Summer ’23 with the Centre I

08 05 2023

After overcoming financial and organizational problems – o tempora, o mores ! – we can finally announce our summer scientific plans.

An expedition to Albania will start on May 10. This year, in addition to analyzing materials from Shkodra, in the field we will focus on the ruins of an “unknown Illyrian city” lying on one of the hills near Shkodra. We plan to excavate in an area we already explored last year – in the highest part of the city near the defensive wall. We expect to explore the secrets of the function of the extensive buildings with an unusual plan. Many elements and archaeological data indicate that it may be a cult circle (Illyrian ?). However, this hypothesis needs verification. We also plan to carry out excavations inside the city to explore parts of its buildings.

After completing the excavations in Albania, we will directly move to our archaeological base in Risan. In this former capital of Queen Thetis, we want to concentrate our research in the area of the so-called “agora” or probable main square of ancient Rhizon. We plan to carry out a series of trenches.

After a short week-long interval, which for organizational reasons we will spend in Poland, in mid-July, another expedition awaits us, this time to the Bulgarian archaeological base in Novae. Here we will continue our research on the so-called Section XII, where we discovered wooden buildings of the VIII Augustus legion and stone buildings of the I Italic legion. We expect to uncover more fragments of wooden barracks and perhaps, stone barracks. There will also be continued research of the extensive building, which we recognize as the House of the Centurion of the 1st cohort of the I Italiac Legion .

We hope that, as every year, our positions will not disappoint our scientific expectations. We will report on the progress of the work already from the field. Most likely, our trainees from Poland and Italy will also inform about them on their profiles

Already another to – 31 – of our Novaensia yearbook has been published, which is slowly undergoing changes to bring it up to these standards. The content of the volume is extremely interesting and diverse. It will soon be available in the tab of our publications. The volume can be ordered by sending information to our email: novae@uw.edu.pl