Suchergebnisse

U posljednjih nekoliko godina dva autora u Hrvatskoj, na polju arheologije, okrznula su se o naša razmišljanja o "komanskim" elementima u materijalnoj kulturi kasnoantičke i ranosrednjovjekovne Dalmacije i Hrvatske. Učinio je to nedavno i Đ. Janković iz Srbije, no, u sasvim drugom kontekstu i iz drugačijih pobuda. Kako je problem nalaza "komanskog" obilježja tek segment građe o kojoj on u knjizi raspravlja, u ovoj prilici nećemo se na to šire osvrtati, nego uskoro na knjigu u cjelini. Kada je riječ o spomenutim hrvatskim autorima, važno je još istaći da smo naše stavove o tome pitanju u literaturi iznijeli prije više od dvadeset godina, dok smo još radili u Muzeju Cetinske krajine u Sinju, pa čudi da su predmetom interesa postali tek sada. Naše čuđenje je tim veće jer nisu potaknuti novim relevantnim nalazima i bitnim novim podatcima koji mogu utjecati na naše tavove i stavove onih s kojima smo mi u to doba na neki način pokušali raspravljati.

The author of this article recently published in the Godišnjak a short discussion, which provided chronological and contextual reinterpretation of a stone fragment with human face from the collection of the Franciscan Monastery of St. Anthony of Padua on Humac in Ljubuški (Hercegovina). It was argued that the fragment represents part of an image (idol) originally depicting early medieval old Slavic gods, most likely Veles or Perun. The article also discussed earlier published information and archaeological material from the region of Ljubuški, that further suggests presence of mythology and old Slavic beliefs in Herzegovina. On this occassion, when we celebrate 50th volume of one of the most respected and influential journals in a field in the Bosnia and Herzegovina, the enquiry will focus on neighbouring area of Mostar, where is also possible to find evidence that can be connected with the period of the Slav settlement and its aftermath.

