Rezultati arheološke prospekcije 2017. godine na prahistorijskom lokalitetu Butmir i njegovo stanje danas / Results of the archeological prospection on the site of Butmir from 2017

Abstract

Preventive archaeological excavations on the national site Butmir continued during 2017 with the same goal, to determine the actual area of distribution of the archaeological potential on the site. These excavations have been conducted on the area around Hotel Hills, by a consortium consisting of the Institute of Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo and the Association “Društvo arheologa 1894” (Association of Archaeologists 1894). The implemented methods of research were the same as for the previous excavation, which combined machine-dug and hand-dug test trenches. Bore holing was also used to determine the depth of geological and potential archaeological layers, which would serve as a basis for getting clearer and wider results on the distribution of archaeological potential. Using the listed methods, there have been excavated 32 machine-dug test trenches whose length goes from 3 to 20 m, 3 hand-dug test trenches, and 7 boreholes. It has been determined that cultural layers from the ancient and prehistoric periods exist between 0.60 and 0.90 m. In trenches 1-6 there have been found a significant amount of pottery and traces of metallurgy from the prehistoric period.

Trench number 3 provided the most significant results – a large amount  of pottery and one bowl with remains of iron slag. Trenches 6 to 15 showed a deeper cultural layer and potential settlement layer which resulted in excavating hand-dug trenches with specifically prehistoric remains that have been reliably determined to the Neolithic period. Nevertheless, the national monument Butmir is not the same as at the time of discovery, and the area for potential new archaeological excavations has been significantly shrunk because of modern architecture and infrastructure. Having that in mind, previous excavations have determined that the present Neolithic Butmir settlement contains findings from an area excavated during the Austro-Hungarian period and a smaller part of the marginal area of the Neolithic tells where the central part of the settlement has been found.