Butmir

A Late Neolithic settlement near Sarajevo in Bosnia which gave its name to a culture, though the type site is not characteristic of the entire Butmir culture. The site represents a classic or late phase, defined by richly decorated ceramics (with incised meander designs) and a wide range of fired clay anthropomorphic figurines of various physical types, costume, and pathological condition. The culture was related to the Vinca culture. The Butmir culture comprises the Middle and Late Neolithic of central Bosnia, in the period c 4350-3700 BC.

As with many type sites excavated in the early 20th century and before, Butmir, situated near Sarajevo in Bosnia, Yugoslavia, is not characteristic of the whole of the Butmir culture. The site represents a classic, or late, phase of the culture, defined by richly decorated ceramics (especially spiral and meander motifs) and a wide range of fired clay anthropomorphic figurines, depicting several physical types, varied costume and even pathological conditions. The Butmir culture comprises the Middle and Late Neolithic of central Bosnia, in the period <4350-3700 be. An autochthonous local origin for this culture from the preceding Kakanj stage has recently been demonstrated (see Obre).