Badanj Cave
Badanj Cave (Croatian, Bosnian: Badanj Pećina) is a cave in Borojevići near the town of Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is famous for its cave paintings dating between 12,000 - 16,000 BCE.
The site consists of a semi-cave or overhang recessed beneath a cliff that descends to the right bank of the river Bregava. Two chronologically distinct strata of palaeolithic settlement were identified beneath the surface layer. Of particular significance was the discovery of a drawing carved into the rock of the Badanj site, one of the oldest examples of art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The drawing is cut into the diagonal surface of a large polished block of stone, and probably represents the figure of a horse seen from the offside flank that has been hit by arrows. Only the rear half of the body survives, with flanks typical for a horse and part of the body; the rest of the drawing has been partly damaged.
The Badanj carving includes figures of animals and symbols, as is typical of Mediterranean palaeolithic art. The site is dated to the late Upper Palaeolithic, and was discovered in 1976. The drawing was found beside the cave, the first of its kind on the eastern Adriatic coast.[1]
References
Ivan Lovrenović 2001. Bosnia: a cultural history. New York. New York University Press. p. 13
[1]Unesco.org. http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5282/UNESCO: "The natural and architectural ensemble of Stolac".