Hidden Ruins Found Beneath the Theodosian Palace at Stobi in North Macedonia

Beneath a palace that has stood for about 1,600 years, archaeologists in North Macedonia report finding something older. According to a recent news report, the team digging at the Theodosian Palace in the ancient city of Stobi uncovered the remains of earlier buildings and drainage channels that predate the palace itself. They also found a preserved foundation that may once have held a mosaic or a cocciopesto floor, a hard Roman surface made from lime mortar mixed with crushed terracotta.

Where Stobi sits and why it matters

Stobi lies in the central part of present-day North Macedonia. In Late Antiquity it was an important city, and visitors today can walk through an archaeological park that holds houses, public buildings and early Christian structures. The Theodosian Palace is one of the largest late antique residential complexes on the site. It stands on a middle terrace and was built in the 4th century AD, according to the National Institution Stobi. The Ancient Rome Live news service describes it as a late 4th-century building that people rebuilt in the 5th century and used until the early 7th century.

The palace wraps around an open peristyle, a colonnaded courtyard, with rooms that have mosaic floors. At the east end of the courtyard sits a pool fenced by pink marble parapet blocks. Niches and marble bases above it once held sculptures. Excavators found bronze statues of Apollo, Aphrodite and a household god, along with a marble head of Serapis, in the pool after the building fell out of use. In 2023, archaeologists also uncovered a mosaic of the god Dionysus in a room south of the courtyard.

What the new excavation reportedly found

The news report says the 2026 season ran from September 3 to October 30. The crew exposed remains of older buildings and drainage channels beneath the palace level. These finds suggest that people used and built on this part of Stobi before the palace rose. Drainage channels often point to organized building and water management, so they may help researchers understand how the area looked before the palace.

The team also found a well-preserved foundation. The report says it may once have supported a mosaic or cocciopesto floor, although the surface itself has not survived. That wording matters. The researchers have not claimed a finished floor, only a base that could have carried one.

Did an emperor really stay here?

The palace takes its name from Emperor Theodosius I, who visited Stobi in AD 388. Early scholars assumed he stayed in this building, and the name stuck. The site’s own description calls this an assumption rather than a confirmed fact. No inscription or document has tied the emperor to these rooms, so the story remains a likely tradition and not a proven one.

Why the older layers count

Buildings under a famous monument can change how researchers read the whole site. If the earlier structures turn out to belong to a distinct phase, archaeologists can ask new questions. How did this terrace develop before the 4th century? Did the palace builders clear or reuse older walls? Work by Balkan Heritage field school students since 2014 has already uncovered a late antique building between the palace and a neighboring structure known as the Jail, so the area clearly has a layered history.

Conservation work adds to the picture. The National Institution Stobi and the Balkan Heritage Foundation have been stabilizing the palace walls and mosaics under a master conservation plan, with support from Ancient Rome Live and the J.M. Kaplan Fund. Digging and conservation now run side by side, which lets specialists record what lies beneath while they protect what stands above.

Caveats and open questions

A few cautions apply. We could not read the original excavation report, and we relied on a news account for the 2026 details. The dates of the older buildings remain unknown, and the report does not say whether they belong to Roman, Hellenistic or even earlier periods. Whether the foundation held a mosaic or cocciopesto floor, or neither, also needs further study. Final conclusions will likely appear in an official publication from the excavators.

For now, Stobi shows how much a well-known ruin can still hide. Each season peels back another layer, and the palace that may have hosted an emperor now looks like one chapter in a longer story.

Sources

• National Institution Stobi, The Theodosian Palace: http://www.stobi.mk/Templates/Pages/Excavations.aspx?page=168 (2026 excavation report itself not found)
• Ancient Rome Live, Stobi conservation: https://ancientromelive.org/news/at-stobi-conservation-efforts-bring-a-late-roman-palace-back-to-life/
• Greek Reporter: https://greekreporter.com/2026/10/31/archaeologists-secrets-theodosian-palace-north-macedonia/