SN Photo from the Foundation. PLJEÃ… EVICA HRAÃ… Ôâ⒬ E PYRAMID HILL LOOKING EAST TERRACES COVERED WITH TILES The sites on PljeÃ…Ò¡evica HraÅҡÔâ⒬¡e which have been investigated on the west side are consistently showing thin beds of clay or terraces nicely paved with tiles. They are set in horizontal layers one on top of the other, slightly declined inwards E and leftwards N directions. Evidence of a tiled terrace is rarely seen at VisoÔÒÂica; I have seen it at one site in section, but they prevail at PljeÃ…Ò¡evica HraÅҡÔâ⒬¡e and mound Toprakalia. I was told by Semir Osmanagich that: “At some points in both rivers, Bosna and Fojnica are paved areas with sandstone tiles which are visible with the naked eye”. If this feature is not found in any other surroundings, we may consider that it is unique to Pljesevica HraÅҡÔâ⒬¡e, Toprakalia and parts of the rivers. The thickness of the beds or terraces is approximately 0.50 to 1.50 meters of tafla (marl or clay). They are a natural sedimentary argillaceous rock; lay down in fresh, brackish, or marine waters. The mineralogy is to some extent controlled by their environment of deposition. They have accumulated on a rough plain which is not level, thus in beds, parallel to the irregular plain surface; following its ups and downs.
Above each bed is an amazing pavement of tiles of a thickness of a few to 20 centimetres and megalithic at Toprakalia. Dr. Ibrahim Jasarevic believes the tiles were manmade. If the clay was brought by human labour, and that is farfetched, it may have been quarried out of some nearby, undiscovered tunnels of the substructure. If it was natural the tiled terraces would have been created over a few million years. Consequently the period of the construction of the terraces would be out of historical proportion. But there are a few outstanding observations recorded below; they are puzzling! A loose parallel of the use of tafla (marl or clay) in Egypt is at Saqqara, at the Complex of Sekhemkhet, third dynasty (BC 2700). The unfinished step pyramid within that complex is buried in the tafla. It came from excavating the substructure and the subterranean galleries under this complex. At PljeÃ…Ò¡evica HraÅҡÔâ⒬¡e the tiles excavated show that at the lower level terraces they are in a perfect state of preservation. At a little higher level the tiles appear to be a little worn out. It may possibly be that the preserved tiles were always buried until the Foundation exposed them and the worn-out ones were exposed in the past for cultural activities.
