Dimitar Mustakov Evtim Sprostranov Trebenishta 1918

Trebeništa ( mk, Требеништа) is an ancient necropolis dating from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

, i.e. around the 7th century BC. The site is located near Trebeništa in modern-day

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. It is believed that the necropolis was used by the people from the ancient town of Lychnidos. Whether product of Illyrian,

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

, or a mixed Thraco- Aegean civilization,Ilieva, Pavlina, and Petia Penkova. "Funeral golden mask and hand with a ring The necropolis of Trebeniste." ArcheoSciences. Revue d'archéométrie 33 (2009). its characteristics suggests some cultural continuity throughout a wide area, despite there lived different tribes.

Modern discovery

Trebeništa was discovered by

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n soldiers during World War I Bulgarian occupation of Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. The Bulgarian government sent the archaeologist Karel Škorpil to organize excavations. The artifacts were later researched by the archaeologist

Bogdan Filov Bogdan Dimitrov Filov ( bg, Богдан Димитров Филов; 10 April 1883 – 1 February 1945) was a Bulgarian archaeologist, art historian and politician. He was prime minister of Bulgaria during World War II. During his tenure, Bulgar ...

. Since then, large amounts of graves, five golden masks, and some iron earrings and plates have been found. The excavations continued in 1930-1934, 1953-1954 and 1972 in Yugoslavia. The finds are housed now in the Archaeological Museums in Ohrid,

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

. A number of artifacts excavated in the necropolis are said to be imported from

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...

while the rest are of a local Thracian-barbarian origin with Greek influences. Archeological findings include a bronze Krater, a

Corinthian helmet The Corinthian helmet originated in ancient Greece and took its name from the city-state of Corinth. It was a helmet made of bronze which in its later styles covered the entire head and neck, with slits for the eyes and mouth. A large curved pr ...

Illyrian type helmet The Illyrian type helmet (or Greco-Illyrian type helmet) is a style of bronze helmet, which in its later variations covered the entire head and neck, and was open-faced in all of its forms.. It originated in Peloponnese, ancient Greece, and was d ...

s and golden funeral masks reminiscent of Aegean culture. A corrupt passage from Greek historian

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

suggests that the Thraco-Illyrian tribe of Peresadyes and the Illyrian tribe of the

Enchelei The Enchelei were an ancient people that lived around the region of Lake Shkodra and Lake Ohrid,Strabo, Geography (ed. H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A.), book 7, chapter 7: "...had established their sway, and Enchelii, who are also called ...

allied to create a new state in the area of modern Ohrid. If that suggestion is correct then the royal cemetery located in the necropolis is that of the Peresadyes. A golden mask from Trebeništa is depicted on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

of the 500

Macedonian denar The denar ( mk, денар; paucal: denari / денари; abbreviation: ден (Cyrillic) or DEN (Latin), ISO code: MKD) is the currency of North Macedonia. Though subdivided into one hundred deni (), coins with a denomination of less than one ...

banknote, issued in 1996 and 2003.National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia
Macedonian currency. Banknotes in circulation
500 Denars
(1996 issue)
500 Denars
(2003 issue). – Retrieved on 30 March 2009.

Sources

Bibliography

* B.D.Filow, K.Schkorpil
Die archaische Nekropole von Trebenischte am Ochrida-See
Berlin und Leipzig 1927. * La nécropole archaïque de Trebenischte, Extr. de la Revue Archéo., janvier-avril 1934. Vulic (N.)
WERE THE AUTHORS OF THE TREBENIŠTE CULTURE AND THE GOLD FUNERAL MASKS
Nade Proeva, Ph.D. * Viktorija Sokolovska, Etnickite nositeli na Trebeniskata Nekropola, Skopje/Ohrid 1997 (Summary in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Trebenista Archaeological sites in North Macedonia Ohrid Municipality Ancient Macedonia Archaeology of Illyria

Modern discovery

See also

Sources

Bibliography