Wet-Site Excavation and Field Methodology at Butrint, Albania: The Roman Forum Excavations Project

ABSTRACT

Since the start of archaeological research at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Butrint (Bouthrotos/ Buthrotum) in southern Albania, archaeologists have allowed the water table to serve as a limit to archaeological excavation. From 2011 to 2013, the Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project conducted the first wet-site excavations at Butrint, reaching depths of up to 4 m below the water table in the ancient urban center. Well-preserved wood and other organic remains were recovered from waterlogged deposits, dating as early as the 7th century b.c. Major changes in RFE Project methodology emerged in response to wet-site archaeology. Unskilled local workers were trained to become local excavators. This significantly improved excavation techniques and recording procedures and enhanced the quality of the archaeological data, showing the high degree to which seemingly disparate elements of field methodology are intertwined.

KEYWORDS:

• Excavation methodology
• wetlands
• wet-site
• collaboration
• Albania

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for the fellowship awards that permitted me to write this article. The Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project has benefited tremendously from the unwavering support and assistance of Richard Hodges, President of the American University of Rome, to whom I owe a heavy debt for all of his help and guidance over the years. I thank RFE Project co-director, Dhimitër Çondi, for his tireless efforts to ensure the success of the project. I am indebted to numerous individuals and institutions for their invaluable support. Funding for the RFE Project was generously provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Notre Dame the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame and the Department of Classics (University of Notre Dame), the Packard Humanities Institute, the American Philosophical Society, and the Butrint Foundation. I acknowledge a debt of gratitude to the entire faculty in the Department of Classics at the University of Notre Dame and to Jack L. Davis and Charles Brian Rose for their support. On behalf of the RFE Project, I thank the directors of the Albanian Institute of Archaeology, Luan Përzhita and Shpresa Gjongecaj, as well as the Albanian Ministry of Culture for granting the project permission to excavate at Butrint. I thank all archaeologists, specialists, students, and local excavators, for their contributions to the project. Special thanks are owed to Mirgen Shametaj and Mentor Osmani, as well as to Arbor Alizoti, Ilir Deda, Meti Ismaili, Ilir Lame, and Tanushi brothers Preni, Fredi, and Petrit.

Notes on contributor

David Ray Hernandez (Ph.D. 2010, University of Cincinnati) is Associate Professor of Classics and Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and Principal Investigator of the Roman Forum Excavations Project at Butrint (Albania). His research interests include urbanism in the region of Epeiros (Epirus), ancient Greek and Roman colonization, Roman imperialism, excavation methods, urban stratigraphy and topography, and the historical archaeology of the Late Mediaeval and Early Modern periods.