The practice of rescue archaeology has been a fundamental constituent of ICAA objectives from the outset. Responding at speed, rescue archaeologists survey and excavate sites threatened or revealed by construction development. An established practice elsewhere in Europe and in the USA, rescue archaeology was completely unknown in Albania before 2000.

The Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit (ARAU) has worked closely with the Institute of Archaeology (Tirana) on all its rescue projects. In line with ICAA aims to promote best practice in archaeology, one of the first measures taken by the Unit was the development of a data recording system that would unify documentation methodologies across institutions; since its introduction the new system has successfully been adopted by the wider archaeological community.

The Unit’s first rescue project was carried out in early 2000 at Rogozhina, south of Tirana. Two late Roman hypogeum tombs, which had been badly damaged during gravel extraction, were excavated and documented. Numerous other sites soon came to the Unit’s attention: at Apollonia a major tumulus was being actively quarried, while in Durrës large tracts of the Roman port were being destroyed by industrial development.

At Rrëmbec in the Korça Basin during 2003-4,, ARAU salvaged the first known 9th–11th-century cemetery in the region from quarrying. The year after, the Unit returned to Apollonia to survey an area close to the ancient city threatened by the proposed route of a new highway from Fier to Levan, locating numerous previously unknown sites.

At Apollonia it is hoped that the impact of the road will be mitigated by the preservation of these new sites. Many similar battles lie ahead. The future of much of Albania’s archaeological heritage will rest upon rescue projects conducted within a framework of understanding between developers and archaeologists. for more...>>