ICAA
International Centre for Albanian Archaeology
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Promotion of the ICAA Monograph Series Nr. 2
THE COMPLEX OF TUMULI 9, 10 and 11 in the NECROPOLIS of APOLLONIA (ALBANIA) by Maria Grazia Amore
On April 20, 2010 in the hall “Aleks Buda” of the Academy of Sciences was held the promotion of the new publication of the ICAA Monograph Series
Changes were brought to the “Cultural Heritage Law”
Recently some important changes were brought to the “Cultural Heritage Law” approved in 2003.
Field projects
Introduction
In the late fall of
1999 the Institute of Archaeology of the Albanian Academy of
Sciences request the collaboration of the Rescue Unit of the
International Centre for Albanian Archaeology as a joint venture to
investigate two hypogeum tombs in Rrogozhina. Authors of this
report, in the company of Professor Muzafer Korkuti, Dr. Ilir
Gjipali (respectively director and deputy director of the Institute
of Archaeology), and Dr. Skënder Muçaj (director of late Antiquity
department of the Institute), made two visits to the site and
decided that a proper excavation and documentation of monuments was
urgently required[1].
Figure 1: Map showing the
location of Rrogozhine, on the Eighth Corridor, which
follows the route of via Egnatia, from Durres to Qafa e Thanes via
Kavaje,
Rrogozhine, Elbasan, Librazhd, and Prrenjas.
History of the site
Both tombs were discover in the summer of 1999 while using heavy
machinery to excavate gravel from the Kodra e Hallullit hill, 2 km
east of Rrogozhina (Figure 1). Gravel from the hill is still being
used for the construction of the new road (known as the “Eighth
Corridor”) which will connect the port of Durrës with the FYR of
Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. Developers informed a team from the
Institute of Archaeology, which was excavating a late Roman building[2] half-km away from the damaged tombs. Fatos Tartari of the
archaeological office in Durrës made a very quick and brief
documentation of tombs in the August of 1999. A minimal amount of
documentacion, in the form of photographs, exist from this
assessment. Grave goods, skeletal remains, and some architectural
elements of Tomb 1 were collected with no proper recording and taken
to the Archaeological Museum in Durrës. Tomb 1 was looted before its
discovery, probably since the antiquity. During a visit in the
Museum we also realised that artefacts were not properly stored and
registered. Since the summer of 1999 tombs became more damaged by
machinery and treasure hunters. Figure 2 shows the state of
preservation of Tomb 1 as we found it at the beginning of the
project.
Methodology
The approach to the excavation considered two main aspects:
1. They were disturbed by heavy machinery as well as by a previous
non proper excavation;
2. However, the need for a complete documentation required the
application of principles of stratigraphical excavation and the
establishment of relationships between stratigraphical units.
Figure 2:General view of
Tomb 1: February 2000.
This project was
the first opportunity for the Albanian archaeological community to
apply in practice the system of recording discussed in the
theoretical seminar organised by the Rescue Unit and the Institute
of Archaeology on 28 January 2000.
Pre-printed forms were used to make the field records of the
stratigraphical units.
Based on a fix point (the corner of a railway bridge at the bottom
of the hill) a grid of 5 x 5m squares was set up on the excavation
area, as shown in figure 3.
Figure 3: Grid showing
the general plan of the tombs and the area of excavation
Tomb 1
Tomb 1 was excavated in the bedrock, and oriented E-W; it consists
in an antechamber corridor shaped (3.80 x 1.50m on the exterior, and
3.50 x 0.90m in the interior), and in a funerary chamber (3.50 x
1.80m on the exterior, and 3.20 x 1.10m in the interior).
Between the two there was a single door in limestone with its
doorposts and threshold (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Doorposts and
threshold of the mortuary chamber. Picture of the summer 1999
The bottom of the corridor is bedrock sloping down to the door. In the funerary chamber, instead, there were surprisingly two floors: the upper one was made of marble tiles (0.18cm thick), found all crashed; it was supported by low pillars of rounded bricks and mortar (like suspensurae) (Figure 5), and by a platform, made also of mortar and squared bricks, that runs on the three walls of the room.
Figure 5: Low pillar of
rounded bricks
Below this was 2nd
floor made of ceramic tiles (57 x 40 x 2.2cm) with two incised
diagonal lines on the upper surface (Figure 6), and lies on a layer
of mortar.
Figure 6: Platform to
support floor tiles
The bedrock is
lined with brick walls built with the opus testaceum technique; the
bricks measure 31 x 31 x 4cm. The walls of the funerary chamber are
coated with plaster given in two hands, and then polished; there are
no traces of colors.
