university of nova gorica graduate school contested spaces and ...

presented abstracts of their essays. Foto Bixhili was invited as a special guest among
presenters to tell something about his book and the history of Himarë/Himara villages.
The book of the Albanian Academy of Science initially came on the market in March 2005. It
conjoins 24 essays, followed by English or French summary. The essays present geography
and archaeology of Himarë/Himara area, its history from the Late Bronze Age till the end of
the Second World War, the organisation of the land, language, culture and habits, mythology
and polyphonic songs. The content of many essays promotes the idea that Himarë/Himara
area and its people belong to Albanian nation-state.
In this tone Muzafer Korkuti presents archaeology of Himarë/Himara area and its villages,
some of which are said to be populated in the Late Bronze Period (1600-1200 B.C.) and Iron
Age (1200-700 B.C.). Korkuti describes a fortified system of settlements in the area of
today’s Himarë/Himara and Sarandë that used to be settled by Chaonians whom Korkuti
identifies as being part of the “Illyrian society”. He describes the material relics that were
found in Himarë/Himara area and writes the following:
The construction of a series of pre-urban fortified settlements during the Bronze and
Iron period in the Albanian territory as Badher [between Himarë/Himara and Borsh],
Karos [close to Borsh], Kalivo [close to Butrint], etc., is related to the important
changes happening in the Illyrian society [sic] (Korkuti 2004: 40).
Analogous to Korkuti, Emin Riza discusses the architectonics of the Himarë/Himara castle:
The urban and architectonic ensemble of the Himarë Castle is a rare example, which is
still preserved, as it is the Berat Castle too. This historical and cultural treasure is an
example that represents the values of the Illyro-Albanian history during the centuries
[sic.] (Riza 2004: 409).
In the introductory part of his paper discussing administration after 1913, Archilea Bërxholi
briefly describes the history of the area. While reffering to archaeology he writes:
Archaeological sources show that geographic-cultural area of Sea Side (Himarë-
Sarandë) has been inhabited since early times. It makes up a common area of all
Albanian ethnic land, being inhabited by the same population in continuance, the
Albanian one […] [sic.](Bërxholi 2004: 238).
While Korkuti, Riza and Bërxholi talk about archaeology and architectonics of
Himarë/Himara area, Kristaq Prifti gives an overview of the archival and historical documents
which are related to Himarë/Himara area:
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