Crvena Stijena, the red rock where Palaeolithic hunters lived

Crvena Stijena means red rock, and you’ll come across the name all over Montenegro. This is the one that matters for history. In a rock shelter above Bileća lake, at the far western edge of Nikšić municipality, there’s a record of human occupation stretching back more than 180,000 years, and the National Tourism Organisation calls it the Montenegrin El Castillo, after the famous cave in northern Spain.

What’s in the cave

Nikšić’s tourist board presents it as a site of world importance, protected as a first-category monument, and says no other site in Europe offers such a wide range of archaeological possibilities. So far 31 cultural layers and more than 20,000 finds have been identified.

According to the National Tourism Organisation, the shelter was lived in continuously until about 1500 BC, and most of what has turned up is stone, bone and antler tools used by the communities here for hunting and fishing. The municipal history on the tourist board’s website goes further, saying that along with El Castillo in Spain it’s the oldest site in Europe. The history of Montenegro page puts it in context.

Seventy years of research, on and off

The first systematic excavations took place between 1954 and 1964 with the National Museum in Sarajevo. In 2004 a fresh round began with the Centre for Archaeological Research in Podgorica, the Nikšić Museum and the University of Michigan, and the American archaeologist Robert Whallon took a particular interest in the site. Since 2012 the work has carried on under the Paths of Continuity project, and the tourist board says it isn’t finished yet.

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Where it is and how to see it

The site is in the village of Petrovići, close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, at kilometre 45 on the Nikšić to Trebinje road and 700 metres above sea level. It overlooks the shore of Bileća lake, a reservoir shared by the two countries.

The official sources publish no opening hours, admission price or guided tours, and I’m not going to promise you a visitor centre I haven’t seen advertised. What you can count on is the museum. The finds are on display at the local museum in Nikšić, housed since 1951 in King Nikola’s palace, and I’d start there so you know what you’re looking at when you reach the shelter. If you enjoy museums, I’ve rounded up the rest in my guide to museums in Montenegro.

Petrovići and around

In the same village, Nikšić’s tourist board mentions the Kosijerevo monastery, traditionally dated to the 14th century, which was moved to Petrovići in 1979 after the 1966 reservoir flooded its original site, and the church of St John at Drijenak, with carved stećci built into its foundations. For the other caves you can visit around the country, see my guide to Montenegro caves.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Crvena Stijena cave on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Nikšić for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.