Walls have no foundations, but step on a layer of mortar. The narrow
wall that closes the corridor has some bricks forming a sort of
stairs (Figures 2, 4). Its upper part seems to be not very stable,
so probably it was dismantled and then rebuilt every time that a
funeral was taking place.
The tomb was completely covered by a barrel vault that was still
preserved on the funerary chamber in August ‘99 (Figure 7), but now
doesn’t exist any more (Figure 2).
On the exterior, where the walls of the corridor connect to the
walls of the funerary chamber, there are the traces of two buttress;
the northern one was more robust because was sustaining a higher
pressure of the slope, meant it must withstand a greater weight of
earth.
Figure 7:
Three-dimensional reconstruction of Tomb 1
The team from the
Museum of Durres found a great number of human bone fragments in the
funerary chamber. A few more fragments were discovered during the
2000 excavation.
Finds included an amphora, fragmented but almost complete (Figure
8); a small bronze cosmetic spatula (Figure 9); two complete bronze
(Figure 10) and an iron belt buckles ; two iron fibulae; a bronze
ring, perhaps of a chain; an iron flint striker not complete; an
iron handle, perhaps of a key; and some other fragments too corroded
to identify.
Figure 8: Amphora from
Tomb 1
Figure 9: Bronze spatula
from Tomb 1
From the study of
the metal objects, carried out by Etleva Nallbani, it seems that
Tomb 1 can be dated between the end of the 4th century A.D. and the
first decade of the 6th century A.D., and that it was used for a
long period of time.
This is also confirmed by the anthropological study of the skeletal
remains, carried out by Dr. Aleksandër Dhima, that identifies 4
phases of use and reuse of the monument. He documented the skeletons
of 22 individuals – 14 males, 8 females – plus 4 or 5 unidentified,
all of them adults, matures, and seniles except one adolescent; we
are not underlet whether these results reflect the improper
collection of the bones by the team of the Museum of Durrës, or
simply that children were buried somewhere else.
Figure 10: Bronze buckle
from Tomb 1
It was very
difficult for the physical anthropologist to identify any familial
relationship among the individuals, as the epigenetic
characteristics are found mostly in the bones of the skull and in
the extremities of the long bones. Again this were not collected or
were very damaged. Anyway he did identify some health problems or
diseases such as caries, parodontosis, and one case of spina bifida,
There was no suggestion of epidemics or injuries, indicating that
the subjects buried here died for natural causes.
The evidence suggest that this was a small homogeneous group of
population, characterized by a large body structure (brachymorfism)
of rural populations typical of the Late Antiquity and Early Middle
Age of the transadriatic planes.
Tomb 2
Tomb 2 is of a different type from Tomb 1 and poorly preserved, as
more than half has been destroyed by an heavy machinery (Figure 11).
As with Tomb 1, it was cut out of the bedrock. The only remaining
walls are an E-W structure, 2.12m long, and small parts of the
orthogonal walls remains.
Figure 11: General view
of Tomb 2
There is a badly
preserved floor, made of bricks (28 x 28 x 4cm) with two bands of
three diagonal lines each incised on the upper surface (Figure 12);
it lies on a layer of soil.
The walls are made of small irregular stones and mortar.
Figure 12: Fragments of
brick floor of Tomb 2
There are no
foundations, but they are set on a layer of mortar. On the eastern
end of the longest wall there is a thick layer of mortar that is
likely to be the beginning of a vault.
Some human bones were found, but unfortunately too fragmented to be
studied. Half a silver earring was also retrieved.
Comments
Little can be said that the tow tombs were used for a long time,
probably from the fourth century to the sixth century A.D. Tomb 1
represents a multiple burial. It is not clear, however, whether it
belonged to a single family or to a larger social group.
There is no reliable evidence for dating of Tomb 2, but the fact
that similar funerary monuments are found in the late Roman Period
in Durrës and Apollonia. If differences in type, plan, and
construction of Tombs 1 and 2 do not represent chronological
differences, they may imply social distinctions between individuals,
groups of individuals, or families that used them.
Figure 13: Project staff
[1]The Project was co-directed by Lorenc Bejko and Fatos Tartari. Other members of the project include Maria Grazia Amore, the field director; Pëllumb Naipi, the draftsman, as well as Brikena Shkodra and Elvana Metalla (Figure 13).
[2]Probably a bath, part of a bigger structure that might have been a station along the via Egnatia.