Tumba () is a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlement located in the north-eastern part of

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and it is the most significant Neolithic settlement in Skopje valley. It was discovered in 1961/2 in the course of the archaeological trial excavations related to the construction of the motorway. The first archaeological excavations were conducted in 1978 by the Museum of Macedonia, under the leadership of Voislav Sanev. The stratigraphy of the settlement has a cultural layer that indicates life was continuously taking place in the period between year 6000 and 4300 BC. The land was used mostly for agriculture, conserving the remains of a multifaceted settlement. The evidence of the multiple stages of the settlement is found within a three-foot layer which shows the three stages of life within the community and that the settlement was part of the Anzabegovo-Vršnik cultural group. One of the first structures found was a house, believed to be a sanctuary, demonstrating evidence for religion. The most representative finding of site is the discovery of Pre-Indo-European sculptures of the Great Mother, suggesting the existence of the Cult of the Great Mother Goddess. These findings are remarkable evidence of the material and spiritual life and high artistic and aesthetic achievements of the Neolithic man from Macedonia. In July 2024, following a 10-year hiatus of archaeological work at Tumba Madžari, a figurine of the "Great Mother" dating from 8,000 BC was unearthed at the site. Along with plans to further emphasize the site as part of Skopje tourism, the lead archaeologist announced plans to submit an application for the site's inclusion on the UNESCO

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

External links

Official web page of the archaeological site Tumba MadzariОфицијална страница на археолошкиот локалитет Тумба Маџари
*https://web.archive.org/web/20111205152411/http://makedonija.name/culture/tumba-madzari

References

Archaeological sites in North Macedonia Geography of Skopje Former populated places in the Balkans 1960s archaeological discoveries {{Skopje-stub