Albania - Apollonia

The ramparts

The ramparts of Apollonia, which stretch a distance of some 4.5 km, bordering an urban area of 86 ha, have never featured in any international publication. For the moment, the work consists of recognising the exact perimeter in order to incorporate this on the general map of the site. The work started in 1993 has now finished and the results published in the Atlas archéologique which is currently being printed. Five main gates and a postern gate can now be identified. Except for Gate C, which opens onto the south-east end, towards the river port of Shtyllas, all the entrances are located in the northern half of the town dominated by the two hills. These hills provide their own surrounding wall and gateways: a very powerful rampart for the acropolis, a simple retaining temenos wall for hill 104 with its beautiful opening with triangular arch. Circular and semi-circular towers are only confirmed on the western stretch of the ramparts and close to the gates; they were definitely not needed to the east where there is a sheer drop and, initially, the indented trace was deemed sufficient, because the towers appeared to reinforce the curtain wall built at a later time. Reconstruction of the walls seems to have occurred at several stages (five or six), since the sandstone rampart dating from ancient times, up to the kiln-baked brick wall, laid on an isodomic base of limestone blocks, all jointly dated to the 4th century. These may be sections that were rebuilt over time, to repair destruction caused more by seismic shocks than political and military upheavals. Once the mapping has been finished, stratrigraphic soundings can be used to determine relative chronology. Lastly, the existence of a diateichisma in the southern part of the city is worth noting, which outlines an area equal to one quarter of the total surface.

The necropolis

The great necropolis of Apollonia is situated in the small valley of Kryegjata to the east-south-east of the city; like other necropolises in this region, it is characterised by the presence of tumuli. Seven of these tumuli have already been excavated by Albanian researchers during the last forty years, but not all their work has been published. The 1996 excavation was on tumulus no. 8. The structure, with a diameter of 20 metres, was divided into four sections in order to conserve the stratigraphic succession on the verges. It has provided 14 tombs from the end of the Classical and Hellenistic Periods, which presented signs of destruction due to ancient grave reshuffling or modern military trenches. The centre of the tumulus seems to have moved over the centuries. It shows signs of several funeral rites, regardless of chronological evolution: incineration, limestone sarcophagi, graves in tiles or simple ditches and pithoi for children. The materials are currently being studied for inclusion in a publication soon to be produced.

Area to the north of the great portico

Excavations in this sector began in 1994 but were interrupted in 1997. A main street (about 9 m wide) was uncovered which led up to the acropolis plateau, and comprises several layers of broken stones. This street is lined by two retaining walls (see plans 2 3) of different craftsmanship showing signs of destruction and rebuilding. Wall 3 which, in its current state is later than the 2nd century BC, clings to the portico and has membrane walls which form caissons. It serves as a podium for a Corinthian temple from the Augustan Age of which only the foundations remain. Numerous architectural elements of this temple were found in the rubble on the main street. The temple was reached via a ramp or stairway, the infrastructure of which still exists to the east, built in two successive stages. An open gutter descends hill 104 and passes in front of the temple to drain off water directly into the main street.

Wall 2 in the north, using the blocks from the Hellenistic Period, ends in a series of three vaulted rooms, thought to be storehouses (4), which run along the edge of the plateau. These rooms were built later than a previous phase of wall 2 and date back to the end of the Republican Period or the Augustan Age, but remained occupied until Apollonia was finally abandoned. Further to the north, their construction cut through a cistern made of bricks of which just two basins remain, which are connected through an ogive opening. Water must have been fed from the southern part, destroyed by the storehouses. A street with a pavement, stretching from north to south, ran along the east side of this cistern. When the storehouses were built, another wider street was laid, the eastern side of which was lined by a large terraced wall used to support and contain the far end of the plateau separating the two acropolises. Several blocks were found in the rubble of wall 2 with inscriptions relating to franking activities dating to the Hellenistic Period.

To the east, wall 2 was destroyed and covered with another quite roughly-built wall (6) which reused materials. It turns at a right-angle northwards to intersect with another wall (5), more or less parallel to wall 2, and dates back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC. Wall 6 is visibly from a later period and was reused as a quarry area at an undefined time.

Further west, excavations uncovered a quadrangular building centred around an inner courtyard (11.98 x 11.20m) (7) with a white monochrome mosaic floor. The absence of any guttering for water drainage leaves us to believe that this courtyard was covered. This courtyard was surrounded by a paved cloister with brick blocks, 2.90m wide seen on the southern sides; the north part of the building is in very bad condition due to the slope. It opens to the east through a large porch directly overlooking the main street. In the west, it dominates the slope with a large terrace to the south of which a doorway might have been made enabling a small entrance to be reconstructed at the end of a stairway which climbed the slope connecting it with the lower terrace. There must have been a symmetrical entrance to the north of the terrace. The materials recovered in the foundations date back to the last quarter of the 6th century (type B Ionian cup produced locally). The building in its final form seems to have been enlarged after the 2nd-1st centuries BC, and a lower level mosaic reveals two successive phases following this enlargement. The building was occupied until the site was abandoned. It may have been a pompeion, reuniting all those taking part in processions before reaching the sacred main road leading up to the acropolis.

Geographical exploration

After the first campaign in 1993, a team of geographers was on the site to start a study programme on the territory of Apollonia: geographical description of the coastal plain and hills of Mallakastër and site morphology of Apollonia, which suffered many landslides. The programme continued with the charting of a simplified geomorphological map of the Apollonia site which established that the great monumental fountain could not function continuously. For ten years, the study has addressed the recent geomorphological evolution of the Vjose and Seman deltas, by rebuilding the riverbeds, offshore bars and delta spits (see map). It was thus established that the port of Apollonia, a river port, not a lagoon port, must have been situated on the meander of the Aoos which passed by the foot of the Shtyllas hill.

Prospecting campaigns

In 2004 and 2005, two electromagnetic prospecting campaigns were conducted by the Paris-based company Terra Nova, co-funded by the Ecoles françaises of Rome and Athens. Exploration of the temple of Shtyllas area, located outside the walls, confirmed the absence of any structure. The rocky outcrop covered almost the whole of the surface. However, prospecting on the plateau situated between the two acropolises identified two large porticos which bordered a large open area to the north and south, most likely the city’s main central square. Prospecting on the western slopes of the north acropolis revealed a per strigas urbanisation (divided into strips), which is where the first inhabitants would have settled. These are very important results for understanding the city’s urban planning and confirms the existence of two different types of networks: an older network between the two acropolises and a network from the Hellenistic and Roman Periods on the western terraces, the theatre serving as the pivotal point between the two systems.