22 September 2009 | A royal burial vault was discovered by archaeologists in the area of Pavla chuka, between the villages of Bonche and Podmol near the town of Prilep in southern Macedonia.
The circular vault dates to the fourth century BC, the Vecher newspaper reported today. It has a diameter of 30 metres and is made of monolithic stones, each of them weighting two tons, which are undamaged although they are nearly 2,500 years old.

The vault has an opening dug into a wall, and antique tombs were discovered inside of it.

The find was made by a team of archaeologists, led by Viktor Lilcik, which has been working on the project for the past three years.

According to Lilcik, cited by the publication, the newly discovered burial vault belonged to an important ruler, most likely one from the Pelagonian Dynasty. The archaeologist said he expects to find an inscription that will help determining the exact ruler to which the vault belonged.

The site is of exceptional importance to Macedonian archaeology, since such monumental sites are rare on the Balkans, Pasko Kuzman, head of the Macedonian Department for Cultural Heritage, told the publication. It will attract enormous attention in the scientific archaeological circles, he added.

The archeological complex will be put on the tourist map of Prilep and Macedonia in order to attract domestic and foreign tourists, the publication concluded.

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