By: Emir Medanhodžić
At the Panjevi site, located in the forest along the road near the village of Vrhbarje, lies a necropolis consisting of five medieval tombstones in the shape of chests. The monuments are very well-carved and well-preserved. One chest is relatively massive, measuring 240 × 140 × 140 cm, with a pedestal measuring 290 × 163 × 32 cm. It weighs approximately 16 tons. One of these five tombstones has completely sunken and is no longer visible on the surface, leaving only a large depression behind.
They are positioned in the classic northwest–southeast orientation, arranged in rows, and bear no decorations. Unfortunately, our historiography knows nothing of this necropolis, other than that it was located within the territory under the medieval rule of the noble Pavlović family. In the immediate vicinity, there is also an Illyrian hillfort with tumuli, which we were the first to record.
It is symptomatic of the records that Šefik Bešlagić made a catastrophic error by listing this same necropolis twice under different neighboring villages Vrhbarje and Obrtići making it evident that he did not actually visit the field.
We discovered two additional medieval tombstones built into a ruined stable nearby, suggesting that this was originally a larger necropolis.
Along the road toward Han Stjenica, there were two older transitional Muslim headstones (nišani) featuring depictions of birds and other animals, but they were demolished during the construction of an Orthodox church.
