Amore Grazia 2005 - Settelment and Burial in Apollonia and Its Area (Albania)

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
1/19/2005
Date:___________________
Maria Grazia Amore

I, _________________________________________________________,
hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of:
Master of Arts
in:
Classics
It is entitled:
SETTLEMENT AND BURIAL IN APOLLONIA AND ITS AREA (ALBANIA)
This work and its defense approved by:
Professor Jack Davis

Chair: _______________________________
Professor Kathleen Lynch
_______________________________
Professor Lynne Schepartz
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
SETTLEMENT AND BURIAL IN APOLLONIA AND ITS AREA (ALBANIA)
A thesis submitted to the
Division of Research and Advanced Studies

of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the

requirements of the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in the Department of Classics

of the College of Arts and Sciences
2005
by
Maria Grazia Amore
B.A. University of Torino, Italy, 1993
Committee Chair: Jack L. Davis

Kathleen Lynch
Lynne Schepartz
ABSTRACT
This study presents an analysis of data pertaining to the Archaic and Classical periods at
Apollonia (Albania), one of the major Greek colonies in the Mediterranean. Conclusions
are based on a long history of research and investigations that have been carried out in the
form of excavations and surface survey within the city walls of Apollonia, in its
necropolis, and in its chora. Part of this work is dedicated to a thorough collection and
collation of published information from Apollonia, while the core of my analyses
considers recent data from the systematic surface survey in its territory sponsored by the
Mallakastra Regional Archaeological Project and the excavation of one of the many
tumuli in its large necropolis. The approach taken here is both regional and
interdisciplinary, and it is shown that only the integration of data from different
disciplines and various kinds of field projects, set in a regional context, can provide us
with a better understanding of life at Apollonia during the Archaic and Classical periods.
The comparison of data from excavations within the city with those coming from the
survey and the necropolis has been particularly useful in exploring various aspects of the
social, economic, and cultural dynamics of ancient society. This study should be
considered as a prolegomenon that should be followed by further analyses and
explorations with contemporary techniques and methods not only within the city walls,
but also in the necropolis and in the chora of the city-state.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I first would like to give my warmest thanks to Professor Jack Davis for his
unlimited encouragement from the time that I first decided to begin graduate studies until
the end of this adventure: I know I have not been an easy student! My endless gratitude
goes also to Professor Kathleen Lynch and to Professor Lynne Schepartz, for being
always so available and flexible, even if I have written most of this thesis in Albania. All
the inaccuracies of this study are completely my responsibility. Many thanks to Dr. David
Packard and PHI for funding the “Tumulus 9 Project”, and more generally all the
activities of the Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit. I am indebted also to Professor
Richard Hodges for his constant support and for allowing me to take some time away
from my duties in Albania to pursue my studies. For interesting discussions I also want to
thank Sarah Morris, John Papadopoulos, and Carolyn Koehler. I extend my gratitude to
many Albanian colleagues, especially Professor Muzafer Korkuti and Dr. Vangjel Dimo.
I cannot forget Jeff Kramer, for his help in technical issues relative to preparation
of the thesis, Carol Hershenson, who has had the uneasy task of editing my written
English, and Laura Amore, for helping me with the translation of German texts. I would
like to thank Shari Stocker for her hospitality and friendship. My thoughts go also to
Valentina Popescu, who shared with me the good and the bad of my life in Cincinnati,
and who has always been ready to help me with many practical matters. And last but not
least, I dedicate this work to Lorenc Bejko, my mate in life and work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES 2
LIST OF FIGURES 3
FIGURE CREDITS 13
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 17
CHAPTER 2: THE SETTLEMENT IN APOLLONIA AND THE
APOLLONIA AREA FROM THE ARCHAIC TO THE
HELLENISTIC PERIODS 23
CHAPTER 3: THE MALLAKASTRA REGIONAL
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT AND THE SETTLEMENT
IN THE ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIODS 47
CHAPTER 4: THE DATA FROM THE NECROPOLIS
THE EARLY WORK 58
THE WORK OF THE ALBANIAN RESCUE
ARCHAELOGY UNIT 120
CHAPTER 5: SYNTHESIS: INTEGRATION OF THE DATA FROM
THE SETTLEMENT AND THE CEMETERY 142
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS 148
BIBLIOGRAPHY 151
APPENDIX 1: CATALOGUE 157
APPENDIX 2: TABLES 168
FIGURES 176
2
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: MRAP: distribution of Archaic pottery from tracts. 168
Table 2: MRAP: distribution of Archaic pottery in sites. 168
Table 3: MRAP: distribution of Archaic to Classical pottery from
tracts. 168
Table 4: MRAP: distribution of Archaic to Classical pottery in sites. 169
Table 5: MRAP: distribution of Classical pottery from tracts. 169
Table 6: MRAP: distribution of Classical to Late Classical pottery
from tracts. 169
Table 7: MRAP: distribution of Classical pottery in sites. 170
Table 8: Tumulus 9: list of graves with assessment of age and sex of
the individuals. 170
Table 9: Tumulus 9: list of graves by chronological periods. 172
Table 10: Tumulus 9: list of graves with numerical quantity per grave
of ceramic vessels and finds other than vessels, and presence (x)/
absence (-) of astragaloi. 174
Table 11: Tumulus 9: list of distribution of grave goods by type of
grave and number of individuals. 175

3
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Plan of the Apollonia area. 176
Figure 2: View of Hill 101. 176
Figure 3: Detailed plan of Apollonia with monuments (agora: 1-8). 177
Figure 4: Monument of the Agonothetes. 178
Figure 5: Plan of the agora. 178
Figure 6: Roman “libraries” replacing a Greek stoa. 179
Figure 7: Fourth century B.C. stoa with niches. 179
Figure 8: “Obelisk”. 180
Figure 9: Plan of the fortifications. 180
Figure 10: Arched portal. 181
Figure 11: Main street. 181
Figure 12: Theater at the bottom of the hill. 182
Figure 13: Cistern in the fortification walls. 182
Figure 14: Monumental fountain-view of the façade. 183
Figure 15: Monumental fountain-view from the top. 183
Figure 16: Water channel in the fortification walls. 184
Figure 17: Single column at Shtyllas. 184
Figure 18: Aerial view of the temple of Shtyllas. 185
Figure 19: Reconstruction of the temple of Shtyllas by Guri Pani. 185
Figure 20: “Gymnasium”. 186
Figure 21: Archaic street. 186
Figure 22: Ancient coastline and courses of the Apsos and Aous rivers. 187
4
Figure 23: Map of the MRAP survey area with principal topographic
features. 188
Figure 24: Pottery distribution in the MRAP survey area in the main
chronological periods. 188
Figure 25: Map of the MRAP survey area with site locations. 189
Figure 26: Map of the distribution of Archaic and Classical pottery in
the MRAP survey area. 189
Figure 27: Map of the Apollonia area with the location of the four
tumuli excavated in 1956. 190
Figure 28: Plan of Tumulus 1 excavated in 1956. 190
Figure 32: Plan of Tumulus 1 excavated in 1958-1959. 192
Figure 33: Pithoi from Tumulus 1: a) with decoration; b) coated with
pitch. 193
Figure 34: Transport amphorai from Tumulus 1: a) Corinthian, sixth-
fifth century B.C.; b) Corinthian, fourth-third century B.C.; c) from
Lesbos. 193
Figure 35: Cooking pots from Tumulus 1: a) with one handle; b) with
two handles. 194
Figure 36: Table amphorai from Tumulus 1: a) fourth-third century
B.C.; b) third-second century B.C. 194

5
Figure 37: Corinthian plates from Tumulus 1: a) with palmettes; b)
with protomes of horses. 194
Figure 38: Ionian pottery from Tumulus 1: a) oinochoe; b) cylindrical
pyxis; c) globular pyxis. 195
Figure 39: Lekythoi from Tumulus 1: a) with relief; b) with ovoid
body; c) squat. 195
Figure 40: Jugs from Tumulus 1: 1) with narrow neck; 2) with wide
neck. 196
Figure 41: Kylikes from Tumulus 1: a) kylix; b) cup-skyphos; c)
stemless cup. 196
Figure 42: Kantharoi from Tumulus 1: a) with high body; b) with
biconical body. 196
Figure 43: Olpai from Tumulus 1: a) with short handle; b) pear-
shaped; c) elongated. 197
Figure 44: Oinochoai from Tumulus 1: a) ovoid; b) pear-shaped; c)
with vertical ribbing. 197
Figure 45: Terracotta figurines from Tumulus 1: a) hydrophoros; b)
woman with child; c) seated man. 198
Figure 46: Bronze appliques from Tumulus 1: a, b) decorated; c) in the
shape of rosette. 198
Figure 47: Strigils from Tumulus 1: a) with twisted and conical
handles; b, c) with curved handles. 199
Figure 48: Various bronze objects from Tumulus 1: a) ladle; b)

6
pendant; c) hook. 199
Figure 49: Stone objects from Tumulus 1: a) stele; b) inscription; c)
palmette. 200
Figure 50: Cooking pots from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with conical body; b)
with horizontal handles; c) with vertical handle. 200
Figure 51: Plain kraters from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with ovoid body; b)
with wide body. 201
Figure 52: Painted kraters from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) orientalizing; b)
red-figured. 201
Figure 53: Olpai from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) Corinthian; b) with ovoid
body; c) with globular body. 201
Figure 54: Aryballoi from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) pear-shaped; b) with
globular body. 202
Figure 55: Lekythoi from Tumuli 6 and 7: a, b) Attic; c, d, e, f) squat. 202
Figure 56: Skyphoi from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) Corinthian; b) fifth
century B.C.; c) fourth century B.C. 203
Figure 57: Kothon from Tumulus 7. 203
Figure 58: Pyxides from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) cylindrical; b) globular. 203
Figure 59: Kylikes from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) Attic; b) South Italian. 204
Figure 60: Saltcellars from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with flat base; b) with
straight rim; c) with inturned rim. 204
Figure 61: Black-glazed cups from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with flat base;
b) with ring base. 204

7
Figure 62: Black-glazed lamps from Tumuli 6 and 7: a, b) with oblique
handle; c) with no handle. 205
Figure 63: Unguentaria from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) globular; b)
elongated. 205
Figure 64: Terracotta figurines from Tumuli 6 and 7: painted, Archaic;
b) seated female; c) horseman; d) bird. 205
Figure 65: Bronze vessels from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) jug; b) amphora; c)
hydria; d) situla; e) large bowl; f) stemless cup; g) ladle; h) lekythos; i)
strainer; l) cup. 206
Figure 66: Jewelry from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) silver/bronze medallion; b)
silver earring; c) bronze bracelets; d) medallion with Medusa; e) bronze
ring. 207
Figure 67: Bronze armor from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) shield; b) helmet. 207
Figure 68: Iron weapons from Tumuli 6 and 7. 208
Figure 69: Bronze strigils from Tumuli 6 and 7: with no rivets; b) with
rivets. 208
Figure 70: Iron objects from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) sandals; b) horse bit. 208
Figure 71: Map showing location of Tumulus 8 with respect to
Apollonia. 209
Figure 72: Aerial view of Tumulus 8 showing the division in four
sectors. 210
Figure 73: Main necropolis – contour map. 210
Figure 74: Map of Kryegjata tumulus cemetery with confirmed tumuli

8
indicated by dots. 211
Figure 75: Map of subsidiary necropolis. 211
Figure 76: Map showing location of Tumulus 9 with respect to
Apollonia. 212
Figure 77: View from west of the ridge where Tumulus 9 and probably
other two tumuli are located. 212
Figure 78: Tumulus 9: view from east, showing the damage prior to
the excavation. 213
Figure 79: Similar mud-brick features from Tumulus 1 and Tumulus 9. 213
Figure 80: Tumulus 9: ceramic deposit. 214
Figure 81: Tumulus 9: cremation in situ in simple pit. 214
Figure 82: Tumulus 9: cremation in situ in grave outlined with wood. 215
Figure 83: Tumulus 9: chart with orientation of graves. 215
Figure 84: Tumulus 9: sarcophagus graves. 216
Figure 85: Tumulus 9: enchytrismos. 216
Figure 86: Tumulus 9: grave outlined with mud-bricks. 217
Figure 87: Tumulus 9: grave built of bricks. 217
Figure 88: Tumulus 9: simple pit. 218
Figure 89: Tumulus 9: urn. 218
Figure 90: Tumulus 9: concentration of fragmented tiles, probably
from a destroyed grave. 219
Figure 91: Tumulus 9: chart with percentage of grave types. 219
Figure 92: Tumulus 9: gabled lid with incised triangular pattern on the
9
underside. 220
Figure 93: Tumulus 9: Archaic inscription on the rim of the
sarcophagus. 220
Figure 94: Tumulus 9: chart with incidence of ceramics and metal
objects in graves. 221
Figure 95: Tumulus 9, grave 45: Corinthian kotyle dated to the second
quarter of the sixth century B.C. (1). 221
Figure 96: Tumulus 9, grave 24: Corinthian kotyle dated to the end of
the sixth century B.C. (2). 222
Figure 97: Tumulus 9, grave 62: Corinthian kotyle dated to the second
third of the sixth century B.C. (3). 222
Figure 98: Tumulus 9, grave 54: type C skyphos dated to the end of
the fifth century B.C. (4). 223
Figure 99: Tumulus 9, grave 19: type A skyphos dated to the first
quarter of the fourth century B.C. (5). 223
Figure 100:Tumulus 9, grave 19: Italic skyphos dated to the second
half of the fourth century B.C. (6). 224
Figure 101: Tumulus 9, grave 26: local imitation of an Italic skyphos
dated to the end of the fourth century B.C. (7). 224
Figure 102: Tumulus 9, grave 7: local one-handler with horseshoe
shaped handle dated to the fourth century B.C. (8). 225
Figure 103: Tumulus 9, grave 39: local one-handler with strap handle
dated to the fifth century B.C. (9). 225

10
Figure 104: Tumulus 9, grave 44: two-handler cup “bolsal” dated to
the last quarter of the fifth century B.C. (10). 226
Figure 105: Tumulus 9, grave 20: two-handler cup with stamped
decoration dated to the fourth century B.C. (11). 226
Figure 106: Tumulus 9, grave 60: Attic cup-skyphos dated to the third
quarter of the sixth century B.C. (12). 227
Figure 107: Tumulus 9, grave 7: Attic cup-kantharos dated to the third
quarter of the fourth century B.C. (13). 227
Figure 108: Tumulus 9, grave 36: mug with ring-shaped handle dated
to the end of the fourth century B.C. (14). 228
Figure 109: Tumulus 9, grave 55: Corinthian round-mouthed oinochoe
dated to the first quarter of the fifth century B.C. (21). 228
Figure 110: Tumulus 9, grave 10: olpe dated to the fifth century B.C.
(22). 229
Figure 111: Tumulus 9, grave 7: olpe dated to the fourth century B.C.
(23). 229
Figure 112: Tumulus 9, grave 19: Italic small red-figured hydria dated
to the Late Classical period (24). 230
Figure 113: Tumulus 9, grave 9: local table amphora dated to the
Classical period (25). 230
Figure 114: Tumulus 9, grave 9: red-figured squat lekythos dated to
the Late Classical period (26). 231
Figure 115: Tumulus 9, grave 17: red-figured squat lekythos dated to

11
the Late Classical period (27). 231
Figure 116: Tumulus 9, grave 42: ribbed black-glazed lekythos dated
to the Late Classical period (28). 232
Figure 117: Tumulus 9, grave 55: Corinthian kothon dated to the sixth
century B.C. (15). 232
Figure 118: Tumulus 9, grave 52: Corinthian kothon dated to the sixth
Figure 119: Tumulus 9, grave 55: Ionian lydion dated to mid-sixth
Figure 120: Tumulus 9, grave 34: Corinthian pyxis dated to after mid-
sixth century B.C. (30). 234
Figure 121: Tumulus 9, grave 24: Ionian pyxis dated to the last quarter
of the sixth century B.C. (17). 234
Figure 122: Tumulus 9, grave 7: red-figured calyx krater dated to the
fourth century B.C. (18). 235
Figure 123: Tumulus 9, grave 60: Corinthian plate dated to 590-570
B.C. (19). 235
Figure 124: Tumulus 9, grave 60: Corinthian plate dated to 590-570
B.C. (20). 236
Figure 125: Tumulus 9: fragmentary neck of Corinthian Type A
transport amphora, dated to the third or fourth quarter of the seventh
Figure 126: Tumulus 9, grave 32: bronze spiral bracelets dated to the
12
fourth century B.C. (32, 33). 237
Figure 127: Tumulus 9, grave 45: native bronze bracelets dated to late
seventh-early sixth century B.C. (34, 35). 237
Figure 128: Tumulus 9, grave 22: bronze fibula dated to the Classical
period (36). 238
Figure 129: Tumulus 9, bronze earrings: a) from grave 32, dated to the
second half of the fourth century B.C; b) from grave 12, dated to the
second half of the fourth century B.C. (37, 38). 238
Figure 130: Tumulus 9, grave 18: silver finger ring dated to the (Late)
Figure 131: Tumulus 9, grave 4: bronze medallion dated to the (Late)
Figure 132: Tumulus 9, grave 7: bronze piece of medallion dated to the
(Late) Classical period (41). 239
Figure 133: Tumulus 9, strigils: a) from grave 20, bronze; b) from
grave 54, iron (42, 43). 240
Figure 134: Tumulus 9, grave 9: iron spearhead dated to the fourth
Figure 135: Tumulus 9, grave 45: iron knife dated to the sixth century
B.C. (45). 241
Figure 136: Tumulus 9, grave 9: iron skeletons of sandals (46). 241
Figure 137: Tumulus 9, grave 4: iron horse bit (47). 241

13
FIGURE CREDITS
All figures for which a source is not cited below are from author’s personal archive.
Fig. 1: Cabanes 1986, p.131, fig. 14.
Fig. 3: Myrto 1998, p. 17.
Fig. 5: N. Ceka 1982, p. 42.
Fig. 6: N. Ceka 1982, first fig. opposite p. 40.
Fig. 7: N. Ceka 1982, third fig. between pp. 40-41.
Fig. 9: Balandier and Koço 1996, p. 205, fig. 1.
Fig. 10: Amore et al. 1995, p. 768, fig. 5.
Fig. 13: N. Ceka 1982, p. 40.
Fig. 16: Amore et al. 1995, p. 772, fig. 12.
Fig. 17: Quantin 1996, p. 233, fig. 2.
Fig. 18: Quantin 1996, p. 235, fig. 5.
Fig. 19: N. Ceka 1982, p. 39.
Fig. 21: Cabanes et al. 2000, p. 628, fig. 8.
Fig. 22: Cabanes et al. 1994, p. 524.
Fig. 23: MRAP, adapted by L. Bejko.
Fig. 25: MRAP, adapted by L. Bejko.
Fig. 26: Davis et al. 2002, fig. 9.
Fig. 27: Buda 1959, p. 213, fig. 1.
Fig. 28: Buda 1959, p. 214, fig. 2.
Fig. 29: Buda 1959, p. 219, fig. 8.
Fig. 30: Buda 1959, p. 225, fig. 13.
Fig. 31: Buda 1959, p. 227, fig. 17.

