Vrina Plain cemeteries

The Temple Mausoleum 

 

A second cemetery area was found on the other side of the Channel, east of the Venetian fortress. The so-called "Temple mausoleum" was first interpreted by the Anglo-Albanian Team as a cistern of the 1st century AD, because of its proximity to the aqueduct and the presence of a thick mortar surface on both the floor and the walls. Later, the excavations in 2004 and 2005 have clarified that it was a small temple, built at the end of the 2nd century AD. The latest research of Gilkes et al. (2013), however, has recognised this structures as a mausoleum. It was probably an important structure in the Vrina plain because it was elevated on an artificial podium, built in opus caementicium, and it had a cella, whose southern wall and internal arrangement are still visible. It was built using opus listatum with triangular cut brick set into mortared rubble core, the floor was of cocciopesto mortar, and there seems to have been veneered stone and marble on the walls. The axial entrance forms a pronaos, whose stone paving slabs are still partially visible. The antes were constructed in opus caementicium, faced with stone slabs, projecting on the steps. The lowest step survives in place, while the others have been robbed, however it has been estimated that there were at least 7 other steps above the one left. The number and quality of marble fragments found on site, along with their monumental size, decoration and format, provide evidence for a family tomb. It can be considered the first Italic style building found in Albania. There were other structures around the temple, probably commemorative column or altars. Overall, it was not an isolated structure, given the presence of the aqueduct and the roadway, whose sides were both lined with buildings, among which there is a colonnade and a portico to the west. It also developed at the same time of a series of villas and farms that formed the extension of the Roman settlement.

During the 4th and 5th century the structure of the Temple Mausoleum probably kept its status in the Vrina Plain, given also its connection to the Vrina domus. At the beginning of the 6th century the area around the mausoleum had already began its transformation: the portico was blocked and levelled up, and a small apsidal structure was built over it. To the east, another structure was built over a similar levelling deposit. The road in front the Mausoleum was resurfaced, extending from its new west wall an sealing the eastern road drain. The building was probably in a state of disrepair at the time, however it was still in use. Nevertheless, some changes were made on the inside: the tombs in the cella were removed and the area above the floor and tomb imprints was occupied. This changes could be related to the construction of the Christian basilica on the remains of the domus during the 5th century. By the end of the 6th century the area was abandoned again, leading to a long but systematic demolition of the building. 

 

The family tomb 

 

Another mausoleum was found northeast of the Temple mausoleum. It was first documented during the geophysical survey of the Vrina Plain during 1998-1999, however it was not excavated until 2008. This tomb is connected to a nearby villa complex originally built in the 1st century AD but later completely reconstructed in the 3rd century AD. In fact, the mausoleum was built out of a small rectangular building belonging to the first complex. This tomb was built with shaped limestone blocks bonded with grey mortar and above a foundation trench and a raft of opus caementicium mortared rubble. There were buttresses on the southeastern and northwestern walls. The entrance is on the southwest side, a block of the double leaf door is still visible in situ. The floor is made of beaten earth mixed with mortar and well-graded building rubble. At the front there was a portico with short antes projected from the front and stylobate walls of the building, built on the raft of mortared rubble as well. The colonnade was made of brick-built columns with a mortar render. Like the inside of the mausoleum, the portico had a beaten earth surface that sealed a levelling deposit with ceramics dating to the 3rd century AD. It is not sure whether the mausoleum was still in use in the 5th and 6th century AD, however the main structure was still standing at the time. Like a nearby bath house, it could have been put in a phase of reuse. A dump of the 13th century was found to the west of the tomb, covered of the same thick dark grey and black silts that covered the pronaos and demolished walls, so it is probable that the mausoleum was destroyed in this period of time. 

The tombs were placed in the sites on the interior, all set int o the rubble core of the foundation. On the northeastern and southeastern side there were two limestone rubble platforms, edged with stone slabs bounded with mortar, probably used to hold the sarcophagi. No fragments were discovered during the excavations. In the angle of the northwestern and southwestern walls there was a masonry tomb, decorated with grey-white marble both on the interior and on the exterior, with a base of tiles and a superstructure made of coursed stones and tiles. Another dozens of graves were added around the three main tombs, in the corner of the structure, at the sides of the portico, and outside the mausoleum at a later time. Probably they alla belonged to one family group and its servants. The three principal burials were the firsts to be occupied, followed by two infant burials into the corners. It seems that five more burials can be counted in, mostly infants, which means that there were probably even more before the destruction of the building. Later, two burials were inserted in the portico, and after the exterior space was all occupied by stone built graves using the niches created by the buttresses. As Gilkes et al. (2013) suggest, this mausoleum seem to copy the local tradition of temple building, which usually consists of small shrines with a cella fronted by a prostyle pronaios and a low stepped podium. 

