A peculiarity of this flooring was that its thickness varied very much, reaching in some parts to 46 cm. Besides the usual relics, there is to be noted here a bed of ashes and charcoal, 10 cm thick and 70 cm in diameter, from among which some carbonised grains of corn were picked up.It would appear that all these huts had been destroyed by fire, and their consequently preserved wallcastings
showed impressions of round timbers, both slender and stout, of which Mr Kadimsky gives numerous figures. In addition to these structural details and relics, Mr Radimsky marks on the plan some points outside the supposed hut areas where important relics were found (Fig.1). At the point a, 80 cm under the surface of the field, the workmen came upon sixty -five perforated clay weights of reddish colour arranged in two circular rows. They are round and nearly of uniform size, their diameters being within 5.5 and 6 cm , and their height within 3 and 4 cm.One only, which lay in the middle, was exceptionally large,measuring 9.5 cm in diameter and 4.5 cm in height.At b, e, and f, grains of charred corn were picked up from among some charcoal at depths varying from 110 to 170cm .At d two clay figurines lay close to each other at a depth of 180 cm and at h, near the hut remains marked k, at a depth of 50 cm were found the ornamented weight and other twenty-seven smaller ones of red clay, probably the weights belonging to a net.
Butmir house 3d reconstruction
All the clay figures, with the exception of two, the positions of which were undetermined, were picked up in the lower half of the relic-bed, many actually lying on the surface of the clay.Large quantities of broken pottery were found scattered throughout the whole of the relic-bed. They are all hand -made, and often imperfectly burnt. The coarser kind of dishes had thick walls, and simply projections or perforated knobs as handles. A finer quality is of a dark-brown or black colour, and has a polished surface. Other fragments, also of a fine quality of paste, have a reddish colour, but on fracture they show a dark grain. Only seventeen vessels are whole, or could be restored, and they are all small indeed so much so that Mr Radimsky describes them as toys. Of these, twelve are black and five red, a proportion which generally holds good for the entire collection. Perforated clay weights, generally of a reddish colour and varying in form and size, are numerous, and among them are a few unperforated balls 6 to 7cm in diameter. The ornamentation on the pottery consists of impressions made by a stamp on the soft clay, or more frequently of a combination of incised lines, straight or curved, producing geometrical spaces of the greatest variety.
STONE OBJECTS.
No description can give a better idea of the stone objects found at Butmir than the following summary
statement drawn up by Mr Radimsky of their number and classification as implements :
Knife-flakes 988
Small flakes mostly of flint 145
Saws 45
Flakes showing secondary work 70
Scrapers 355
Borers, awls 120
Lance- and spear-heads 54
Tanged arrow-points 302
Untanged arrow-points 87
Arrow- and spear-heads with notches 21
Flakes of broken polished implements 106
Polished axes (used) 173
Polished chisels (used) 92
Portions of axes and chisels 783
Portions of axes (readapted for use) 199
Different implements (unfinished) 621
Perforated hammers (whole 2) 27
Chipping tools (Schlagsteine) 206
Chipping tools made of broken implements 21
Whetstones (315), polishers, &c. (51) 366
Stone slabs 367
The information conveyed by the above summary may be supplemented by the following facts :
1. The material out of which the majority of the arrow-points are made is jasper, next in order being flint,
quartz, and clay-slate.2. The largest knife -blade is 16cm long and 2cm- broad ; the smallest is 3cmlong and 5 mm broad.
3. The knives and so-called saws show a fine glistening polish along the cutting-edge.
4. No semilunar saws like those so typical of the Scandinavian archaeological area have been found at Butmir, though several show a curved cutting-edge.
5. None of the polished stone implements or weapons are of flint.
6. No deer-horn fastenings for stone implements, such as those so abundantly found in the lake-dwellings of Switzerland, have been found at Butmir, although the
red - deer is not altogether unrepresented among its animal remains.
7. Only two entire perforated stone hammers have been found among twenty-five broken ones, and not a single core has hitherto been discovered. It would appear, therefore, that the inhabitants did not manufacture their perforated stone implements.
8. On dividing the seventeen different kinds of rock used in the manufacture of these objects into two groups viz., (1) such as are to be found in the vicinity of Butmir, and (2) such as are to be found only at a distance, but yet on Bosnian soil, Eaclimsky
finds that, with the exception of the twenty- seven perforated hammers, two globular bruisers of Gabbro and a portion of a polished ring also of Gabbro, the whole of the worked implements, tools, &c., come
under the first group ; also that no unfinished specimen has been classified in the second. Hence, it is argued that the Butmirians manufactured all the objects
coming under the former category and imported those belonging to the latter.
ANIMAL REMAINS.
No human bones have as yet been found at Butmir.The bones of a few domestic and wild animals were, however, met with in tolerable abundance throughout the relic-bed. In some places they appeared in heaps,
but generally so much decayed that only the merest fragments could be preserved. Only short bones were found whole, the long ones being always broken.
The following is the list of animals identified :
Bos taurus, L. Thirty-nine bones and teeth, including portion of an under jaw.
Bos brachyeeros, L. Eleven bones.
Bos primigenius, L. Seven bones.
Sue palustris, But. An upper jaw with teeth.
Caprecolus Caprea , Gray. A fragment.
Capra or Ovis, L. Lower jaw with teeth.
Cervus Elaphus, L. Two horn fragments.
VEGETABLE REMAINS.
The following is the result of an elaborate report by Professor Dr C. Schrotter of Zurich on the organic remains submitted to him :Wheat (Triticum, cf. compactum and monococcum, L.), Barley (Hordeum vulgar?, L.)
ORGANIC REMAINS.
Lentil (Ervum Lens, L.,var.microspermum).
Brome-grass (Bromus, cf. secalinus, L.)
Knot-grass (Polygonum aviculare, L.)
Crab-apple (Pyrus Mains, L.)
Hazel-nut (Corylus Avellana, L.)
Silver fir (Abies pectinata, D.C.)
Robert Munro, Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia with an account of the proceedings of the congress of archaeologists and anthropologists held at Sarajevo,August 1894 (Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1895)
Plate I. Click to enlarge
CLAY OBJECTS.
The objects made of clay consist of small human figurines or idols, one quadrupedal form, dishes whole or broken, weights, spindle-whorls, &c. The human figures (three whole and eighteen fragments) are all rudely made, with the exception of one a damaged head of a reddish colour, 6cm high which shows decided traces of artistic skill (Plate I. ,No. 1). Another of black ware represents the head and shoulders of a carefully - dressed woman (No. 2). It stands 11.5 cm in height and 7.7 cm in breadth, but it is sadly disfigured, the nose and lips being broken off. One of the unbroken figurines (No. 10) shows the human form in a very rudimentary stage, but yet it is made to carry round the, neck some kind of massive ornament. It measures 8.7 cm in height, 4.2 cm in breadth, and in thickness.One object (No. 9) roughly representing a four-footed animal, was found 20 cm above the floor of the hollow u. Its length is 9.2cm , and height 5.7cm.
