VILLAGE NÉOLITHIQUE DE TUMBA MADŽARI

Since 2008, this site (Археолошки Локалитет Тумба Маџари/Arheološki Lokalitet Tumba Madžari) has housed the reconstruction of a 1,400^m2 Neolithic village discovered 200 m away in 1971. Six houses and a small "temple", all built of wood, branches and adobe, feature mannequins and copies of objects from the people who lived here between 5800 and 5300 BC. The site was successively occupied by sedentary tribes from the two major Neolithic societies in the territory of North Macedonia: the Anzabegovo-Vršnik culture from the Vardar valley, and the Veluša-Porodin culture from Pelagonia. It included an important place of worship. Several terracotta statuettes of a deity known as Magna Mater ("great mother goddess") were unearthed for the first time. The goddess is depicted in the form of a female bust standing on the roof of a "house". Some of these statuettes, found only in North Macedonia, are on display at the National Archaeological Museum. Less impressive than the reconstruction of the Neolithic lakeside village of the "Bay of Bones" on Lake Ohrid, the Tumba Madžari site is more serious in scientific terms. On-site tours are led by volunteers, students or archaeologists (donations welcome). The site can be reached by bus 23 from the "Place de Macédoine" stop in central Skopje (get off at the "Madžari Khanibal" stop).