Monastic Bronze: A Collection of Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Artifacts from the Franciscan Monastery in Visoko

Abstract

The collection of artifacts from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age from the museum collection of the Franciscan Monastery in Visoko, although limited in terms of archaeological knowledge about its exact origin, gives us certain indications that are important in the local-regional context for an understanding of the distribution and use of material culture during this period. No less important is the fact that we have a preserved collection that testifies to the Franciscan mission of collecting, preserving, and presenting cultural heritage, which has endured for over a century. Through this study, we have attempted to identify the characteristic aspects of material culture and to use them to create groups that have artisanal, cultural-artistic, spatial, and chronological significance. The largest part of the collection consists of bronze jewelry and ornaments, mostly parts of female attire, followed by tools and weapons. Finally, the geographical position of the Visoko Basin, in the upper course of the Bosna River, makes it stand out as an area in which complex cultural interactions took place; both along a north–south axis and toward neighboring, connected regions