Okolište

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Coordinates: 44 ° 2 ′ 1 ″  N , 18 ° 8 ′ 34.4 ″  E

Relief Map: Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Okolište​
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Bosnia and Herzegovina

Okolište (also Okolišće) is a late Neolithic or early Chalcolithic site in the area of ​​the municipality of Visoko in the canton of Zenica-Doboj in Bosnia and Herzegovina . It is the largest known site of the Neolithic Butmir culture to date . The site was investigated in 1966, 1974, 1984 and 1988, and between 2002 and 2008 in several excavation and prospecting campaigns and evaluated until 2012. Okolište is a settlement mound with an area of ​​about 7 hectares.

Find place

Okolište is located in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin, which is surrounded by low mountain ranges of the Dinaric Mountains and forms a self- contained settlement chamber . In particular, the fertile soils along the Bosna River form an ideal settlement landscape for agricultural societies. The site itself is located directly on the banks of the Bosna, on the edge of a Pleistocene low terrace, 8 km north of the city of Visoko . In the south, the Tell is built over with houses from the recent Radinovići settlement, whereas the remaining part is used as arable or garden land , presumably due to the accumulation of phosphates brought about by human settlement activities and the resulting positive effects on soil fertility .

Research history

20th century

The Okolište settlement was discovered in the late 1950s. The first archaeological investigation of the site was carried out in 1966 by Alois Benac, who dug an excavation section measuring 4 × 4 m in the eastern periphery of the southern half of the hill . As a result of this first excavation activity, the existence of several layers of settlement with a total thickness of 2.10 m became apparent. The deepest part from 0.8 m depth contained material from the late Neolithic phase Butmir II, while the layers above produced Butmir III material and late Neolithic Hvar Lisičić ceramics .

In the 1970s and 1980s, several interventions in the context of building measures were documented. During the construction of a sewer in the village of Radinovići in 1974, for example, it became apparent that the Neolithic settlement layers in the southern part of the hill were up to 4 m thick and were accordingly significantly thicker than the layers previously documented by Benac. In addition, older finds than previously known were also produced. Another outcrop, which was created when a house was being built in the western part of the hill, produced only Butmir II material, but was only 90 cm deep.

In 1988, the archaeologist Slaviška Perić, who was then working at the Visoko Museum, carried out another excavation on the western edge of the settlement hill. The thickness of the settlement layers encountered here was only 1.10 m to 1.40 m. The find material was consistently older than in the other excavated areas and produced mainly early Neolithic Kakanj and late Neolithic Butmir-I material (ceramic), while Butmir phases II and III are completely absent.

21st century

Between 2002 and 2012, several prospecting and excavation campaigns were carried out as part of a major project to investigate the Southeast European Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin. This took place with the participation of the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory of the University of Kiel , the Roman-Germanic Commission , the Bosnian-Herzegovinian State Museum Sarajewo, and the Visoko Municipal Museum. The work included two special excavations in 2002 and 2004, three large-scale excavations in 2005, 2006 and 2008 as well as some accompanying excavations in Kundruci, Zagrebnice and Donje Moštre, also in 2008. The excavation management was subordinated to Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić, Knut Rassmann and Johannes Müller . In addition to the excavations, geophysical prospecting and archaeobotanical investigations were carried out. In 2013 the complete review of the project was published in two volumes.

Chronology and settlement development

The first settlement of the Okolište site began around 5200 BC. With the construction of a settlement of approx. 7 hectares. By combining radiometric dating, vertical stratigraphies and the identification of chronological gradients in correspondence analyzes of ceramic inventories of the settlement, a relatively precise chronological resolution could be achieved, which was between 5200 and 4700/4600 BC. Chr. Situated. There are a total of three main phases of 200 or 150 years, which in turn are divided into a total of nine settlement phases of around 50 to 75 years.

According to the interpretation of the excavators, the first settlers may have come from the Bosna Valley to the north. The settlement was founded on a river terrace that had already been opened by cattle drift. Even in this early phase, the settlement is surrounded by a ditch approximately 1.30 m deep and 4.5 m wide, which indicates that the village was planned according to plan. In the phase after around 5150 there are probably three parallel trenches, the dimensions of which are approximately 25 m wide and individual trenches at least 1 m deep are interpreted as a fortification obstacle. According to calculations, this initially protected 250–325 house points, later around 500–650 house points. The population of the settlement is initially estimated at 500–1500, later at 2000–3000.

