Antiquities seized in the Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.)

In the Republic of Macedonia, in an action named “Phalanga”, police has seized a great number of antiquities destined to be sold illegally or smuggled abroad (Greece, Italy, Austria, with the obvious final destination being the auction houses in Western Europe and the US). The antique objects seized came from illegal digs. Media reports talk of 48 people being under preliminary interrogation by the police and that 28 (according to some reports 23) arrested. Some of the persons involved were high-ranking officials, although no names have yet been released. The reports speak of municipal counsellors, museum directors, well-known businessmen and even police officers. This is the biggest action of this kind in the country and the authorities say that there are enough items to fill a museum.



The objects date from the Iron Age, up to the 19^th century. Among the items, there are bronze figurines of a Pegasus, of a Menade, of a small child holding a cup, a marble phallus, a large number of coins (according to some authorities about 3000 and most of them dating from roman period) and several Byzantine icons. In a private house a headless roman statue and several Byzantine capitals were found.

Sources:

A1 television (internet site):

- 24.06.2010

- 24.06.2010
- 28.06.2010 (Video)

Dnevnik:
- 24.06.2010

Utrinski Vesnik:
- 26.06.2010
- 28.06.2010

Byzantine and Venetian Hoard found in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

A pot with byzantine coins was found in "Kale" (Castle), Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia. It contains 46 gold coins issued around 1250 by John III Doukas Vatatzes, emperor of Nicaea and 77 silver coins minted by various venetian rulers and dated up to the 1280s. The hoard was discovered during digs by a team of archaeologists led by Dr Mitrevski.

Source: Utrinski Vesnik, 12.05.2010

The Bronze Age Peak Sanctuary of Tatićev Kamen

The locality of Tatićev Kamen, near the village of Kokino, (F.Y.) Republic of Macedonia

The sun shining through the marker on the summer solstice fell on the central throne...

The locality of “Tatićev Kamen” is situated on the North-East part of the Republic of Macedonia, near the borders with Serbia and Bulgaria. It has been discovered in 2001 by archaeologist and director of the Kumanovo museum Jovica Stankovski who is in charge of archeological research on the site.

As research has shown, the locality is exceptionally rich in material dating from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the majority being material of the Recent Bronze Age.

What makes the locality outstanding, however, is its use as a peak sanctuary. As Mr. Stankovski underlines, many topographic characteristics of the locality “Tatićev Kamen” situated near the village of Kokino confirm its use as a mountain sanctuary or as a sacred mountain. Among these characteristics are: the position of the path leading to the top of the hill (1013 m high) where the locality is situated (it leads up the South-East side of hill, the side lit by the sun), a large radius of visibility from the top of the hill, the absence of an agglomeration of the Bronze Age which could be connected with the material from that period found on the place, as well as other archaeological elements.

That the site was used as a sacred mountain is also shown by the fact that the material was found exclusively within a cult context. Two types of cult holes containing offerings were found:

Natural fissures (holes) in the rocks on the highest part of the hill with human interventions on them creating a circular opening at the upper part of the fissure (small stones and clay were used). After depositing the offerings, these structures were sealed with earth and small stones and delimited with large stones. Chronologically, the archaeological material found in these structures belongs to the entire Bronze Age (20^th – 11^th Century B.C.). In these structure entire or fragmented vessels, ceramic weights, whorls, stone tools, even fragments of clay walls from houses have been found.

The second type of the cult structure are circular stone constructions not unlike small tumuli. They are delimited with larger stones and have a diameter of 0,9 – 2,0 m. Inside, ceramic fragments and several vessels sometimes covered with earth and broken stones were found.

Some of the material shows traces of burning which indicates the ritual use of fire during the ceremonies. The numerous stone hand-mills and pestles for grinding grain as well as fragments of movable ovens lead us to conclude that ritual foods were prepared.

Three figurines were found on this locality: a small female torso, the lower part of a leg with a foot and a small animal.

The upper platform (above) and the central throne seen from the Sun-Marker (below)

The most impressive element on this locality is the row of stone cut seats in front of which there is a stone platform. On those seats, probably local community chiefs used to sit during the execution of the rituals.

All this elements indicate that on this mountain, the cults of the Great Goddess Mother and the Sun took place.

According to some astronomical researches, the movements of some of the celestial bodies as the Sun and the Moon were observed as to determinate the beginning of the harvest. This side of the locality however must be verified by further and more competent research. It should be mentioned that the locality is to be found on the list of archeoastronomical observatories made by NASA.

Numerous artefacts of the Bronze Age, including molds (above)...

Large amounts of pottery...

(F.Y.) Republic of Macedonia: The "Archibrigade" protests with an exhibition!

A year ago the young people in Skopje, mostly students of the faculty of Architecture, were protesting against the government’s plan to build a church on the central square of Skopje. They were attacked violently by the citizens - suspected to be organized by the ruling party (VMRO-DPMNE) - and who publicly claimed to be a “spontaneously gathered group”. The police didn’t react to stop the violence. The paradox was that the young people who had manifested their disagreement with this plan and who were attacked were the ones brought to trial because of disruption of public order and provoking of violence! The case reached international media, and so the judges were obliged to drop the accusations.

