Demography
The results of the excavations and the geomagnetic survey allow the estimation of the number of houses and of the population size of Okolište (Müller 2006; Hofmann et al. 2007, 195–200). According to this approximation, around 200 houses existed at the same time in the earlier phase of the settlement. With the assumption that one household consisted of five individuals the number of inhabitants can be estimated at approximately 1000. Presuming the same density of buildings for the other Late Neolithic sites of the Visoko Basin, roughly 3500 individuals lived here which corresponds to a population density of 32 inhabitants per sq. km.
Based on estimations of nutrition requirements, each person needs 0.3 ha of arable land for subsistence, plus one cattle, which in turn requires 10 ha of land for pasturing.
Consequently, the calculated population would have required 360 sqkm of land; but the Visoko Basin offers a mere 110 sqkm. We thus assume that the population used the uninhabited mountain regions bordering the basin as pastures.
Subsistence
According to the first results of the palaeobotanical and palaeozoological investigations food production in the Late Neolithic Visoko Basin and its surrounding area was based on a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry (Benecke 2007; Kučan 2007); hunting was of less importance. Among the domestic animals, cattle dominated with 88 percent in terms of number of bones. This corresponds well to results of Obre where cattle grew in importance compared to sheep at the beginning of the Late Neolithic (Bőkőnyi 1974).
Agriculture in Okolište was based on grain cultivation dominated by emmer and einkorn.
Visoko Basin, overview of the Basin from the Northeast; Okolište is situated in the middle of the picture (photograph: S. Jagiolla).
Less important were barley, millet and naked wheat; there is evidence for the cultivation of several pulses such as lentil and broad bean. The diet was completed by collected fruit, including hazelnuts, wild wine and juniper.In connection with the project, a pollen profile was analyzed from the locality Seoce Jezero situated 7 km North of Okolište (Kučan et al. 2006; Wolters/Bittmann 2007). Unfortunately, it does not reach back to Neolithic time; it does, however, provide important information on the vegetation history of the Central Balkan region from the Bronze Age until today.
Settlement pattern within the Visoko-Basin
The size of the site Okolište decreased step by step over time. Thus, the settlement's size was reduced from 7.5 ha around 5200 B.C. to 1.2 ha at around 4500 B.C. .
This change correlates with the development of the settlement pattern in the Visoko Basin and its surrounding : in the late Kakanj period the settlements in the Visoko basin numbered about six. In the early Butmir time the number decreased to four which seems to imply a concentration of people in fewer settlements. This situation appears to have been stable until 4500 B.C., even though the number of inhabitants of the largest site Okolište already started to decrease soon after the concentration process.
At the end of the Butmir period, another significant change of the settlement pattern can be observed: long inhabited sites such as Okolište or Obre II were abandoned and numerous new settlements were founded at the periphery of the Visoko Basin.
Discussion
The results of the investigations in the Visoko Basin already show that during the course of the Neolithic a development towards more complex settlement structures, probably coupled with the establishment of a hierarchical settlement system, took place. This change could have had its roots in functional and social differentiation of the Butmir society. Within this settlement system the site of Okolište obviously played an outstanding role. Besides it extraordinary size and the high number of inhabitants, it is the high building density and the extensive fortification system that set it apart and particularly point towards a central role. With great certainty, the existence of comparable fortifications at other sites can be excluded. The foundation of the large settlement of Okolište was accompanied with the abandonment of other settlements which indicates a process of concentration.
Similar processes at the beginning of the Late Neolithic were observed in other regions of Southeastern Europe, for example in the Tisza region .It is not yet clear on which central functions the formation of a large settlement like Okolište was based. At the moment, neither any craft specialisation at local or regional level, neither an extraordinary role within the communication and exchange systems, nor any ritual functions can be held responsible. However, it is certain that the disorganization of the settlement system started already soon after its constitution.
Robert Hofmann, Zilka Kujundžić-Vejzagić, Johannes Müller, Nils Müller-Scheeßel, Knut Rassmann, "Excavations in Okolište and the reconstruction of Late Neolithic settlement processes in the Visoko Basin in Central Bosnia (5200–4500 B.C.)." 11 Apr. 2008. Aegeo-Balkan Prehistory.