A first fire horizon, which did not affect the entire settlement, but only individual houses, can be dated to 5100 BC. To be dated. Several such fire horizons can be found throughout the history of the settlement, although these cannot be correlated with spatial or architectural changes in the settlement. So in the early phase the houses were sunk into the ground, from 5150 BC. BC (phase 2), however, built at ground level, accordingly before the first fire event. This architectural change is also linked to a spatial shift in the house, which marks the transition to the construction principle of the tell . The houses are generally oriented southwest-northeast.

The subsistence in the early phase consists primarily of an intensive horticulture with a broad grain spectrum of emmer , einkorn and barley . In addition to cereals, pulses, especially lentils and peas , also play an important role in the basic diet. Other cultivated species include apples , hazelnuts, and cornel cherries, as well as flax , which is believed to have been bred to make flax oil . The animal food basis is a pronounced cattle husbandry, and to a lesser extent the use of sheep / goats and domestic pigs.

With phases 2/3 (5150–5000 BC) an increase in the artifact density can be observed together with an increase in the building density. The raw materials used are diverse and confirm a relatively good supply of the settlement, as well as the possibility of procuring z. B. Silex raw materials from differently distant areas. Overall, numerous debris and production waste, with a simultaneously low number of devices, indicate local production in the households. Also noticeable is the strongly increasing variety of ceramics in phases 2/3, which is attributed to the innovation potential caused by the increase in the population. While in the first phase before 5150 BC BC only early Neolithic Kakanj ceramics can be characterized, in phases 2/3 there are now forms of classic, late Neolithic butmiri ware.

Around 5000 BC With phase 4 the settlement is reduced to around 5.6 hectares. In contrast to main phase 1 (phases 1–3), only the use of a trench can be verified. In main phase 2 (5000–4850 BC) the interior development for phases 5 and 6 is verified. The building density increased by 55% at this time and, according to the results of the geomagnetic prospecting, a total of around 550–750 houses existing at the same time can be expected. The houses form rows parallel to the gable, which are oriented towards alleys and open spaces, so there is a structured system of paths.

The composition of subsistence farming hardly changes compared to main phase 1. A relative increase in sickles and millstones, however, suggests an increase in grain production. Evidence of out-of-home activities can be found in the alleys on the walls of the house for the production of devices, and workplaces are also documented inside the houses. In a few buildings there are looms, scratches to the coat processing or adze and chisel for woodworking.

The houses in main phase 2 have two aisles; Fireplaces exist in the form of hot plates and dome stoves inside the houses. In addition to handicraft devices, there are now also objects for consumption and representation, which z. B. on the basis of the division of the houses into different areas of use, indicated by the distribution of different vessel shapes, or on the figurines presumably used in religious contexts, which can be found in about every fifth house. The waste behavior also indicates that the interior surfaces of the house should be kept clean, which can be seen by transporting the waste to the alleys or other storage facilities.

Towards the end of main phase 2, more precisely from phase 6 (around 4875 BC), the settlement is reduced again. The trench system is now completely abandoned, the population density is reduced considerably and various local fire incidents are increasing. The settlement area is reduced to 1.2 hectares while maintaining the design of the houses and the houses. The narrowness of the built-up area remains and the number of houses after this reduction is estimated at around 100 with approx. 500 residents. In the third main phase, the previous continuity of the settlement continues, whereby in phase 9 (from approx. 4750 BC) a new house form appears. Instead of the rectangular houses with a floor area of ​​up to 50 m², which were common up to that point, large rectangular houses with massive posts are now being built, with an average floor area of ​​80 m². The orientation principle of the houses remains the same. No extreme changes can be seen in material culture or subsistence economy. The abandonment of the settlement after 4700 BC Chr. Is attributed to a potential population fluctuation, which no longer led to continuous settlement.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 12-23 ( [1] [PDF]).
  2. ↑ Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 (442 pages).
  3. ↑ Robert Hofmann: Okolište 2 (=  University research on prehistoric archeology . No. 243 ). Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3872-4 (639 pages).
  4. ↑ Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 41 ( [2] [PDF]).
  5. ↑ a b Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 43 ( [3] [PDF]).
  6. ↑ Helmut Kroll: Report on the plant finds from Okolište House 38 . In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 113-122 ( [4] [PDF]).
  7. ↑ Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 44 ( [5] [PDF]).
  8. ↑ Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 45 ( [6] [PDF]).
  9. ↑ a b c Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the Central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 46-47 ( [7] [PDF]).
  10. ↑ Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 47-48 ( [8] [PDF]).
  11. ↑ Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić: Okolište - Reconstruction of late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlement processes in the central Bosnian Visiko Basin: questions, research strategies, results. In: Johannes Müller, Knut Rassmann, Robert Hofmann (eds.): Okolište 1 (=  university research on prehistoric archeology . No. 228 ). 1st edition. Habelt, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-7749-3839-7 , pp. 48-50 ( [9] [PDF]).