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Historical in Lin/ Swiss-Albanian cooperation discovers the oldest settlement in Europe

2025-06-27 15:15:00, Qyteti im CNA

Historical in Lin/ Swiss-Albanian cooperation discovers the oldest settlement in

In the picturesque village of Lin, on the shores of Lake Ohrid, international cooperation between Swiss experts and Albanian archaeologists continues, in an archaeological research project that is bringing impressive discoveries about the early history of this settlement.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Albania, Ms. Ruth Huber, was in Lin today where she praised the work of several years of experts from the University of Bern in collaboration with Albanian archaeologists.

" For us as the Swiss embassy in Albania, the cooperation of archaeological experts from the University of Bern with Albanian archaeologists is very important, with a collaboration that has been developing for several years now. They have made many important discoveries about the ancient history of this old Lake Ohrid in Pogradec. For us, it is very good to see this kind of cooperation between experts, with joint training and exchange of knowledge, which shows that there is a great tourism potential. I am very happy to be here in Lin" , said Huber.

Ambassador Huber emphasized that the project is an initiative of the University of Bern and not directly funded by the Embassy, ??while recalling that Switzerland continues to be one of the largest supporters of development in Albania.

" First of all, I want to say that the activity here was not funded by the Swiss embassy, ??but the University of Bern was involved. The Swiss embassy in Albania has a great involvement with programs in various fields with Albania. We are still a strong financier for Albania, there is no specific reduction for agriculture. One of the largest projects that we have supported for 12 years is now being concluded, it is a planned conclusion of the 12-year project for youth employment, tourism, agriculture. As you can see, our project has been very extensive both in time, in supporting the development process and the institutional process for a long time ," said the ambassador.

The Ambassador also commented on Albania's integration into the EU, recalling Switzerland's support for the Albanian state's journey towards Europe.

" Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but we see that Albania's integration into Europe is a clear priority of the Albanian government. With our development program we support EU integration. We hope that in the various areas that we support for further development, we contribute to Albania achieving the required standards and those needed for EU integration. We want to strengthen the various institutions of the Albanian state and we see very rapid progress ," declared Ambassador Huber.

On the other hand, the project leader, archaeologist Adrian Anastasi, announced that the excavations are still in an active phase, with a focus on land and underwater surveys.

" The first phase, which ends on July 15, has not been completed, but we are in the middle of the work. We are very pleased with what we are doing. The intervention strategy this year has been with a land survey and two underwater surveys. We have completed the first underwater survey, while we are also completing the underground survey. We have found abundant archaeological material, whether at the level of ceramics, or of tools, bones, and stones. Analyses have been taken to conduct more in-depth studies at the sample level and we are very pleased that at the planimetric level, with these interventions that we have behind us, we manage to connect all these planimetrics and we are more or less at the stage where now, through advanced methodologies such as dentrochronology, we can begin to create ideas of residential structures. This is also the most important part of this year's excavation ," said the archaeologist.

The latest discovery is a large, underwater wooden protective fence, evidence of a second period of habitation spanning a time span from 8,000 to 4,000 years ago.

" Meanwhile, as far as underwater research is concerned, we have identified a large protective wooden fence, which is an indicator of another phase within the 2000-year chronology, from 8000-4000 years ago. We are satisfied with the results we have obtained during these excavations ," said archaeologist Anastasi.

Professor Albert Hafner from the University of Bern, who is visiting Lin for the fourth time, confirms the extraordinary importance of this area.

" It's my 4th time in Lin and I'm very happy to be here. It's a beautiful place, beautiful landscape and the village of Lin is exceptionally well preserved. The excavations have again yielded very good results, we can confirm that this is the oldest settlement in Europe with preserved wood and organic materials and it's very special because the findings are very promising and we know that for 2000 years people have lived here between 6000-4000 BC, I predict dozens of villages or more ," said Hafner.

Archaeological discoveries in Lin are writing a new page of ancient history in the Balkans, placing Albania on the international map of scientific research and cultural heritage./ CNA