A Hidden Tell? The Neolithic to Bronze Age Site of Podgorie, Albania

Kristina Penezić (Novi Sad, Serbia), Jana Anvari (Adelaide, Australia), Edlira Andoni (Tirana, Albania) and Patrick Willett (Brussel, Belgium / Buffalo, USA)

Podgorie, a Neolithic to Bronze Age site in southeast Albania is often referred to as the largest and/or most important (Early) Neolithic site of the Korça region or even of Albania. It was excavated for the first time in 1982, and again in 2025 within the Korça Regional Neolithic Project. For now, there are four radiocarbon dates available from the site, falling between 6200 and 5500 BCE. They show the site to be Early and Middle Neolithic, but the finds spectrum from both the 1982 excavation and our 2025 excavation show a longer occupation into the Bronze Age.

The site Podgorie is located in the northern part of the Korça basin. The Korça plain is a small, fertile intermontane basin in southeast Albania. Based on currently available evidence, Neolithic sites in the Korça plain represent the earliest farming communities in Albania, dating from 6450 BCE. Although the land currently appears sloped, preliminary results at Podgorie from both earlier (1982) and current (2025–) work show part of the site to be a multi-layered settlement with at least 2.2 m, possibly more than 3 m stratigraphy. This small tell appears to be invisible in the landscape because it was nestled into a natural depression between a hillside slope and the now-drained palaeolake Maliq. With no other prehistoric tell sites documented in Albania previously, Podgorie stands out as a rare example of this otherwise widespread settlement phenomenon.

Focus of this project is the paleolake Maliq, and the reconstruction of its position in the prehistoric times, as well as its relationship with the prehistoric settlement. The pilot study conducted in 2025 indicated a more complex relationship between the settlement and the lake, whereas our work for 2026 is set out to obtain more stratified and undisturbed sediments samples that will be further processed.

Funding period: 2026