This text deals with circumstances of the finding as well as with the art and iconographic characteristics of an interesting relief accidentally dug out in 1947, north-east from Visoko, in Central Bosnia. Field examination that followed afterwards determined that the relief once was a part of itinerary and interior decoration of a smaller building. Supposedly, this was a medieval tomb construction based on the fact that in a nearby environment there were several other unornamented tombstones as well as after the Cyrillic inscription which was probably carved on the relief afterwards. The afore mentioned inscription was, more frequently than the relief itself, an object of interest for researchers because it mentions two historical personalities, Nespina kaznac the Great and his kaznac sister Bjeloka. Naïve nature of the carving is a highly stressed feature of the relief (210 cm long, 106 cm high and 7-10 cm thick) which is especially noticeable on the displayed human form. Its body, apart from the protectivebelt wrapped around right arm and sharp tipped shoes, has no other clothing items displayed. The body is placed in a semi-profile while the head is shown en face. Its hands are of uneven length with its fists displayed on external sides so one gets an impression of a hunter with two left hands. This form of naïve display of human figure is the characteristic of theearly medieval period. Similarly, on a miniature from 9th century showing the transport of relics, a front porter in the scene has an awkward display of "two right hands" of uneven length. Generally, this primitive stone-carving method of the relief from Visoko can also be recognized on the relief displaying Palm Sunday from Venice, on the marble panel from San Saba church in Rome and on the relief from Žrnovnica in Dalmatia. All of these examples we used to compare with, originate from 8th century.Due to its looks and contents of the carved motif including hunting scene, the relief from Malo Čajno was frequently identified with similar motifs on stećci. However, it is different from stećci, not only in its details but also in its complete artistic creation. The human form and the animals, displayed next to it, are carved with numerous details that do not exist on similardisplays on stećci. Hairy animals have their big grinned teeth stressed, dogs have leather collars and the hunter has a head with a precise display of hair and beard, facial details and a hairy neck. The entire composition is not as rigid as it is the case on stećci but rather very dynamic. The hunter is standing aside with his spear high up in the air, expecting an attackfrom the boar surrounded by three dogs. The wild beast already overpowered and threw under its feet one of the dogs, the another dog is charging energetically,while the third one is running away looking back to prevent being grabbed by the boar from the back. There is also some perspective in the whole performance because the running dog, carved in the secondplain above the hunter's hands, is a bit smaller than the others. J. Kovačević is the only one who discussed art, iconographyand chronology of this relief. According to his opinion, this relief is created under the influence of the early Romanesque art of the western Europe, particularly following the monuments from eastern Adriatic coast where stylistically very similar reliefs,in the way they display the human form, can be found. This implicitly suggests the dating of this relief into 11th century. He also stated that the medieval panel from Malo Čajno is a chronological link between Late Antique displays and those that will numerously show up afterwards on late medieval stećci. Through the interpretation of iconographic content of the relief,he assumed that this is a very frequent ancient mythological and narrative motif whose interpretatio christiana lies in the early Christian and afterwards in the early Romanesque art. Symbolically, the hunter killing a boar is actually killing the devil or evil spirit which, according to gospels of Luke and Matthew, Christ forced into a body of a pig, staying there untilits disappearance through submerging in water. After J. Kovačević there were no more texts addressing this relief with more attention. In the past literature, it was the most frequently mentioned topic in the papers dealing with the art of the Bosnian Medieval tombstones and stećci. Afterwards, M. Wenzel mentioned it first and later it was used several timesby Š. Bešlagić who found the standpoint for his opinion in the hunting scene and the shape of the spear that hunter holds in his hands. According to my opinion the stone panel with hunting scene relief from the vicinity of Visoko, dueto its complexity in art form and the specific carving processing, cannot be linked to a single similar ornament on medieval and Late Medieval Bosnian tombstones. Those who tried to make a connection warn us that among numerous hunting displays onstećci, deer hunting scenes are prevalent, while boar hunting scenes are displayed eleven times. In that process dual analogies are stated because in all those reliefs from the Late Medieval period, the animals were carved in a schematic way which makes a boar recognizable only with a lot of imagination. However, on a stećak from Donja Zgošća near Kakanj, which israther impressive by its dimensions and ornaments,one hunting scene can be interpreted precisely like that, making it, in my opinion, a single such display made on stećci. The second indicator that was used to equalize the scene from the relief nearby Visoko with displays on stećci is a large spear that the hunter is holding in his hands. It is presumably a hunting spear that was in