14
Fig. 32: Mano 1971, p. 105, fig. 2.
Fig. 33: a) Mano 1971, pl. 1, no. 3; b) pl. 2, no. 1.
Fig. 34: a) Mano 1971, pl. 4, no. 2; b) pl. 4, no. 3; c) pl. 5, no. 4.
Fig. 37: a) Mano 1971, pl. 17, no. 2a; b) pl. 17, no. 1a.
Fig. 38: a) Mano1971, pl. 18, no. 1; b) pl. 18, no. 5; c) pl. 18, no. 8.
Fig. 39: a) Mano1971, pl. 33, no. 3; b) pl. 33, no 5; c) pl. 34, no. 8.
Fig. 40: 1) Mano1971, pl. 35, no. 8; 2) pl. 36, no. 4.
Fig. 42: 1) - Mano1971, pl. 26, no. 2; 2) pl. 26, no. 4.
Fig. 47: a) Mano1971, pl. 46, no. 1-2; b) pl. 46, no. 3; c) pl. 46, no. 6.
Fig. 50: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 38, no. 13; b) pl. 12, no. 97; c) pl. 9, no. 50.
Fig. 51: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 35, no. 116; b) pl. 41, no. 76.
Fig. 54: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 37; b) pl. 34, no. 8.

15
Fig. 55: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 20, no. 221; b) pl. 23, no. 263; c) pl. 8, no. 287; d) pl. 25, no.
285/4; e) pl. 43, no. 134; f) pl. 44, no. 117.
Fig. 57: Dimo 1990, pl. 36, no. 28.
Fig. 61: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 30, no 247; b) pl. 7, no. 37.
Fig. 63: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 10, no. 51; b) pl. 42, no. 85/1.
Fig. 64: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 48, no. 283; b) pl. 25, no. 289/2; c) pl. 48, no. 155; d) pl. 48,
no. 215.
Fig. 65: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 35, no. 17; b) pl. 14, no. 129; c) pl. 31, no. 178; d) pl. 7, no.
46; e) pl. 7, no. 45; f) pl. 7, no. 40; g) pl. 7, no. 41; h) pl. 7, no. 44; i) pl. 38, no. 188; l) pl.
32. no. 190.
Fig. 66: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 7, no. 21; b) pl. 40, no. 120; c) pl. 45, no. 128-129; d) pl. 10,
no. 78; e) pl. 26, no. 304.
Fig. 68: swords: a) Dimo 1990, pl. 7, no. 48; b) pl. 28, no. 334; c) pl. 28, no. 325;
spearheads: a) pl. 31, no. 179; b) pl. 14, no. 123; c) pl. 14, no. 125.
Fig. 71: Dimo and Fenet 1996, p. 219, fig. 1.

16
Fig. 72: Dimo and Fenet 1996, p. 221, fig. 2.
Fig. 79: Mano 1971, p. 112, fig. 8.

17
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This thesis addresses the need to integrate old and new information concerning
the Greek colony of “Apollonia of Illiria” in modern Albania, in an effort to illuminate
the first phases of its history. Apollonia is undoubtedly very favourable for study,
because there has been uninterrupted interest in its ruins since the very beginning of the
19th century (leaving aside Ciriaco Anconitano who visited the site in 1435).1 Many years
of excavations have followed, undertaken by Austrians, French, Russians, Italians, and
obviously Albanians, up to the present day.
It is even more favorable because in recent years excavations and surveys have
been conducted simultaneously in the city, in its surrounding territory, and in the
necropoleis. In fact, an Albanian-French team (now co-directed by Bashkim Vreka and
Jean-Luc Lamboley, and previously by Neritan Ceka and Pierre Cabanes) has been
carrying out excavations in the city since 1993.2 As part of this project, studies of the
fortifications have been completed by Lami Koço and Claire Balandier,3 and of the
temple of Shtyllas by François Quantin.4
An Albanian-American team (co-directed by Muzafer Korkuti and Jack Davis)
has recently concluded a survey project (the Mallakastra Regional Archaeological
Project) started in 1998, which covers an enormous area from the coast to the territory
1
Myrto 1998, p. 30.
2
Cabanes et al. 1994; Amore et al. 1995; Balandier et al. 1996; Cabanes et al. 1997;
Cabanes et al. 1999; Cabanes et al. 2000; Cabanes et al. 2001.

3
Balandier and Koço 1996.
4
Quantin 1996.
18
around Margelliç.5 Excavations at three sites identified during the survey were also
conducted in 2000 and 2001.
In the Greek necropolis several tumuli were investigated by Hasan Ceka, Skënder
Anamali and Aleksandra Mano in the 1950s,6 and in the 1980s by Vangjel Dimo.7 More
recently, in 1996, Tumulus 8 was excavated by Vangjel Dimo and Annick Fenet,8 and in
2002 Tumulus 9 by Maria Grazia Amore, Lorenc Bejko and Vangjel Dimo.9 In the so-
called “flat cemetery” of the Roman period, west of Apollonia, Aleksandra Mano in 1962
excavated 105 graves.10 The author of this thesis has been fortunate to have participated
in 1994 in the French project, to be a member of the MRAP project, and to have
excavated Tumulus 9.
Despite all these years of research, however, not much is known about the
foundation of the colony and the relationship of the Greeks with the local population. The
area uncovered in the city is a small portion of the total surface occupied by the ancient
colony. Also, most of the monuments visible today are from the Hellenistic
(fortifications, stoa with niches, theatre, monumental fountain, houses) and Roman
(Monument of the Agonothetes, “libraries”, odeon, villas with mosaics) periods, except
for the isolated column of a temple at Shtyllas, which may be Classical. Sporadic
5
http://river.blg.uc.edu/mrap/MRAP_en.html
6
Anonymous 1950; H. Ceka 1951, pp. 11-13; Buda 1959; Mano 1971.
7
Dimo 1990.
8
Cabanes et al. 1997, pp. 854-856; Dimo and Fenet 1996.
9
Amore 2004.
10
Mano 1974b.
19
excavations at sites in the interior, including Margëlliç11 and Mashkjezë,12 by Neritan
Ceka have never been thoroughly published, but they provide important testimony to the
continuity of settlement from the Bronze Age to the period of contact with the colonists.
Many scholars have analyzed the historical sources concerning the origin of
Apollonia, starting with the date of foundation of the city in 588 B.C. On the basis of the
historical sources, however, it only seems possible to talk generally about the end of the
seventh or the beginning of the sixth century B.C. as the time when the colony was
founded. Aleksandra Mano13 and, even more, Vangjel Dimo14 have expressed the
conviction that the origin of the city can be moved back to the end of the seventh century
B.C. They base their assertion on the proto-Corinthian and Corinthian pottery found
especially in the tumulus necropolis.
In this thesis, after a review of the most significant sources of evidence and
previous studies, I synthesize the existing data on the settlement of Apollonia and its
hinterland for the time span from the foundation of the colony to the Hellenistic period. I
also analyze the trends in the settlement pattern (type, density, localisation, intensity).
Another important component of the study is the analysis of the tumuli necropolis. To
11
N. Ceka 1985, pp. 115-116 identifies Corinthian Type A transport amphorai and Ionian
amphorai; N. Ceka 1990, pp. 138-140.

12
N. Ceka 1983b, pp. 251-254 has discussed about Ionian cups B2, Corinthian Type A
and B transport amphorai, Samian kraters, and local pottery dated to seventh-sixth
century; N. Ceka 1985, pp. 117-118.

13
Mano 1986, pp. 5-22.
14
Dimo, 1990, p. 144; Dimo 1991, p. 75.
20
date only a small sample of this necropolis has been excavated, and it has been shown
that a major shift from the tumuli necropolis to the “flat cemetery” took place sometime
during the first century A.D. I examine the data from the tumuli necropolis, especially
from the one most recently excavated, and I move from a traditional typological analysis
of graves and artefacts, to a more complex and multi-dimensional study of burial customs
and rituals. It is my hope to be able to extract social information and to explore changes
of patterns through time, in order to compare them with the settlement data. The main
goal of this study is to create a complex and complete picture (using settlement and burial
data) of the historical and social dynamics of the phases of the establishment and
development of the colony. On the other hand, it is of methodological interest to explore
the similarities and the differences of the data that come from the settlement and the
burials, and to examine how they reflect the major trends of social and historical
developments of the Apollonian society.
In Chapter 2, I analyze the first references to Apollonia given by ancient authors
including Strabo, Plutarch, Thucydides, Pliny, Dio Cassius, Stephanos of Byzantium,
Pausanias, Apollodorus, Herodotus, Aristotle, and Pseudo-Skymnos, who are of
fundamental importance, especially in the discussion about the date of foundation and the
origin of the colonists of the Greek city. I then collect all the information provided by
early voyagers in the nineteenth century (men such as Pouqueville, Leake, Gillieron, and
Praschniker) on monuments and features which have changed or even disappeared today.
Finally I review the excavations and the studies conducted since the early 20th century by
foreigners such as Praschniker and Rey, and Albanians such as Hasan Ceka. I do not
consider only the work done in the city on private and public monuments and buildings,
21
and on the fortifications, but also in the chora related to extra-urban temples and the
ancient port. My account examines information from the Archaic to the Hellenistic
periods, but I focus my attention in particular on archaeological evidence about the
foundation of the colony.
In Chapter 3, I consider the data produced by the Mallakastra Regional
Archaeological Project (hereafter referred to as MRAP) regarding the territory around
Apollonia, an area covering approximately 35 sq. km from the coast to the interior. I base
my study on the pottery collected with two different survey techniques. I first divide the
pottery by categories and then I compare the results reached by each technique separately
in different areas and different sites. I repeat the same process for the material dated to
the Archaic period and for that dated to the Classical period. This analysis allows us to
have a picture of spatial distribution and intensity of occupation through time in the
territory of Apollonia.
In Chapter 4, I examine the work conducted in the so-called Greek tumulus
necropolis, starting from the second decade of the last century until today. In the first
part, I collect information from Austrian, French and Albanian excavations; in the second
part, I report on the most recent project in the necropolis, conducted by the Albanian
Rescue Archaeology Unit, of which the writer is a member. I specifically give account of
the activity of the Albanian scholars, providing information also about some unpublished
works of the 1950s, because almost all the publications are in the Albanian language. My
intent is to guide a possible reader through the Albanian articles and reports, but in no
way to substitute my review for them: my summaries are useful for a general picture, but
for detailed information it is indispensable to refer to the specific publication. In a report

22
on the most recently excavated tumulus, considering that study of the results is still in
progress, I give the principal information about the monument: I describe the technique
of excavation and the structure of the tumulus, the burial rituals, the types of graves, the
most significant grave goods. I correlate archaeological and physical anthropological
data, looking at changes through time, and I compare this tumulus with the others
previously excavated, looking at similarities and differences.
In Chapter 5, I make a synthesis of all the data collected from the work conducted
through the years in the city, in the chora, and in the tumulus necropolis. I emphasize the
importance of integrating the information produced by every type of project. I also point
out the similarities and differences in the interpretation of Apollonia in different periods
that emerges from data coming from the city vs. the chora vs. the necropolis.
In Chapter 6, I conclude by giving a brief evaluation of the information coming
from the city, the chora, and the necropolis. I also draw attention to the necessity of
conducting projects in the future with updated techniques and methodologies, and of
thorough publications.
23
CHAPTER 2: THE SETTLEMENT IN APOLLONIA AND THE APOLLONIA
AREA FROM THE ARCHAIC TO THE HELLENISTIC PERIODS
FOUNDATION DATE AND FOUNDERS
Not much is known about the colony of Apollonia, especially about the earliest
period of its life, and sometimes even the traditional view of its history cannot be
supported without caution. This is indeed the case regarding the date of foundation of the
city: many scholars, both foreign and Albanian, have repeatedly written that Apollonia
was founded in 588 B.C. In the historical sources, however, this is not clearly
documented, and in fact there are discordant versions about the foundation and the
founders.
Regarding the date, there are only indirect references in the ancient authors: Strabo (8. 3.
32)15 mentioned that Apollonia received fugitives from the city of Dyspontium after its
destruction. Unfortunately this episode is not surely dated in itself, but it can be placed
after 587/6,16 perhaps around 580-570 B.C.17
Plutarch (Mor. De sera 7)18 wrote that Apollonia would not have been inhabited
by the Greeks if the punishment of Periander had not been deferred for so long.
15
Strabo (H. L. Jones, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1927).
16
Antonelli 2000, pp. 113-115, and note 6.
17
Compernolle 1953, p.60, and note 2 for bibliography regarding the destruction of
Dyspontium (the interpretation of the historical events is very complex because the
ancient sources do not tell details and because of the lacunae in the sources themselves).
18
Plutarch, Mor. De sera (P. H. De Lacy and B. Einarson, trans., Cambridge,
Mass./London 1959).
24
Reference to the rule of the Corinthian tyrant here seems to refer to a period between the
end of the seventh and the beginning of the sixth century B.C.19
The point of contention about the founders is whether they were Corinthian or
Corcyraean: Thucydides (1. 26. 2),20 Pliny (H. N. 3. 23. 145),21 Dio Cassius (41. 45),22
and Stephanos of Byzantium (s. v. Apollonia)23 wrote that they were Corinthian, while
Pseudo-Skymnos (ll. 438-439)24 and Strabo (7. 5. 8)25 recorded that they were part
Corinthian and part Corcyraean. The text of Pausanias (5. 22. 4)26 is corrupted exactly
where he talked about Apollonia being a colony of Corcyra, and he continued by saying
that the Corinthians, however, shared the booty conquered from some population.
Apollodorus (Epit. 6. 15b)27 is the only one who mentions Trojans as founders.28
19
Antonelli 2000, pp. 113-114, and note 1; Compernolle 1953, pp. 61-64.
20
Thucydides (C. Forster Smith, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1928).
21
Pliny, H. N. (H. Rackham, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1942).
22
Dio Cassius (E. Cary, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1916).
23
Stephanos of Byzantium (Th. De Pinedo Lusitanus, trans., Amsterdam 1678).
24
Pseudo-Skymnos (M. Korenjak, trans., Hildesheim/New York 2003).
25
26
Pausanias (W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormerod, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London
1927).
27
Apollodorus, Epit. (J. G. Frazer, trans., London/New York 1921).
28
Compernolle (1953, pp. 54-60) suggested that either Corinth or Corcyra might
reasonably have been the founders. Lepore (1962, p. 141) said that Apollonia might have
been the last experiment of joint occupation between Corinth and Corcyra.
25
Stephanos of Byzantium (s. v. Apollonia) added also that the Corinthian colonists were
two hundred, headed by the oecist Gylax, who gave the name of Gylaceia to the new city.
Thus, we cannot be certain, but a Corinthian connection seems certain, whether it be
directly from the mainland or through Corcyra, and a foundation date at the beginning of
the sixth century B.C. is supported by the archaeological evidence (see Chapter 4).
The ancient sources also gave some description of the geographical position and
of the characteristics of the territory around the colony: Strabo (7. 5. 8) said that the city
is built ten stadia from the river Aous and sixty stadia from the sea. Herodotus (9. 93)29
described a river that originated from Mount Lacmon, flowed across the lands of
Apollonia, and issued into the sea by the harbor of Orikum; this must be the Aous river.
It is also possible to gain insight into the political system from Aristotle (Pol. 4. 3.
8),30 who wrote that in Apollonia there were few people of free birth to govern the
majority, who were not of free birth. Strabo (7. 5. 8) mentioned that the city had very
good laws. In addition, Stephanos of Byzantium (s. v. Apollonia) classified Apollonia of
Illiria as the first in importance among the numerous cities of the ancient world with the
same name.
SETTLEMENT SIZE
Archaeological and survey investigations have revealed that the Greek colony was
built on two hills, now called 101 and 104 after their elevations above sea level (Fig. 1).
Hill 101 is the larger and flatter of the two, where, in the opinion of the Albanian
29
Herodotus (A. D. Godley, trans., London/New York 1930).
30
Aristotle, Pol. (H. Rackham, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1967).
26
archaeologists, with all probability there was the acropolis.31 But it is also the less
explored archaeologically, because it has been the base of modern military installations
(Fig. 2). Hill 104 is south of Hill 101; it is more conical and has terraces down its slopes.
The side of the city towards the coast contains the most prominent monuments
visible today, almost all grouped in the agora (Figs. 3 and 5). It is important to keep in
mind, however, that the estimated area of the city at its most flourishing time is ca. 130
ha, and the area of the necropoleis ca. 50 ha; but what is uncovered is likely to be just
1/200 of the total area.32
Apollonia was never re-inhabited after its abandonment at the end of the fourth
century A.D., except for a monastery, and its monuments have been covered by soil
eroded from the top of the hill. This is surely an advantage from the point of view of
archaeologists, who do not have to deal with the innumerable problems of excavating in a
modern town. The life of the colony, however, was very long, and the Roman phase was
not less prosperous than the previous era. Indeed many of the monuments that can be
admired today date to the Roman period, including the symbol of Apollonia that is most
frequently represented in books and most often photographed by tourists: the so-called
Monument of the Agonothetes (Fig. 4). 33
THE AGORA
31
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 5-6.
32
N. Ceka 1982, p. 15.
33
Rey 1935, pp. 7-13.
27
Monuments and buildings erected during the Greek period were later remodeled
or even obliterated. This is the case, for example, for the Roman buildings traditionally
called “libraries” that replaced a stoa with niches oriented approximately north-south on
the same terrace (Figs. 5-6).34 In the same area, but facing south, a temple, probably
Hellenistic35 but reused in Roman times, was modified by the erection of the Roman
Odeon (Fig. 5: 6). According to the description of Léon Rey, who excavated it in 1931,
this temple was composed of a pronaos measuring 4.00 m x 5.65 m with two columns in
antis surmounted probably by Ionic capitals (an Ionic capital was found nearby), and of a
cella with an apse. The walls were built with limestone blocks of large dimensions. In the
religious building there were an altar and a base, probably of an equestrian statue; an ear
and a foot of a bronze statue of a horse found in the same area could be related to it.36
Dated to the fourth century B.C. and adapted later is also a stoa with niches, 75
meters long and 12 meters wide, oriented approximately east-west, at the base of hill 104
(Fig. 5: 4, Fig. 7). This monument was also uncovered during several campaigns by Rey
in the second half of the 1920s.37 Each of the seventeen niches of the portico were
covered by a vault; the corridor in front of them was covered by a tile roof supported by a
colonnade on two levels: the lowest one had unusual octagonal columns with Doric
capitals, while the upper one had squared pilasters with capitals similar to the Ionic type
34
N. Ceka 1982, p. 41.
35
Rey 1939b, p. 694.
36
Rey 1939a, pp. 13-14.
37
Rey 1928, pp. 13-18.
28
(between the volute there was a flower).38 During the Roman period the niches probably
contained marble statues, five of which were found lying in the corridor before them.39
On the southern side of the same terrace that is likely to have been the agora, an
“obelisk” stands on a squared base: it resembles a short cylindrical column with a
conical top (Fig. 8). It has been interpreted as the symbol of Apollo and Neritan Ceka has
suggested that it represents the omphalos at Delphi.40 This symbol was used on the coins
of Apollonia beginning in the first half of the fourth century B.C.41
FORTIFICATIONS
The fortification walls were identified by Pouqueville42 and Leake43 as early as
the beginning of the nineteenth century (Fig. 9). Their reconstructed circumference is 4.5
km, although the well preserved parts are not very long and mostly on the eastern side of
the city. The first scholar who attempted to reconstruct their course was Gillieron at the
end of the 1870s.44 After him Prashniker,45 and more recently Vangjel Dimo46 and Lame
38
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 43-44.
39
Rey 1925, pp. 16, 21, fig. 14; H. Ceka 1958a, p. 222.
40
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 45-46.
41
Myrto 1998, p. 27; Gjongecaj-Picard 1996, pl. 1, g.
42
Pouqueville 1826, p. 357.
43
Leake 1835, p. 372.
44
Gillieron 1877, p. 14.
45
Praschiker 1919, pp. 70-71.
46
Dimo 1984, pp. 199-213.
29
Koço,47 have explored the fortifications, but the most modern study is the one completed
by Claire Balandier and Lame Koço in a collaboration beginning in 1994.48 It seems that
different tracts of the walls were built in different periods, as were the main gates. Four
main gates have been identified: the first phase of the Northern, Southern and Western
gates can be dated from the end of the fifth to the beginning of the fourth century B.C.
The Northeastern gate is dated to the Hellenistic period. The dates for each are based on
the technique of their construction and on the dates of subsequent modifications to them:
in fact, from a function as simple passages they were adapted into defensive structures in
response to developments in warfare technique during the fourth century B.C., a trend
common in all the cities of the Greek world. Together with these modifications, towers,
both square and round, were also added at strategic points in the surrounding walls.49
At the base of Hill 10150 very deep wall foundations and stone blocks larger than
in other tracts of the fortifications support the opinion that the hill was the site of the
acropolis. The best preserved part of the fortifications is on the eastern side of the city,
close to the agora and to the medieval monastery of St. Mary, which still functions in part
47
Koço 1987, p. 246; Koço 1990, pp. 257-258.
48
Balandier-Koço 1996, pp. 205-216; Cabanes et al. 1999, pp. 577-580; Cabanes et al.
2000, pp. 621-624.

