NECROPOLIS OF APOLLONIA PROJECT

The necropolis has been object of research and investigation on several occasions. The history of excavations begun with the area to the south and east of the city itself, which is known for the large number of tumuli extending from the valley of Kryegjata to the easternmost territories of the village of Radostina. In the Greek necropolis several tumuli were investigated by Hasan Ceka, Skënder Anamali and Aleksandra Mano in the 1950s[1], and in the 1980s by Vangjel Dimo. More recently, in 1996, Tumulus 8 was excavated by Vangjel Dimo[2] and Annick Fenet[3].

Figure 1: Satellite imagery of Apollonia and the necropolis (Kryegjata Valley)

The ARAU project in the necropolis of Apollonia started in 2002. For the excavation it was chosen a ridge, oriented east-west, in the periphery of the necropolis, close to the modern village of Radostina, approximately 2 km to the Northeast of the ancient town (Fig. 1). It was identified as monument at risk during the survey carried out in the “Mallakastra Regional Archaeological Project”[4]. Two tumuli have been excavated till now (Tumulus 9 and Tumulus 10), and the space between them (Appendix 1 and Appendix 2), where likely there was at least another tumulus which has been completely destroyed. The western end of the ridge will be the focus of excavations in 2006 (Tumulus 11 and Appendix 3) (Fig. 2).

Figure 2:Contour map of the whole ridge

The contribution of this project to the knowledge of the mortuary customs of the ancient Apollonia consists in up-to-date methods of excavation, recording of data and conservation, and in the inclusion, for the first time at Apollonia, of the physical anthropological study of the skeletal remains from the cemetery.
Very important is also the fact that, with the intervention in this part of the necropolis, the area of archaeological protect territory of Apollonia was extended in 2003.[5]
This project takes place in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology, represented by Vangjel Dimo. 

Tumulus 9 | Tumulus 10 | X1 & X2 | Tumulus 11 | X3

_______________________________________________________________________

[1]Buda, A. 1959. “Rezultatet e gërmimeve në nekropolin e Apolonisë në vitin 1956”, Buletin i Universitetit Shtetëror të Tiranës-Seria shkencat shoqërore 2: 212-239; Mano, A. 1971. “Nekropoli i Apollonisë – Tuma 1”, Iliria 1: 103-201.

[2]Dimo, V. 1990. Varreza tumulare e Apolonisë (Disertacion). Tiranë.

[3]Dimo, V. and A. Fenet. 1996. “Nouvelles recherches sur la nécropole tumulaire d’Apollonia”, in L’Illyrie méridionale et l’Έpire dans l’Antiquité III (Actes du IIIe colloque international de Chantilly), P. Cabanes, ed., Paris: 217-223.

[4]In 1999 the Mallakastra Regional Archaeological Project (MRAP), co-directed by Muzafer Korkuti and Jack Davis (University of Cincinnati), began work on a map of the necropolis of Apollonia, a project that was completed in the summer of 2002. In the course of mapping, three distinct groups of tumuli were identified. One of these is located to the east of the so-called “main” necropolis (where all excavation had previously been conducted), at the western end of a low ridge that lies to the south of the village of Radostina. The ridge had been intensively surveyed by MRAP in 1998 and evidence was found for graves—many looted or otherwise disturbed—along its whole length. In places, it has had roads cut through and gravel quarries cut into it. For more information about the necropolis mapping program of MRAP, see reports on-line at http://river.blg.uc.edu/mrap/MRAP_en.html

[5] Ministria e Kulturës, Rinisë dhe Sporteve-Drejtoria e Trashëgimisë Kulturore, ed. 2003. Trashëgimia kulturore, akte ligjore dhe nënligjore, Tiranë: 31 (Vendim nr. 109, date 20.02.2003).

Back