Bronze Age tribal societies settle across the western Balkans and bury their dead under earthen tumuli. Greek and Roman writers group them under one name, Illyrians, but they were never a single people or a single state. They were dozens of tribes, sometimes allied, frequently at war with each other.
Among them: the Taulantii around modern Durrës, the Dardani to the north-east, the Enchelei by Lake Ohrid, the Ardiaei on the Adriatic coast, the Labeatae around Shkodër. And a small tribe recorded by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE as the Albanoi, somewhere in the central highlands, the name that eventually came to cover everyone.
They were known to their neighbours as metalworkers and sailors. Amber from the Baltic reached the Adriatic through their trade routes.
Key points
| Tribes | Taulantii · Dardani · Ardiaei · Enchelei · Labeatae · Albanoi |
| Craft | Bronze and iron working; amber trade routes to the Baltic |
| Trace | Hill-forts and tumulus burials still visible across the interior |
| Naming | Ptolemy records the Albanoi, the root of every later name for the country |
Research by ARBËR, the Living Museum of Albania. Published facts are verified or presented as open debate.