To commemorate this event (“the First architectural insurrection” as the same student organization calls it), “The First Archibrigade” organised an open-air exhibition. The student’s architectural plans were attached to the metal barriers placed round the construction site on the central square, where the Government has started various competition projects. The students are demanding the proclamation of an international concurs for a New Detailed Urban Plan of Skopje to replace the Government project for Skopje called “Skopje 2014” which is a bizarre and anachronistic mixture of old styles such as baroque and classicism.

Source: Utrinski Vesnik, 29.03.2010

Internet Museums in the Balkans...

First posted: 25.03.2010
Updates: 05.07.2011 (added to FYRo Macedonia)

I have been working of a page called "Sites per Country", which is a rather ambitious affair that you can find at the top of this page (or here). In it I hope to list Museums, Archaeological sites and Various Institutions working on archaeology and history per country, that have a site of their own accessible to all.

Working on this project I found myself defining Museums that enter into this in an ever more loose manner, so that I have ended with a list that contains all Museums I come across on the Web.

The following statistical data refers exclusively to Internet Sites of museums: Sites of Archaeological excavations, research institutions etc have been excluded.

I started with the Balkans, and I am sad to say that things here look rather bleak: With the exception of Greece - although it is an exception mostly due to a lack of competition- Institutions in the Balkan countries do not seem to have cottoned on to the fact that the Web offers enormous opportunities when it comes to scientific research...And that it all starts with a decent Website!

To give you an idea, here are some statistics from the countries whose lists I have already compiled:

Albania: No sites were found. Only a site of an Italo-Albanian co-operation project that seems to have the ambition of presenting all Albanian museum, but for the time being is a shambles.

Albania recently voted a reform of its Archaeological Services following the Italian example; not everyone is optimistic as far as the chosen model is concerned...This is just one aspect of a multilevel infiltration of Italy into Albanian society.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: One museum, admittedly nicely designed.

Bulgaria: From a list of 99 museums given here only one is listed as having a website. I did slightly better having found 5 museums in Bulgaria - of all callings - that have their own websites, albeit most of them rather shabby and amateurish.

Croatia: One museum only possesses a site. For some reason I had hoped for something better in all...The Croatian Museum Documentation Centre is an interesting project, but definitely needs a lot more work!

(F.Y.) Republic of Macedonia: Despite the frenzy of archaeological activity that has been going on during the last few years largely due to what has been termed the "Antiquization" programme of the current government, Museums are sadly lacking when it comes to internet sites. I only managed to locate three (!) museums on the web, of which the largest the (National) Museum of Macedonia does not offer its content in English.

Update 05.07.2011: I added the Museum of the City of Skopje site bringing the number of museum sites to four. I also located three sites for archaeological digs, although the Gradiste site seems to have disappeared... This changes its rank to second.

Greece: As mentioned Greece does rather better than its neighbours: I listed 66 museums that posses a fully functional website, of which only two do not offer their content in English, while most of the larger museums have excellent and professionally designed sites (and the list is far from complete: I just decided to add the other countries before coming back to Greece).

It must be noted, however, that there seems to be a lack of central planning as far as public museums are concerned, and there seem to be many without an internet site of their own. It is also surprising that important museums come out rather low in Google results: for example the National Archaeological Museum - one of the worlds most important museums - appeared on the third page of Google when searching with the Greek term "Μουσείο"...

It must also be noted that while a lot was done in the domain of culture in the run up to the Athens Olympics in 2004, since then it has been plagued by scandals and underfunding, so it shall not be surprising if things take a turn for the worse in the future. See here for current situation of many museums and sites in Greece and for specific sites see here.

Kosovo: No Museum possesses an internet site.

Montenegro: 1 museum, but that is enough to give it the third highest rating, thanks to its small population.

Serbia: I only managed to locate museums in Belgrade with internet sites. I can only imagine that the rest of the country also has museums, but it is certainly difficult to locate them on the web...Of the 41 Museums that the Wikipedia lists on its relative page, only eight museums actually have working internet sites. I must however pause to mention the impressively unexpected Museum of African Art in Belgrade, which possesses a rather nice internet site.

COUNTRY	No of Listed Museums (With Internet Site)	Museum/ Population Ratio[1]
Greece[2]	70	0,62
(F.Y.) Republic of Macedonia[4]	4	0,19
Montenegro[3]	1	0,15
Serbia[5]	8	0,11
Bulgaria[6]	5	0,07
Bosnia and Herzegovina[7]	1	0,02
Croatia[8]	1	0,02
Albania[9]	0	N/A
Kosovo[10]	0	N/A

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[1] Calculated as: (Listed Museums/Population)x100000 (rounded to second decimal).

[2] Population: As of January 2008, the population of Greece is estimated at 11,262,000 by Eurostat.

[3] 2009 estimate: 672,180

[4] 2009 estimate: 2,114,550.

[5] 2009 estimate: 7,334,935 (excluding Kosovo).

[6] 2009 estimate: 7,560,000.

[7] 2009 estimate: 4,613,414.

[8] 2009 estimate: 4,489,409

[9] Approx. 3,500,000, according to Albania National Institute of Statistics official web site. http://www.instat.gov.al/.

[10] 2007 estimate: 1,804,838

[It goes without saying that if you know of any museums in any country that is not listed here I would be more than interested to hear about it! - Please only Museums that have their own Internet Site!]

(more to come...)