Summer ’24 with the Centre V

01 07 2024

Unnoticed, we have reached the halfway point of the excavations in Risan. Only the weather decided to mark this milestone with a bang, providing us with round-the-clock storms and heavy rains. While we baked in the sun for the first half of the excavations, we then, in contrast, “swam” in the trench.

New discoveries have also started “in full swing”. After breaking through the Ottoman layers and two levels from Roman times, we reached the Hellenistic period. And here we simply got “corked”. Like mushrooms after rain (nomen omen), a large number of various types of amphora stoppers, fragments of Hellenistic pottery, and small bronze objects began to emerge. Although the documentation is going full steam ahead, it is difficult to keep up with this sudden abundance of artefacts. The first Hellenistic constructions are also appearing. We are still a few dozen centimetres away from the water level, so we can expect more discoveries.

The last few days have also been filled with intense non-archaeological activities. Our excavations were visited by the Consul of the Republic of Poland in Podgorica, Dr Małgorzata Łakota-Micker. This time in Risan, there was a several-hour meeting with the Montenegrin Minister of Culture, Dr Tamara Vujović. We discussed the conservation problems of the already discovered Hellenistic walls of Rhizon and excavation plans.

The next two days were taken up by a television crew filming for National Geographic about Risan. In addition to all this, we are still carrying out small jobs at the base and preparing plans for renovations and repairs to be carried out after the campaign. It will be necessary to build a lightweight structure for equipment storage, renovate the old warehouse where we no longer fit with the artefacts, impregnate and paint the large retaining wall of our base, and do minor repairs and painting of some base rooms. We are also carrying out tidying work in our garden, where we need to level the soil, collect stones, and organise a fairly large area. The trees planted in the spring have already borne their first fruits; unfortunately, the starlings beat us to the harvest, but everyone is keeping an eye on the single small lemon.

Our local tortoises also have a new home and a new tree, and as usual during the campaign, they are being overfed by the excavation team, but they seem content. So, we divide our daily excavation life between digging, documenting, and taking care of the base, which makes the time here fly by exceptionally quickly. Unfortunately, at least one day of rain is forecast, but we approach the changing weather with stoicism. A day off will be welcome, as fatigue is slowly setting in, especially since for some of us, the third month of excavations is beginning, and Novae is still ahead.