Large Building Unearthed at Ancient Illyrian Site in Albania

WARSAW, POLAND—The Miami Herald reports that researchers excavating a 2,400-year-old building situated at the highest point of an ancient Illyrian town on a ridge in northwestern Albania uncovered a large number of drinking vessels in various sizes. The town, which was first discovered in 2018, had defensive walls and at least two city gates. The rectangular building, made up of three large rooms next to a long corridor, resembles a prytaneion, a type of Greek structure where government officials met, or a hestiateron, a public place where an eternal fire was burned, according to archaeologist Piotr Dyczek of the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Center. Although the settlement was not a Greek city, it may have been planned and run like one, Dyczek concluded. For more on Albanian archaeology, go to "Letter From Albania: A Road Trip Through Time."