49
Balandier-Koço 1996, p. 216.
50
Balandier and Koço do not specify clearly the location of the structures that are going
to be described. However, from the picture accompanying their text, and from fig. 9
which shows the line of the fortifications, it can be inferred that they are describing the
southwest side of the hill.

30
as a church but in part also as an archaeological museum. The main characteristic of this
wall is that the upper part is built with unmortared bricks, which rest on courses of stone
blocks a total of three meters high. Balandier has supported a Hellenistic date for this
technique, which is also known in other cities in Magna Graecia, Epirus, and southern
Illyria.51
In 1987 Koço excavated the fortifications close to the southeast corner of the
monastery’s retaining wall: under the wall, which was built with the typical blocks with
drafted margins, he found a more ancient structure, using “stepped” courses of blocks
worked with large chisels. He has compared this technique to the method used to carve
the sarcophagi used in Archaic burials and he has dated the wall to the same period.52
The wall at the base of Hill 104 is well preserved and remains visible to this day. It is
built with regular blocks, most of which have drafted margins, and it functioned perhaps
more as a retaining wall for the hill than as a fortification. A portal with a pointed arch is
literally cut into the façade of the wall (the upper blocks are shaped to form the curve of
the arch), and opens onto a staircase that leads to the top of the hill (Fig. 10). If there was
a temple on top of the hill, as I will discuss later, this wall could also have been the limit,
on this side, of the temenos of the sanctuary. Hasan Ceka dated the wall as Hellenistic on
the basis of its technique of construction and the dimensions of the blocks.53
HABITATIONS AND CITY PLAN
51
Balandier-Koço 1996, p. 207.
52
Koço 1987, p. 246.
53
H. Ceka 1958b, p. 21.
31
Leaving the agora area and moving west down the slope on the side toward the
sea, there was a residential quarter. Two rich houses, located ca. two hundred m to the
west of the monastery, have been excavated by Rey, who called them A and B. They are
close to each other and separated by a passage that could also have been useful for the
drainage of water. He dated house A to the third or second century B.C., but said that it
had been built on a previous structure of the fifth to fourth century B.C., judging from
part of the foundations and some fragments of figured pottery.54 House B is larger than
the previous one, and had a peristyle with columns surmounted by Ionic capitals of a very
simple design. It was dated later than house A, without further specification of the
evidence.55
Neritan Ceka has asserted that from the remains still visible today it is possible to
see that the city plan of the colony during the fourth century B.C. was organized
following the Hippodamian orthogonal principle: blocks had the same dimensions, and
were divided by streets crossing at right angles. The main streets were quite wide, ca. six
m, with channels at the side to collect and drain the water (Fig. 11), and ca. sixty m apart.
They gave access to the gates and the most important buildings of the city. These main
arteries were connected by narrower streets laid thirty m apart, which simultaneously
functioned as drains.56
At the bottom of the hill there was a theater that used the natural slope of the hill,
as is usual in Greek theaters, to accommodate the cavea; the prolongations at the sides,
54
Rey 1925, pp. 11-15; Rey 1927, pp. 17, 25.
55
Rey 1927, p. 16.
56
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 51-53.
32
however, were artificial (Fig. 3:14, Fig. 12). The skene building featured columns with
archaistic Doric capitals; the metopes of the frieze were decorated with bucrania. These
elements date the monument to the Hellenistic period, but it was rebuilt in Roman times.
It has been calculated that the cavea could seat 7000 spectators.57
PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES
A significant disadvantage for the city and for its development was a lack of
natural springs and water sources, but this problem was solved in several ways: many
private houses had cisterns to collect rain water, or wells.58 Public cisterns and wells were
also built, especially in the southern part of the city. Vangjel Dimo excavated some of
them at the end of the 1970s. There are two public wells close to the Monument of the
Agonothetes, and one near the main street. There is also a cistern six meters deep in the
eastern walls of Apollonia, close to a tower (Fig. 13). The construction of these structures
corresponds to the moments of greatest prosperity for the colony in both the Greek and
the Roman periods: the fourth-third century B.C. and the second-third century A.D.59
The most imposing public structure, built to collect the water of feeble springs
which — according to Ceka — originated on the northwestern side of the town, was
erected during the third century B.C.: it was a monumental fountain that utilized the slope
of the hill (Figs. 14-15). It is a large rectangular structure forty meters wide; from the
wall at the top, more than three meters high and one meter thick, five covered channels
57
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 53-54; Mano 1977-1978, p. 279.
58
N. Ceka 1982, p. 61.
59
Dimo 1977-1978, pp. 317-319.
33
ca. twenty meters long came down the slope, parallel to each other. The channels were
designed with steps to moderate the falling of the water, and were coated inside with
plaster. At the bottom of the slope the canals were interrupted by a second wall that also
functioned as the façade of the monument. All the water of the springs was at this point
collected in a covered reservoir, while the rain water accumulated behind it was diverted
out by a separate canal. The covered reservoir had a trapezoidal shape and was divided
into two chambers: in the first one, of 14 m³ in capacity, the impurities could settle onto
the bottom and the water was then filtered to the second chamber, of 41 m³ in capacity.
This second chamber was accessible and protected by a parapet one meter high that
rested on a series of columns with Doric capitals. The columns with their weight
balanced the pressure of the water against the parapet, and at the same time supported a
wooden roof protecting the reservoir. From the floor of this chamber a small channel
passed under the parapet through the blocks of the stylobate as far as the central column.
The column was hollowed inside; when the water rose to a level about one meter, it was
expelled through a hole, facilitated by a bronze spout. The water could also be collected
directly from the second chamber of the reservoir, as the imprints of the vessels that have
rubbed the parapet show.60
Brilliant solutions were also found to collect and to guide away the rain water that
could otherwise have eroded the slopes of Hill 104. One of these is an underground
gallery close to the northern edge of the stoa with niches, which crosses the terrace in
front of the monument. Rey explored it for a length of 47 m: the gallery has a gentle
incline, and the walls are covered by massive stone blocks that support monolithic stone
60
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 61-63.
34
lintels; the passage is large enough to accommodate a person for maintenance.61 While
neither Rey or Ceka offer a date for this gallery, it is likely to date to the same period as
the other hydraulic structures, the fourth-third century B.C. A similar construction can be
seen in the eastern side of the fortifications, in the section built with bricks (Fig. 16). The
walls of this channel are also covered with stone slabs; the mouth is made of stone
blocks: the upper ones are cut in the shape of a pointed arch, like the portal in the wall at
the bottom of Hill 104; the lower ones project further out from the walls, to keep the
outgoing water far away from the wall. The incline of the floor of this gallery is 45º.62
POTTERY WORKSHOPS
A city like Apollonia, which developed and gained importance quickly, created its
own workshops and produced essential commodities quite early. At the very beginning of
the colony, vessels were imported, mainly from Corinth. Nevertheless, outside the city-
walls on the northeast, two pottery workshops and a deposit with pottery production
waste have been found, dating from the sixth to the second century B.C.; the vases were
household ware, but also included miniatures or votives (Fig. 3: 18). The two workshops
seem to have been consecutive, with the end of activity in the first one and the beginning
in the second one around the mid-third century B.C. The variety of shapes is wide, but
the quality generally is not very high, especially in the case of the miniature products.
61
Rey 1927, pp. 11-13; H. Ceka 1958b, p. 22.
62
Islami 1959, p. 27; H. Ceka 1958a, pp. 236-237.
35
These small pots have been found in the thousands, and they must have been used as ex-
votos, probably for the nearby sanctuary of Artemis, on Hill 104.63
SANCTUARIES AND SHRINES
It is very unfortunate and unusual that in a city with such a long and flourishing
history as Apollonia that the remains of the religious buildings are so scarce. But one
reason is the fact that after the abandonment of the colony at the end of the fourth century
A.D., the monuments were used as quarries for stone blocks to build other structures. For
centuries in the entire Myzeqe region around Apollonia private houses, churches, and
mosques were erected with stone blocks from the ancient colony. In some of them,
including the monastery of St. Mary, it is possible to see architectural pieces, sculptures
and inscriptions undoubtedly of Greek date.
One of the most destructive actions, however, occurred at the end of the 18th
century at the hands of a Turkish pasha, who had dozens of carts full of stone blocks from
Apollonia brought to the town of Berat to build his own residence. For this reason only a
single column is preserved from a temple on a hill one kilometer south of Apollonia,
today called Shtyllas, from the Albanian term meaning “column” (Fig. 17).64 Fortunately
Leake visited the ancient city not long after these events, and saw the trenches from
which the blocks from the foundations of the temple of Shtyllas had been removed (Fig.
18). He recorded some measurements of the dimensions of the building, and he judged
63
Vreka 1994, pp. 205, 208.
64
H. Ceka 1958b, p. 15.
36
the Doric capital of the lone column as probably more ancient than the Parthenon.65 It is
necessary to keep in mind that the type of stone used for this temple is a soft limestone
very weathered by the wind and the sea air already at Leake’s time, and even more today:
what is left of the capital is not easy to interpret. In fact after him other travelers
including Holland, Pouqueville, Heuzey and Damet, Gillieron, and Praschniker have
given different descriptions, dimensions, and dates to the monument. In the mid-1980s
two architects from the Albanian Institute of Monuments also reached different
conclusions from each other, ranging from a date at the beginning of the fourth century to
one at the beginning of the fifth century B.C. (Fig. 19). François Quantin is the most
recent scholar to collect and evaluate all the information regarding the temple, and he has
not assigned a certain date to it. His opinion is that since the temple was of large
dimensions and in a position where it dominated the whole territory from the coast
inland, it represented the power of Greek Apollonia over its neighbors, and thus it could
not have been built at the very beginning of the life of the colony.66 Also in question is
the divinity to whom the temple was dedicated: the most probable is Artemis. Her
importance to the colony is attested by numerous dedications made to her found at
Apollonia, and because among her attributes on these dedications are the qualities of
“observer” (Proscopa), and of extra-urban goddess (Agrota or Limnatis).67
About the most important temple of the city information is even scarcer: Hasan
Ceka and Praschniker discussed foundations of a building or an altar, made with carefully
65
Leake 1835, p. 373.
66
Quantin 1996, pp. 229-233.
67
Quantin 1996, pp. 236-237, notes 51-53; Cabanes and Ceka 1997, pp. 18-19, 46.
37
hewn stone blocks, found on Hill 104. Associated with this structure were proto-
Corinthian and Corinthian ceramic fragments, which date the structure to the same period
as the traditional foundation of the colony.68 Close to that place came to light also an
inscription dedicated to Asklepios, and remains of walls attributed to Hellenistic private
houses.
As reported by Ceka, during test-excavations done by Praschniker on the
acropolis in 1917-1918, the foundations of a building thirty m long and ten m wide were
uncovered, oriented east-west, interpreted by the Austrian scholar as a temple. Ceka,
however, was convinced that the famous temple of Artemis was located on top of Hill
104, and he identified it with the foundations that were revealed during the construction
of Rey’s dig house. This opinion would also be supported by the presence of a
fragmentary inscription, found close to the building, with the letters APTAM; this could
be the archaic Doric form for Artemis.69 Also dated to the same period is a broken relief
representing three warriors opposite a fourth one; this could have been part of the
decoration of the temple.70 Anamali has added to these finds two Archaic figurines, one
made of lead and the other of bronze. The first represents a seated female figure with a
68
If we consider the date range of the proto-Corinthian period from 720 to 630 B.C., in
reality this pottery would date the structure earlier than the foundation of the colony.
69
H. Ceka 1958a, p. 217; Praschniker 1922, col. 35-40; Cabanes-Ceka 1997, p. 13.
70
Rey 1935, pp. 47-49.
38
polos and a long, clingy chiton. The second figurine has a crown in one hand. Both pieces
are identified as votive offerings to Artemis.71
Nothing is known about a temple dedicated to Apollo, except for an allusion by
Rey, reporting a tradition that would locate it under the monastery of St. Mary.72 The
infamous Turkish pasha responsible for the destruction of the Shtyllas temple also
dismantled a second temple, the location of which is debated. Leake wrote that it was in
the Kalyvia valley (Quantin has associated Kalyvia with Kryegjata)73 and that it appeared
“from some fragments to have been Ionic”.74
On the other hand Praschniker described foundations of a funerary monument in
the shape of a temple in the Kryegjata valley, and fragments from an akroterion of the
Corinthian order.75 Sestieri also mentioned a second monumental grave in the shape of a
temple, and fragments from capitals of the Corinthian order in the Kryegjata valley. He
dated the building to around the A.D. 160, the period of the emperor Antoninus Pius, on
the basis also of the style of two marble heads found inside one of the chambers of the
tomb.76
71
Anamali 1992, pp. 128-129: the attribution to Artemis is based on the similarities of
the two figurines to others attributed to the goddess.

72
Rey 1939b, p. 690.
73
Quantin 1996, note 4.
74
Leake 1835, p. 372.
75
Praschniker 1922, col. 44-53. This funerary monument could be the “second temple”
dismantled by the Turkish pasha.

