Pages: 73-86 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2557386

The paper deals with the status of the stone in the culture and traditions of the Albanians in the western Balkans, primarily in the territory of modern Albania. Due to natural and geographical conditions, stone has been the most essential building material and a marker of settlement boundaries in the studied region since prehistoric times. Persistent even today, mythological beliefs animate the stone, making it a living participant in history and real or fictitious events. In traditional society, an oath on a stone was considered more effective than an oath on sacred texts (the Bible for Christians, the Quran for Muslims). The study in the paradigm of anthropology aims to identify the conditions and mechanisms for preserving traditional building materials and technologies, to analyze the pattern of inclusion or, conversely, rejection from the life support system of innovations, the value and priority of which is questioned by part of society, which maintains largely patriarchal views and a number of archaic beliefs. The article, based on the author’s expedition materials from 1990—2025, as well as data from sources stored in the Archive of the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Art History of the Academy of Sciences of Albania (Tirana), allows us to conclude that Albanians, despite the spread of new building materials since the 20 th century, have preserved natural stone as the basis for the construction of important public and religious buildings, ‘correct’ housing and the most reliable homes.

Keywords: stone, materials, Albanians, beliefs, pilgrimages, construction, customary law, oath

Information about author:

Alexander Novik (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Universitetskaya Emb., 3, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1123-1109