Tumba Madzari is an archaeological site in the Skopje settlement of Madzari. The site is a Neolithic settlement. It is located at the northeastern end of Skopje, between the settlements of Madzari and Cento. It is situated directly next to the football field, about 700 m. on the left side of the highway Skopje-Kumanovo–Veles. It is a small hill – a tumba with a diameter at the base of 220 m and a height of 3 m. Although used for agricultural purposes in the years before the earthquake (until 1963), it was easily visible. Tumba Madzari was even dominant in this part of the flat field. Later, with the construction of the mentioned settlements, and especially with the uncontrolled rise of illegal buildings on and around it, a new ambiance was created in which the Tumba Madzari is not even noticeable.
Archaeological significance of Tumba Madzari
Moreover, the construction works severely damaged the cultural layer, and by locating the houses, almost three-quarters of the space was lost for any scientific research work. Considering the endangering of the site, in 1978, the Museum of Macedonia conducted a trial protection excavation. It was concluded that these are residues of a multifaceted Tumba Madzari with a cultural layer of 3 m in which three living horizons are distinguished from the time of the middle Neolithic period. It belongs culturally to the cultural group Anzabegovo-Vrsnik (II-IV). Since 1981, systematic excavations have begun to discover and study the last horizon of living. The excavations are in the north-western segment of the Tumba Madzari, which, in small work campaigns, will continue until 1990. An area of about 1,400 m² was researched, in which ruins and bases of 7 facilities were discovered, of which 6 are habitats, and one is a sanctuary.
They were all above the ground, with a rectangular or quarter-shaped base, built of massive timber and mud. Almost in every facility, remains of fireplaces, stoves, and many large objects of material culture were found. Indeed, the most common are ceramic vessels, which show a comprehensive typology of shapes and decorative motifs. They are performed in the techniques of barbotin, impreso, and bichromatic painting (brown on a red basis). In the ornamentation of most vessels, in addition to technological and artistic aesthetic values, there is a specific symbolism (rain, grain glean, water). It is associated with the everyday preoccupations of the Neolithic humans. In addition to the ceramics, the discovered cult plastics, especially the anthropomorphic ones, artificially released from the old traditional patterns, are also significant. The Great Mother Goddess – the protector of fertility, is represented in a way currently unknown among Neolithic cultures from other Balkan areas. She is a goddess with narrative iconography enriched with paleo-ethnographic features.
