The Pavlovac necropolis was located on the Pavlovac hill not far from Kasindol in the immediate vicinity of Sarajevo. Medieval roads led along the necropolis itself, one passing through Kasindol and along the southern slopes of Pavlovac via Križ and Tvrdimić, leading to the famous Bosnian road, which connected Ragusa and central Bosnia. The second road led over Debelo brdo, through the Tilava valley above Miljevići, meeting the Kobiljdol road near Zagonje and turning further towards Trnovo. In the immediate vicinity on Križ hill there was a quarry where stećak tombstones were carved and transported to the Pavlovac necropolis. According to the earliest field research and notes from the end of the 19th century, the necropolis had around 100 stećak tombstones in a typical row position. Necropolis dates back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Stećak tombstones from this necropolis were moved to Lukavica in 1980. On that occasion, an analysis of stećak tombstones and archaeological research into the graves under the stećak tombstones was carried out. At the time, the necropolis contained 40 stećak tombstones, of which 31 were preserved in their entirety and nine in fragments. In Pavlovac there are 20 crates, 1 crate with a base, 8 gables on two sides, 2 gables on four sides. There were no decorations on these stećak tombstones. The simplified shapes of the stećak tombstones without decorations and inscriptions reflect the taste of this region and the simplicity of the relationship between the monuments in space. The monumentality of stećak tombstones is the only recognizable quality in the craftsmanship of the stone-masons from Pavlovac. Stone processing and carving were carried out on all stećak tombstones with uniform quality. The type of limestone stone from the aforementioned quarry in Križ has patinated over time, taking on a characteristic gray color that gives a calmer tone to the once bright white color. Many stećak tombstones in fragments or as complete pieces had noticeable damage caused primarily by the use of mechanical force: undermining, overturning, moving and destroying the stone structures of stećak tombstones which is why stećak tombstones were tilted, cracked and broken, and part of stećak tombstones was damaged by the use of explosives. The stećak tombstones are oriented in the west-east direction, except for three of them that were placed in the north-south direction. One specificity was established, which is reflected in the fact that the deceased were buried in stone and wooden sarcophagi. Out of a total of 25 graves examined, 24 deceased persons were buried in sarcophagi. The use of sarcophagi has also been recorded in some other necropolises in Bosnia, but it is not a large number of cases. This principle of burial is recorded in various parts of late medieval Europe. The use of sarcophagi is connected with the belief in the resurrection of the body and the effort to preserve the remains as long as possible. There are several notable finds in the graves, including glass, luxury clothing, a gilded silver belt buckle, coins of Ragusan provenance from the second half of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century, buttons made of twisted bundles of filigree gilded wire, and brocade. It has been determined that the skeleton from this necropolis has an autochthonous ethnic element with an emphasis on robustness in both sexes, which is characteristic of the Dinaric anthropological type.
Taking into account the fact that this necropolis is located on the possessions of the prominent noble kindred of Pavlović, earlier researchers assumed this was precisely their necropolis. The massiveness of stećak tombstones is another distinctive characteristic of this necropolis. Furthermore, this necropolis housed the heaviest stećak in general, estimated to weigh 32 tons. A wooden sarcophagus containing the remains of a deceased individual was discovered beneath it. Some historians, using the analogy that it is the necropolis of the Pavlović nobles, highlighted the possibility that this huge stećak could belong to one of the most prominent representatives of this family, Prince Pavle Radinović. A certain regularity in the parallel placement of stećak tombstones of similar shapes points to possible kinship and temporal ties between members of a larger medieval kindred community.
The Pavlovićs were a Bosnian noble family whose heritage (baština) possessions were located in eastern Bosnia. They held the towns of Borač, Prača, Višegrad, Olovo, and later members of this family controlled the possessions in Konavle, Trebinje and Drijeva. Pavlović’s ancestor was Radin Jablanić. It was only with his son Prince Pavle that the family became one of the most powerful in Bosnia at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century. After a meeting of the Bosnian nobility and King Ostoja in Parena Poljana near Sutjeska in August 1415, he was killed in a conspiracy. After his death, the Christian Vlatko Tumurlić took his body to Vrhbosna. His brothers Petar and Radoslav succeeded him. Duke Petar was killed by the Ottomans in 1420, and Duke Radoslav Pavlović took over the control over the family possessions from that period. In the following decades, he was known as one of the most controversial figures on the Bosnian political scene. In the 1430s, he fought the several-year-long Konavle war with the Ragusans. After his death in 1441, he was succeeded by his son Ivaniš, and that period marked the decline of the power and role of this family.
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