In the area between the King’s Church and the Church of St. John the Forerunner in the Studenica monastery, during the drainage works of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, more than twenty graves have been found so far.
The graves belong to the monastic cemetery, which was formed in the area around the King’s Church and in front of the entrance to St. John’s Church. Several types of graves have been determined by the research so far. The most common type is a burial structure formed by vertically placed stone slabs made of a type of local greenish stone (serpentinite). Some burial chambers were covered with similar stone slabs. During the cleaning of some graves, wood remains were observed, so it can be concluded that these burial chambers were covered with wooden boards. Some graves also contain remains of wood and findings of iron wedges, so it can be assumed that the deceased were laid in wooden coffins. Important is the discovery of a grave in the immediate vicinity of the altar apse of the King’s Church, whose grave construction was made of stone slabs of the same greenish stone (serpentinite) and marble, and which were placed to resemble a gable roof. Also, during the research so far, graves were discovered in which the deceased were laid in a coffin without any other structure, which represents the simplest form of burial.
The work is still in progress.
