“New challenges of Albanology at present days” is called the international scientific conference, held at the University of Shkodër “Luigj Gurakuqi” in cooperation with the Academy of Sciences of Albania.

The head of the Section of Social Sciences and Albanology, at the Academy of Sciences of Albania, archaeologist, associate academic Gëzim Hoxha delivered the speech “Research on the origin of the arboreal population, achievements, dilemmas and challenges of Albanology”.

Hoxha made a summary presentation of theses regarding the Illyrian origin of Albanians, defining it as a fundamental historical problem where the achievements, and challenges are marked, which presents the further study.

The well-known thesis of the Illyrian origin of Albanians, founded by Gotfried Leibniz, Thunmann, etc., has found interdisciplinary support from the new Albanian science of the second half of the 20th century up to the present. It is formulated in such a way that it has been widely accepted at the international level. From a linguistic point of view, this thesis has been defended more fully by the prominent linguist Eqerem Çabej, while from an archaeological point of view, the known as Koman Culture, discovered at the end of the last century, offered opportunities for objective study, emphasized Hoxha.

Hoxha said that, besides linguistics and archaeology, during half of second century 20th century and until today, studies of other fields, such as physical and social anthropology, ethnography and, finally, analyzes of the genetic structure of the population have also contributed to the illumination of this problem.

/a.p./