Dolno Gradište ( mk, Долно Градиште) is a village in

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 located 6 kilometres north of

Kočani Kočani ( mk, Кочани ) is a town in the eastern part of North Macedonia, situated around east from Skopje. It has a population of 28,330 and is the seat of the Kočani Municipality. Geography and population The town spreads across the Nort ...

, at the base of Mount

Osogovo Osogovo (Bulgarian/ Macedonian: ), or Osogovska Planina or Osogovski Planini (Осоговска Планина or Осоговски Планини), is a mountain range and ski resort between the south-western part of Bulgaria (Kyustendil Provi ...

and at the northern coast of Lake Gradče. The site is situated on a prominent hill of the same name, located between the gorges of the Mala and Golema rivers which meet form the Kočani River. Many fortification remnants are found on the hill.

History

In the early Antiquity, this area, which is geographically connected to the course of

Bregalnica Bregalnica (, ) is the second largest river in North Macedonia. It starts as a spring near the mountain city of Berovo and it passes near the cities of Makedonska Kamenica, Kočani, Vinica and Štip, before joining the river Vardar on its way t ...

River or antic Astibos, was part of Paeonia, colonized by the Paeonian tribe known as the

Derrones The Derrones (or ''Deroni, Derroni'') were a Thracian or a Paionian tribe. Our knowledge of them comes from coins bearing variations of the legend of DERRONIKON (ΔΕΡΡΟΝΙΚΟΝ) - DERR (ΔΕΡΡ). The letters used in the coins are Greek, alt ...

. During the

Roman Period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, reforms of the actual emperors concerning the administration led to minor state border changes. This is one reason the area was part of different provinces, such as Macedonia,

Thracia Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek ...

Macedonia Secunda Macedonia ( grc-gre, Μακεδονία) was a province of the Roman Empire, encompassing the territory of the former Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia, which had been conquered by Rome in 168 BC at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The pro ...

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

Mediteranea.

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

provinces gained importance to the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

towards the close of the 3rd and the 4th century A.D., when the Empire suffered great changes in the fields of economics, politics, and administration. At that time, the building of a new, strong defensive system in Macedonia commenced. Its main role was to protect the region from advancing northern tribes. Many remnants of that system can be seen even today. The collapse of the local borders down the course of

is associated with the close of

Antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

. This is the period when fortification and restoration of existing defensive walls of important settlements began. The site of Dolno Gradishte is one of those renewed settlements.

Exploration

First written data about this site had been found in writings of the archaeologist M. Garashanin in 1959, and then, in 1964, A. Keramidchiev mentioned it in the writings about recognitions he had made throughout eastern part of Macedonia. The excavations in 2004 were the first exploring activities with a purpose to prevent the site from the construction of the local road which connects

to the village Jastrebnik. The fortification occupies an area of around 1,5 ha and has wide defensive walls that enclose an irregular form with dimensions of 200x100/50 meters. A high eastern acropolis with traces of medieval defensive tower dominates over a wide dwelling terrace, located eastern and southern of the acropolis. Many of the remnants found at the terrace are parts of the wall that followed the west side up to the north-western forehead, where remnants of another medieval defensive tower were found. Many traces of objects used for living are located in the base of the east side of the north-western tower. Especially noteworthy is the fact that their base are built up in the cliff.

Artifacts

The site is rich in constructional ceramics decorated with various engraved ornaments, while fragments with engraved horizontal and defending lines in many different variants prevail at the clay pottery. It is important to mention that medieval

sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

plates and objects made of tilled animal bones were also found here. Besides the pottery and the ceramics used for building, a great amount of slag was also discovered. The site `Zgurite` is close to this one and they used to be connected with an old antic path. This is one of the reasons why is believed that the site is an old mining settlement which is associated to the

region rich in mineral deposits. The existence of necropolis near the fortification is just another prove of the constant settlement which was situated here.

Gallery

File:Zgrafito plate.jpg, Sgraffito plate File:Tilled bones.jpg, Tilled animal bones File:Gradiste clay pottery.jpg, Constructional ceramics and clay pottery File:Gradiste tomb.jpg, A tomb File:Gradiste object.jpg, An object File:Ranieri coin averse.jpg, A coin by Ranieri Zena (1253-1268) - obverse File:Ranieri coin reverse.jpg, A coin by Ranieri Zena (1253-1268) - reverse File:Justinian coin Gradiste.jpg, A coin by Justinian I (527-565)

References

*Dolno Gradište - Kočani, I. Atanasova, Municipality of Kočani, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolno Gradiste Archaeological sites in North Macedonia Kočani Municipality