The Uzun Mera site was discovered in May 2017 thanks to a survey carried out by the Goce Delchev University from Shtip, on a location earmarked for the construction of an airport. The chosen location, locally known as Uzun Mera, is a flat area in the center of the Ovche Pole valley, SW of the Mustafino village. During an intensive survey Palaeolithic stone tools were noticed on a vast territory extending northwards over the local road leading to the village. It was established that, based on surface finds, the site spreads on an area of over 1,5 km2. Trench excavations followed during the same month, with trenches 1 to 3 positioned on a discreet elevation where the artefacts were first discovered. The trenches revealed similar stratigraphy, the only difference being the two trenches closer to the “peak” of the elevation containing a layer of gravel (mainly cobbles). This layer is high in the stratigraphy, at some points reaching the surface (in such areas cobbles were displaced by plowing). Below the gravel is a thick layer of loess-like silty layer, and occasionally there are lenses of sand and clay. The artefacts are present throughout the stratigraphy, with relatively higher density around the gravel layer and on the surface. The artefacts and the gravel are from a similar geological material. Technologically, the stone artefacts belong to the Middle Palaeolithic, including cores, flakes and instruments. Uzun Mera is only the second archaeologically excavated Palaeolithic site in the country. Being an open-air site makes it more complicated to investigate and certain issues, such as the site formation and exact chronology, remain to be answered in the following campaigns.

During the previous excavations at the Uzun Mera site the stratigraphy at the south-central area of the site was documented. The most revealing was trench 3 at the summit of a small elevation, where a layer of gravel of well rounded – some cracked – cobbles was discovered. The second campaign was focused on expanding the area south of trench 3 and investigating further this layer and the stratigraphy in general. Trench 4 (2x4m2) was attached to trench 3and as expected confirmed the stratigraphy at this highest point of the south part of the site. It also confirmed that there is no regular distribution of the cobbles of the gravel layer, i.e., it is indeed natural deposit, rather than anthropogenic feature. Additional stone artefacts were recovered from the surface and the layers, including the plough-zone, the gravel and the underlying sand/silt. The excavations so far reaffirmed two hypothesis regarding the formation of the site and the artefacts: 1. During a past geological process the deposit was brought to this location together with the stone artefacts. This means that Uzun Mera is a palimpsest of lithic tools in a secondary position, from a primary site that no longer exists. 2. The raw material (the gravel layer) was brought to this location as an alluvium/colluvium and was visible on the surface during the later Pleistocene, when Neanderthal groups used it as a raw-material resource. Since all the elements of the operational sequence are present, it seems they were using the same location as a workshop, and possibly as a temporary camp, even though no traces of structures, fire, or human and animal bones were recovered so far.

After two previous campaigns, when the focus was on the main terrace of the southern sector, this year the intention was to test the stratigraphy at the opposite, northern end of the site, which is the highest terrace in the large territory of the site. Trenches 5 and 6, numbered in continuation from the previous field campaigns, were positioned at the NE edge of the site, with trench 6 closer to the summit of the northern elevation towards the center. Similar to the situation in the southern sector, as revealed by trenches 1 to 4, the stratigraphy in the northern sector also consist of a dark and clayey plough-zone, and a lighter loess-like silty lower zone. Here also exists a gravel layer, especially pronounced at the highest area of the elevation and gradually thinning out and disappearing at the periphery (it is absent from trench 5, and only few cobbles were present in trench 6). The density and the technological characteristics of the lithic tools in the northern sector seem to be identical to the southern. At both sectors a slightly higher density was noted towards the center (summit) of the relevant elevation. With the intention of resolving the issues regarding the formation of the site and the timing of the manufacturing of the stone tools, samples from the loess-like sediment from trench 6 were taken for OSL dating, and lithic artefacts from different contexts were selected for post-depositional alteration and use-wear analyses. The results of this investigations are expected in the following months.

The fourth campaign at the Uzun Mera Palaeolithic site was financially and logistically affected by the pandemic conditions. The investigations were limited to one trench (trench 7) in the eastern periphery of the southern sector. The goal of trench 7 was to confirm if the pattern observed during the previous year in the northern sector regarding the relation between center and the periphery of the sectors in terms of artefact density and stratigraphy, is also valid here. So far the excavations in this sector were carried out in the central zone where the layer of cobbles was more prominent. Trench 7 has confirmed the thinning and eventual disappearing of the gravel layer from the central (high) towards the peripheral (lower) areas of the sectors. Here, only the dark clayey plough zone, and the underlying loess-like silty layer were found. As expected, the density of artefacts, both on the surface and in the layers, was lower. while still awaiting the laboratory results for absolute dating, artefact taphonomy and use wear, also delayed from the global health crisis, trench 7 has completed the picture of the southern sector of the site.

After four years of excavations at the Uzun Mera Palaeolithic site, the stratigraphic sequences of the two main sectors and their relationship are relatively well understood. The least investigated area is the highest point at the center of the northern sector, an area with a relatively high density of surface finds. Trenches 8 and 9 were placed at this location, not far from one another. As expected, the gravel was also present here. There is an obvious resemblance between trench 10 in the north, and trench 3 and 4 in the south, all having in common that they are positioned at the highest point of the respected sectors. With these excavations there is a clear picture of the layers represented in the vast area of the site. Obviously the two elevations, one south and one north, are the product of the deposition of a mass of sand, clay and cobble stones. This happened during a geological event in the later Pleistocene, most probably involving the near-by stream and the volcanic outcrops not far to the north from the site. The lithic artefacts are associated to these deposits. With time, especially with the intensification of human activities and modern agriculture, those exposed on or near the surface were distributed over the surrounding area and the site reached the current size.

The final field campaign at Uzun Mera was focused on the northern periphery of the northern sector, where trench 10 was excavated. From the observations on the site so far, it is clear that the layers containing the lithic artefacts were deposited by a low energy element at some point during the Late Pleistocene. The sedimentation happened from the North towards the South on the left bank of the Nemanjica stream, thus forming several terraces, of which two mound-shaped elevations are the most prominent. The mound shapes are the result of the aggregation of a mass of cobbles and pebbles of volcanic origin, among which are the materials used for knapping. The excavations of trench 10 revealed that at this proximal point of deposition the larger cobbles are missing, i.e. they were deposited further down towards the end of the colluvium. Instead, the stratigraphy in trench 10 consists of the most dynamic interplay of gravel and sand lenses with clay and silt, almost immediately below the thin (app. 20 cm) plough zone. Also, a pronounced scarcity of lithic artefacts was evident. This was the final piece of the stratigraphic puzzle. Additional samples of sediment for OSL dating were taken from trench 10. Apart from the detailed knowledge of the sedimentation process and the site formation at Uzun Mera, a significant assemblage of approximately 200 lithic artefacts from the Middle Palaeolithic were collected. The excavation in 2022 at the Uzun Mera site completes a six-year cycle of test-trench investigations of the 1.5km2 territory of surface finds distribution. At the same time, it marks the beginning of a wider international field project and field-school, investigating the Palaeolithic of the Ovche Pole and the Kratovo-Zletovo paleo-volcanic region.