use during 14th and 15th century in Bosnia. Several similar spears were displayed on tombstones as well, but those items were significantly different from the one carved on our relief. It truly resembles the Early Medieval, Frankish spear with wings that was used inthe second half of the 8th and throughout the 9th century. Several pieces of weapons like that were found in Dalmatian outback, in Hercegovina and in southwestern Bosnia. Its shape and function are clearly indicated by tiny images in Carolingian church book sand reliefs from Europe of the period. Of special importance for our issue is an analogy to the relief from Žrnovnica nearby Split showing a horseman attacking a bear with almost identical spear. Until recently this monument was considered as an early Romanesque stone-carving, but thanks to further detailed art andiconographic analysis it was shown that it belongs to pre-Romanesque period; most likely second half of the 8th century. The displayed heads of the animals, the head of the boar especially, being very robust with semi-open jaws with long sharp teeth, could be used for chronological dating of the relief from Malo Čajno. Thanks to such outlook, in comparison to their bodies, they mostly resemble the augmented animal heads carved on the specimen of the early medieval stone furniture found in churches in cities in Dalmatia, Istria and northern Italy. The very motif of boar hunting, as previously noted, is taken from the repertoire of the ancient art. The sarcophagus with mythological theme of Meleager hunting a Calydonian boar from Solin (today in Archeological museum in Split) is one of the best displays of such a motif from prestigious Attic workshops. Several items from the Late Antiquity exemplify the use of this motif also in the early Christian period as previously mentioned by J. Kovačević.A relief with a narrative display of boar hunting from the portico of a cathedral in Civita Castellana is a very good early medieval analogy to the scene on the relief from vicinity of Visoko. On the monument from Lazio, the hunt is taking place in the forest and horsemen and infantry are participating. The boar surrounded by dogs is being attacked by one horseman with a spear with a small wings, the other one with a spear in his hand and a horn in his mouth is pursuingit, while two more infantry men, equipped in a similar fashion, are also taking part in the hunt. Those infantrymen are very similar to the hunter from Visokoincluding the presence of the naïve carving. Their legs are presented in profile, while torso and the heads areen face. Apart from that, they are carved in a similar fashion to the hunter from the relief in Bosnia withtheir thick triangular beards and long hair which in broad highlights is combed towards scalp. Display of perspective in superposition is also an interesting artanalogy which is present on both of the monuments. The relief from Cività Castellana is considered to beLangobardian legacy and is usually dated back to 8th century.The relief with the added Nespina kaznac's inscription is specific for its carving method which is dominated by the use of serrated tools. Their use is not common in the Medieval Period and especially not on tombstones from the Late Medieval period including stećci, where there are no traces of it as well, as far as I know. On the other hand, such final processing of the stone surface is common in Roman period so we can assume that its use on our monument should be understood as antique and late antique tradition. Such carving technique was also applied to some other monuments in the area of today's Bosnia. It involves bear head protomes which used to be arrangedin a sequence ornamenting the outer wall of apse of a palace within curtis in Breza, but also ram's or moufflon's head probably as a part of a capital from the same site. Clear marks of the serrated chisel and hammer indicate that these monuments should assumedlybe placed into approximately the same period. The building in Breza is differently dated and functionally explained. In my opinion it is not an old Christian church but a palace within early medieval land property. Almost all fragments that used to decorate the interior and exterior of the building in Breza are not the characteristic of the Christian iconography.This is especially reflected in the displays of animals like bear, moufflon or ram which would be more acceptable for more secular buildings like a palace or hunting lodge as a part of nobility residence of the Early Middle Ages. Earlier in the text we have tried to show that according to its artistic qualities and carving procedures the relief from Malo Čajno is verysimilar to the sculptures from Breza. Therefore, if we add its contents (narrative boar hunting scene) to those indicators, an assumption that it used to be a part of the same ambience does not seem too daring. Such an opinion is more justified if we know that those two localities are only few kilometers apart. Hence, I consider the relief with boar hunting scene from MaloČajno to be carved in the Early Middle Ages, roughly in the second half of the 8th century. I assume that it was once a part of ambience decoration in the interior of the palace or hunting lodge in Breza. Afterwards, in the following centuries of the Medieval Period, it was taken from there to the new position in Malo Čajno. At that moment it also got its new, funeral functionwhich is shown through successively carved Cyrillic inscription originating from 12th or 13th century. Such re-use of some early medieval monument was not uncommon because in medieval Bosnia, similar thing happened to the famous Kulin ban's panelwhich was found nearby, in Biskupići.