76
Sestieri 1942, pp. 41-42.
39
In 1960 Anamali excavated a sanctuary that he attributed to Demeter and Kore
and dated to the fourth-second century B.C.; these excavations have not been published.
It is situated in the plain west of the city, at approximately two and a half kilometers from
the fortifications. He found stretches of brick walls, and hundreds of terracotta figurines,
usually representing two female figures.77 In 1996, when a new house was built,
foundations of a building with large regular blocks were uncovered. During the MRAP
project, the survey in the plain between Apollonia and the coast indeed revealed a
concentration of material from the Archaic period to modern time without interruption in
the property called “Pojan Bonjakët,” that took the denomination of S043. Among the
material, mostly pottery, approximately fifteen terracotta figurines were collected: except
for one, they are all parts of female figures.78
Another extra-urban sanctuary, which would have had the additional function of
an oracle, is the so-called Nymphaeum. Ancient sources described this extraordinary
place: Aristotle (Mir. ausc. 842b. 127) wrote that near Apollonia bitumen and pitch
sprang from the ground, and a perpetual fire burned. Despite this, however, thick grass
and huge trees grew very close to that place.79 Strabo (7. 5. 8) after giving the name
77
Anamali 1992, pp. 132-133.
78
Davis et al. 2002. In September 2004 an excavation by members of the MRAP project
in collaboration with the International Centre for Albanian Archaeology of Tirana took
place at S043.
79
Aristotle, Mir. ausc.(W. S. Hett, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1936).
40
Nymphaeum, discussed a continuous fire originating from a rock, and a spring of warm
water and bitumen.80
The sanctuary was still functioning in Roman times: Pliny (H. N. 2. 106. 228, 3.
23. 145) described it as a cold spring that set fire to clothes spread out above it, and also
gave its location: at the border of Apollonia with the barbarians Amantes and Byliones.
He added also that it was a famous shrine.81 Dio Cassius (41.45) likewise mentioned the
name of the place, and the oracle, and gave a detailed account of the landscape and of the
rituals: he commented that Apollonia was in an astonishing good position from the point
of view of the land, the sea, and even more the rivers. What surprised the writer more,
however, was a huge fire close to the Aous river that originated from the ground, but did
not burn or dry lush grass and trees around it. This place was called Nymphaeum and
provided an oracle; to obtain a response about every matter except for death and
marriage, the suppliant had to throw incense in the fire: if the response was positive, the
fire would reach and burn the incense even if it fell away from the flames. If the response
80
81
Pliny, H. N. 2. 106. 228 (H. Rackham, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1938), Pliny,
H. N. 3. 23. 145 (H. Rackham, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1942). Pliny did not
specify if the sanctuary was still functioning in his time: however, the use of the present
tense and the mentioning of the Nymphaeum in a list of other similar sanctuaries which
seem still to function, let us infer that he was talking about a phenomenon of his time.
Moreover, Dio Cassius, who lived more than one century later than Pliny, observed the
spring himself.
41
was negative, the fire would have receded even if the incense was dropped directly in the
fire.82
The existence of the sanctuary has been indirectly confirmed by bronze coins
dated 330-43 B.C. on which the everlasting fire of the Nymphaeum is represented.83 A
Greek inscription found at Delos also referred to a place at Apollonia where the Nymphs
had a sanctuary and an oracle, and where games were celebrated in their honor.84 Ceka
and Anamali have suggested that the Nymphaeum might be in the territory of the modern
village of Frakull, in the region of Fieri, not far away from Apollonia and from the
territory of the Byliones. According to the two scholars the name “Frakull” could derive
from the Latin oraculum.85 On the other hand, Eric Fouache (a geomorphologist and
member of Cabanes’ team), after a study in collaboration with the specialists of the
Institute of Geology of Fier, would locate the sanctuary in the region of Selenica, close to
Vlora.86
The importance of the Nymphaeum was increased by economic profit from trade
in bitumen and pitch, which had a wide range of practical functions, from agricultural
remedies to medical treatments to the manufacture of impermeable ceramic vessels. This
last use is attested archaeologically beginning in the sixth century B.C.87
82
83
Anamali 1991, p. 135.
84
Bizard-Roussel 1907, p. 435.
85
Anamali 1991, pp. 134-135.
86
Cabanes et al. 1999, p. 571.
87
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 167-170.
42
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE COLONY
As the preceding account shows, the evidence for the most ancient cults and for
the origin of the colony is all questionable. In addition to the problems of the enormous
area of the Hellenistic and Roman colony that has not yet been excavated, and of edifices
replaced by new ones in antiquity, or dismantled in more recent times, must be added
those of excavations that have never been thoroughly published, and even of materials
that have disappeared. This is the case, for example, of the objects found by Léon Rey.
According to Charles Picard, Léon Rey collected the most precious artifacts (which he
judged the most precious because they were the most ancient), that would illuminate the
origin of the colony. The small bronze figurines and the glossy vessels (of which there
are neither photographs or drawings, nor descriptions), however, found in the necropolis
and deposited in the Museum of Vlora were destroyed during World War II.88 This is the
most striking event, according to Hasan Ceka, during decades of despoliation started in
the 19th century by French, Austrians, and Italians, in addition to the disinterest and the
bad administration of cultural heritage under the rule of King Zog I.89
Traces of the Archaic, or even of the Classical period, are very scant in the city.
Sestieri mentioned Archaic discoveries in the so-called gymnasium, a building of 30 by
20 m, 300 m south of the monastery: two identical antefixes in the shape of female heads,
fragments of a black-figured kylix, and a silver coin from Metaponto. These objects
88
Picard 1962, pp. 210-211.
89
H. Ceka 1958b, pp. 13-14, 17-18.
43
would demonstrate that the building, visible still nowadays, was erected on a more
ancient edifice (Fig. 20).90
The presence of Archaic material (in particular a fragment of a Ionian Type B cup
of local production, datable to the last quarter of the sixth century B.C.) in the foundation
of one of the walls of the “building with the mosaic” (found and interpreted as a sacellum
by the Albanian-French team) approximately 25 m west of the stoa with niches, and
dated in itself to the third-first century B.C., could prove that the edifice was erected in an
area already occupied during the Archaic period.91 Traces of an Archaic street have been
found recently (together with Ionian Type B2 cups, Attic black-figured pottery and
Corinthian pottery, all dated to the second half of the sixth century B.C.) under later
structures to the north of the stoa with niches (Fig. 21).92
Then there are generic references to Archaic pottery found in deposits: both
Sestieri and Koço have mentioned Archaic ceramics while exploring the eastern
fortification walls. Sestieri found fragments of proto-Corinthian and Corinthian pottery,
and female terracotta figurines represented with the polos.93 Many years later Koço also
collected, approximately in the same area, Corinthian Type A amphorai, and Ionian Type
B amphorai.94
90
Sestieri 1942, p. 48.
91
Cabanes et al. 1997, p. 853; Cabanes et al. 1999, p. 573; Cabanes et al. 2000, pp. 626-
627.
92
Cabanes et al. 2000, pp. 628-629; Cabanes et al. 2001, p. 710.
93
94
Koço 1987, p. 246.
44
THE PORT
From ancient sources it is known that Apollonia was located on favorable land
between two rivers,95 the Seman (ancient Apsos) and the Vjosë (ancient Aous). From
geological studies (the most recent one undertaken by Eric Fouache) has emerged the
conclusion that the beds of both rivers were closer to Apollonia than today, as was the
coastline (Fig. 22). The bed of the Aous river was also wider and deeper, and was
navigable by ships.96 Indirect information about this can be found again in sources of the
early Roman period, that tell about battles that took place at Apollonia between Rome
and the Illyrian queen Teuta, or between Caesar and Pompey.97 The port probably was
not far from the hill of Shtyllas: a popular legend even says that the solitary column of
the temple was used to moor the ships.98 Fouache has suggested that the port was on the
Aous river, which probably issued into a lagoon.99
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ILLYRIANS AND GREEKS
95
Dio Cassius, 41. 45 (E. Cary, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1916); Strabo, 7. 5. 8
(H. L. Jones, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1927): Strabo specified that Apollonia
was situated on the Aous river.

96
N. Ceka 1982, p. 95; Cabanes et al. 1994, pp. 523-525.
97
Polybius, 2. 11. 6 (W.R. Paton, trans., Cambridge, Mass. /London 1922); Caesar, B.
Civ. 3. 13 (A. G. Peskett, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1914); Plutarch, Vit. Caes.
38. 2 (B. Perrin, trans., Cambridge, Mass./London 1919). For a complete discussion and
bibliography on this topic, see Masci 1943.

98
H. Ceka 1958b, p. 15.
99
Balandier et al. 1996, pp. 988-992; Cabanes et al. 1997, pp. 861-869.
45
A thorough investigation of the chora of Apollonia had never been carried out
prior to the Mallakastra survey project. Illyrian sites like Margëlliç and Mashkjezë had
been excavated in the 1980s in order to gather evidence for the importance of the Illyrian
settlements as opposed to the Greek colony of Apollonia.100 In addition, references to
Illyrian material culture that would testify to the presence of the indigenous population in
the place where Apollonia was built are very non-specific.101 On the other hand, Archaic
Greek pottery has been found in sites of the hinterland.102 According to Neritan Ceka,
however, the presence of Ionian pottery dated to the seventh century B.C., that is earlier
than the Corinthian imports, would demonstrate that the Illyrians had commercial
contacts with the East, without a need for the intermediary role of the Corinthian/
Corcyraean colonists.103 Therefore, the data seem in contradiction.
The cult of Artemis as hunter, so much more worshipped than the cult to Apollo
from whom the city was named, as well as the cult of the Nymphs, indicates the influence
of the Illyrian culture on the Greeks. In fact, the worship of these deities was widely
100
N. Ceka 1983a, pp. 141-142, 172; N. Ceka 1985, pp. 112, 114, 117; N. Ceka 1990, pp.
138-141. This attitude was part of the Communist political propaganda.

101
H. Ceka 1958b. p. 19; Mano 1986, p. 18.
102
N. Ceka 1985, pp. 115-116 has mentioned Corinthian Type A amphorai and Ionian
amphorai at Margëlliç; N. Ceka 1983b, p. 252 has listed Ionian Type B2 cups, Corinthian
Type A and Type B amphorai, Samian kraters, and local pottery dated to seventh-sixth
century B.C.
103
N. Ceka 1983a, p. 173; N. Ceka 1985, pp. 128, 133. The author does not present
explicit evidence to support his statements.

46
diffused in Illyrian territory.104 Neritan Ceka has even suggested that when the colonists
arrived to settle Apollonia, there was already a temple dedicated to the female Illyrian
goddess equivalent to the Greek Artemis on Hill 104, and the newcomers only enlarged
the sacred building.105 Aleksandra Mano has also supported the idea that the necropolis in
the Kryegjata-Radostina valley in the form of tumuli is a confirmation of the impact of
indigenous burial tradition on the Greeks.106
The preceding discussion demonstrates that the nature and the development of the
relationship between Illyrians and Greeks were very complicated: it is thus useful to
analyze the data offered by the most recent studies.
104
Anamali 1991, pp. 135-136; Cabanes-Ceka 1997, pp. 18-19.
105
N. Ceka 1982, p. 45.
106
Mano 1986, p. 18.
47
CHAPTER 3: THE MALLAKASTRA REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL
PROJECT AND THE SETTLEMENT IN THE ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL
PERIODS
The Mallakastra project from 1998 to 2002 surveyed the region around Apollonia
from the coastal plain of Myzeqe to interior areas as distant as Margëlliç and Rusinja,
including the zone to the northeast of the colony delimited by the villages of Radostina
and Havaleas, and the town of Fier; the area southwest as far as Shtyllas and the villages
of Shaban and Levani; the area southeast including the valley of the Gjanica river
between the villages of Kraps and Plyk; and the region around the villages of Peshtan and
Kreshpan (Fig. 23). The total surface surveyed is approximately 35 sq. km.
During the survey, units of land defined on the basis of size, vegetation, and
topography, and called “tracts,” were investigated by several teams headed by team-
leaders. The orientation, location, extent, and features of these tracts were described by
the team-leaders. The team-members counted material visible on the surface, noting
pottery, bricks/tiles, lithics, glass, terracotta, stone objects, metal objects, and bones
separately; they also collected diagnostic artifacts, those that could provide more
information than others in terms of their date, material, or shape. In the case of pottery,
for example, these included fragments of the vessel such as the rim, foot, or handle from
which its form might be identified and could be dated, body sherds with decoration, or
sherds with a distinctive kind of fabric. In the museum all the finds were cleaned, sub-
divided in categories, described, and dated.

48
Substantial concentrations of artifacts were called “sites.”107 Each site has been
further investigated in a more systematic way: according to a pre-defined strategy the
area of the site was divided in quadrants, and additional artifacts were collected in one of
two ways: “grab” samples in which case only diagnostic artifacts were gathered, or as
components of “vacuum” samples, in which case all artifacts from the surface were
gathered.
A survey project collects information about the use in every period of the territory
that is the object of its investigation. In the case of MRAP traces of human presence from
the Paleolithic to the present were found. In this chapter only data pertaining to pottery of
Archaic and Classical times will be considered. In order to assess the place of this
material in the long history of occupation of the area, comparisons will be made with
artifacts of other periods, especially those of pre-Archaic and Hellenistic times.
Discussion is limited to pottery, since the Archaic and Classical small finds are so rare
(three in total) that they do not constitute a statistically relevant body of data.108
107
For a more detailed definition of “site” see Davis et al. 1998.
108
These small finds include:
1) an architectural terracotta, probably a plain akroterion, dated to Archaic-Classical,
from the territory of Margëlliç;
2) a ceramic game piece or weight, dated to Classical-Late Classical, from the same
place;
3) a terracotta female figurine (Archaic to Classical) from S043, in the coastal plain.
49
The major source of information collected by MRAP comes from field walking
(tracts) and site collection (sites), as noted above. My discussion that follows is based on
information about the quantity and dates of pottery and small finds from tracts, current as
of fall 2003; data from sites still require revision. The quantity of Archaic and Classical
pottery in total is not very abundant, especially in comparison to the number of
Hellenistic finds, but also to those of other periods, except for prehistoric times and the
Middle Ages. In Fig. 24 chronological groups encompass very broad time spans: the
Prehistoric period includes finds from the Middle Neolithic through the Bronze Age and
the Early Iron Age (fourth millennium to the seventh century B.C.). In addition to
Margëlliç, where finds of this phase were known from the previous work of Neritan
Ceka, only one site in the whole survey area has yielded Bronze Age pottery.109 Other
than these sites, a few prehistoric sherds have been found in locations such as Levan-
Shaban, Vadhizë, and the area around Margëlliç. The Archaic and Classical periods cover
the time span from the end of the seventh century to the third quarter of the fourth
century B.C.; the Hellenistic period, the last quarter of the fourth until the last quarter of
the first century B.C.; the Roman period from the end of Hellenistic time to the end of the
sixth century A.D. Medieval includes also the Byzantine period, until A.D. 1450, while
post-Medieval consists of the Ottoman period and the period of Albanian independence.
There are 11,516 pottery fragments from all periods. Archaic sherds number only
81 (0.70% of the total). There are 123 Classical sherds (1.07% of the total); 68 fragments
109
N. Ceka 1990, pp. 138-141.
50
dated Archaic to Classical;110 and 8 dated Classical to Late Classical. All the fragments
summed together yield 280 sherds, or 2.43% of the total. The number of fragments
increases if pottery dated Classical to Hellenistic is considered (374), but pottery dated to
the Hellenistic period outstrips Archaic and Classical combined with 6231 sherds (54%
of the total). The number of tiles is very low compared to the other categories of
ceramics, and the presence of tile fragments is usually isolated: it is not possible to see a
significant concentration anywhere.111
Of fifty sites identified by MRAP (Fig. 25), only nineteen produced pottery of the
periods under consideration (S001, S002, S005, S006, S009, S016, S019, S027, S031,
S032, S033, S034, S035, S040, S041, S043, S044, S045, S050), and such finds were
always associated with material of other dates. Moreover, at some of them (S002, S027,
S034, S035, S040, S050), there was present only a single sherd of Archaic or Classical
date. All the sites had a principal Hellenistic component, with only a few more ancient
fragments. In ten of them (S005, S016, S019, S027, S040, S041, S043, S044, S045,
S050) there were traces of life also in later periods, such as Roman, Medieval and Post-
Medieval. The sites are located throughout all the surveyed territory.
METHODOLOGY
110
In reality this designation was given to sherds which could belong to Archaic or
Classical, but it was not possible to assign them confidently to either period.
111
This estimate is based on the number of sherds that have an inventory number and are
included in the database that I examined during my analysis.

51
In the detailed analysis of the pottery it seems appropriate to consider the data
from tracts separately from those of sites: it can be useful to compare the results produced
by the two techniques of collection. The tracts have been grouped into major topographic
areas. Finds are grouped according to the four chronological periods distinguished during
the study of the pottery: Archaic, Archaic to Classical, Classical, and Classical to Late
Classical.
Pots have also been divided in four categories according to their principal
functions: “transport amphorai”, “fine table ware” (black glazed and figured), “other
household wares” (plain, cooking, banded, pithoi, and unidentified), and “tiles”. “Fine”
and “other" have been grouped together in some analyses in order to create a large
sample, given the small number of fragments that were assigned to each.
ANALYSIS
It is evident that the transport amphorai predominate (117 fragments) over fine
ware (67), other wares (65), and tiles (32). The pottery, despite its paucity, is quite widely
distributed in the survey area. As is evident in Fig. 26, pottery of the Archaic and
Classical periods has been found as far from Apollonia as the proto-urban fortified centre
of Margëlliç112 where there is a relatively high density of it. Another cluster of pottery
sherds of Archaic date is found in the area of Kraps, although here the density is lower
than at Margëlliç. A few fragments were also present in the zone of Peshtan and
Kreshpan. Closer to Apollonia, as predictable, the number increases: Archaic and
112
N. Ceka 1983b, p. 252; N. Ceka 1985, pp. 115-116.
52
Classical sherds were collected in the areas of Levan, Shaban, Vadhizë, Shtyllas, and
Havaleas. The highest concentration is, however, in the Kryegjata valley, where the so-
called “Greek necropolis” was located.
Archaic Period
Analysis of the Archaic pottery from tracts shows two concentrations in Kryegjata
and Margëlliç, and then, in descending order of their frequency, sherds in Kraps,
Vadhizë, Havaleas, the coastal plain, the hill of the temple at Shtyllas, Levan-Shaban, and
Peshtan (Table 1). At Kryegjata there is some fine and plain pottery of Archaic date, but
the majority of sherds by far is represented by transport amphorai, by a ratio of
approximately 2:1. At least half of these are Corinthian type A amphorai, and among
them there is one sherd dated to the second half of the seventh century B.C. The few fine
fragments include black-figured Corinthian imports and lamps, which are objects
typically found as grave goods. The plain pottery is represented in most cases by pithoi,
probably used for child burials (enchytrismoi).
It is interesting to notice that in Kraps also, the majority of the fragments are
transport amphorai. In Vadhizë all of them are transport amphorai. In Havaleas, the
coastal plain, Shtyllas hill, and Peshtan, from each of which only one Archaic sherd has
been collected, that sherd is also a transport amphora. In Margëlliç, on the other hand, the
ratios among the different categories of pottery are more balanced. Only 36% of the
pottery there is represented by transport amphorai.
The total of the Archaic pottery found in sites reflects the same trend: transport
amphorai dominate (Table 2), as at S005, which is a tumulus burial on the summit of
53
Kodra e Kripës in the Kryegjata area. Other sites include S016 northwest of Kodra e
Ullirit (also in the Kryegjata area); S031 at Vadhizë; S032 and S033 in the përroi i
Levanit (the latter closer to Vadhizë); S035 at Peshtan; S043, in the coastal plain; and
S044 and S045 in the Margëlliç area. S016, S031, S032, S033, S044 and S045 were
probably farmsteads in the Hellenistic period, while in S035 finds were predominantly of
the Ottoman period, and S043 is a sanctuary.
Archaic to Classical Period
In the group of pottery dated from the Archaic to the Classical period, collected
from tracts, there is a somewhat different pattern from that of the Archaic pottery alone
(Table 3). Kryegjata is still the area where the most sherds were collected, but the relation
between transport amphorai and fine and plain wares is 1:3 instead of 2:1. In particular,
there are greater numbers of sherds from pithoi and from cooking vessels. The fine
fragments are represented by black-glazed ware.
The area where black-glazed pottery dated from Archaic to Classical is found is
not very different from that dated strictly to the Archaic period. At Shtyllas, four Archaic
to Classical fragments (two from the hill and other two from the valley) were found,
whereas no pottery of Archaic date was recognized there. None of these is from a
transport amphora. On the other hand, all other categories of pottery (“fine”, “other” and
“tiles”) are represented. At Margëlliç there was a substantial concentration, as in the case
of Archaic pottery, of Archaic to Classical pottery. There the ratio between transport
amphorai and the fine/other group is somewhat higher (1:2).

