River Ibar - The Cradle Of Mediterranean Civilization
The Ibar, also known as the Ibër and Ibri (Albanian: Ibër, Ibri; Serbian: Ibar, Cyrillic: Ибар, pronounced [îbar]), is a river that flows through eastern Montenegro, Kosovo and Raška in Serbia, with a total length of 276 km (171 mi). The river begins in the Hajla mountain, in Rožaje, eastern Montenegro, passes through Kosovo and flows into the West Morava river, Central Serbia, near Kraljevo.
It belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin, but till the 20th century it also belong to Ionian Sea, because the bifurcation of Nerodimka tributary on Kosovo, passing near Kokino (Macedonian: Кокино) a Bronze Age archaeological site approximately 30 km from the town of Kumanovo, and about 6 km from the Serbian border, in the Staro Nagoričane municipality. It is situated between about 1010 and 1030 m above sea level on the Tatićev Kamen (Татичев камен) summit and covers an area of about 90 by 50 meters, overlooking the eponymous hamlet of Kokino.
The Kokino "megalithic observatory" should be distinguished from the wider Kokino archaeological site. While the observatory consists of two platforms of a combined area of about 5000 square meters, the site covers about 30 hectares. From this area, an abundant amount of fragments of ceramic vessels, dated to between the 19th and the 11th centuries BC. Also found was a mould for casting bronze axes, and a pendant. The remains of vessels filled with offerings were found deposited in cracks in the rocks, which gave rise to the interpretation of the site as a Holy mountain.
The claimed archaeo-astronomical site itself consists of two platforms with an elevation difference of 19 m. The claim of the site representing an astronomical observatory was made by Stankovski and by Gjore Cenev in 2002. According to this interpretation, the site includes special stone markers used to track the movement of the Sun and Moon on the eastern horizon. The natural predisposition of these andesite rocks to crack vertically and horizontally caused forming of almost ideal cubic rock blocks that could be easily shaped and wisely used by the prehistoric dwellers as areas/positions for observing the movement of the Sun and the Moon and for performing religious rites. The observatory used the method of stationary observation, marking positions of the Sun at the winter and summer solstice, as well as the equinox. Four stone seats or thrones are placed in a row on the lower platform. According to Cenev, A stone block with a marking on the upper platform marks the direction of sunrise on summer solstice when viewed from one of the seats.
UNESCO World Heritage:
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