9 October 2008 | Last three months’ archaeological excavations of the medieval fortress of Isar in the town in Štip in central Macedonia are yielding a number of significant findings that shed light on how life in the fortress was organised during different periods of its existence, national media reported today.

Since the excavations started in August, a small one-nave church was discovered with graves around it, some of which contained bones of the erstwhile inhabitants of the fortress, the Utrinski Vesnik reported.

Other significant archaeologists’ accomplishments included determining the wall canvases in the acropolis in full, the discovery of an internal tower in the middle of the fortress and the localisation of a defence tower in its southern part.

The new finds will help shed more light on the organisation of life in the medieval fortress in different periods of its existence, the archaeologist Zvonki Beldedovski from Štip’s Institute for Protection of Culture and Museum Štip, who is leading the excavations, told media.

The artefacts discovered in the medieval fortress, according to Beldedovski, indicate that it was inhabited in early as well as late Antiquity, which suggests that life in the fortress, under which the ancient city Astibo stretched, developed continuously, Beldedovski added.

As BalkanTravellers.com reported in August, the excavations of the Isar Fortress – which aim to determine how many towers the tenth-century medieval structure had, as well as to examine the old Astibo settlement, assumed to lie under the fortress, will be carried out over the next four years.

The hill of Isar, topped by the fortress, dominates Štip and serves as the reason why the town is referred to as “The city under the Isar.”

The excavations of the medieval fortress, which affords a great view of Štip, will continue this year as long as the weather permits, the publication concluded.

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