54
There are eleven sites where ceramics of Archaic to Classical date have been
found; however, at many of them there is just one representative fragment (Table 4).
Three sites from those in Table 4 have not yielded material strictly dated to the Archaic
period (cf. the list of sites in Table 2): site S001, a Hellenistic settlement in the Shtyllas
area; S009, a cemetery in the same locality; and S006, also part of the tumuli necropolis
in the Kryegjata valley. From all sites listed in Table 4 come a limited number of pottery
fragments. Among all the ceramics from sites, transport amphorai dominate the
fine/other group in a 2:1 ratio, although the two sites with the greatest concentrations of
Archaic to Classical sherds, Kryegjata and Margëlliç, had much lower ratios of transport
amphorai to other wares in the tract collection.
Classical Period
Pottery dated to the Classical period is more numerous and diversified than
Archaic or Archaic to Classical (Table 5). Again, the largest quantity of pottery comes
from Kryegjata. All categories of pottery are represented, but transport amphorai make up
a small portion of the pottery compared with the fine/other group (1:5). The quantity of
fine sherds significantly increases. The most frequent type is black-glazed pottery. The
most common forms are skyphoi and kraters, but there are also lekythoi, cups and
pyxides — types commonly offered as grave goods. Some vessels appear to be Attic
imports.
At Margëlliç there is also a considerable concentration of Classical pottery. On
the other hand, the Levan-Shaban and Vadhizë areas show a substantial increase in
ceramic finds of this date. Vadhizë, however, distinguishes itself from the general trend,
55
because it has a higher number of transport amphorai than other pottery categories.
Levan-Shaban instead presents this phenomenon in the Late Classical period (Table 6).
Other locations where only transport amphorai are reported in the Classical period
include Portëz and Peshtan. In the Late Classical period, instead, this trend is represented
by Përroi i Levanit and Plyk, together with Levan-Shaban and Margëlliç.
At all the sites where Archaic pottery has been collected there seems to have been
a continuous occupation through the Classical period. Sites with no Archaic pottery
include S002, an Hellenistic settlement on the Çuka e Bukur ridge, between Shtyllas
valley and Shaban; S019, another small Hellenistic settlement at the eastern edge of the
Shtyllas valley; S027, north of Shaban village, near the ancient course of the Vjosa River;
S034, a Hellenistic household at Shkozë e Zezë in the Levan Valley, excavated in
2001113; S040, a Hellenistic farmstead close to Çuka e Bukur; and S050, a Hellenistic
settlement in the plain west of Apollonia. At these sites the total of transport amphorai
sherds is approximately equal to the total of “fine-other” pottery.
Sites where transport amphorai have been found are distributed over a wide area. These
include S001, S005, S019, S027, S031, S032, S033, S040, S041, S044 and S045 (Table
7).114
CONCLUSIONS
113
Davis et al. 2000; Davis et al. 2001.
114
S041, S044 and S045 are in the Margëlliç area.
56
The abundance of transport amphorai in the Archaic period could reflect the
nature of the first contacts between the local people and the colonists: trade
predominantly focused on the exchange of the product contained in these vessels.
Moreover, the presence of Corinthian Type A amphorai suggests that trade was well
established between Greeks and the indigenous populations since the first phases of the
existence of the colony. 115 The great quantity of amphorai in the necropolis is not
surprising, because, as we will see in the next chapter, they were commonly used as
children’s burials and as urns. It is not surprising also to find Corinthian fine ware —
offered as grave goods. Later in the sixth century Apollonia seems not only to have been
a focal point for trade and exchange, but also a gateway through which the population of
the hinterland came in contact with a new material culture. This trend is reflected also in
the visible increase of imports from Attica in the Classical period.
From a methodological point of view, the data provided by tracts correspond in
most cases to those provided by sites. In the Archaic period the abundance of material in
the Kryegjata and in the Margëlliç areas, evident in the tracts, is confirmed by material
from site collection. The same can be said generally for other areas, but there is an
anomaly that is obvious: Kraps, which in the tract collection produced the third largest
quantity of pottery after Kryegjata and Margëlliç (Table 1), had no pottery in the
collection of the sites (Table 2).
115
Some fragments of Corinthian Type A amphorai are dated to the second half of the
seventh century B.C., earlier than the traditional date for the foundation of the colony.
57
The predominance of Archaic to Classical material in the Kryegjata area is
reflected in both tract- and site-collections, but for Margëlliç the abundance of pottery is
not marked in the site collection. The other areas are represented by both collection
methods, except for Kraps, Levan, Peshtan and the zone west of Apollonia which are all
represented by only one sherd each, found during the tract walking. In the Classical
period the situation is more complicated: the number of areas and of sites where the
pottery under consideration is present is greater than before, and some areas where more
than one sherd was collected are not represented in collections from sites. This is the case
for the area east of Apollonia: Havaleas, Kraps, and Portëz.
It seems appropriate to say that the data gained from tract walking and site collection
complement each other, and they are both fundamental to the understanding of the
cultural history of the territory of Apollonia.
From the point of view of the evolution of occupation through time in the
hinterland of the colony, it is evident that Kryegjata and Margëlliç were two focal points
of use and exchange of pottery from the Archaic to the Late Classical period. In the rest
of the area explored by MRAP, human occupation increased through time both in number
of settlements and in the extent of their spatial distribution. However, no dramatic change
in the overall pattern of settlements occurred until the Hellenistic period, when there
appears a high number of sites, mostly to be interpreted as farmsteads.

58
CHAPTER 4: THE DATA FROM THE NECROPOLIS
THE EARLY WORK
AUSTRIAN EXCAVATIONS
Excavations in the necropolis of Kryegjata began in the second decade of the last
century, when Praschniker opened approximately twenty graves. In the description of his
work this Austrian scholar wrote that the graves were dated from the fourth to the first
century B.C. The most ancient burials that he brought to light were two limestone sarcophagi
in a small tumulus, five hundred steps northeast of the village of Kryegjata. Unfortunately
they had both already been looted in antiquity, and only a spear head and a black-glazed cup
remained.
Most of the other graves were built with tiles. The usual grave goods consisted of a
black-glazed lamp to the right of the skull of the deceased, unguentaria, amphorai, and small
cups. Praschniker noticed also that some of the skeletons had a coin in their mouths. A black-
glazed vessel decorated with a satyr and a goat in relief was remarkable among the finds.
Praschniker also mentioned large amphorai containing the skeletons of children and
urns containing cremations, dated to the second and first century B.C. An unusual type of
grave, found only in one example, was a wooden coffin built with iron nails and preserving
the remains of a child. A kiln was also discovered, containing a thick layer of charcoal and
waste from the production of pottery and glass.
Praschniker identified another necropolis, which he located “three hundred meters
west of the point R1 of the fortifications,” where he uncovered a sarcophagus formed by
large and well finished stone slabs; this had already been looted. Inside only a lamp
59
decorated with vine leaves, and fragments of green and blue glass remained. He saw also
material coming from graves close to the village of Radostina, opened by local people; the
objects that caught his attention were the bronze handle of a bucket decorated with a
Medusa’s head in Attic style, and the bronze handle of a ladle with a bird’s head finial.116
FRENCH EXCAVATIONS
In 1930 the French mission in the necropolis brought to light some graves in
pithoi, some graves with tiles, and some urns.117 According to Rey, interest in this area of
Apollonia was awakened by the stray finds of a terracotta seated female figurine118 and of
an Archaic bronze mirror with the handle shaped in the form of a female figure with
chiton and himation, identified as Aphrodite.119
In his archaeological report of 1932, the French scholar described two graves in
pithoi dated to the Archaic period, one of which contained twelve Corinthian vessels,
including oinochoai, skyphoi, olpai, and kothones, with incised zoomorphic and floral
decoration. He dated some of them from the second half of the seventh to the beginning
of the sixth century B.C.120
The second type of grave consisted of rectangular coffins built with tiles of a date
not earlier than the fourth century B.C.; the number of graves of this type was not
116
Praschniker, 1922, col. 51-54.
117
Béquignon 1931, p. 486.
118
Rey 1932, p. 7.
119
Rey 1928, pp. 31-37.
120
Rey 1932, pp. 7-22.
60
specified. Most of them contained an amphora of coarse fabric with one or more small
and miniature vessels inside. The types of pottery included unguentaria and red-figured
lekythoi. Bronze or iron spear heads and strigils were among the grave goods. A small
terracotta doll with articulated limbs was a noteworthy find.121
Another type of burial consisted of transport amphorai with toes stuck in the
ground and used as urns, probably of the same date as the graves with tiles. These,
however, were very damaged and there were no grave goods, and so the approximate date
was given by the proximity to other dated graves.122
ALBANIAN EXCAVATIONS
Systematic excavations of tumuli started in the 1950s by Albanian archaeologists.
Hasan Ceka, Skënder Anamali, and Aleksandra (Buda) Mano participated in the first
expeditions; the last scholar continued to be closely associated with the necropolis of
Apollonia. Excavations were carried out in 1948, 1950 and 1951;123 there are unpublished
reports on the work of 1950 and 1951.124
121
Rey 1932, pp. 22-25.
122
Rey 1932, pp. 25-26.
123
Buda 1959, p. 212, note 1.
124
These reports are preserved in the Archive of the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana.
Many thanks to Muzafer Korkuti, the Director, Shpresa Gjongecaj, Head of the
Department of Antiquity, and Silva Mullaj, Archivist, for permission to consult them, and
for their assistance.

61
1950 Campaign
In 1950 forty-two graves were excavated in different parts of the necropolis. Most
of them had been discovered by farmers while plowing their fields, and had been
damaged in the process: the report gives the impression that the graves were rescued and
documented before they were completely destroyed, and that the expedition did not have
a comprehensive research design.
Information about the locations of the burials is also very generic:
a) Two graves were in the field of “Leksi’s wife, close to the road of the village of
Kryegjata, at the bottom of the hill of the monastery.” They were both “alla
cappuccina,”125 damaged and dated to the Roman period, with glass and metal
objects as grave goods. One of them was a cremation not in situ.
b) One grave was built with tiles, damaged, and located on the “low hill of Bekçi.”
The grave goods consisted of an unguentarium, and a plain banded vessel with
two handles.
c) A group of sixteen burials was in “the field of the olive trees:” six were built with
tiles forming a coffin, seven were “alla cappuccina,” two were amphorai used as
urns, and one was too damaged to be identified. No dates were given to any
material, except for a bronze coin dated to the third century B.C. found in one of
the graves “alla cappuccina.” The coin had Athena with a helmet on one side, and
the legend AΠOΛΛONIATAN on the other. From the list of the grave goods in
the report it is not possible to identify a chronological sequence for the different
types of burials. Generally the objects were plain amphorai and smaller closed
125
In the report this type of graves is called “with tiles in the shape of a roof.”
62
forms, black-glazed lekythoi, cups, plates (one decorated with leaves and
palmettes), and lamps (one with two nozzles). In a child’s grave there was an
askos. In a particularly rich grave “alla cappuccina” there were also a terracotta
standing female figurine with chiton and himation, a small bronze mirror, and a
small lead pyxis.
d) Seventeen other graves were found “in the woods,”126 mostly damaged by the
roots of the trees. Nine burials were “alla cappuccina,” four of which contained
children. Two graves were coffins built with tiles. One grave was defined as
monumental, measuring 2.20 x 1.60 m, with walls of squared bricks (measuring
0.40 x 0.40 m) one meter high, but with no covering and no floor; the skeleton
was laid directly on the ground. Two large plain amphorai (one with a toe), a
black-glazed lamp and a black-glazed kotyle were placed in this monumental
grave. In the same area there was also a red-figured krater used as an urn; on the
walls of the vessel it was possible to distinguish a Dionysiac scene. At a lower
elevation than all the previous graves two fragmentary pithoi were found, used as
enchytrismoi with typical Corinthian ceramics as grave goods. In contrast to the
usual deposition ritual with the deceased in the supine position, one skeleton in a
grave “alla cappuccina” had flexed legs, and was associated with a black-glazed
ribbed Attic vessel with one twisted handle.
e) Two burials were “on the low hill in the field of Halit Xhambazit, southeast of the
acropolis of Apollonia.” One was a fragmentary pithos with a small banded
amphora as a grave good. The other was an uncommon “cappuccina:” together
126
This location is probably at the east side of the valley.
63
with the tiles, there were also two stone slabs used in the same way as the tiles. A
small iron spear head was associated with this grave.
f) The last four burials were located on “the low Hill of the Gypsies, a ridge which
divides the fields of the village of Kryegjata from the fields of the villages of
Bakër and Radostina.” In the report there is information about some graves
excavated in 1948, also in this place, but there is no indication of the number nor
any description of them. The four graves were each of a different type: one was
“alla cappuccina,” one was a large amphora used as an urn; one was a
sarcophagus made of three stone slabs which originally had a lid, and one was
monumental made of brick walls measuring 3.30 m x 2.80 m x 1.00 m. The report
asserts that the stone slab sarcophagus contained a secondary burial and that the
skeleton was not the original one. According to the author the evidence suggested
that this type of grave had been used during the fourth century B.C., while the
grave goods – a black-glazed cup, an iron spear head, an iron knife, and a bronze
strigil – were of Hellenistic date. The monumental grave was similar to the one in
the woods: it measured 3.30 m x 2.80 m, and had four walls of squared bricks
(0.40m x 0.40 m) approximately one m high. Two large plain amphorai were the
grave goods associated with it.
The report also mentioned that other graves were excavated, without giving their
number. They had in common the absence of grave goods, and usually they were “alla
cappuccina;” in contrast with the previous examples, these had a horizontal layer of tiles
on which the body had been laid. Despite the absence of grave goods which could date
64
them, a date for the “cappuccina” graves with the horizontal layer later than for the ones
without it was proposed by the author of the report.
The conclusion of the report observed that the necropolis had extended from
Kryegjata to Radostina and that there was great variety among graves, due to
chronological and economical differences among the deceased. According to the author
of the report, most of the graves were dated to the third and second century B.C., when
Apollonia had flourished. The fact that Archaic burials were found in the same places as
the Hellenistic graves, albeit at a lower elevation and in small numbers, proves that the
necropolis was not divided into chronologically distinct areas.127
1951 Campaign
In 1951 Hasan Ceka reported the investigation of four tumuli “in the narrow plain
crossed by the road that goes from Radostina to Fier.” Several low hills, no more than
two meters high, undoubtedly artificial, had previously been noticed. These tumuli
covered not only the whole surface of the plain, but also the hill to the right of the road,
which was then covered by a wood. The author pointed out that one of these tumuli had
been excavated by Praschniker.128 Because that previous exploration of a tumulus had
yielded interesting results, Ceka decided to investigate other tumuli on both sides of the
road. The excavation of three of them revealed only fragments of tiles and of black-
glazed pottery, evidence of graves which had been looted and destroyed in the past.
127
Anonymous 1950, pp. 1-11.
128
Praschniker 1922, col. 52.
65
In a fourth tumulus, however, the results were more encouraging: a large
limestone sarcophagus with a roof-shaped lid was found, but it was damaged and looted.
Closer to the center of the tumulus and at a lower elevation than the sarcophagus was a
pithos with two lug handles, decorated on the belly with wavy plastic lines. Inside the
pithos there was a black-glazed column krater, and inside the krater a black-glazed trefoil
oinochoe with a lid and decorated with painted lines on the shoulder and rays on the
reserved bottom. According to Ceka, both vessels were Corinthian imports, “dated to the
same period as the foundation of the colony in 588 B.C.” Ceka emphasized that the
burials in pithoi, found at a lower level than the sarcophagi, showed that cemeteries with
tumuli belonged to the most ancient phase of the city and preserved a burial ritual of the
local Illyrian population which was used from the Bronze Age, as demonstrated in
northern Albania, to the Roman occupation.
A third grave was built with four brick walls. As Ceka pointed out, previously
excavated burials of this type had usually been accompanied by spear heads, while this
example yielded only fragments of black-glazed pottery dated to the third century B.C.
He also mentioned without further information that two other graves with tiles were
uncovered “in the same field where there were excavations the previous year.”
Associated grave goods were unguentaria, small black-glazed vessels, and two iron arrow
heads.
A red-figured pelike, restored in antiquity with lead clamps, was discovered out of
context. One side had the figure of a horseman with oriental clothes and Phrygian hat
pursuing a running female figure; between the two was an Eros. The surface of the other
66
side of the vessel was worn, and only three vague figures of young men could be
distinguished.129
1956 Campaign
The expedition of 1956 was headed by Aleksandra Mano, who published it in
detail. This report also mentioned other tumuli excavated in 1955, which had not been
reported previously, but with no specification of their number. In 1956 four tumuli were
explored east of Apollonia, at the northeast corner of the village of Kryegjata. Three of
them were very close to each other, while the fourth one was about one hundred fifty or
two hundred meters from the others (Fig. 27).
The first three tumuli were irregular and damaged in antiquity by looters. An
additional problem was a recently planted forest of oaks, the roots of which had also
destroyed the graves; materials, both ceramic and osteological, were spread on the
surface.
Tumulus 1130 was 1.30 m high and had a diameter of ca. sixteen m (Fig. 28). The
northwest part of it was the best preserved, where three of the four recorded graves were
located. Two fragmentary limestone sarcophagi were found, one of which contained an
unguentarium made of blue glass. Mano dated the vessel to the fifth century B.C. based
on the associated sarcophagus,131 since that kind of unguentarium was in use from the
129
H. Ceka 1951, pp. 11-13.
130
It is important to point out that the numeration of these tumuli changed after the
excavation of the large tumulus in 1958-1959, which was then given the number 1.
131
Mano has not specified on what basis she dated the sarcophagus.
67
seventh to the second century B.C. and is therefore not diagnostic. Fragments of an urn
coated with pitch on the inside and of burned bones were found in the same area of
Tumulus 1; this grave cannot have been earlier than the third century B.C. when urns
were first used in this part of Albania. The pit dug to deposit the urn may have damaged
an earlier burial in a pithos; a stone slab may have served as the lid of this pithos burial,
and a sixth century B.C. Corinthian aryballos found in the vicinity may also have
belonged to it. The fourth grave132 was in the southeast part of Tumulus 1, and was the
richest in grave goods. It was a large pithos restored in antiquity with lead clamps.
Associated with it were two pyxides decorated with black-glazed lines, two skyphoi, and
a black-figured lekythos, all fragmentary. The figures on the last vessel were worn but
looked like hoplites wearing Corinthian helmets. Mano has not given dates to any of
these ceramics. A few Hellenistic vases were also found out of context, as well as
fragments of tiles, a pyxis with geometric decoration, and an iron double ax.
Tumulus 2 had the same dimensions as Tumulus 1; the center had been looted
(Fig. 29). Four of the five graves in Tumulus 2 were limestone sarcophagi; three of them
were for adults and had roof-shaped lids, while the fourth one was small and without a
cover, but with some bone fragments and grave goods. Mano dated this last burial to the
beginning of the fifth century B.C., based on a small Corinthian skyphos and a black-
figured lekythos. One of the other sarcophagi contained very interesting objects: besides
an iron dagger and an iron spear head, there were a lydion dated to the sixth century B.C.,
and a rare find of a pair of wooden sandals, bronze plated and with bronze nails probably
to secure leather straps. Another grave in Tumulus 2 consisted of a large pithos decorated
132
Mano did not give a grave number to the pithos mentioned above.
68
with wavy plastic lines, typical of the Archaic period. Inside there were three Corinthian
oinochoai. An Attic red-figured squat lekythos133 and five objects that from Mano’s
description could be loomweights were found out of context.
Tumulus 3 was smaller than the previous two, especially in its height. It appeared
to be the best preserved of the three, but in reality many objects were scattered, especially
in its southern half, and only one grave could be located with certainty, on the basis of a
concentration of bones (Fig. 30). Close to the bones there were fragments of tiles, and
some pottery. Two vessels were complete: a small cup and a small lekythos decorated
with a palmette, dated to the fourth century B.C. Among the materials scattered on the
surface, three fragmentary iron spear heads, a black-glazed lamp, and a black-glazed
squat lekythos were also found.
Tumulus 4 was south of the other three, on top of a hill. Its diameter was twelve
m. The soil was sandier than in the others. Most of the southern part had been excavated
in the campaign of 1955, but some graves had also been looted in antiquity (Fig. 31). In
total seven burials were brought to light: three were built with tiles, and two of them had
black-glazed Hellenistic pottery as grave goods: a few skyphoi, a cup, a lamp, a
kantharos, a pyxis, and a guttus. The third grave was exactly in the center of the tumulus,
and contained fragments of bones and a table amphora with a line in relief on the neck. A
fragmentary sarcophagus with no lid and no grave goods was also recorded.
Finally, three pithoi close to each other were reported: two of them had only one object
each: a Corinthian skyphos and a black-figured lekythos. The third one had eighteen
objects that Mano dated to the fifth century B.C.: lekythoi, small amphorai, pyxides,
133
In Mano’s article “squat lekythoi” are called “aryballos-like lekythoi.”
69
skyphoi, and aryballoi. A black-figured lekythos with Herakles fighting the Nemean lion
and a bronze aryballos were particularly interesting.
The report also mentioned a sarcophagus found by chance by a farmer in his field,
approximately one hundred meters north of the first three tumuli. The sarcophagus was
badly damaged but with an uncommon amulet representing a mask, made of silver and
blue glass, as a grave good, besides fragments of iron objects and black-glazed pottery
dated to the fifth century B.C.134
1958-1959 Campaigns
Mano excavated a large tumulus in 1958-1959 which, because of the great
number of graves and quantity of material, was labeled Tumulus 1.135 It was located
northeast of Kryegjata, not far from the road to Radostina, and approximately two
hundred meters northeast of the tumuli excavated in 1956. The tumulus measured 3.90
meters at its maximum height, and 20.0 meters in diameter. It was quite regular, but the
edges were more definite on the southern side; on the northern and eastern sides it was
linked by a gentle slope to the natural hill from which the soil to cover the graves and to
create the tumulus had been taken, while the western side was steeper. On the
southwestern edge there was another tumulus, lower than Tumulus 1, which was not
explored.
134
Buda 1959, pp. 212-239.
135
At this time the tumulus previously labeled 1 became 2; tumulus 2 became 3; tumulus
3 became 4, and tumulus 4 became 5.

