ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Prehistory of the Balkans

Well kiddo, a long, long time ago, before people wrote down history, the Balkans were home to some of the first humans ever. They were called the Neanderthals, and they lived in caves and hunted animals for food. Later on, different groups of people migrated to the Balkans, like the Illyrians and the Thracians.

These groups had their own languages and cultures, and some even had their own kingdoms. Some of them even left behind really cool things like tombs and pottery that help us learn about them today.

Eventually, the Balkans became part of the Roman Empire and then later on, the Byzantine Empire. A lot of important events happened there, like battles and migrations of different groups of people.

So even though we don't have written records of everything that happened in the Balkans during prehistory, we can still learn a lot from the artifacts and ruins that were left behind by these ancient groups of people.