Stećci, the medieval tombstones, are expressions of religious belief, identity, politics and social ideology. They synthesise the historical, chronological, cultural and religious components of the medieval Western Balkans. There are over 60 000 stećci scattered around Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the country that epitomises long-standing plurality. Through these monuments identities were enunciated, thus offering a rare opportunity to investigate the archaeo-historic growth of medieval SE Europe.
SOLMUS adopts an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to study medieval funerary archaeology, with the aim to understand the social life of medieval Bosnian society that left us stećci. The project models ‘inter/intra group’ interactions in medieval BiH by integrating principles from landscape archaeology, remote sensing, digital humanities, and the scientific and theoretical approaches of social archaeology with medieval iconography and epigraphy, therefore bringing an entirely new understanding of European medieval archaeology.
The proposed project synthesises complementary datasets from the archaeological and historical record, often treated separately. By defining the Past as shared, complex and nuanced, can archaeology stimulate new narratives for social integration? What was/is the regional impact of the peripheral East and the role of multiculturalism on the European Past? By bridging theoretical perspectives and scientific methods, we can provide innovative perspectives on European multiculturalism through its relationship with the medieval heritage of the Western Balkans.