70
In her publication of the tumulus, Mano described the excavation technique, the
structure of the tumulus, and the burial rituals. The surface under investigation was
divided into sixteen squares, 5.0 m x 5.0 m each, plus two “extensions:” extension A,
measuring 2.0 m x 2.0 m, in the northwestern corner of square 5, and extension B,
measuring 7.0 m x 2.0 m, on the eastern side of squares 8 and 12 (Fig. 32).
During the excavation the archaeologists distinguished three layers of fill in the
tumulus, with different soil colors and textures, and varying in their extent (Fig. 32).
These physical differences corresponded also to different chronological periods of use of
the tumulus, but Mano is contradictory in her interpretation: in the legend of the figure
that illustrates the three layers there are also three corresponding chronological periods:
the most ancient included graves from the sixth to the fifth century B.C; the second, from
the fifth to the fourth century B.C, and the latest, from the fourth to the beginning of the
second century B.C.136 In the text, however, two periods are reported: the two more
ancient layers are grouped together and the author has dated them to the sixth and fifth
centuries B.C., while the third and upper layer is dated from the fourth and third
centuries, until the beginning of the second century B.C.137 In the “Conclusions” the dates
are refined: the two more ancient layers are dated from the second half of the sixth
century to the beginning of the fifth century B.C.; the upper layer is delineated as
Hellenistic. In addition Mano has noted the almost total absence of graves dated to mid-
fifth century, in contrast to the predominance of burials dated to the fourth and third
136
Mano 1971, p. 105, fig. 2.
137
Mano 1971, p. 104.
71
centuries B.C. In the second century there is again a decline in the number of burials.138
136 graves were excavated in total. The tumulus was not used with the same intensity in
all the periods: in fact the two more ancient layers had only 34 burials, equal to the 25%
of the total number, mostly sarcophagi and pithos graves. The upper layer, dated to the
Hellenistic period, contained the remaining 102 graves (75% of the total), mostly built
with mud-bricks, bricks, and tiles.139
Mano has not specified what she considered to be the beginning of the Hellenistic
period, but it seems that she has labeled the whole fourth century B.C. Hellenistic, while
usually the last quarter of the century is considered the conventional date for its start.140
Both inhumation and cremation were practiced, but cremation is much rarer,
accounting for only 13% of the graves, 18 of the total 136, mostly of Hellenistic date.
Mano has explained the increase in the practice in the Hellenistic period as the result of
ethnic changes in the population of Apollonia. However, because this ritual was practiced
by Illyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Macedonians, and Italics it is not easy to specify the
origins of the new ethnic component.
Even with so few cremations two variants were observed:
• cremation in situ within a sarcophagus-like structure made of mud-bricks (1 case:
Grave 92) or in a simple pit (2 cases: Graves 116 and 133) during the sixth and
fifth centuries B.C.;
138
Mano 1971, p. 198.
139
Mano 1971, pp. 103-105.
140
Mano 1971, p. 111.
72
• cremation outside of the tumulus with the remains afterwards deposited in an urn
(plain amphorai in all cases except one, when a black-glazed pelike was used) in
the Hellenistic period (10 examples: Graves 10, 11, 25, 26, 48, 84, 85, 97, 114
and 121).141
Votive deposits with broken burned vessels but no trace of bones were also found.142
Inhumation was the most common ritual; usually the body was laid down with
extended arms and legs. Skeletons with both arms flexed, one arm flexed, or legs flexed
and in the fetal position were observed only in one case each. The most common
orientations of the graves were with the head of the deceased towards the northeast (26
cases), east (10), southeast (16), and south (18); it was never towards the north or
northwest. Moreover, the orientation towards the south and southeast was preferred in the
sixth and fifth centuries, while later the predominant orientation was towards the
northeast. Mano observed that, given the location of the tumulus southeast of the
acropolis of Apollonia, most of the bodies appeared to have been arranged with the face
“looking” at the city.143
Mano also analyzed the data gained from the excavation, dividing the graves by
types and at the same time grouping them in two chronological phases: the sixth-fifth
141
Grave 110, an urn pertaining to the phase dated from the end of the fifth to the
beginning of the fourth century B.C., has been omitted by Mano in this list.
142
It is important to point out that Mano assigned grave numbers also to the votive
deposits, which constitute five of the eighteen total cremations (Graves 5, 29, 67, 111 and
119).
143
Mano 1971, pp. 109-110.
73
centuries and the fourth-second centuries B.C. The graves are d individually, and are
grouped in three chronological phases: the sixth-fifth centuries, the end of the fifth-
beginning of the fourth century, and the fourth-second centuries B.C. Finally, she has
examined the objects found as grave goods, dividing them in two groups: pottery and
“other”, creating categories in each group, and describing them by shapes (the pottery) or
by function (the other objects). Unfortunately it becomes difficult to follow these
analyses, because Mano has not provided a consistent criterion for the different
groupings, and because of inaccuracies.
In the section where the graves are grouped in two phases, the types of grave during
the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. are:144
1. in situ cremations in graves built with mud-bricks forming a “sarcophagus”: 1
case (Grave 92);
2. in situ cremations in simple pits: 2 cases (Graves 116 and 133);
3. cenotaph built with mud-bricks: 1 case (Grave 119);
4. cremation in urn: 1 case (Grave 110);
5. inhumations in pithoi: 14 cases (Graves 32, 43, 45, 46, 49, 54, 56, 62, 64, 65, 74,
75, 90 and 136), but 2 cases actually are in Corinthian amphorai (Graves 43 and
136);
6. inhumations in limestone sarcophagi: 15 cases (Graves 8, 9, 16, 38, 41, 55, 57,
69, 70, 76, 77, 79, 80, 99 and 100).
In the period from the fourth to the second centuries B.C. the types of grave are:145
144
At the beginning of the list Mano has stated that there are seven types of graves, but
only six are listed.

74
1. inhumations in graves built with mud-bricks: 23 cases (Graves 21, 81, 86, 91, 92,
95, 96, 98, 105, 108, 113, 117, 118, 119, 122, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131
and 132);146
2. inhumations in graves built with bricks: 5 cases (Graves 6, 17, 22, 28 and 115);
3. inhumations in pits covered by bricks: 1 case (Grave 3);
4. inhumations in graves built with tiles forming a coffin: 3 cases (Graves 73, 93 and
126);
5. inhumations in graves built with tiles forming a roof (“alla cappuccina”): 18 cases
(Graves 1, 2, 7, 14, 23, 24, 27, 33, 36, 37, 39, 42, 78, 82, 83, 87, 107 and 120);
6. inhumations in simple pits: 25 cases, although only 17 were listed, in which
skeletons have different grades of preservation (Graves 12, 13, 19, 20, 34, 47, 51,
58, 60, 66, 72, 89, 94, 103, 104, 109 and 134).
In addition to the preceding, there are listed also 14 damaged graves where it was
impossible to define the type of construction, but fragments of pottery were present
(Graves 4, 18, 35, 50, 59, 61, 71, 88, 101, 102, 106, 112, 123 and 135).
Then the author has described 15 cremations divided into five additional numbered
variants:
7. cremations in graves without construction: 8 cases with cremation in situ (Graves
5, 11, 26, 29, 31, 67, 85 and 111). Graves 11, 26, 29, 67, and 85 had an urn each,
in all cases a plain amphora except for Grave 26 where it was a black-glazed
145
Here Mano has stated that there are eleven types of graves, but only eight are listed.
146
Graves 92 and 119 have been listed also in the previous phase. Based on the grave
goods, Grave 119 certainly belongs to the “sixth-fifth century” phase.

75
pelike. According to Mano Graves 5, 31 and 111 can be better understood as
votive deposits. Three cases (Graves 48, 114 and 121) also had urns, but the
cremations were performed some place other than the grave.
8. cremations in graves with built constructions: 4 cases (Graves 10, 25, 84 and 97)
in all of which the cremation had not been performed in the same place as the
grave. They presented three variants: Grave 10 was an urn surrounded by bricks,
Graves 25 and 84 were urns covered by a couple of tiles forming a roof, Grave 97
was surrounded by mud-bricks.
Eight graves are not mentioned in any group above: 15, 30, 40, 44, 52, 53, 63 and 68.
They are listed, however, in the catalogue of graves: Graves 15, 30, 44, 52, 53 and 63
were burials, the construction of which could not be determined, and which contained no
traces of bones, although objects were present. Grave 40 had no built construction in it
but there were a few bones and some grave goods. Grave 68 produced two rocks in the
shape of obelisks and some grave goods, but no bones.
In the catalogue the graves are described individually in ascending numerical
order with their location, elevation, orientation, measurements, features, and grave goods
with inventory numbers. The presence or absence of a skeleton is also specified, together
with its position and state of preservation, and, when possible, whether it is an infant or
an adult. It is at the beginning of this section that the graves are divided into three
chronological phases, in contrast with the divisions made previously: 33 graves are dated
to the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., 46 are dated from the end of the fifth to the
76
beginning of the fourth century B.C, and 57 are dated from the fourth to the second
centuries B.C.147
The descriptions are quite detailed and very useful, but do not always correspond
with what has been written in the other sections of the article. For example, Graves 33,
36, 78, 87 and 107 in the catalogue are described as damaged burials in which were found
fragments of tiles, while in the section on the typological groupings they are included
without reservations among the graves “alla cappuccina.”148 Grave 29 is classified as a
“cremation in a grave without construction,” with an urn in the center of the burial
containing burned bones; in the catalogue there is mention neither of the urn nor of the
burned bones, and it is classified only as a votive deposit.149 Grave 122 is listed among
the “inhumations in graves built with mud-bricks,” while in the catalogue the mud-bricks
are not mentioned: instead three stones were described which were covering poor remains
of the skeleton of an infant.150 In the section with the description of the sarcophagi, grave
99 is mistakenly called grave 89.151
147
In the article, Graves 46 and 109 have been omitted in the groupings. Based on the
grave goods, grave 46 can be dated to the second half of the sixth century B.C., and so it
can be placed in the first group. Grave 109 can be dated to the fourth-third century B.C.,
and so it can be placed in the third group.

148
Mano 1971, pp. 131, 144, 148, 149, 151.
149
Mano 1971, pp. 134, 143.
150
Mano, 1971, pp. 121, 153.
151
Mano 1971, pp. 119, 149, 151.
77
The last part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the grave goods which
were found in great quantities, especially pottery.
The pottery is divided in seven categories:
1. plain vessels with thick walls;
2. plain vessels with thin walls;
3. Corinthian pottery;
4. black-figured pottery;
5. red-figured pottery;
6. black-glazed pottery;
7. terracotta figurines.
1. The first category includes pithoi and amphorai. Twelve pithoi were found in the
cemetery, seven of which contained skeletal remains of infants. These large vessels
varied in the shape of the body, from ovoid to spherical, and in the base, more or less
wide. Some of them had straight and wavy plastic decoration on the body (Fig. 33: a). In
one case the walls of the container were coated with pitch (Fig. 33: b). Mano dated the
pithoi on the basis of the grave goods associated with them, usually Corinthian and black-
figured Attic vessels, of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.
Amphorai were much more common than pithoi in Tumulus 1, both as containers
for child burials or cremations, and as grave goods. Two types of amphorai were noted:
table amphorai with flat bases, which Mano has considered to be of local production, and
transport amphorai with toes, considered to be imports. Table amphorai outnumbered
transport amphorai in a ratio of 6:1.

