Editing Albania (section)

=== Prehistory ===
{{Main|Prehistoric Albania|l1=Prehistory of Albania}}

[[File:Kamenicë Tumulus, Albania 2018 02.jpg|thumb|right|The remains of the [[Kamenica Tumulus]] in the [[county of Korçë]]]]

Mesolithic habitation in Albania has been evidenced in several open air sites which during that period were close to the Adriatic coastline and in cave sites. Mesolithic objects found in a cave near Xarrë include [[flint]] and [[jasper]] objects along with fossilised animal bones, while those discoveries at Mount Dajt comprise bone and stone tools similar to those of the [[Aurignacian culture]].<ref name="Prendi">F. Prendi, "The Prehistory of Albania", ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', 2nd edn., vol. 3, part 1: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vXljf8JqmkoC&pg=PA187 The Prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C.]'', ed. John Boardman et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982), 189–90.</ref> The [[Neolithic]] era in Albania began around 7000 BC and is evidenced in finds which indicate domestication of sheep and goats and small-scale agriculture. A part of the Neolithic population may have been the same as the Mesolithic population of the southern Balkans like in the [[Konispol]] cave where the Mesolithic stratum co-exists with Pre-Pottery Neolithic finds. [[Cardium pottery]] culture appears in coastal Albania and across the Adriatic after 6500 BC, while the settlements of the interior took part in the processes which formed the [[Starčevo culture]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bunguri |first1=Adem |title=Different models for the Neolithisation of Albania |journal=Documenta Praehistorica |date=2014 |volume=32 |url=https://www.academia.edu/51430439}}</ref> The Albanian [[bitumen]] mines of [[Selenicë]] provide early evidence of bitumen exploitation in Europe, dating to Late Neolithic Albania (from 5000 BC), when local communities used it as pigment for ceramic decoration, [[waterproofing]], and [[adhesive]] for reparing broken vessels. The bitumen of Selenicë circulated towards eastern Albania from the early 5th millennium BC. First evidence of its overseas trade export comes from Neolithic and Bronze Age southern [[Italy]]. The high-quality bitumen of Selenicë has been exploited throughout all the historical ages since the Late Neolithic era until today.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Connan |first1=J. |last2=Elezi |first2=G. |last3=Engel |first3=M.H. |last4=Zumberge |first4=A. |title=Natural asphalt on Late Neolithic (5000 – 4500 BCE) potsherds from southeastern Albania: A geochemical study |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |volume=53 |year=2024 |pages=2–3, 11 |bibcode=2024JArSR..53j4343C |issn=2352-409X |eissn=2352-4103 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104343 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The [[Indo-European migrations|Indo-Europeanisation]] of Albania in the context of the IE-isation of the western Balkans began after 2800 BC. The presence of the Early Bronze Age [[Tumulus|tumuli]] in the vicinity of later [[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]] dates to 2679±174 calBC (2852-2505 calBC). These burial mounds belong to the southern expression of the Adriatic-Ljubljana culture (related to later [[Cetina culture]]) which moved southwards along the Adriatic from the northern Balkans. The same community built similar mounds in Montenegro (Rakića Kuće) and northern Albania (Shtoj).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Govedarica |first1=Blagoje |title=The Stratigraphy of Tumulus 6 in Shtoj and the Appearance of the Violin Idols in Burial Complexes of the South Adriatic Region |journal=Godišnjak Centra za balkanološka ispitivanja |date=2016 |issue=45 |pages=22–25 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=528608 |access-date=7 January 2023 |issn=0350-0020}}</ref> The first [[Archaeogenetics|archaeogenetic]] find related to the IE-isation of Albania involves a man with predominantly [[Western Steppe Herders|Yamnaya ancestry]] buried in a tumulus of northeastern Albania which dates to 2663–2472 calBC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Alpaslan-Roodenberg |first2=Songül |display-authors=et al. |title=The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe |journal=Science |volume=377 |issue=6609 |date=26 August 2022 |page=29 |quote=: Supplementary Materials |pmid=36007055 |pmc=10064553 |s2cid=251843620 |doi=10.1126/science.abm4247 | issn = 0036-8075 }}</ref> During the Middle Bronze Age, Cetina culture sites and finds appear in Albania. Cetina culture moved southwards across the Adriatic from the [[Cetina|Cetina valley]] of [[Dalmatia]]. In Albania, Cetina finds are concentrated around southern [[Lake Shkodër]] and appear typically in tumulus cemeteries like in Shkrel and Shtoj and hillforts like Gajtan (Shkodër) as well as cave sites like Blaz, Nezir and Keputa (central Albania) and lake basin sites like Sovjan (southeastern Albania).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gori |first1=Maja |last2=Recchia |first2=Giulia |last3=Tomas |first3=Helen |title=The Cetina phenomenon across the Adriatic during the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC: new data and research perspectives |journal=38° Convegno Nazionale Sulla Preistoria, Protostoria, Storia della Daunia |date=2018 |page=201 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36936788}}</ref>