Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• After metal detectorists discovered a hoard on a Bosnian plateau, further archaeological excavations uncovered an ancient ceremonial site.
• Active sometime between the 13th and 9th centuries B.C.E., the Begića Glavica site had several strange anomalies.
• Along with an L-shaped wall that doesn’t offer any fortification, the location features evidence of violent ceremonies.

After metal detectorists searching the Begića Glavica hill near Travnik in Bosnia discovered a hoard of buried buttons and belts dated to the sixth century B.C.E., archaeologists descended on the location for further excavation. Their work uncovered a ceremonial site from around the 11th century B.C.E. featuring a strange L-shaped wall.

The mystery of Begića Glavica only grows from there. The 207-foot-long L-shaped stone rampart built with whitish limestone held no fortification value (it was only ever 10 feet tall). And the wall purposefully covered up burnt offerings, likely from around the same time period as the wall, that included intact buried pottery.

In a study published in the journal Archaeologia Austriaca explaining the find, the authors wrote that “the Begića Glavica site represents a unique spot in the regional framework, most likely a place of gatherings and ceremonial events.”

Situated on a small plateau above the mouth of the Lasva Valley, the site fits with the historical framework of hillforts that dotted the region during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. But nothing else about the site makes much sense. The L-shaped wall wasn’t defensive in nature, and the authors believe it likely divided the plateau into two sections, a style found nowhere else in the region. The limestone was from about a mile away, meaning it took significant ingenuity and effort for people to haul it there. The arrangement of the stones shows that the wall was built over time.

The most intriguing aspect of the find emerged during excavation of the wall’s central core, where a burnt area featuring charcoal, pottery, and metal had been buried. The burnt section included wooden planks, which were likely used for walking, and ceramic vessels, some of which had been buried and were apparently still the same position as when the fire was lit. One buried pot was three feet tall.

The authors believe the limestone wall was built on top of the burnt remains to seal them in place. Radiocarbon dating of seven samples places the site's activity anywhere from the 13th to the ninth century B.C.E., but the more reliable dates from animal bones suggest active use from the 11th through ninth centuries (the charcoal from old wood or the inner parts of long-lived trunks was likely much older, throwing off some of the dating).

The way the stones were put together indicates that inhabitants extended the wall in stages. “The fact that centuries after the first, apparently turbulent events, this place was visited either by the local population and/or by groups from more distant regions, who performed metal depositions, feastings, and ceremonies, reveals its immense importance in the collective memory,” the authors wrote.

The metal artifacts found at the site included several hundred small buttons, a variety of belt buckles and belt adornments, and simple metal sheets. The only pottery found was located within the main burnt core. Some of the pieces of pottery and metal point to cultural connections beyond the central Bosnian plateaus.

Archaeologists plan to excavate further, hoping to find evidence of additional ritual behavior.