Archeological sites in Kosovo and Albania

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Romajë (definite Albanian: Romaja) is a village in the Prizren municipality of Kosovo. It has 2,747 inhabitants as of 2011. The area of Romajë is the site of a multi-layered settlement of the pre-Roman Iron Age, the Roman era, and the medieval era. Excavations at the necropolis of Romajë have revealed extensive burial mounds (tumuli) of classical antiquity.


Romajë is situated in the transboundary Has region of Albania and present-day Kosovo. In Serbo-Croatian, it is known as Romaja (Ромаја in Cyrillic). The area of Romajë is the site of a multi-layered settlement of the pre-Roman Iron Age, the Roman era, and the medieval era. The archaeological site that is known as Sakra is located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the west of the present-day village, between the right bank of the Drin and the Deshtica river.


In a series of excavations in 1970–73, an Iron Age tumuli necropolis was found in the location of the site.[2] It belongs to the Drin regional variation of the Illyrian Glasinac-Mati culture.[3][4] Three of the sixteen burial mounds of the necropolis were excavated at the time. The largest mound is more than 5 metres (16 ft) in height and 40 metres (130 ft) in diameter.[5] It contains 38 graves that must have belonged to a clan who used the tumulus for a period of several centuries. The graves date from sixth to the second century BCE.[5]


The materials found in the graves included iron weapons, a horse harness, amber and glass beads, local and imported pottery, and ritualistic items. Graves from the sixth and fifth centuries BCE contain long iron bars that were placed in the tombs are a means of payment to the afterlife. They indicate that the tribe of the Dardani had developed a concept about the afterlife as shown later in other archaeological materials such as the votive monument of Smirë.[6] The weapons included double-edged axes (Labrys), which might have been used in a ritualistic manner related to sun worship that was prevalent in the northern Illyrian tribes.[7] Ancient Greek imports (pottery, weapons) at this period mark the beginning of more intense contact of the Dardani with the Mediterranean centers of antiquity. These burial materials attest to the fact that social differentiation had begun in Dardania and that they had a local elite class who could invest in luxury imports.




Labrys were found in Iron Age graves being excavated in Romajë The trade flow of products that reached Romajë began from Apollonia and Epidamnos in southern Illyria and via the inland routes spread in the hinterland. Most of these items were produced in Athens and some came from the Ionian region.[8] Imported weapons indicate that Dardanians of the time may have served as mercenaries in foreign wars after which they brought these weapons in their homeland.[9]


The materials found in the tumuli are similar to those found in other tumuli in northern Albania, in particular, the tumuli of Kukës, which borders the Prizren region to the west and the tumuli of Mat farther to the southwest. The ceramics found in the site date to the early Iron Age, the Hellenistic era, and the Roman era.[10]


Nearby stand the ruins of the medieval church of Shën Prene (Paraskevi of Rome). It is a single-nave structure, 7.5 metres (25 ft) in length and 5.2 metres (17 ft) in width.[11]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romajë
 
Prizren fortress https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prizren_Fortress

450px-Prizren_Fortress_%282021%29.jpg


Prizren has been traditionally identified with Theranda, a town of the Roman era.[3] Another location which may have been that of Theranda is present-day Suhareka Archaeological research has shown that the site of the fortress has passed several eras of habitation since prehistoric times. In its lower part, material from the upper part of the fort has been deposited over the centuries. It dates from the Bronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) to the late Iron Age (c. 1st century CE) and is comparable to the material found in the nearby prehistoric site in the village of Vlashnjë. In late antiquity, the fortification saw a phase of reconstruction. It is part of a series of forts that were built or reconstructed in the same period by Justinian along the White Drin in northern Albania and western Kosovo in the routes that linked the coastal areas with the Kosovo valley.[4] At this time, the Prizren fortress likely appears in historical record as Petrizen in the 6th century CE in the work of Procopius as one of the fortifications which Justinian commissioned to be reconstructed in Dardania.[5]

Present-day Prizren is first mentioned in 1019 at the time of Basil II (r. 976–1025) in the form of Prisdriana
 
The village of Vrela is situated approximately 7 km west from the town of Istok. Archaeological excavations conducted here in 2010, unearthed remains and foundations of a church with small dimensions, typical for the early Christian period (4th–6th century AD). Close to the church, a necropolis is set that is most probably linked to the settlement sited in the upper part of the hill. Excavations carried in the church, revealed a large type of crypt grave, measuring: 2.80m in length, 1.40m in width and 1.40m in height, constructed in the shape of a semicircular arch or vault. The grave is oriented east-west and at the western side a small entry gate of 0.6m, in height, with an archway has been recorded. Nonetheless, the crypt/grave was constructed with tough stones, and what is interesting, inside the unearthed grave, intact mortal remains of a male was discovered, buried according to the Christian rites.[3]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_A...ites_in_Kosovo
 
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