Sacred and Profane: The Talež Enclosure and Vela gomila on the Island of Vis

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Talež, situated on the southern coast of the island of Vis, is the only large prehistoric enclosure there that has been subject to detailed study. The site was surveyed in 1994, and a sub-surface sampling programme was undertaken then as part of the Adriatic Islands Project. This exercise revealed an extended chronology for the site which may stretch from the Middle Bronze Age through to the onset of Greek colonisation on Vis. Uniquely for similar sites on the island, Talež is only a short distance from a very large cairn at Vela gomila. The visual connection between these two sites suggests that they are linked. Previously published project research on the islands of Hvar and Brač identified a complex, probably ritual, link between enclosures and individual, large cairns, and the data presented here adds to that debate. This paper also discusses the role of the settlement within the island prior to the establishment of the Greek colony at Issa and the role of syncretism within island society.