Archaeological excavation has been completed, which in the past month at the site Sopotnica near Gorazde was carried out by the Institute for Cultural and Historical Heritage of Republika Srpska and the Museum of Herzegovina from Trebinje. At the initiative of the Municipality of Novo Gorazde, archaeologists were searching for evidence that a medieval monastery was also located at the location where the oldest printing house in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the second oldest in the Balkans is located.
The results of the excavation, they claim, showed that there was a monastery in this place, which was a spiritual center of this region.
“The stone walls of the monastery were preserved to a height of a meter and movable archeological materials from the 14th and 15th centuries were found. These are the objects that were used in this monastery. We have also found several fragments of luxury dining ceramics, and the other objects that we found were used for everyday life, such as kitchen pots, bowls, plates, etc. In one of the graves, we also found two buttons that were kept in the literature under the name ‘puce’, and in one of the graves there were the remains of a fabric, a connection from the then ceremonial costume with golden threads, in which the deceased was awakened,” explains archaeologist Ivana Grujic.
One room has been fully inspected, while the other, as it is presumed, is located below the base of a prefabricated building that was built for the needs of the church. The Institute points out that the works were completed this year, but that new research is expected in the spring, since it involves additional teams of archaeologists and other experts who will, through a multidisciplinary approach, help with the research.
Archaeological research is part of an entire project, the most significant part of which has already been prepared for 2019, when it will mark 500 years since the founding of the printing house and printing of the first book in this region. The wider area of Gorazde is abundant in archeological sites from different periods.
Source: sarajevotimes
