Archaeologists Unearth Lost City Dating Back to 7th Century B.C.

Yahoo

07-05-2025

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Archaeologists working with a California university have unearthed the remains of a lost city in Macedonia, The New York Post reported.
The remarkable discovery was made by archaeologists with California's State Polytechnic University of Humboldt who were working at Gradiste, an archaeological site located near the North Macedonia city of Crnobuki. Experts from the country's Institute and Museum helped to advise on the dig. Experts believe that the lost city could be Lyncus, the lost capital of the ancient Kingdom of Lyncestis.
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'Every indication is pointing toward this being the city of Lyncus, within Lyncestis,' said Nick Angeloff, an archaeologist with Cal Poly. 'Nothing is pointing away from it being Lyncus.' Angeloff called the discovery 'very rare' and 'a unique find.'
Lyncus was first settled in the 7th century B.C. after the kingdom itself was conquered by King Phillip II of Macedon in 358 B.C. It was the birthplace of Queen Eurydice I of Macedon, whose grandson was Alexander the Great.
'This is the only appropriate location that we have determined may be the ancient city of Lyncus, where Alexander the Great's grandmother was born and raised,' Angeloff said. 'Eurydice I was a very powerful woman in that time in human history. There's only one city that she could have come from, and we may have found it. Without Eurydice, we don't have Philip II, Alexander's father, nor do we have Alexander the Great.'
Based upon the size of the fortress, Angeloff estimated that no more than 10,000 people lived in Lyncus at its peak. 'It has become very clear, using technology, that the fortress [we found] was designed to hold an entire city,' he explained. 'And we see the whole array of infrastructure required to hold a city inside fortress walls during an attack by Rome in particular in this case.'
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Using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, Angeloff and his team 'were able to overlay and see what was underneath the ground. And the acropolis that it sits on, which is basically a flat hilltop, has enough rooms and infrastructure to hold an entire city inside the fortress walls.'
Excavators unearthed a textile shop in addition to artifacts such as axes, game pieces, oil lamps, ceramic items, and a coin bearing Alexander the Great's likeness. A theater ticket, which Angeloff specified is particularly rare in North Macedonia, was also recovered. 'Typically, theater tickets [were] made of a metal, whether bronze or iron, but they're always reused,' he explained. 'There has never been a location in North Macedonia with a theater ticket that has been found that did not have a theater.'
Angeloff and his team have been emboldened by the unprecedented discovery of the lost city of Lyncus and hope that this is just the first in a long line of finds which would map out the history across the country. 'The potential for archaeology across North Macedonia to inform our understanding of the classical [eras], as well as the Roman era, is highly significant,' he said. 'There's been relatively little work and relatively little investment into this region.'