Avdulah Karić, a 37-year-old man from Kalesija, has one unusual hobby – he finds and collects fossils of shells and marine snails.
Avdulah says that love for this kind of hobby has been growing for a while and he especially dedicated himself to the collecting of fossils several years ago, after he moved to Dubnica near Kalesija from Tojšići.
“I love spending time in nature and deal with different kinds of research. I primarily managed to find marine snails at 500 meters above sea level. Based on them, I was intrigued and wanted to know what is hiding deeper inside, so I continued digging,” Karić says.
Until now, Karić found remains of bones, fossilized leaves and coins from different periods, as well as fossils of marine snails and shells which testify to the existence of the former Pannonian Sea.
“I sent several inquiries to experts in this field in BiH and broader. So far, I received the answer only from Serbia, in which it was stated that the marine snails date back to the period of the Pannonian Sea and that they are several million years old. While excavating, I also found some coins from the Austro-Hungarian period, a palette from the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as well as certain bones. It is still not determined whether those bones are of animal or human origin,” Karić says.
Karić hopes that his discoveries will evoke interest of at least some experts in BiH.
“No one has contacted me so far and I would like to take an opportunity of this occasion to invite all interested experts to contact me. I will be happy to show them the site in Dubica, where there is so much still hidden from the eyes of the public,” Avdulah says.
Karić also said that he will not stop researching this site in Dubnica near Kalesija.
“I will continue excavating in the coming period. I believe these fossils should evoke interest of ordinary people as well, because it is a very important part of history that many people do not pay attention to currently. On the other side, the Municipality of Kalesija could promote itself in a very nice way with an exhibition of the findings in one of the museums,” Karić concluded.
(Source: klix.ba/photo: klix.ba)
