12 June 2008 | Several archaeological projects around Macedonia unearthed important ancient discoveries, including Neolithic settlements, medieval churches and Byzantine musical note inscriptions, national media reported recently.

The Vecher newspaper wrote that a prehistoric settlement form the late Neolithic Age – the first half of the fifth millennium BC, was discovered at the Tsarevi Kuli archaeological site near the south-eastern Macedonian town of Strumitsa. Items from subsequent periods, such as the Macedonian-Hellenistic, Late Antique, and Medieval ones, were also found.

The discovery of the remains of a thirteenth-century church, Slavica Taseva from the Strumitsa Bureau and Museum told Vecher, “confirms the fact that besides Ohrid, Strumitsa had been one of the main Christian centres in Macedonia at that time.”

Another settlement also dating from the Neolithic period was excavated near the village of Spanchevo, located close to the town of Kochani in north-eastern Macedonia, the Vest newspaper reported today. Findings so far included religious services objects and ceramic items. The research, funded by the Macedonian Ministry of Culture, was initiated after archaeologists found female figurines near Spanchevo last year.

The third significant archaeological discovery was the recent find of Byzantine inscriptions at the Dolna Prespa sites near the village of Tugenets in the southwestern part of Macedonia. The inscriptions are Byzantine musical note letters, known as nevmi that – according to the Ohrid Museum conserver Gotse Angelechin-Zura, are unique not only to the Ohrid-Prespa region but to the Balkans as a whole. Zura told Vecher that the type of church singing associated with the note letter originated from the time of Saint Clement of Ohrid, the medieval scholar and writer.

Read about more archeological projects in Macedonia planned for 2008
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