Kish
Then it was onwards and upwards to an Albanian Church in the village of Kish, again in a fleet of taxis as the street is steep and winding. It's also described as an Albanian 'Temple' as the church is built over a pre-Christian temple. Construction of the existing Christian church building began around 990 and was completed around 1160 CE but the temple it was built over was much older.
Radiocarbon dating of sacrificial objects found beneath the existing altar and in Bronze Age graves in the grounds revealed some to be around five thousand years old. So the church is something of a time-capsule. Christianity was introduced here in the 1st century through St. Elisæus of Albania whose mission was to convert the polytheistic tribes. As I later discovered, among their observances, probably to appease to their angry earthquake and volcano generating gods, people here practiced human sacrifice (like Abraham - before his God, Yahweh, stopped him). As I've noticed during our travels, human sacrifice seems to have been practiced in many earthquake zones and volcanic places - like other religious practices I suppose it works - until the next one.
Since Soviet times this site's been of considerable archaeological significance. Several Bronze Age graves found in the grounds are now opened, under glass, to reveal the skeletons of the ancient dead.
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Albanian Church in the village of Kish
Radiocarbon dating of objects and graves found on the site revealed some to be around five thousand years old
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