78
Three types of transport amphorai were found. The first one consisted of large
vessels with a globular body and light color fabric, imported from Corinth; they were
associated with other vessels dated to the end of the sixth and beginning of the fifth
century B.C. (Fig. 34: a). The second type probably were Corinthian or Corcyraean
imports; the body is ovoid, the rim and neck wide, the toe small and the fabric a light
pink color. Amphorai of this kind were found in layers of the fourth and third centuries
B.C. (Fig. 34: b). The third type is of the same date, and it is likely to have come from
Lesbos; comprises amphorai with a very characteristic conical toe prolongation of the
body (Fig. 34: c).152
2. The category of plain vessels with thin walls includes table amphorai and other shapes,
mostly closed, such as hydriai, jugs, cooking pots (“vorba” in Albanian, vessels with one
or two handles) (Fig. 35: a, b), unguentaria (which Mano has called “bottles”), lekythoi,
and gutti. The only open shape represented is the bowl.
Apart from the amphorai, all of the other shapes were rare as grave goods. According to
Mano they can be dated from the fourth to the second centuries B.C., and they are all of
local production.
The table amphorai were numerous, and Mano has distinguished two variants. Type a)
can be dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C; its characteristics are a conical lower
part of the body and a flat rim (Fig. 36: a). Type b) is later, occurring in graves of the
third and second centuries B.C.; the characteristics are a globular body, a down-turned
152
Mano 1971, pp. 155-158.
79
rim, and horizontal bands of diluted glaze on the shoulder and belly (Fig. 36: b). Both the
types were used as urns and as grave goods.153
3. The Corinthian imports were not numerous, 18 pieces in total, and were usually found
in pithos graves and sarcophagi. Most examples were skyphoi of different dimensions,
decorated with horizontal bands and sometimes with a simple linear motif under the rim,
dated to the end of the sixth and beginning of the fifth century B.C. Only one aryballos
was found, dated to the third quarter of the sixth century B.C.; the surface was worn but it
was possible to distinguish lotus leaves and a geometric pattern. The last pieces were two
plates, found in the cenotaph grave delimited by mud-bricks, one decorated with two
protomes of horses and rosettes (Fig. 37: b), the other one with eight palmettes and
rosettes (Fig. 37: a). They are both dated to the end of Middle Corinthian, that is, to
around 570 B.C.
In this same category Mano has also included two oinochoai, one kothon, one
kylix, and four pyxides, which probably were all Ionian imports. The two trefoil
oinochoai have a shiny black glaze and rondelles at the junction of the handle at the rim;
according to Mano, these could have been of Rhodian production dated to the end of the
sixth or beginning of the fifth centuries B.C. (Fig. 38: a). The rest are dated generally to
the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. These include: a black glazed kothon decorated with
three red painted bands; a black-glazed kylix with rim and foot reserved; two pyxides
with cylindrical bodies, decorated with bands and simple geometric motives (Fig. 38: b);
two pyxides both with globular bodies and upturned horizontal handles, one decorated
153
Mano 1971, pp. 158-163.
80
with horizontal and vertical lines, and the other with bands, lines, and lotus leaves (Fig.
38: c).154
4. The Attic black-figured pottery was also found in pithos graves and sarcophagi. It
consists of lekythoi, except for one kylix found in the cenotaph grave. The kylix is black-
glazed and has a panel on the exterior where a sphinx and figures wearing himatia are
represented; it can be dated from the mid to the third quarter of the sixth century B.C.
The twelve lekythoi are dated from 550 to 450/430 B.C. and they are generally decorated
with lotus leaves and/or rays on the shoulders. Three of them have figured scenes on the
body: the first one shows Achilles taking his weapons from his mother Thetis; the second
one shows two pairs of warriors fighting each other, and the third one has a seated female
figure and another figure on a kline playing the lyre.155
5. The red-figured pottery was more abundant in the tumulus than the two previous
categories. There were two provenances for the material: Attica and southern Italy, with a
definite prevalence of the latter. According to Mano the most ancient vessel of this
category, dated to the first quarter of the fifth century B.C., is an Attic red-figured kylix
with an interior tondo decorated with figures which have unfortunately been worn away.
But the most common shapes found in this technique are hydriai and squat lekythoi. One
of the hydriai, with a scene representing a seated female figure receiving an object
(probably a pyxis) from a standing female figure, can be dated to the second half of the
fifth century; it is probably Attic. The other five hydriai, in contrast, are dated from the
end of the fifth to the third century B.C and are Italic imports. The scenes depicted are
154
Mano 1971, pp. 163-165.
155
Mano 1971, pp. 166-168.
81
similar to the one on the Attic vessel, but the outlines of the figures are drawn less
carefully than on the Attic examples, so that in one case Mano has proposed local
production. On some examples there are also traces of added white and red.
The squat lekythoi are more numerous than the hydriai, and have more varied
decoration: a) with human figures; b) with palmettes; and c) with a net motif. The scenes
on the vessels of group a usually represent young women with Eros. The lekythoi
decorated with palmettes (group b) can be divided into two variants on the basis of the
shape of the vessel: globular or ovoid. The first type can be dated to the same period as
the lekythoi with scenes that belong to the second half of the fourth century B.C. The
vessels decorated with the second variant of palmettes and with the net motif (group c)
can be dated to the beginning of the third century B.C.
Additional red-figured pottery found in the cemetery included: a bell-krater
decorated with scenes of epheboi with Nike, probably an Italic import from the end of the
fifth or beginning of the fourth century B.C.; an amphora used as urn, again decorated
with scenes of ephebes on the body, and palmettes on the neck and under the handles,
likely with the same provenance and of the same date as the krater; an Italic pelike dated
to the mid-fourth century B.C. displaying a scene with a young woman and Eros; an Italic
askos decorated with a panther and a swan, dated to the first half of the fourth century
B.C.; two Italic skyphoi decorated with heads of ephebes in profile, dated to the fourth or
third centuries B.C.156
6. The category including the largest number of vessels, however, is black-glazed pottery.
Attic imports dated to the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., as well as Italic vessels dated to
156
Mano 1971, pp. 166-176.
82
the fourth and third century B.C., are frequent, but there is a clear preference for the
latter. A wide range of shapes is represented, but the most common are skyphoi, cups,
bowls, lekythoi, and jugs.
• More than eighty skyphoi and kotylai were brought to light, found in graves from
the beginning to the end of the use of the tumulus. The evolution of the type and
the provenances of the skyphoi can be determined from details of the shape of the
vessel and from the quality of the glaze: the earliest skyphoi were Attic imports
with shiny and thick black glaze, and a wide and shallow body. According to
Mano there were already pieces of local production distinguishable by low quality
glaze. In the fourth and third centuries B.C. the body and the handles of the vessel
became elongated, the glaze increasingly dull and diluted. The center of
importation moved from Attica to southern Italy, but at the same time the local
production increased.
• One-handler cups were also widely distributed, from the end of the sixth century
B.C.; however, in the Archaic period they were not very numerous. Among those
few, one noteworthy example had a vertical handle, in contrast to all the others,
which had horizontal handles. In Mano’s opinion most of the cups were locally
produced from the fifth century B.C. on. Among these, two variants can be
detected: the earlier one has a shallow body and a low ring foot, the later one
(third and second centuries B.C.) a deep body and a projecting rim.
• Saltcellars were mostly Italic imports dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C.
A few Attic pieces are distinguishable because of stamped decoration on the
interior floor of the cup.

83
• Bowls of different dimensions usually had stamped decoration on the interior
floor as well, mostly consisting of palmettes. Attic, Italic, and local production are
detected, based on the quality of the glaze and of the decoration.
• Lekythoi were mostly Italic imports dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C.,
except for one vase dated to the end of the fifth century B.C.; it had an unusual
relief decoration distributed in triangles on the body (Fig. 39: a) and is probably
of Attic provenance. Some have vertical ribbing on the body and stamped
palmettes on the shoulder. It is possible to observe an evolution in the shape of the
body, which started as ovoid (Fig. 39: a), but became increasingly squat (Fig. 39:
b), culminating in the third or second century B.C. with a body that is a large and
low cone (Fig. 39: c). Mano has also grouped with the lekythoi two small
amphorai decorated with stamped palmettes, probably Attic imports dated to the
end of the fifth and beginning of the fourth century B.C.
• Jugs have been found predominantly in graves dated from the end of the fifth to
the first half of the fourth century B.C., and rarely in graves with later dates. They
have been divided in two variants: the characteristics of the first variant are a
narrow neck and a high swung vertical handle attached at the rim (Fig. 40: 1); the
characteristics of the second variant are a large neck and a vertical ring-shaped
handle (Fig. 40: 2). The second variant is dated later than the first one.157
• Other shapes were represented by a few examples, such as kylikes, which,
however, are classified in three types: type a) has a large, deep body, with a
conical shape, straight handles, and a low, small foot. Type a) is dated to the end
157
The second variant is identified as a jug in the text, but as a cup in the plate.
84
of the sixth or beginning of the fifth century B.C. (Fig. 41: a). Type b) is a cup-
skyphos with deep body, more vertical walls than in type a), upswung handles,
and a higher foot. Type b) is dated to the end of the fourth or beginning of the
third century B.C. (Fig. 41: b). Type c) is a stemless cup with a large, shallow
body, straight handles, and a large, low foot. Type c) is dated from middle to the
end of the fourth century B.C. (Fig. 41: c).158
• Similar to the kylikes are the kantharoi; there are only eight examples but they are
divided into two types. The first type had a high body whose profile was concave
in the upper part and convex in the lower part, which was also ribbed (Fig. 42: 1).
The second variant had a biconical profile and handles with spurs (Fig. 42: 2).
Both variants are dated to the end of the fourth or beginning of the third century
B.C., but the second type continued until the second half of the third century B.C.
• Olpai were a local product and showed an evolution in the shape of the body and
of the handle: from vessels with a body having the largest circumference at the
shoulder and a short vertical handle (Fig. 43: a), to pear-shaped vessels with a
high upswung handle (Fig. 43: b), to those with an elongated body and upswung
handle (Fig. 43: c). Their dates span from the fourth to the second centuries B.C.
• The shape of the oinochoai had an evolution opposite that of the olpai: from an
ovoid elongated body with an upswung handle (Fig. 44: a) to a pear-shaped body
with a shorter handle (Fig. 44: b). These vessels are dated from the fourth to the
third century B.C. A third type has an ovoid body with vertical ribbing (Fig. 44:
c).
158
The absolute dating of these pieces and others will no doubt require revision in light of
comparanda from the Athenian Agora.
85
• Very few pelikai came to light in Tumulus 1, and the only difference among them
is the presence or absence of ribbing. They are dated to the fourth and third
centuries B.C.
• The only two hydriai from Tumulus 1 have the same date as the pelikai.
• A few pyxides — five — were discovered in graves of the sixth, fifth and fourth
centuries B.C. They all belonged to the same type with a globular body and ring
foot, but one of them also had two handles.
• Lamps are dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C., and all six of them were of
the same type: curved walls, flat base, and one nozzle.159
7. According to Mano the terracotta figurines were produced locally. Eighteen
examples were found, mostly in graves of children, but some also out of context.
They can be divided in two types:
• hand-made figurines of animals, mostly birds;
• molded or partially molded human, mostly female, figurines. Among these, three
statuettes are worthy of mention: one hydrophoros (Fig. 45: a), a statuette of a
woman with a child (Fig. 45: b), and the figure of a naked male with a hat seated
on a pedestal (interpreted by Mano as an actor) (Fig. 45: c).
The figurines were all found in the upper layer of the tumulus.160
The objects other than ceramic are divided into five categories:
1. small glass amphorai and alabastra;
2. jewelry;
159
Mano 1971, pp. 176-189.
160
Mano 1971, pp. 189-191.
86
3. iron weapons and tools;
4. bronze and iron strigils;
5. stelai with reliefs and inscriptions.
1. Two small core-formed glass amphorai, one complete and one in fragments, were
found in graves dated to the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. The body was decorated with
straight and zigzag yellow lines. The complete amphora had a conical body and very
small foot. One alabastron was found in a grave of the fourth century B.C. The core-
formed body of blue glass was cylindrical and decorated with white and yellow zigzag
lines.161
2. Most of the jewelry was made of bronze, but silver, bone, and amber objects were
found as well.
• A bronze diadem of the fourth century B.C. is noteworthy, worked with the
technique of repoussé and decorated with rosettes, palmettes, dolphins, and lions.
Other jewelry of the same period included:
• A pair of bronze earrings in the shape of a moon segment, and
• Four spiral bracelets: three were made of bronze and one of silver. All had
animals’ heads (such as ducks, rams, and snakes) as finials.
• There were two unusual medallions: one was composed of two plaques, one
bronze and one silver, joined together; the silver side was decorated with a flower
and the bronze side with a scepter. The second medallion was also composed of
two plaques, but both were silver, joined together and gold plated; one side was
161
Mano 1971, p. 191.
87
decorated with a female head and the other with a running figure. The two
medallions are also dated to the fourth century B.C.
• In three sarcophagus graves belonging to the end of the sixth and beginning of the
fifth century B.C. there were amber beads of different shapes — round, oval, and
squared — together with a bronze mirror and a small stick of polished bone.
• Five finger rings are dated from the end of the fifth to the beginning of the fourth
century B.C. Four of them were made of bronze, and the fifth was made of silver
plated with gold. The four bronze rings all had oval bezels, while the silver ring
had a rhomboid bezel. The bezels had incised decoration, each with a different
subject: a flower, palmettes, Herakles with the lion skin, and a running rabbit.
• Eighteen interesting bronze appliques of different dimensions were found in
graves or out of context; some were decorated with a rosette (Fig. 46: a, b), while
others were in the shape of a flower themselves (Fig. 46: c). They could have
been used as ornaments on various objects such as armor or horse bridles; Mano
has suggested that at least some of them could have embellished wooden coffins
which have completely decayed.162
3. The third category consists of iron objects such as spear heads, knives, daggers, and
small sickles. A large number of spearheads — twenty five — have been found, usually
two per grave. Mano has noted that the practice of depositing weapons as grave goods
was typically Illyrian: the fact that they were found in graves of the fourth century B.C.
would support the theory that in this period the Illyrian population began to play an
162
Mano 1971, pp. 191-194.
88
important role in the political and social life of Apollonia. The knives were also of the
same Illyrian type as those found in tumuli in the area of Mat.163
Small iron nails found in situ creating the outline of soles were a curious find,
since the leather or other material of the shoes or sandals had completely disappeared.
The archaeologists were able to measure the length of the shoes and to conclude that they
belonged to an adult male.164
4. There were more strigils than any other category of metal object. Twenty one strigils
were made of bronze and six were made of iron. They were found in graves of all
periods, and three types can be detected. Type a), the earliest of the three, has the handle
in the shape of a cylinder or is twisted; this type is dated to the sixth and fifth centuries
B.C. (Fig. 47: a). The handles of type b) and c) are recurved; the difference between the
two is not clear (Fig. 47: b, c).
Three other unusual objects have been grouped in the category of strigils: a
bronze ladle (Fig. 48: a); a bronze object defined by Mano as a pendant, formed by a
plaquette with two holes and a curved shank round in section with the finial in the shape
of a swan’s head (Fig. 48: b); and a bronze hook in the shape of a stick bifurcated at both
ends, which Mano has suggested had been used to repair fish nets (Fig. 48: c).165
5. The fifth category groups stelai and grave stones found in Tumulus 1. Because of the
way graves were set up in a tumulus, creating superimposed levels, stelai in reality were
not practical. As a matter of fact, the few examples were found out of context, or reused
163
Islami and Ceka 1964, p. 102, pl. 11, 7; 12, 8.
164
Mano 1971, pp. 194-195.
165
Mano 1971, pp. 195-196.
89
as grave coverings. This is the case of a stele reused as a lid for a grave with tiles dated to
third or second century B.C. It is a slab of limestone with a relief of a female figure
seated on a low column with an Ionic capital; the upper half of the figure is lost.
According to Mano the sculpture is a local product of the fifth or fourth century B.C.
(Fig. 49: a). There is also an interesting grave stone in the shape of an obelisk with a
name in the genitive form, Ksenaristas, written in Archaic Greek letters incised vertically
from bottom to top (Fig. 49: b).166 A fragmentary limestone relief with a palmette and
two volutes is also worthy of mention. It is also probably from a grave stone (Fig. 49:
c).167
To summarize the information from Tumulus 1:168
• The tumulus was used from the mid-sixth to the beginning of the second century
B.C., with a decline in the number of graves around mid-fifth century, and in the
second century. Mano identified three layers of filling of the tumulus,
corresponding to three chronological phases. The tumulus was used more
intensively in the third phase, corresponding to the Hellenistic period, which
Mano seems to date starting from the beginning of the fourth century B.C. The
tumulus contained 136 graves in total (including 5 votive deposits), 34 dated to
the Archaic and Classical period, and 102 to the Hellenistic period.
• Inhumation was by far the preferred ritual. Cremation was performed in situ
during the Archaic and Classical period (only 3 cases), and outside the tumulus
166
Cabanes and Ceka 1997, p. 14.
167
Mano 1971, pp. 196-197.
168
See also Mano 1977-1978, p. 82, tables 1-2.
90
with the remains deposited in an urn during the Classical (1 case) and Hellenistic
period (10 cases).
• In the Archaic and Classical period the preferred orientation was towards the
south and the southeast, while in the Hellenistic period it was towards the
northeast.
• The types of grave used in the Archaic and Classical periods are mostly
sarcophagi and enchytrismoi; simple pits, pits lined with mud-bricks, and urns are
present in only one or two cases each. In the Hellenistic period the most diffused
types are simple pits and pits lined with mud-bricks; numerous are also graves
“alla cappuccina.” Graves built of bricks and of tiles forming a coffin are
represented by a few examples.
• Pottery found in the tumulus was abundant, used both as container for
enchytrismoi and cremations, and as grave goods. The categories represented
include: large vessels such as local and Corinthian pithoi, and transport amphorai
from Corinth and Lesbos; local plain vessels such as table amphorai, pitchers,
bowls, cooking pots, and unguentaria; Corinthian and Ionian imports such as
skyphoi, aryballoi, plates, kothons, pyxides, kylikes, and oinochoai; Attic black-
figured pottery such as lekythoi and kylikes; Attic, South-Italian and local red-
figured pottery such as squat lekythoi, kylikes, hydriai, kraters, pelikai, and
amphorai; Attic, South-Italian and local black-glazed pottery such as skyphoi,
cups, bowls, lekythoi, pitchers, and lamps. The last category is represented by two
types of local terracotta figurines: hand-made animal figures, and molded human
figures.
91
• Objects other than ceramic include: small glass core-formed amphorai and
alabastra; jewelry, such as bronze diadems, bronze and silver bracelets with
animal head finials, bronze earrings, bronze and silver finger rings, bronze, silver
and gold plated medallions, bronze appliques, and amber beads; iron weapons and
tools such as spearheads, knives, daggers, and sickles; bronze and iron strigils;
objects of various types such as iron sandal frames and bronze ladles; stelai and
grave stones.
1973 Campaign
In 1973 Aleksandra Mano documented some damaged graves southwest of the
village of Radostina, “four or five kilometers from the northeast side of Apollonia, where
a series of twenty or thirty tumuli form the continuation of the low hills of the villages of
Kryegjata and Bakër.” Two of the graves consisted of limestone sarcophagi, but only one
was explored: inside there were remains of a skeleton without grave goods, oriented with
the head towards the southwest.
Not far from the sarcophagus, a red-figured column krater used as an urn was
found: inside, together with some burned bones, were a small black-glazed cup and a
bronze strigil. Despite the fact that the krater was fragmentary, and the surface so worn
that it was impossible to identify the figures of the decoration, Mano was able to date the
vessel to the mid-fifth century and to attribute it to the circle of the Attic Eupolis
Painter.169
In the same year Vangjel Dimo found, “close to the wood of Kryegjata”, scattered
material coming from destroyed graves: a bronze hydria, three lamps, four lekythoi, two
169
Mano 1974a, pp. 222-223.
92
bronze mirrors, a bronze spiral bracelet, a core-formed glass bottle decorated with zigzag
white and blue lines, and a female terracotta figurine wearing a chiton and himation.170
1981-1983 Campaigns
More than twenty years after the exploration of Tumulus 1, Vangjel Dimo
excavated two other tumuli. At first he numbered them Tumulus 2 and Tumulus 3, but
later, considering also the four tumuli excavated in 1956, in addition to Tumulus 1, he has
renumbered them 6 and 7.
The results of these excavations are published in Dimo’s doctoral dissertation. He
has followed the structure of Mano’s article on Tumulus 1, reporting the architecture of
the tumuli, the burial rituals, the types of graves, the catalogue of graves, and the
catalogue of finds. But while all the descriptions including the catalogue of graves are
done for each tumulus separately, the catalogue of finds combines the objects from both.
Tumulus 6 was located approximately two hundred and fifty meters southwest of
Tumulus 1. It was covered by thick vegetation, and the graves under the surface were
damaged by roots. The cemetery was built on the slope of a natural hill, so that on the
north and west sides it was steep; on the other hand, on the south and east sides it was
joined to two other tumuli, which were not explored.
The diameter of Tumulus 6 measured approximately eighteen m, and the height
was 3.30 m. Dimo divided the tumulus in four quadrants, leaving 0.40 m wide balks
between them, oriented along the cardinal axes. During the excavation Dimo noted that
the artificial hill had been created by two layers of soil with different characteristics: the
170
Dimo 1974, p. 226.
93
upper layer was mostly sandy, and the lower one clayey. The physical differences
corresponded to chronological differences.
This tumulus presented two unusual features not found in the other five tumuli
previously explored in the necropolis: an elliptic “ditch”, from 2.5 to 4.0 m wide and
from 1.5 to 1.8 m deep, had been excavated in the first and more ancient layer of soil.
The axes of the ellipsis measured 6.0 and 9.0 m, with the longest one oriented northeast-
southwest. The soil produced by the excavation of this ring had been spread around it,
widening the total surface of the base of the artificial hill to approximately eighteen m.
The second and more recent layer had then been deposited on and in the area enclosed by
the ditch.
The second unusual characteristic consisted of a layer of soil at the very bottom of
the tumulus, from 0.05 to 0.15 m thick, with a darker color than the two layers above and
mixed with sherds of cooking vessels and Corinthian and Laconian pottery. According to
Dimo, this feature represents an Illyrian tradition of bringing soil from the settlement,
from the world of the living people, to the world of the deceased. This phenomenon has
been observed in many other tumuli in different areas of Albania.171
The total number of graves found in Tumulus 6 was 71, belonging to two
different chronological periods: 31 graves were dated from the mid-sixth century and to
the fifth century B.C., while 40 were from the beginning of the fourth to the second half
of the third centuries B.C.
171
Korkuti 1981, p. 9. See also other bibliographical references in notes 5, 6, 7 and 8.
94
Both inhumation (38 graves) and cremation (30 graves) were practiced. Cremation
was more common in the earlier period and in the first half of the fourth century B.C.,
and was performed in two ways:
• in situ in graves built with mud-bricks (6 cases) or in simple pits (3 cases);
• outside of the tumulus; the remains were then deposited in an urn, such as an
amphora, a cooking pot, a krater, or a stone urn (21 cases).
In the ritual of inhumation there were cases of multiple burials. In addition, three graves
were designated as cenotaphs.
Dimo has classified the graves into seven types, some of them with variants:
1. graves built with mud-bricks: 10 cases (Graves 1, 10, 18, 19, 43, 50, 51, 56, 57
and 70)172. There are two sizes of mud-bricks: 0.46 x 0.46 x 0.08 m or 0.38 x 0.38
x 0.08 m. There are three variants of mud-brick graves: with cremation (6 cases),
with an urn (1 case), and with inhumation (3 cases). They belonged to the
beginning of the later period of the tumulus.
2. urns: 18 cases (Graves 7, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38, 41, 46, 52,
54 and 68).173 Six variants: carved from a limestone or sandstone block (3 cases),
transport amphorai (5 cases), cooking pots (6 cases),174 a pithos coated with pitch
172
Dimo 1990, pp. 11, 39: Grave 57 is erroneously included in “graves with mud-bricks;”
it is a “simple pit.”
173
Dimo 1990, pp. 11-12: Grave 18 is included in two groups: “graves with mud-bricks”
and “urns.”
174
Dimo 1990, pp. 14, 21: Grave 17 in the dissertation is not included in this group, but
among the simple pits.

