2018

The fourth archaeological research and topographic survey campaign of the Butrint Project took place during the month of June 2018 (03/06/2018 - 24/06/2018). Field research, as per agreements with Albanian colleagues from the Institute of Archeology of Tirana and the Butrint National Park, focused on four main different areas of intervention.

The excavation was carried with two limited surveys within the filling (emplekton) of the Hellenistic walls built in trapezoidal pseudo-isodome masonry in the stretch between the Forum and the so-called Tower Gate. In this area, the defensive curtain runs for a large stretch in the woods and seems to have been partially removed in ancient times, bypassed and probably incorporated by the buildings of the city when it expanded beyond the limit of the Hellenistic walls.

Analytical cleaning activities were conducted on the upper plateau of the Acropolis, in the area where the Acropolis Basilica was built. The aim was to better understand the stratification of this part of the site, whose occupation seems to go from the Archaic to the Medieval age. 

As in previous years, the team was engaged in the topographic survey of the wall circuit using the laser scanning methodology. This time, the survey proceeded from the stretch between the Columbarium, near the Lion's Gate, to the North Gate.

Finally, an analysis of the state of conservation and degradation of the wall structures was conducted on the same section surveyed, along with a preliminary reading of the different building phases. 

Team: Enrico Giorgi, Belisa Muka, Francesco Pizzimenti, Michael Benfatti, Dario Saggese, Veronica Castignani, Claudio Fontanini, Sara Fabbri, Matteo Tempera, Federica Carbotti

Bibliography

• M. Benfatti, V. Castignani, F. Pizzimenti (2020), "Le Fortificazioni di Butrinto: nuove acquisizioni topografiche e stratigrafiche." in Caliò, Gerogiannis, Kopsacheili, Fortificazioni e società nel Mediterraneo occidentale. Albania e Grecia settentrionale. Atti del Convegno di Archeologia, organizzato dall’Università di Catania, dal Politecnico di Bari e dalla University of Manchester Catania-Siracusa 14-16 febbraio 2019, Roma: Edizioni Quasar, pp.183-200 (available on Academia.edu)