Mesolithic habitation in Albania has been evidenced in several open air sites which during that period were close to the Adriatic coastline and in cave sites. Mesolithic objects found in a cave near Xarrë include flint and jasper objects along with fossilised animal bones, while those discoveries at Mount Dajt comprise bone and stone tools similar to those of the Aurignacian culture.[21] The Neolithic era in Albania began around 7000 BC and is evidenced in finds which indicate domestication of sheep and goats and small-scale agriculture. A part of the Neolithic population may have been the same as the Mesolithic population of the southern Balkans like in the Konispol cave where the Mesolithic stratum co-exists with Pre-Pottery Neolithic finds. Cardium pottery culture appears in coastal Albania and across the Adriatic after 6500 BC, while the settlements of the interior took part in the processes which formed the Starčevo culture.[22] The Albanian bitumen mines of Selenicë provide early evidence of bitumen exploitation in Europe, dating to Late Neolithic Albania (from 5000 BC), when local communities used it as pigment for ceramic decoration, waterproofing, and adhesive for reparing broken vessels. The bitumen of Selenicë circulated towards eastern Albania from the early 5th millennium BC. First evidence of its overseas trade export comes from Neolithic and Bronze Age southern Italy. The high-quality bitumen of Selenicë has been exploited throughout all the historical ages since the Late Neolithic era until today.[23] The Indo-Europeanisation of Albania in the context of the IE-isation of the western Balkans began after 2800 BC. The presence of the Early Bronze Age tumuli in the vicinity of later Apollonia dates to 2679±174 calBC (2852-2505 calBC). These burial mounds belong to the southern expression of the Adriatic-Ljubljana culture (related to later Cetina culture) which moved southwards along the Adriatic from the northern Balkans. The same community built similar mounds in Montenegro (Rakića Kuće) and northern Albania (Shtoj).[24] The first archaeogenetic find related to the IE-isation of Albania involves a man with predominantly Yamnaya ancestry buried in a tumulus of northeastern Albania which dates to 2663–2472 calBC.[25] During the Middle Bronze Age, Cetina culture sites and finds appear in Albania. Cetina culture moved southwards across the Adriatic from the Cetina valley of Dalmatia. In Albania, Cetina finds are concentrated around southern Lake Shkodër and appear typically in tumulus cemeteries like in Shkrel and Shtoj and hillforts like Gajtan (Shkodër) as well as cave sites like Blaz, Nezir and Keputa (central Albania) and lake basin sites like Sovjan (southeastern Albania).[26] Antiquity Main article: Antiquity in Albania Founded in the 4th century BC, the city of Scodra was the capital of the Illyrian kingdom of Ardiaei and Labeatae. The incorporated territory of Albania was historically inhabited by Indo-European peoples, amongst them numerous Illyrian and Epirote tribes. There were also several Greek colonies. The territory referred to as Illyria corresponded roughly to the area east of the Adriatic Sea in the Mediterranean Sea extending in the south to the mouth of the Vjosë.[27][28] The first account of the Illyrian groups comes from Periplus of the Euxine Sea, a Greek text written in the 4th century BC.[29] The Bryges were also present in central Albania, while the south was inhabited by the Epirote Chaonians, whose capital was at Phoenice.[29][30][31] Other colonies such as Apollonia and Epidamnos were established by Greek city-states on the coast by the 7th century BC.[29][32][33] Apollonia was an important Greek colony on the Illyrian coast along the Adriatic Sea and one of the western points of the Via Egnatia route, that connected Rome and Constantinople. The Illyrian Taulanti were a powerful Illyrian tribe that were among the earliest recorded tribes in the area. They lived in an area that corresponds much of present-day Albania. Together with the Dardanian ruler Cleitus, Glaucias, the ruler of the Taulantian kingdom, fought against Alexander the Great at the Battle of Pelium in 335 BC. As the time passed, the ruler of Ancient Macedonia, Cassander of Macedon captured Apollonia and crossed the river Genusus (Albanian: Shkumbin) in 314 BC. A few years later Glaucias laid siege to Apollonia and captured the Greek colony of Epidamnos.[34] The Illyrian Ardiaei tribe, centred in Montenegro, ruled over most of the territory of northern Albania. Their Ardiaean Kingdom reached its greatest extent under King Agron, the son of Pleuratus II. Agron extended his rule over other neighbouring tribes as well.[35] Following Agron's death in 230 BC, his wife, Teuta, inherited the Ardiaean kingdom. Teuta's forces extended their operations further southwards to the Ionian Sea.[36] In 229 BC, Rome declared war[37] on the kingdom for extensively plundering Roman ships. The war ended in Illyrian defeat in 227 BC. Teuta was eventually succeeded by Gentius in 181 BC.[38] Gentius clashed with the Romans in 168 BC, initiating the Third Illyrian War. The conflict resulted in Roman conquest of the region by 167 BC. The Romans split the region into three administrative divisions.[39] Middle Ages Main article: Albania in the Middle Ages The town of Krujë was the capital of the Principality of Arbanon in the Middle Ages. The Roman Empire was split in 395 upon the death of Theodosius I into an Eastern and Western Roman Empire in part because of the increasing pressure from threats during the Barbarian Invasions. From the 6th century into the 7th century, the Slavs crossed the Danube and largely absorbed the indigenous Greeks, Illyrians and Thracians in the Balkans; thus, the Illyrians were mentioned for the last time in historical records in the 7th century.[40][41] In the 11th century, the Great Schism formalised the break of communion between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Church that is reflected in Albania through the emergence of a Catholic north and Orthodox south. The Albanian people inhabited the west of Lake Ochrida and the upper valley of River Shkumbin and established the Principality of Arbanon in 1190 under the leadership of Progon of Kruja.[42] The realm was succeeded by his sons Gjin and Dhimitri. Upon the death of Dhimiter, the territory came under the rule of the Albanian-Greek Gregory Kamonas and subsequently under the Golem of Kruja.[43][44][45] In the 13th century, the principality was dissolved.[46][47][48] Arbanon is considered to be the first sketch of an Albanian state, that retained a semi-autonomous status as the western extremity of the Byzantine Empire, under the Byzantine Doukai of Epirus or Laskarids of Nicaea.[49]