Badhër Castle, Medieval fortress in southern Albania
Badhër Castle is a prehistoric fortified hilltop site above the road from Borsh to Piqeras, about 250 m above sea level. Its irregular elliptical wall, roughly 180 m long, 2 to 2.3 m thick and about 2 m high, is built without mortar from small and medium stones and has a single southern entrance. The enclosed surface is partly rocky, and remains of dwellings lie outside the northern and western walls.
Badhër's walls were raised in the Late Bronze Age, around 1500–1200 BCE, as one of the earliest fortified hilltop sites on the Ionian coast. Surveys group it with Kukum, Çip, Gjashnjar, Borsh (Sopot) and Karos. The hilltop was later reused and modified by rural settlements in antiquity and the medieval period.
The name Badhër is used for the hill and the walled site above the Borsh–Piqeras road. Surveys group it with the fortified hills of Kukum, Çip, Gjashnjar, Borsh (Sopot) and Karos, and the enclosed summit shows few traces of habitation, suggesting limited or seasonal use rather than a permanent town.
The site sits about 250 m above sea level on the hill above the Borsh–Piqeras road, reached on foot over rough ground; wear sturdy shoes and carry water. The enclosing wall is about 180 m long with a single entrance on the southern side, where natural rock slopes form the defence. The surface inside is partly rocky with few traces of habitation.
The walls are built without mortar from small and medium stones, only about 2 m high, and follow the irregular contour of the rocky hill. Outside the northern and western walls lie the remains of 15 dwellings, among the earliest Bronze Age houses found in Albania.
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