of Risinium. Their migration from the coast to Municipium S. could have taken place at the end of the second or the beginning of the 3rd century when many respectable families, due to economic crises, looked for shelter inside the province which was wealthy with natural resources, especially ore. In fact, this was a time of rapid growth and economic prosperity for Municipium S. The necropolis at Otilovići points to the existence of a villa rustica or an estate which developed into an important communications link between the estates in Komini and Kolovrat, and which was acknowledged at the end of the 19th century by mileposts from Otilovići and Ćićija. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177007: Romanizacija, urbanizacija i transformacija urbanih centara civilnog, vojnog i rezidencijalnog karaktera u rimskim provincijama na tlu Srbije