Po redaktohet Albanoi (paragraf)

== Archaeology ==

[[File:Zgërdhesh map (en).png|thumb|Plan of Zgërdhesh]]

In the archaeological record, the Albanoi and Albanopolis have been directly attested on two funeral inscriptions. The toponym Albanopolis has been found on a funeral inscription in [[Gorno Sonje]], near the city of [[Skopje]] (ancient [[Scupi]]), present-day [[North Macedonia]].{{sfn|Plasari|2020|p=16}} It was excavated in 1931 by Nikola Vulić and its text was curated and published in 1982 by [[Borka Dragojević-Josifovska]]. The inscription in Latin reads "POSIS MESTYLU F[ILIUS] FL[AVIA] DELVS MVCATI F[ILIA] DOM[O] ALBANOP[OLI] IPSA DELVS" ("Posis Mestylu, son of Flavia Delus, daughter of Mucat, who comes from Albanopolis"). It dates to the end of the 1st century CE and the beginning of the 2nd century CE. Dragojević-Josifovska added two lines to the existing reading: VIVA P(OSUIT) SIBI/ ET VIRO SUO. Delus Mucati is an Illyrian name and his home region was Albanopolis (''domo Albanopoli''). Dragojević-Josifovska proposed that like others he had settled in Macedonia from southern Illyria.{{sfn|Dragojević-Josifovska|1982|p=32}}

The site of [[Zgërdhesh]], southwest of [[Krujë]] in central Albania, has been identified as the likely location of Albanopolis.{{sfn|Wilkes|1996|p=135}} The settlement covered 10ha at a hill-fort location. Excavations show that the site was abandoned shortly after the Roman conquest of southern Illyria ([[Third Illyrian War]]).{{sfn|Donev|2018|p=35}} As an Albanopolis did exist long after as the Scupi inscription highlights, it is possible that the inhabitants had relocated their settlement.{{sfn|Donev|2018|p=28}}

The ethnonym ''Albanos'' was found on a funeral inscription from ancient [[Stobi]], near [[Gradsko, North Macedonia|Gradsko]] about 90&nbsp;km to the southeast of Gorno Sonje. The inscription in ancient Greek reads "ΦΛ(ΑΒΙΩ) ΑΛΒΑΝΩ ΤΩ ΤΕΚΝΩ ΑΙΜΙΛΙΑΝΟΣ ΑΛΒΑΝΟ(Σ) ΜΝΗΜ(Η)Σ [ΧΑΡΗΝ]" ("In memory of Flavios Albanos, his son Aemilianos Albanos"). It dates to the 2nd/3rd century CE.{{sfn|Spasovska-Dimitrioska|2000|p=258}}

An inscription in ancient Greek in [[Phoenice]], southern Albania related to the liberation act of the slave Nikarchos Nikomachou Arbaios is linked to the Albanoi as Arbaios is an ethnonym which has the same root as that of the Albanoi and hasn't been attested anywhere else.{{sfn|Cabanes|1974|p=572}} Arbaios is considered to not have been a local of the city, but someone who had been moved there from more northern areas in central Albania.{{sfn|Plasari|2020|p=12}} The inscription was excavated in the 1920s by [[Luigi Ugolini]]. It dates to the 3rd/2nd century BCE.<ref name="Plasari10"/>