“Cyclopean” walls discovered in northern Albania

“The Aryo-Pelasgi are supposed to have emigrated either at the same time as, or shortly after, the Kelts, and they followed the same line, by Ariana and Parthia, but a little to the south; this is shown by their traces in Asia Minor and on the Ægean, the Hellespont, and Propontis, till, travelling by land, they reached the Mediterranean shores, Greece, Thrace, Illyria, and Italy, as far as the Alps, where they mingled with the Keltic Gauls”.

(Source: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/Etruscan_Bologna_etruscman.htm)

24/08/2007

A research team looking for Ottoman-era relics finds something far older.

By Klodjan Seferaj for Southeast European Times — 24/08/07

Archaeologists searching the mountains of northern Albania for traces of Ottoman-era fugitives were surprised to find something much older: the ruins of a Bronze Age fortress, dating from around 800 BC. The walls were made of boulders assembled without cement, using the “Cyclopean” technique found in the ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae.

According to Michael Galaty, the US researcher who led the expedition, the discovery shows that the area, one of the most remote in Europe, has been in use for thousands of years. At the time the fortress was built, Illyrian kingdoms were active along the Adriatic Coast, while Greece was emerging from the ancient Dark Ages. Galaty’s team says it is not yet clear who may have lived there.

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/blogreview/2007/08/24/blog-03

MORE PROOFS OF ‘CYCLOPEAN’ WALLS IN ALBANIA

‘In 211 B.C., Philip V., of Macedon, however, captured its rock-citadel of Akrolissos, the so-called ‘Cyclopean’ walls of which still remain, the marvel of all beholders, and the lower town of Lissos itself was thus compelled to surrender.

(Ancient Illyria: an archaeological exploration By Arthur Evans, pg.279)

‘In 211 B.C., Philip V., of Macedon, however, captured its rock-citadel of Akrolissos, the so-called ‘Cyclopean’ walls of which still remain, the marvel of all beholders, and the lower town of Lissos itself was thus compelled to surrender.

(Ancient Illyria: an archaeological exploration By Arthur Evans, pg.279)

More about Cyclopean masonry of the Pelasgians

Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with huge limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and no use of mortar. The boulders are typically unworked, but are sometimes roughly worked with a hammer, and the gaps between boulders are often filled in with smaller hunks of limestone.

The most famous examples of Cyclopean masonry are found in the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns, and the style is characteristic of Mycenaeanfortifications. Similar styles of stonework are found in other cultures.

The term comes from the classical Greeks’ belief that only the mythical Cyclopes had the strength to move the enormous boulders that made up the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. Pliny’s Natural History reported the tradition attributed to Aristotle, that the Cyclopes were the inventors of masonry towers, giving rise to the designation Cyclopean.^[1]

Current definitions of Cyclopean masonry

A typical stretch of Cyclopean walling (near Grave Circle A at Mycenae).

“The walls are usually founded in extremely shallow beddings carved out of the bedrock. ‘Cyclopean’, the term normally applied to the masonry style characteristic of Mycenaean fortification systems, describes walls built of huge, unworked limestone boulders which are roughly fitted together. Between these boulders, smaller hunks of limestone fill the interstices. The exterior faces of the large boulders may be roughly hammer-dressed, but the boulders themselves are never carefully cut blocks. Very large boulders are typical of the Mycenaean walls at Mycenae,Tiryns, Argos, Krisa (in Phocis), and the Athenian Acropolis. Somewhat smaller boulders occur in the walls of Midea, whereas large limestone slabs are characteristic of the walls at Gla. Cut stone masonry is used only in and around gateways, conglomerate at Mycenae and Tiryns and perhaps both conglomerate and limestone at Argos.”^[2]