Re-examining the “hillfort” in Balkan Prehistory: A Case Study from Western Kosova

This talk will present the results of three fieldwork seasons at Lubozhdë and Syriganë hillfort sites in Western Kosova. Hillforts represent the archetype site of Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age societies in Europe and the Balkans. These strategically located, prominent, and fortified sites are traditionally argued to be the result of feuding tribes and places of shelter and refuge in times of conflict. This is an interpretation that has remained largely unchanged until recently, following critical shifts in archaeological theory, method, and interpretation inspired by post-colonial and de-colonial thought. In this vein, I argue that a re-examining and redefining of the conventional understanding of hillforts is greatly overdue, especially in the Balkan context. Drawing on surface collections and magnetometry surveys conducted in July 2021, along with excavations conducted in 2022 and 2023 at the sites of Lubozhdë and Syriganë, this talk presents the preliminary attempt to synthesize the results of my dissertation research in the Dukagjin Plains and bring these findings in conversation with border questions of settlement, mobility and landscape interactions in the region. Moreover, this presentation focuses on the very different artifact profiles produced by these two hillforts and begins to explore the varying roles they filled within their landscape over time.