At the one hundred and fifty-ninth kilometer from the confluence of the Piva and Tara rivers and the origin of the Drina River, on the bend that the river makes around the Osat mountain range in the middle Podrinje, is the town of Skelani. The region is rich in natural and mineral resources, which contributed to the development of a Roman settlement here from the 1st to the 4th century. Excellent urban planners, builders and craftsmen, the Romans, left behind numerous buildings and monuments, the remains of which can still be seen today. One of the inscriptions mentioning the city council "ordo decurionum" was found in Skelani, which indicates that the center of the Roman Municipium Malvesiatium was located here.
The first archaeological excavations in Skelani were carried out by Karl Pač back in 1896. On that occasion, he discovered and explored two early Christian churches, a necropolis and a brickyard, and in the wider area of Skelani he collected over 80 Roman monuments. His further efforts were thwarted by the Drina River, which buried everything he had collected and excavated in a major flood.
A hundred years later, archaeologists returned to Skelane. Under the leadership of Mirko Babić, excavations were carried out in 2008 at four locations: “Zadružni dom”, “Branko njiva”, “Baba Anka’s Yard” and in the “Porta of the Serbian Orthodox Church”. Remains of ancient buildings were discovered at all four locations, and the finds of Roman floor mosaics at the “Zadružni dom” site and 30 Roman monuments at the “Baba Anka’s Yard” site were particularly valuable. Following these discoveries, the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska declared the archaeological complex in Skelane a cultural asset of exceptional importance. The Public Institution Archaeological Museum “Rimski municipium” Skelane was soon established, with the task of taking care of the protected complex.
In the following period, the villa urbana was almost completely explored, in which a corridor with floor mosaics dominated by floral and geometric motifs was discovered. While in a room interpreted as a dining room, a mosaic was discovered whose central motif is a medallion with the image of the Gorgon Medusa.
