MUSÉE DE LA BAIE DES OS

Set on the shores of Lake Ohrid since 2008, this museum (Музеј на Вода Залив на Коските/Muzej na Voda Zaliv na Koskite) consists of a reconstruction of a prehistoric lakeside village. Hastily built, the cob houses are crumbling year by year, but the place remains pleasant for a break at the site café or for a picnic on the nearby hill. Archaeologists were inspired by the underwater excavation site at Ploča Mičov Grad (a little further north on the coast), which is home to Bronze Age and Iron Age finds. Over an area of 8,500^m2, no fewer than 6,000 piling sites have been uncovered since 1997, suggesting the existence of a lakeside village of around twenty houses occupied between 1200 and 700 BC. The large quantity of bones carved for various purposes discovered on site has given the site its name. Some of these, along with flints, stone and bronze tools and pottery unearthed underwater, are on display at the Ohrid National Museum. The reconstructed village consists of a platform 1.5 m above the water on which rest eight houses, two of which are circular in shape. The interiors of the houses have been reconstructed using animal skins and reproductions of the various objects discovered at Ploča Mičov Grad. On the hill above the lakeside village, an ancient Roman camp has also been reconstructed. The Ohrid National Museum, which manages the entire site, also offers underwater archaeological tours with the Amfora diving club.