 

 

Image of the Temple Mausoleum from Gilkes O., Valbona H., Çondi D., "Two Roman mausolea on the Vrina Plain" in Hansen, Hodges, Butrint 4. Archaeology and History of a Ionian town, Oxbow Books, 2013, pp. 165-181

Western cemetery 

 

Another burial area has been found in the western area of the city, following the side of the Vivari Channel. Numerous monumental masonry tombs and burials were recovered along the isthmus connecting the headland to the main peninsula, both at Shën Dimitri and on the slopes of Mount Sotirës. The last one, in particular, became the main necropolis of Butrint during Hellenistic and Roman ages. 

Ugolini excavated the burials in the Mount Sotirës cemetery in 1930s. He published only 14 of the 56 tombs he found, and dated them between the 4th century BC and the 3rd century AD, which was later confirmed by Budina. A great number of these were inhumation, while there were few cremation burials. He divided between five different types. Burials lined by four limestone slabs and sealed by a fifth slab; pits lined with smaller limestone slabs; pits lined with unworked stones; burials with tile and imbrices covering the bodies; pits sealed with unworked stones. The most elaborated was a 2nd century AD tower-type tomb for cremation burials, formed by a barrel-vaulted room with five niches, and a colonnade on the entrance. One of the peculiarities of the tomb is that it faced southeast, looking across the ancient harbour.

The investigation of the necropolises was later continued by D. Mustilli. In particular, he excavated one large tomb in the western cemetery, on Mount Sotirës, overlooking the isthmus and facing southward toward the Vivari Channel, and nine burial pits near it. The tombs were deprived of most of the materials, however Mustilli dated them between the 2nd and 3rd century AD. This main tomb is elevated on a small podium, it has an arched niche flanked by two small rectangular niched for cremation burial, and three sarcophagi against the rear wall. In 1956, D. Budina also investigated 10 graves in the area of Mouthfeels Kepin, opposite the northern side of Butrint peninsula. Seven graves contained cremation burials, which Budina dated mostly to the Hellenistic period. He also excavated one cremation burial dated to the 1st century AD and three inhumation burials to the early Roman period. He believed that majority of the interred were local fishermen. Both in 1980 and 1982 Budina undertook two excavations campaigns in the area of the western cemetery near the western fortifications, and he found 41 more burials, mostly dated between the 1st century and the 3rd century AD, with the exception of an Hellenistic one. 

In 2001 the western cemetery was also investigated by the Butrint Foundation, which discovered three monumental tombs and several other simple burials near the western side of the isthmus (Shën Dimitri), on the northern bank of the Vivari Channel there is the cemetery of the Vrina Plain. From 2002 to 2008 several geomorphological studies and large scale excavations were conducted on site. They revealed that the cemetery was located on the Roman-era shore line, that the tombs fronted the water, and that a boundary wall separated the necropolis from the residential area. In particular, the survey of 2004 identified 23 tombs, among which there is the so-called Painted Tomb.

Bibliography on the subject

 

  • Bescoby D. J., "Geoarchaeological Investigation at Roman Butrint" in Hansen I.L., Hodges R., Roman Butrint. An assessment, Oxbow Books for the Butrint Foundation, 2007, pp. 95-118
  • Budina D., "Harta arkeologjike e bregdetit jon die e pellgur të Delvinës" in Iliria, n. 1, 1971, pp. 275-342
  • Chroston N., Hounslow M., "The geophysical survey: the extent and structural layout of the suburbs of Butrint on the Vrina Plain" in Hodges, Bowden and Lako, Byzantine Butrint: excavations and surveys 1994-99, Oxford, 2004, pp. 64-75
  • Çondi D., Hansen I.L., "The marble finds from the Temple" in Hansen, Hodges, Roman Butrint. An Assessment, Oxbow Books, 2007, pp. 128-131
  • Crowson A., Gilkes O. J., "The Archaeology of the Vrina Plain: An Assessment", Hansen I.L., Hodges R., Roman Butrint. An assessment, Oxbow Books for the Butrint Foundation, 2007, pp. 119-164
  • Gilkes O. and Çondi D., "An Italic Style Temple from the Vrina Plain, Butrint / Tempulli në Fushën e Vrinës, Butrint" in Iliria, vol. 32, 2005, pp. 155-170
  • Gilkes O., Valbona H., Çondi D., "Two Roman mausolea on the Vrina Plain" in Hansen, Hodges, Butrint 4. Archaeology and History of a Ionian town, Oxbow Books, 2013, pp. 165-181
  • Hernandez D. R. and Mitchell J., "The western cemetery: archaeological survey of Roman tombs along the Vivari Channel" in Hansen, Hodges, Butrint 4. Archaeology and History of a Ionian town, Oxbow Books, 2013, pp. 182-201
  • Mustilli D., "Relazione preliminare sugli scavi archeologici in Albania (1937-1940)", in Reale Accademia d'Italia. Rendiconti della classe di scienze morali e storiche, f. 12, series VII, vol. II, Roma, 1941
  • Ugolini L. M., Butrinto. Il mito di Enea e gli scavi, 1937
  • Ugolini L. M., L‘acropoli di Butrinto, Roma, 1942