Archaeologists have made a sensational discovery near the central Bosnian town of Zenica, which proves that the area was inhabited even three thousand years ago.

After the final works at the Kopilo site near Zenica were finished, the researchers said they found 3,000-year-old tombs as well as dozens of skeletons and over 25,000 ceramic vessels.

Speaking to N1, archaeologist Mario Gavranovic said they found atypical grave constructions with three or four family members, adding that further analyses will hopefully explain their existence on the Bosnian soil.

The oldest tomb dates back to the period of a thousand years BC but there is also a tomb dating back to 500 year BC, which means that ten generations had used the cemetery.

About 40 graves were found at the site visited by the N1 crew. Skeletons of children were found in one tomb but what is special about these tombs is that a vessel was always placed above the head of the deceased.

“Here you can see the skeleton of a five-year-old child… Certainly, the bones found at this site and the research that will follow will provide us with extremely important information about the living conditions of that time,” anthropologist Lukas Waltenberger told N1.

Archaeologists also discovered a great amount of jewelry in the tombs. The fact known about the people who lived and died here during the Bronze and Iron Ages is that they were engaged in agriculture among other things.

“We found a lot of animal bones, so livestock was developed. Iron metallurgy was developed too. Kopilo is known as the place where the earliest processing of iron began in the 9th and 8th centuries BC, which is interesting because we are in Zenica and that connection with iron and metallurgy is there “, said Gavranovic.

Excavations were also carried out at the Gradisce site and six prehistoric settlements were found there.

“We have prehistoric tombs there that are date to a different period and are different from these here, so in 2019 we explored a site called Ravna Gradina and the findings there showed the age of 1450 BC and a new range in those ancient periods,” said archaeologist Edin Bujina.