Tour 12. Gevgelija, archaeological sites Vardar’s Hill and Marvinci

Gevgelija is small and nice city in the flat of most southern part of the country on the border with Greece. The archaeological site of Vardarski Rid (Vardar’s Hill) is located in a dominating and strategically important area on two hills above the Vardar Plain, overseeing the River Vardar, the city and whole region around.
The oldest remains of Vardarski Rid date from the Late Bronze Age of Neolithic. It was most intensively settled about one thousand years throughout the 1st millennium BC. 16 cultural layers exist which belong to 6 different settlements. They represent the 6 basic phases in its staging: periods of Neolithic settlement, 13th to 11th centuries BC, 10th to 9th centuries BC, 8th to 6th centuries BC, 5th to 4th centuries BC (the most advanced period when the settlement was part of the Macedonian Kingdom) and 3rd to 2nd/1st centuries BC.
Isar is an archaeological site located on the hill above the village Marvinci, north of the city of Gevgelija and west of the city of Valandovo. It was settled between the Bronze Age to the late Antiquity. Discovered artifacts from the 4th century BC reveal that the name of the local settlement was Idomenae and it was important place in the Macedonian Kingdom, later used by the Romans for defensive purposes. The archaeological site findings include Roman temple and stadium and many precious artefacts.