Level 1 - Absolute Beginner

Scientists found a very old building in Albania. It is a temple that is about 2,300 years old. This is a big discovery.

The temple belonged to a people called the Illyrians. They lived in this part of Europe a very long time ago. Nobody knew exactly where their city was.

The scientists think this is the lost city of Bassania. They used old books and digging to find it. More digging will happen next year.

temple

a building used for worship or religious ceremonies

discovery

finding something for the first time, or finding something that was lost or unknown

ancient

belonging to a time very long ago in history

stone

a hard, solid material found in nature, often used to build old structures

scientists

people who study the world and make discoveries through experiments and research

archaeologists

scientists who dig up and study objects and buildings from the past

ruins

the remains of old buildings or structures that have been destroyed or fallen apart

city

a large place where many people live and work

Level 2 - Elementary

Archaeologists from Poland and Albania announced a remarkable find on June 23, 2026 - the discovery of an ancient temple near the village of Bushat in northern Albania. The building dates back to around 300 to 250 BC, making it more than 2,300 years old. It is the first temple from the Illyrian period ever found in this part of Europe.

The Illyrians were people who lived in the western Balkans before the Romans conquered the region. Very little physical evidence of their cities has been found. Researchers believe the site near Bushat could be the long-lost city of Bassania, which was mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman writings.

The temple measures about 13.6 metres long and 9.6 metres wide. It has a row of columns around the outside, a design called a peristyle. Archaeologists plan to continue the excavation to look for more buildings, including a public square and a meeting hall.

archaeologist

a scientist who studies past human life by digging up and examining ancient objects and structures

Hellenistic

relating to the period of Greek history after Alexander the Great, from about 323 BC to 31 BC

Illyrian

relating to the ancient people who lived in the western Balkans before Roman conquest

excavation

the careful digging of a site to find ancient objects or structures

foundation

the lowest part of a building that sits on the ground and supports the structure above

ancient

belonging to a very early period in history, usually more than 1,000 years ago

written sources

old books, manuscripts, or inscriptions that record historical events or places

inhabited

lived in by people

Level 3 - Intermediate

A joint archaeological team from the University of Warsaw and the University of Tirana announced on June 23, 2026, that excavations near Bushat village, roughly 15 kilometres south of Shkodra in northern Albania, had uncovered a Hellenistic-period temple dating to approximately 300 to 250 BC. The structure - measuring 13.6 metres by 9.6 metres with a peristyle column arrangement - is the first confirmed Illyrian-era religious building discovered in the region and may finally identify the location of ancient Bassania, a settlement whose existence was recorded by the historian Polybius but whose precise location had eluded scholars for centuries.

The team identified three stratigraphic phases at the site, with the earliest dating to the late fourth century BC and later phases showing continuity through the Hellenistic and into the early Roman period, consistent with patterns seen at other Illyrian urban centres. Alongside the temple foundations, researchers documented a civic settlement layout including remains that may represent an agora - a public gathering space - and what could be a bouleuterion, or council chamber, suggesting Bassania functioned as a genuine urban centre with formal civic institutions rather than merely a military stronghold.

The identification of the site as Bassania draws on multiple lines of evidence. Polybius recorded that Bassania resisted a siege by Philip V of Macedon during the Second Macedonian War of 200 to 197 BC. The Tabula Peutingeriana, a medieval copy of a Roman road map, places a settlement in a position consistent with the Bushat location. Numismatic finds and ceramic assemblages recovered in earlier surveys of the area also support a late Hellenistic foundation date, and the team is now applying for an extended concession agreement to continue multi-season excavations.

peristyle

a continuous row of columns surrounding a building or courtyard

antiquity

the ancient past, especially the period of Greek and Roman civilizations

eluded

escaped detection or understanding despite efforts to find or identify

civic

relating to the formal institutions and duties of a city or community

habitation

the fact of living in or occupying a particular place

trench

a long narrow excavation dug by archaeologists to examine layers of soil and find buried remains

agora

a central public space in ancient Greek cities used for assemblies, markets, and civic life

concession agreement

an official permit granted to archaeologists allowing excavation rights at a specific site

Level 4 - Advanced

A joint Polish-Albanian archaeological mission operating under a concession agreement between the University of Warsaw and the University of Tirana announced on June 23, 2026, the identification of a peripteral naos measuring 13.6 by 9.6 metres near Bushat village, approximately 15 kilometres south of Shkodra in northern Albania. The structure - featuring a stylobate of dressed limestone orthostates and a peristyle arrangement of columns consistent with late Hellenistic provincial temple typology - represents the first Illyrian-period sacred precinct confirmed in the region and provides the most compelling physical evidence to date for the location of ancient Bassania, a polis recorded in Polybian historiography but whose identification has resisted definitive archaeological proof since systematic fieldwork began in the early twentieth century.

The stratigraphic sequence at the Bushat site reveals three phases of habitation. The primary phase, assignable on ceramic and numismatic grounds to approximately 300 to 250 BC, encompasses the temple foundations together with orthogonal insula planning suggestive of a formally constituted urban grid. A secondary Hellenistic phase attests to structural elaboration, while a tertiary Roman-period horizon includes modest reuse consistent with the gradual administrative absorption of Illyrian settlements into the provincial Roman system. The identification of architectural elements tentatively interpreted as an agora and a bouleuterion in an area north of the temple further supports the classification of the site as a functioning polity with differentiated civic architecture rather than a purely military stronghold of the type Philip V of Macedon attempted to reduce during the Second Macedonian War of 200 to 197 BC.

The Bassania identification gains additional support from the convergence of disparate textual and cartographic evidence. Polybius records that the city withstood Macedonian siege operations, implying fortification and logistical capacity indicative of an established settlement of regional significance. The Tabula Peutingeriana places a settlement node in a position broadly consistent with the Bushat coordinates, while the configuration of Illyrian tribal territories documented in Livy's account of Roman campaigns in Illyricum suggests Bassania controlled access to the Drin river corridor - a geopolitical function the Bushat location would logically serve. The team has applied for a multi-season excavation permit targeting the temenos boundary, the putative bouleuterion complex, and the settlement's defensive perimeter, with the goal of establishing the full urban extent of what may prove to be the most significant Illyrian urban discovery of the twenty-first century.

peripteral naos

a temple type where the inner sanctuary is surrounded on all sides by an external colonnade

orthostate

a large flat stone set upright as a facing element at the base of a wall

stylobate