The area surrounding the Treskavec monastery near Prilep has been researched for several years, but now those archeological inquiries have become integral and are expected to provide chronological data on the urban site known as Kolabaisa.
Details on the life of the people who populated Kolabaisa will also be revealed, Telegraf.mk reads.
So far, Treskavec has been known as a monastic settlement, but now the monastery complex has acquired new dimensions, i.e. a town with regular population.
The research carried out in the frames of a capital project (Archeological Site Treskavec), is coordinated by the Cultural Heritage Protection Office and the Monuments Protection Institute and Museum in Prilep.
The archeological excavations started on April 5 this year and they will be conducted by mid-June.
The head of the Cultural Heritage Protection Office, Viktor Lilcic Adams, says this year, many different surfaces have been unveiled outside the monastic complex in order to define the chronological elements and capture the time, and to see during which periods this place was inhabited.
"For us now, as the Republic of Macedonia, we consider the contemporary church and spiritual content of the monastery very important, its reconstruction after the 2013 fire, and on the other hand, we want to preserve and nourish the cultural aspect. Looking at Treskavec as a cultural heritage, we are interested in opening it, showing its values to the many domestic and foreign visitors," Lilcic Adams said.
He hopes that by 2017, the monastery will be completely renovated, with defined cultural horizons, many tangible and intangible findings that will testify of this place and the character of the life that once thrived there.
"We plan to publish a monograph titled 'Treskavec-Kolobaisa-Archeology', although we already have another monograph which refers to the history of art. It's been finished, but the archeological part was missing," Lilcic Adams noted, adding that he could not state with certainty which one of the newly discovered items were the most representative findings, because the excavations were ongoing.
Lilic Adams has carried out superficial excavations and the planimetrics studies of the entire site, which took him a number of years to complete. Findings dating back to the Hellenistic period, up to the Middle Ages have been discovered.
The scientific adviser with the Old Slavic Culture Institute in Prilep, Dr. Branislav Risteski PhD, who is at the same the head manager of the archeological research, said that this year, the western, the northwestern and the southwestern sections of the monastery complex are being excavated.
"The findings of the first comprehensive research from 2013 were complemented by the current research and the aim was to define the basic stages of the usage of this area, because we've concluded that it was first used during the bronze age, and it continued to be used until the early 20th century," Risteski explained.
Many of these findings are fundamentally new, Risteski maintained. Previously, no thorough research was carried out here before, but what has been done has been done partially. The complex as a whole and the history of the tangible culture are being researched for the first time in 2013 and now.
"This is one of the most important cultures, especially in terms of the Balkan Middle Ages. The question whether Kolobaisa really existed was debated for a long time, and now we can talk about three stages, about planimetrics, details and a higher degree of findings," he said.
The research points to the Roman period, or Roman Kolobaisa, the early Byzantine period from the late 4th century to the middle of the 6th century, and one special Iustianian-linked stage, which has been developing during the final years of the 6th century.
The Treskavec monastery is located 10 kilometers away from Prilep, in the region of Pelagonia, situated at the height of 1,280 meters above sea level.
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