Viewers in Albania can observe a rocky environment with thick plants as they head near the top of a ridge. The hilltop doesn't appear very odd from below.

Archaeologists excavated a 2,400-year-old city in Bushati and found a ruined building with an “astonishing” number of wine glasses, photos show. Photo from the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre at the University of Warsaw

But for millennia, something "unique" has been concealed in the mountainside.

Archaeologists in Bushat unearthed a "unknown city" in 2018, according to a news release from the University of Warsaw dated July 25, 2023.

According to a 2021 study published in the journal Antiquity, the long-forgotten ruins, which archaeologists believe to be of a "important urban center," are located on two ridges with a tiny valley in between, giving the city a roughly triangular shape.

The ruins of large ancient settlements with no recognized names are typically no longer found today, according to archaeologists.

Archaeologists from the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre unearthed a "very large building" at the city's highest point in an effort to learn more about the enigmatic location, the group claimed in a press release.

The ruins of a central building for public and religious activity. Photo from the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre at the University of Warsaw

According to archaeologists, the structure, which had "three roomy rooms and a long corridor," was roughly 2,400 years old. The demolished building's outline can be seen in photos.

Piotr Dyczek, an archaeologist from the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre, told the university that within, investigators discovered "an astonishing number" of "wine drinking vessels of various sizes."

We've found a special structure, Dyczek remarked. He described the structure as a prytaneion, an ancient Greek edifice where officials would convene, or a "hestiateron, (which) is one of the public structures in which an eternal fire should burn."

These "surprising" discoveries imply that the enigmatic metropolis was structured and administered like Greek cities, according to archaeologists. However, the settlement was not Greek.

Ruins of the “unknown city” as seen from above in 2022. Photo from the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre at the University of Warsaw

Archaeologists assert that the city was a component of ancient Illyria. According to Britannica, the Illyrians ruled most of the present Balkans until they were vanquished by the Romans in 168 B.C.

The ruins of defensive walls and two city gates were previously discovered during excavations, the university claimed, demonstrating the site's magnitude and significance.

According to the study institution, archaeologists will carry on their digs in the next year.

Bushat is a small town close to the Montenegrin border, 50 miles northwest of Tirana, the capital of Albania.