Article discusses the late medieval monolithic tombstones – Stećci, mainly the so-called ridge Dalmatian type, their cultural affiliation and time of origin since the previous studies are still seeking a satisfactory answer to this important issue. Assessment on these issues in this disscussion are not offering a new theory, but it endeavors to develop and deepen oneof those previously presented. In particular, it tries to strengthen the assumptions of the authors who associated genesis and development of these monumental tombstones with the Vlachs who were separate ethnicity at that time in the Western Balkans, and which are, as it is usually interpreted, the rest of the surviving indigenous, mostly Roman or Romanised Illyrianpopulation. Thereat, the argument is built on a completely new facts, and far under-used methodology in the study of tombstones that confronts archaeological findings to well known historical facts. Spatial starting point for this are results of Stećci's research in the area of Cetina in Dalmatia and in the south-west Bosnia.

The silver figurine of orant from Gardun (ancient Tilurium) was acquired for the Archaeological Museum in Split in 1886. From the first publication on it to date, it has been dated and attributed differently in the literature. L. Jelić (1894) assumed that the figurine originates from the early Christian era, Th. Klauser (1959) thought it was a Roman cult pagan figurine, and M. Nikolanci (1989) thought that it displays the priest of Izida, or some other oriental cult. N. Cambi (2007) has designated it as an Italic-Etruscan ritual sculpture, and I labeled it as an early Byzantine Christian product (2007). Here, I argue that none of the previous opinions is acceptable since this figurine is actually a forgery made by blacksmith Petar Pezelj in the surroundings of Trilj in the last decades of the 19th century.

In the last few decades, various branches of science, especially philology with the analysis of ancient ritual texts, toponomastic research and comparative studies of oral tales in the folklore tradition of different populations, have significantly contributed to the new knowledge of ancient beliefs and gods worshiped throughout Europe, in the period before Christianity was completely established. I have discussed these issues on several occasions, by classifying such remains in Croatia, in the new finds or the monuments that were previously known, but were interpreted differently - both chronologically and iconographically. I relied on several interesting artefacts from Dalmatia: the bronze gilded cross-shaped shackles from the early medieval cemetery in Nin, the four-headed idol from Vaćan and the equestrian relief from Žrnovnica, and, for this occasion, an old find from the area of Ljubuški, now kept in the Museum of Humac. Namely, there is a rustic and almost schematically carved head on the fragment of one pillar, which can be said to be part of the idol of a Slavic deity, with great likelihood, given several artistic analogies. The text also draws attention to the iconographic features of the face, such as the prominent mustache and triangular beard, which have some other characterizations that can be assumed to represent precisely the pre-Christian deities - in our case Perun.

U tekstu se raspravlja nekoliko primjeraka oružja i ratničke opreme s Bribirske glavice. Prema mome mišljenju, značajni su za razumijevanje ukupne bribirske prošlosti, a riječ je o željeznom križolikom okovu i ukrašenom stremenu s konjske orme te o ostatcima četiriju željeznih buzdovana. Na žalost, ni za jednoga od njih nemamo pobližih podataka o okolnostima nalaza. Navedeni primjerci oružja i konjaničke opreme u mnogome dopunjavaju sliku bribirske prošlosti od 9. do 12. stoljeća, no svojim kulturološkim pokazateljima nisu izišli iz okvira kakav nam je za taj lokalitet poznat od ranije i prema drugim nalazima ranoga srednjeg vijeka. Tipološkokronološkom analizom pokušao sam pokazati različite utjecaje pod kojima su ti predmeti nastajali ili su izravno importirani iz tadašnjih većih radioničkih centara u srednjoj Europi i Bizantskome Carstvu. Njihova kvaliteta i vrsnoća izrade vrlo dokumentarno svjedoči visoku razinu života na Bribiru u stoljećima u kojima su nobiles Breberienses započeli svoj gospodarski, vojni i politički uspon. ; The text discusses several items of weaponry and combat equipment from Bribirska Glavica. In our opinion, they are significant for the understanding of the overall past of Bribir. They comprise an iron crossshaped mounting and an ornamented stirrup from horse tack as well as the remains of four iron maces. Unfortunately, we have no very detailed information about the circumstances of the finds for any of them. These items of weaponry and harness do add a great deal to the picture of the Bribir past, from the 9th to the 12th century, and yet in their fundamental cultural indicators they do not depart from the framework that we know of for this site, from earlier work, and from other finds of the early medieval period. Analysis in terms of typology and chronology was used to try to show the different influences on the making of these objects or their direct import from the then bigger workshop centres in Central Europe and the Byzantine Empire. Their quality and excellence of workmanship tellingly documents the high level of life in Bribir in the centuries in which the nobiles Brberienses started their economic, military and political rise.