2022
The 2022 archaeological research campaign of the Butrint Project took place between 11th September and 7th October 2022. As per agreements with the Albanian colleagues of the Institute of Archeology of Tirana and the Butrint National Park, this campaign focused again on the excavation of the Acropolis of Butrint, reprising the research questions examined in 2021, which are the understanding of the Acropolis Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman ages.
Three area have been investigated in 2022:
- so-called Area 6, beside the wall circuit of the Acropolis. The excavations in this area begun in 2021, and this year they were extended further east of the 2021 trench.
- so-called Area 8, near the visible structures on the upper part of the plateau and immediately north of Area 4, which was excavated in 2021.
- so-called Area 9, north of Area 8, on the other side of the touristic path leading to the Acropolis basilica.
Both Area 8 and Area 9 were investigated as result of the geophysics surveys conducted in this part of the Acropolis during the first week of the 2022 activities, which highlighting the presence of structures that were later partially uncovered during excavations.
On one hand, research in these areas led to new interesting and unexpected data about the occupation of the Acropolis during Hellenistic times, between 3rd and 2nd century BC, which are currently being examined. On the other hand, 2022 excavations confirmed once again the vitality and monumentality of the Acropolis area during Imperial Roman and Late Antique times, as well as the frequentation during the Archaic age.
Researchers were also involved in many other activities. Among these, the underwater survey of the bay on the north side of the city, in front of the North Gate, led to many interesting results concerning the position of the ancient harbor of Butrint and the topography of the Medieval wall circuit in relation to the lake in this part of the city.
As in 2021, the topographic and photogrammetric survey of the Archaic wall circuit continued and new parts of the circuit were added to the general survey plan. On this same topic, 2022 saw also the creation of a network of GPS points, which will be used for georeferencing all the excavation and survey data in Butrint and in other sites in the Pavla River Valley.
Last but not the least, the project team had the chance to visit and survey few archaeological sites and potentially interesting locations for the control of the territory, both in Albania and Greece: Karalibeu, Mount Sotira, Ripës, Dukat, Shën Gjini, Malçani, Gitana.
Team: Enrico Giorgi, Belisa Muka, Federica Carbotti, Francesca D'Ambola, Giacomo Sigismondo, Matteo Rivoli, Francesca Bindelli, Francesco Belfiori, Veronica Castignani, Giuseppe Guarino, Taip Kaca, Danjela Dodaj, Nadia Aleotti, Mishel Prifti, Chiara Balabani, William Claudio Boni, Ana Paci, Serena Tarini, Stefano Medas, Eros Turchetto, Paolo Zanetti