stećak

Stećak (, ) or Stećci in plural form (, ) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in what are today Croatia (4,400), Montenegro (3,500), and Serbia (2,100), at more than 3,300 odd sites with over 90% in poor condition.

Appearing in the mid 12th century, with the first phase in the 13th century, the custom of cutting and using stećci tombstones reached its peak in the 14th and 15th century, before being discontinued in the very early 16th century during the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were a common tradition amongst Bosnian, Catholic and Orthodox Church followers alike, and were used by both Slavic and the Vlach populations.

Stećci are inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO since 2016, with a selection of some 4,000 individual monoliths, grouped in necropolises at 28 locations, of which 22 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, two in Croatia, three in Montenegro, and three in Serbia. The one of the best preserved collection of these tombstones is Radimlja, west of Stolac in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Etymology

The word itself is a contracted form of the older word *''stojećak'', which is derived from the South Slavic verb ''stajati'' (engl. ''stand''). It literally means the "tall, standing thing". In Herzegovina they are also called as ''mašeti'' / ''mašete'' (Italian ''massetto'' meaning "big rock", or Turkish ''meşhet''/''mešhed'' meaning "tombstone of a fallen hero"), in Central and Western Bosnia as ''mramori'' / ''mramorje'' / ''mramorovi'' (marble), while in Serbia and Montenegro as ''usađenik'' (implantation). On the stećci inscriptions they are called as ''bilig'' (mark), ''kamen bilig'' (stone mark), ''kâm'' / ''kami'' / ''kamen'' (stone), ''hram'' (shrine), ''zlamen'' (sign), ''kuća'' (house), ''raka'' (pit), ''greb/grob'' (grave). In 1495 lectionary they are recorded as ''kamy'' (stone).

Although under the name ''stećak'' is meant high monolithic standing stones (i.e. ''sanduk'' and ''sljemenjak'' form), in the 20th century the word ''stećak'' was accepted in science as general term, including for plate tombstones (i.e. ''ploče''). The original reference to the word ''stećak'' itself is uncertain and seems to be modern invention as it can only be traced from the note by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski from 1851, dictionary by Vuk Karadžić from 1852 (in the first edition from 1812 the term did not exist), although he contradicted himself as the commoners from Zagvozd called them ''starovirsko'' ("of the old faith"), dictionary by Bogoslav Šulek from 1860 and so on, while academic dictionaries mention it only from 1956/58. It is considered that the term was usually used in East Herzegovina and in the area of Stari Vlah in Serbia. Until the very early 20th century there was wandering in terminology, and some scholars proposed general terms like ''nadgrobni biljezi'' (gravestone markers) and ''mramorje'' (marble) to be more appropriate.

The term ''stećak'' is uncommon in regional dialects and without etiological value, and semantically incorrect and contradicting as it derives from the verb "to stand", while the chest-type to which it refers predominantly is laid down, while another sub-type of pillars and crosses is the one predominantly upright; this upright or standing sub-type does not amount even 5% of the overall number of stećci; in the original stećci inscriptions they are most often called as ''kami'' (meaning "stone" regardless of the form), thus some scholars proposed the term ''kamik'' (pl. ''kamici'') for all forms of headstones, while ''stećak'' would mean only the upright sub-type. The term ''kamik'' is more close to the original meaning and sometime is used instead of ''stećak'' in professional literature.

The stećci area or cemetery folk names show respect and admiration for their dimensions, age or representations: Divsko groblje (Giants’ cemetery), Mašete (big stones), Mramori/Mramorje (marble blocks), Grčko groblje (Greek cemetery), Tursko groblje (Turkish cemetery), Kaursko groblje ( Giaour’s cemetery).

Characteristics

Definition

They are characteristic for the territory of present-day Herzegovina, central Bosnia and Podrinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Dalmatia in Croatia, and some minor parts of Montenegro, Kosovo and Western Serbia, Northwestern Bosnia, and Croatia (Lika and Slavonia).

Stećci are described as horizontal and vertical tombstones, made of stone, with a flat or gable-top surface, with or without a pedestal. The common classification was established by Dmitrij Sergejevski in 1952, who divided them into recumbent stećci and standing stećci. The systematization of stećci is not currently complete. According to Šefik Bešlagić, there are seven main shapes: slab, chest, chest with pedestal, ridge/gable, ridge/gable with pedestal, pillar, and cross; while according to Dubravko Lovrenović, there are nine types in Radimlja: slab, slab with pedestal, chest, chest with pedestal, tall chest, tall chest with pedestal, sarcophagus (i.e. ridge/gable), sarcophagus with pedestal, cruciform.

For instance, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to UNESCO, "about 40,000 chests, 13,000 slabs, 5,500 gabled tombstones, 2,500 pillars/obelisks, 300 cruciform tombstones and about 300 tombstones of indeterminate shape have been identified. Of these, more than 5,000 bear carved decorations".

The chronology established by Marian Wenzel assumes they developed from the plate headstones, the oldest one dating back to 1220 (the first were probably erected sometime in the mid-12th century), the monumental ones emerged somewhere around 1360, those with visual representations around 1435–1477, and that total production ended circa 1505. However, some consider that it lasted until the late 16th century, with rare examples that continued until the 18th century. Stećci in the form of chest (''sanduk'') and ridge/saddle-roofed (''sljemenjak'') do not seem to have appeared before the middle or the end of the 14th century (1353-1477), while the remaining two basic forms – the upright pillar (''stup'') and cross (''krstača'' / ''križina''), no earlier than mid-15th century. In the case of the latter, upright or standing forms could be influenced by the ''nišan'' – the upright monolithic stones on top of the Muslim (Turkish) graves, which had already emerged by the end of the 14th century in conquered parts of Macedonia and Serbia. This form is predominantly found in Serbia and Eastern Bosnia.

The initial stage of their development, which included simple recumbent plates or slabs isn't specific for the region, but it is of broad West Mediterranean origin, and as such the term ''stećak'' (implying the chest and ridge form) is misleading for all tombstone forms. The slabs were typical for a kind of burial in the West Mediterranean world of the 14th and 15th centuries, which had a special method of production and ornamentation in the Balkans, customized according to the stonemasonry skills and microenvironment. They they were initially made by the feudal nobility who wanted to affirm individual's prestige and power, sometimes also decorated with their coat of arms, while later this tradition was embraced and adopted by other social classes like the Vlachs who experined social-economical growth and almost exclusively built them from the mid-15th century on.

Decorations

A fraction of stećci (384) bear inscriptions, mostly in Cyrillic, some in Glagolitic and Latin script. The observed Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian has some archaic phrases, mainly characterized by Ikavian while toward the end by Ikavian-Ijekavian yat reflex. The inscriptions can be roughly divided into those of: religious phrase, description of heroic death, information of the deceased, information of the deceased's relatives and circumstances of death, information with only a personal name (sometimes with smith-pupil name), and a moral (or religious) lesson. The last are mostly brazen reminders of wisdom and mortality, relay a dread of death, more anxiety than peace.

The most remarkable feature is their decorative motifs roughly divided in six groups which complement each other: social symbols, religious symbols, images of posthumous kolo, figural images, clear ornaments, and unclassified motifs (mostly symbolic, geometrical, or damaged). Many of them remain enigmatic to this day; spiral

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