UNMIK/PR/733
Today SRSG Michael Steiner visited the site of an archaeological dig near Brenica, outside of Pristina, where he examined 5,500-year-old dwarf terracotta figures recently discovered in a remarkable state of preservation.
The artifacts were unearthed two weeks ago, as a lime pit was being dug at the site of a new house. The property owner notified the Museum of Kosovo, which began excavating what may be the most valuable archaeological find in recent history in Kosovo.
Museum director Kemajl Luci said that the mid-Neolithic fertility figures would probably be dated to circa BCE 3,500, based on their similarity to earlier finds that currently reside in a museum in Belgrade.
“What was found here points to something that we all endorse,” said SRSG Michael Steiner—“that in the end we are not doing something for ethnicities, we are doing something for Kosovo. These finds show us that there is a heritage of Kosovo that we need to preserve; and I think we can also use this to prove that there is an identity…that is worth preserving.”
When the SRSG was told that the little statues depicted a female prototype, he remarked that they were perfect symbols of what was needed in Kosovo: women in the government.
Mr Steiner was accompanied by Michael Schmunk, head of the German Office in Kosovo, which is helping to underwrite the project.
