Tombstones, gravestones, or as many people love to say, graves of our ancestors, are very neglected due to words of archeologists and experts.
Medieval tombstones, some of them even 500 years old, are a reminder of one time, kings, landowners who operated and ruled on this area several hundred years ago. Medieval Bosnia was and stayed a country of tombstones. They are mainly decorated with medieval symbols that are carved as a shallow relief.
Motives are religious, such as the cross, lilies, crescent, ring but there also secular images such as dance, hunting knight tournaments, etc. Many of them were destroyed, but there are several hose that are in a very good condition, mainly thanks to the care of the population at whose area they are located.
According to current records, more than 60.000 tombstones are located in B&H, and around 10.000 in the neighboring countries, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro.
In recent weeks, the first post-war archeological research of tombstones on the necropolis Potkriz in the place Divicani, is being carried out at the are of the royal town Jajce.
These activities are being carried out by the Institute for archeological researches of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, headed by Prof.Dr. Dubravko Lovrenovic and archeologist Edin Bujak, and are participated by students of archeology from Sarajevo and Mostar, and this necropolis will be an additional experience in their practical work.
This necropolis has more than 50 tombstones. The average length of tombstones is 1. Meters, and width 1.5 m. The biggest tombstone in this necropolis is 2.1 meters long. Jajce is extremely rich with tombstones. During the pilot project “Registration of tombstones in B&H“, 31 necropolises with more than 380 tombstones were found.
Necropolis Potkriz is the largest one in Jajce. According to estimates, necropolis dates from 14th or 15th century. It is significant for the fact that there is a large number of “Middle Bosnia ridges“ on it. This type of tombstones can be seen in Travnik and Zenica also, but is the most numerous in Jajce.
(Source: klix.ba/ Photo: visoko.co.ba)
