MYSTERY OF THE MUMMIES UNIQUE ON THE BALKANS: Albanians do not allow the truth about them to be revealed! (PHOTO)

Similar discoveries of individual graves in Europe were recorded only in the Czech Republic and Poland, but the mummies from Lipkovo are unique in the Balkans

Almost all visitors of the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Skopje gets shocked as soon as they enter the institution because they are welcomed by a corpse of a large man with long hair, beard and mustache instead of a doorman in the lobby. 

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It is a real corpse, but naturally mummified a long time ago. It should be attraction of the new Archaeological museum of Macedonia, opened two years ago. The place for mummy is reserved, but, as they say from the museum, they are waiting for the mummy to be protected.

Director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine Aleksej Duma, however, said that they protected the mummy ten years ago, but no one from the Archaeological museum wanted to take it over. 

- Mummy needs protection from the fungi again. Now it should be done again, but we don't have any more money for it. It belongs in the Museum, and not with us. It should be placed in the It should be placed in a glass, air-conditioned case without humidity and with a constant temperature. That last remaining mummy from Lipkovo was unfortunately a little damaged during the renovation of the Institute building. Lower jaws and one hand have been broken, but it is still relatively in good shape - said professor Duma.

Mummies of at least 24 centuries of age,  found 59 years ago in Kumanovo village Lipkovo, on the northeast of Macedonia, just can't "tell" their story and cast light on their past, because Albanians, the owners of the land where they were discovered, do not allow anyone to to come close to it.

Lipkovo area, where fierce battles were lead against government forces against Albanian so called paramilitary ONA in 2001, is famous for numerous mummies. First mummified bodies were discovered by professor Ivan Mikulcic in 1957. Three mummified bodies came out in the place Kisela Voda during the building of the road to the dam of Lipkovo Lake, from which Kumanovo gets drinking water.

One mummy arrived at the Institute for Forensic Medicine in Skopje, where it is today, while the other two ended in Belgrade, and their fate is still unknown.

- The mummies were found in hollowed oak trunks, covered with wooden planks. It is, in fact, the mummified corpses, not the real mummies. The bodies were naturally mummified thanks to the soil in which they were buried. The earth is made up of gray clay through which the strings of mineral water passes trough, a due to the lack of oxygen, which could not penetrate into the ground, bodies were dehydrated and for centuries, they remained preserved as mummies- explains Zvonimir Nikolovski, an adviser - inspector for archaeological sites and findings of the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural heritage of Macedonia.

Archaeologists do not agree about their age. Some of them think they date back to the third century BC, while others believe that they originate from the seventh century AD. All agree, however, that the clay minerals in the earth helped to preserve the bodies from decay. 

There are two diametrically different assumptions concerning the age of the mummy. The first research was conducted by Professor Ivan Mikulcic, who had discovered them and, later, in 1967, by Vojislav Trbuhovic from the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade. Trbuhovic came to the conclusion that the mummified remains date somewhere from the Middle Ages, from the 8th to the 11th century AD, while the professor Mikulcic was convinced that they originate from the end of the old era, the Hellenistic period, from 3. century BC. During the construction of the access road to the dam of lake Lipkovsko in 1957 workers with excavators unearthed three oak trunks in which there were mummies . Thinking that they were recently buried corpses, superstitious Albanians have decided to burn them along with tree trunks, but they did not want to burn, so they were even more afraid. Then they took Quicklime and sprayed it onto mummies.

- Professor Mikulcic was able to save and take out the three mummies. The wood in which the corpses were laid could not be burned because it absorbed so many minerals that could not ignite. Unfortunately, until now there was no possibility for the mummies to be taken to the laboratory right after the extraction, where their age could be determined using radioactive carbon. If that was done, all dilemmas would be solved about their age. Later it was not possible because the mummies were "contaminated" by environment - said Zvonimir Nikolovski.

On the other side of the road, opposed to the mummies, lots of altars and ceramics were found from the Hellenistic period, dating from 3. century BC, and those findings match with the claims of professor Mikulcic that the corpses come from the end of old era. Archaeologists are sure that the location is a part of at the time great Necropolis from the third century BC, which grew in late antics into roman province Dadania. On that place in 2005, two more mummies "peaked" from the ground, but the experts from the State Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments and the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Macedonia wanted to excavate them, document them and protect them, the owners of the land, where, in the meantime mill and silos were build, showed them their way outside.

- There is nothing to search here. Get away from here - the owners of the land were decisive, who did not allow the archaeologists to take the pictures of the land where the two mummified legs were sticking out and the coffin carved out of the trunk in which there were mummies.

- I can not describe how i felt. I looked at them right in front of me, and i could not touch them. They simply did not allow it, saying that we need to leave the grounds - remembers the archaeologist with regret.

And those mummies, like the ones discovered in 1957, are in the place called Kisela Voda, on the way to the village Lipkovo. Mummies were buried in the gray clay, perfect environment where the body of the deceased can remain preserved for centuries. One of them, whose legs were stuck out above the ground, was wearing pants of hemp and primitive footwear.

When archaeologists left the grounds, the owners of the land immediately covered the mummies, because local Albanian residents did not believe the Macedonian authorities, not even archaeologists nor historians. Peasants were afraid they will use the research to argument the claims about which people lived on those areas, and which one have the historical rights on the land.

The residents of Lipkovo believe the mummies were from some Illyrian tribe, because the Albanians think they are descendants of Illyrians. 

- Local residents will allow further excavation, but only under the condition that they arrange a mixed team, not only from Macedonia, but also from Tirana, because there is no trust between people - said Samir Memeti, a historian from Lipkovo, who was present in the discovery of new mummies in 2005.

Mummies are certainly still under the ground in the same place, and the experts fear that the ravages of time will destroy them. Because if the parts come in contact with air they can oxidize and completely fall apart. If that happens, all scientific data mummies saved for centuries will be gone. And that would be real shame, because similar Necropolis of if this degree of conservation is true rarity. Similar discoveries of individual graves in Europe were recorded only in the Czech Republic and Poland, but the mummies from Lipkovo are unique in the Balkans.

(Telegraf.co.uk / D.J.)