Macedonia: Archaeology Excavations of Skopje Fortress Restart
11 March 2009 | This year’s excavations of the Skopje Fortress (Kale) began yesterday and will explore the remaining part of the site.
Despite the cold weather and strong wind on Tuesday, a large number of university students and workers gathered in the walls’ interior and began digging and arranging the found materials, the Utrinski Vesnik reported today.
The fortress was excavated partly in 2007 and the found artefacts were displayed in the Museum of the City of Skopje.
This year, the teams will explore what has been left unearthed and between 40 and 50 per cent of the site remain to be excavated, according to Dragi Mitrevski, archaeologist and head of research. He explained that 30 per cent of the overall area already underwent excavations in 2007 while 20 per cent of it will not be studied as they are located near a rock.
One focus of the excavations would be to unearth the foundations of structures that were destroyed by the 1963 earthquake, which according to Mitrevski included “the erstwhile military barracks, the prison, the erstwhile Archaeology museum, those buildings that we see in the old photographs.”
At the end of the Kale’s excavations, we should be able to present architecture from all the periods – from the site’s existence in Ottoman time, the Middle Ages and the Pre-Historic period, so that it can have content suitable for touristic exploitation, the archaeologist said. “Like last year, now we also leave the site open so that the whole society can come at any moment and feel the Kale as a monument of culture,” he noted.
The highest point in the city overlooking the Vardar River, which is where the Skopje Fortress now stands, is believed to have been inhabited as early as the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The first fortress on the site is believed to have been built in the sixth century, originating from the Roman city of Skupi, which was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 518.
The fortress is thought to have been reconstructed during the rule of Emperor Justinian I and constructed further during the tenth and eleventh centuries over the remains of emperor Justinian's Byzantine fortress which may have been destroyed due to a number of wars and battles. Not much is known about the Medieval fortress apart from a few documents which outline minor characteristics in the fortress' appearance. The 1963 earthquake which caused great damage to the entire city also partially destroyed the Skopje Fortress.
11 March 2009 | This year’s excavations of the Skopje Fortress (Kale) began yesterday and will explore the remaining part of the site.
Despite the cold weather and strong wind on Tuesday, a large number of university students and workers gathered in the walls’ interior and began digging and arranging the found materials, the Utrinski Vesnik reported today.
The fortress was excavated partly in 2007 and the found artefacts were displayed in the Museum of the City of Skopje.
This year, the teams will explore what has been left unearthed and between 40 and 50 per cent of the site remain to be excavated, according to Dragi Mitrevski, archaeologist and head of research. He explained that 30 per cent of the overall area already underwent excavations in 2007 while 20 per cent of it will not be studied as they are located near a rock.
One focus of the excavations would be to unearth the foundations of structures that were destroyed by the 1963 earthquake, which according to Mitrevski included “the erstwhile military barracks, the prison, the erstwhile Archaeology museum, those buildings that we see in the old photographs.”
At the end of the Kale’s excavations, we should be able to present architecture from all the periods – from the site’s existence in Ottoman time, the Middle Ages and the Pre-Historic period, so that it can have content suitable for touristic exploitation, the archaeologist said. “Like last year, now we also leave the site open so that the whole society can come at any moment and feel the Kale as a monument of culture,” he noted.
The highest point in the city overlooking the Vardar River, which is where the Skopje Fortress now stands, is believed to have been inhabited as early as the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The first fortress on the site is believed to have been built in the sixth century, originating from the Roman city of Skupi, which was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 518.
The fortress is thought to have been reconstructed during the rule of Emperor Justinian I and constructed further during the tenth and eleventh centuries over the remains of emperor Justinian's Byzantine fortress which may have been destroyed due to a number of wars and battles. Not much is known about the Medieval fortress apart from a few documents which outline minor characteristics in the fortress' appearance. The 1963 earthquake which caused great damage to the entire city also partially destroyed the Skopje Fortress.
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