19 September 2008 | Researchers from the Kumanovo Museum are intensely studying the megalithic observatory at the ancient Kokino site in north-eastern Macedonia, national media reported recently.

“More and more foreign tourists visit the site. Kokino is one of Macedonia’s most significant locations, which we can offer as an interesting tourist destination”, Kumanovo Museum director Jovica Stankovski told the Dnevnik newspaper.

The excavations at Kokino will continue until October, the publication noted.

Museum experts also noted that a number of TV crews from Macedonia and abroad have shown an interest in doing documentaries and reports about the site.

In addition, the Vecher newspaper reported that 50 Macedonian writers will hold a literary meeting at the site on Friday evening, in support of the Ministry of Culture’s initiative to have the observatory added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The archaeological site of Kokinovo is located about 30 kilometres from the northeastern Macedonian town of Kumanovo. The megalithic observatory discovered in 2001, is around 3,800 years old. The oldest archaeological finds from the site date from the Early Bronze Age, but many objects from the Middle Bronze Age were also excavated, including ceramic vessels, stone-mills and moulds.

Stone markers used to track the movement of Sun and Moon were also discovered at the site.

The Kokino megalithic observatory was recognized by the United States Space Agency (NASA) as a significant heritage site of this type in its "Timeless knowledge" project in 2005. It listed Kokino side by side with ancient observatories as Stonehenge in Great Britain, Abu Simbel in Egypt and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

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