95
(1 case), a bronze amphora (1 case), a bronze hydria (1 case), a red-figured krater
(1 case).
3. inhumations in pithoi: 3 cases (Graves 15, 25, 44), and dinoi: 2 cases (Graves 26
and 61).
4. limestone sarcophagi with roof shaped lids: 7 cases (Graves 6, 8, 22, 23, 37, 39
and 64). These were the earliest graves in Tumulus 6, dated from the mid-sixth to
the second half of fifth century B.C. They were distributed in an interesting
pattern: one was approximately in the center of the tumulus, and the others
formed a rough circle around it. According to Dimo this would explain the
necessity of the soil ring to enlarge the tumulus. He has also pointed out the
similarities in the type of stone and in the chisel work between these sarcophagi,
the Archaic inscriptions found on the acropolis related to the temple of
Artemis,175 and the blocks of the eastern side of the fortification walls at
Apollonia. The tract of walls is associated with materials of seventh and sixth
century B.C. date.
5. graves built with bricks: 6 cases (Graves 2, 3, 11, 32, 48, 55). The bricks
measured 0.38 x 0.38 x 0.08 m. In their dimensions, these graves were larger than
any other type of burial in the tumulus, and contained multiple skeletons and an
abundance of grave goods.
6. graves built with tiles: 9 cases (Graves 9, 13, 14, 16, 27, 38, 45, 60 and 69).176
There are two variants of graves: with tiles placed in the shape of a roof (7 cases),
175
Cabanes and Ceka 1997, p. 13.
176
Dimo 1990, pp. 12, 14: Grave 38 is included with “urns” and “graves with tiles.”
96
and with tiles placed vertically (2 cases). Both of the last were cenotaphs. The
tiles measured 0.82 x 0.52 x 0.02 m and were of Hellenistic date. In the
“cappuccina” graves the skeleton was placed directly on the ground.
7. simple pits: 14 cases (Graves 4, 5, 12, 36, 42, 47, 49, 53, 57, 63, 65, 66, 67 and
71).177 The grave goods dated them to the fourth and third centuries B.C.178
Five graves were not included in any group, but they can be added on the basis of the
catalogue of graves: Grave 33, a child burial built with tiles, whose construction was not
specified; Grave 40, a Corinthian amphora used as an urn; Grave 58, an inhumation in a
damaged sarcophagus without a lid; Grave 59, an inhumation in a grave built with mud-
bricks and covered with a limestone lid; Grave 62, an amphora of local production used
as an urn. Conversely, in the catalogue of graves two burials were omitted: Grave 46, a
cooking pot used as an urn; and Grave 47, a simple pit.
The catalogue of graves is organized on the basis of the chronological periods,
and within them the individual graves are numbered. The graves of the earlier period
were covered by the clayey soil and are within and under the “ditch”. The first graves of
the later period were on the clayey soil but they were covered by the sandy soil, in which
were stratified all the subsequent graves up to the second half of the third century B.C.
Dimo has pointed out that some burials in Corinthian amphorai were found also in the
sandy soil, but he interpreted them as having been moved during the preparation of the
“ditch”.
177
Dimo 1990, pp. 12, 40: Grave 66 is erroneously classified as a cremation in a transport
amphora, but in the catalogue of graves it is identified as an inhumation in a simple pit.

178
Dimo 1990, pp. 8-15.
97
In the catalogue the graves are described with their location, elevation,
orientation, measurements, features, and grave goods (without inventory numbers). The
presence or absence of a skeleton, its position and state of preservation, and whether it
was an infant or an adult, is not always specified.179
To summarize the information from Tumulus 6:
• in the period from mid-sixth to the end of the fifth century B.C. the ritual of
cremation was performed slightly more often than inhumation (16 cremations as
opposed to 13 inhumations). Among the types of graves, sarcophagi and
inhumations in pithoi and dinoi were used only in this period, as well as
cremations in limestone urns, in a pithos coated with pitch, and in a bronze
hydria. Inhumations and cremations in graves built with mud-bricks, and
cremations in transport amphorai and cooking pots were represented, in contrast,
in both phases. Only three burials (Graves 6, 15, and 44) were identified as
belonging to children, but the other inhumations in large vessels (Graves 25, 26
and 61) were also likely to have been such. The preferred orientation was to the
south; next most popular orientations were southeast, northeast, east, and north.
• In the period from the beginning of the fourth to the second half of the third
century B.C. inhumation was preferred to cremation, 21 cases as opposed to 12.
In the multiple grave with brick walls (Grave 55) both rituals were performed:
there were two skeletons and four urns. The grave types typical of this phase were
multiple burials in graves built with bricks, graves built with tiles forming a coffin
and “alla cappuccina,” and simple pits. Among the graves with tiles there were
179
Dimo 1990, pp. 18-19.
98
also two cenotaphs (Graves 14 and 60). Only four graves were identified as
belonging to children (Graves 27, 33, 45 and 53). In this period the orientation of
the graves followed exactly the same patterns as earlier.
1987-1988 Campaigns
A few years after the excavation of Tumulus 6, Vangjel Dimo excavated Tumulus
7, one of the two tumuli joined to Tumulus 6. This tumulus had an elliptical shape with
the diameter varying between fourteen and sixteen m, while the maximum height was 2.0
m. The south and east sides were steeper than the other two sides. The surface was well
preserved except for the very top and one side, where a few graves had been damaged.
The technique of excavation was the same as in Tumulus 6: four quadrants divided along
the cardinal axes by balks 0.40 m wide. A total of 30 graves were brought to light, and as
in Tumulus 6, at the very bottom of Tumulus 7 there was a layer mixed with pottery
fragments, in this case hand-made vessels.
According to Dimo, the characteristics of the soil used to build the tumulus were
the same throughout the structure, but three chronological periods with a long interval
between the first two could be identified, based on the date of the grave goods: the first
period covered a time span from the end of the seventh to mid-sixth century B.C., the
second period from the end of the fourth to the end of the third century B.C., and the third
period from the second half of the third to mid-second century B.C. In the long time span
when Tumulus 7 was not in use, it seems that Tumulus 6 was created. The first period
was represented by 8 graves, the second by 20, and the third by 2.

99
Cremation was the preferred ritual, especially in the first period, when 7 of the 8
burials were cremations. In the second period the two rituals were represented equally,
while in the third period the only two graves were both multiple cremation burials.
Cremation was performed in two ways:
1. in situ in a simple pit (1 case);
2. outside the tumulus; the remains were then deposited in an urn, such as an
amphora, a cooking pot, a krater, or a stone urn (17 cases).
Inhumation was represented by 12 graves in total, among which two were
multiple burials in monumental graves built with bricks, of the same type as those found
in Tumuli 1 and 6.
Dimo has used the classification of the graves applied in Tumulus 6:
1. graves built with mud-bricks: no cases.
2. urns: 11 cases (Graves 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 20, 28).180 Of the six variants
found in Tumulus 6, only the pithos coated with pitch was not used in Tumulus 7.
The other variants included an urn carved from a limestone block (1 multiple grave),
transport amphorai (5 cases), cooking pots (3 cases), bronze lebes (1 case), a
Corinthian dinos (1), and a red-figured krater (1).181 Urns were diffused during all the
periods of use of the tumulus.
3. inhumations in a pithos: 1 case (Grave 8).
180
Dimo 1990, p. 17: in the dissertation the Corinthian dinos is indicated as “Grave 2”
instead of “Grave 1.”

181
Dimo 1990, p. 17: urns are 11, but the sum of the variants is 12 because Dimo has put
Grave 20 both in the first and in the second variant.

100
4. limestone sarcophagi: no cases.
5. graves built with bricks: 7 cases (Graves 4, 11, 16, 20, 21, 25 and 29).182 The
bricks measured 0.38 x 0.38 x 0.08 m. There were three variants of brick graves:
a) with a simple row of bricks to delimitate an urn (1 case) or an inhumation (1
case); b) with walls forming a coffin for inhumations (3 cases); c) multiple burials
covered with a vault (2 cases). These graves pertain to second and third period of
the tumulus (fourth and the third century B.C.).
6. graves with tiles: 7 cases (Graves 2, 14, 15, 19, 22, 23 and 24).183 There were two
variants of tile graves: a) with tiles placed in the shape of a roof (5 cases), and b)
with tiles placed vertically forming a coffin (2 cases). In both variants the skeleton
lay directly on the ground. All these graves pertain to the second period of the
tumulus, except grave 2 which is included in the group of burials of the first
period.
7. simple pits: 6 cases (Graves 6, 12, 17, 26, 28 and 30).184 Three graves were
cremations and the other three inhumations.185 These graves are included in first
and second period of the tumulus.
182
Dimo 1990, pp. 17-18: Grave 4 and Grave 20 are included in types of graves both
with an urn and with bricks.

183
Dimo 1990, p. 18: Grave 2 has been omitted from type 6.
184
Dimo 1990, pp. 17-18: Grave 6 has been omitted from type 7; Grave 12 and Grave 28
are included in the types of graves with urn and simple pits. Grave 28 has been omitted
from the catalogue of graves.

185
Dimo 1990, pp. 15-18.
101
Grave 27 is not included in any type: it consisted of a fragmentary limestone stele and
fragments of red-figured kraters, black-glazed olpai and jugs, terracotta fruit, and
fragmentary terracotta reliefs with figures of soldiers or hunters on horses fighting
panthers.186
Grave 7, a cremation in a transport amphora, and Grave 21, an inhumation surrounded by
brick walls, were omitted from the catalogue of graves.187
Grave 18, a cremation under a “cappuccina”, has been omitted from group 6.188
The catalogue of graves of Tumulus 7 also is organized by chronological period, within
which graves are listed in numerical order.
To summarize the information from Tumulus 7:
• in the period from the end of the seventh to the mid-sixth century B.C. cremation
was undoubtedly the preferred ritual over inhumation, by a ratio of 7:1. The types
of graves represented were: urn (krater, cooking pots, dinos, and bronze lebes),
inhumation in a pithos, grave with tiles forming a cist, and simple pit. All the
types except the pithos were present also in the following phase.
• In the period from the end of the fourth to the end of the third century B.C.
inhumations were more numerous than cremations, by a ratio of approximately
2:1. The types of graves found were urns (transport amphorai and cooking pots),
graves with brick walls, with tiles forming a coffin and “alla cappuccina,” and
simple pits. Five child burials were detected, all of them “alla cappuccina.” The
186
Dimo 1990, p. 47.
187
Dimo 1990, pp. 43, 46.
188
Dimo 1990, p. 18.
102
preferred orientation was to the northeast, followed by southeast, east, north, and
one isolated case to the northwest.
• The third period has been distinguished by Dimo more for the unusual type of
graves than for its date. It was represented by two monumental multiple graves
(numbers 16 and 20) built with bricks and covered by a vault. They contained
cremations, but it is not specified how many in each one. They were both oriented
to the northeast.
The catalogue of finds combines the objects from both Tumuli 6 and 7. The inventory
number, number of the tumulus, and number of the grave are given for every catalogue
entry.
The first division is between “pottery” and “metal vessels and other objects.” Within
pottery, the division is among:
1. vessels with thick walls (including cooking ware);
2. vessels with thin walls;
3. terracotta figurines.
1. The vessels with thick walls are then listed according to shape:
• pithoi and dinoi: the shape of the pithoi evolved from a globular body and upright
rim to an ovoid body and triangular rim. The dinoi were similar to pithoi but had
smaller dimensions; they can also have handles, or a flat base instead of a
cylindrical one like the pithoi. Both pithoi and dinoi usually were decorated on the
shoulder by plastic wavy bands.
• Transport amphorai have been found in great numbers in Tumuli 6 and 7: they
include both Corinthian imports and local products. Fragments of Corinthian

103
Type A amphorai dated to the sixth century B.C. were found only close to one
grave (Grave 20) in Tumulus 6. Type A amphorai dated to the fifth century,
however, were more frequent, and these can be distinguished from the more
ancient type by the out-turned rim that is more marked than in the sixth century
type.
• The distinguishing characteristic of the Corinthian Type B amphorai is that the
neck was worked separately from the rest of the body, and the rim is rounded. A
remarkable number of local table amphorai has been also found: their
characteristics are their low firing, a ring foot, and an almost biconical body.
From the end of the fourth century until the second half of the third century B.C.
they had bands of diluted glaze on the rim and on the shoulder. In the same period
there also appeared a variant with an ovoid body and strap handles, and
amphoriskoi, similar in shape but of smaller dimensions than the locally produced
amphorai.
• Vorba were cooking vessels, usually hand made, with a globular body and
rounded base, wide neck and out-turned rim. They can have two cylindrical
handles or one vertical strap handle. Dimo has identified three variants: a) with a
conical body and small base, the earliest type dated to the end of the seventh
century and found only in Tumulus 7 (Fig. 50: a); b) with oblique cylindrical
handles, usually with a globular body of large dimensions, low neck and out-
turned rim, dated from the end of the fifth to the mid-fourth century B.C. and
found only in Tumulus 6 (Fig. 50: b); c) with a strap vertical handle and tall neck,
of small dimensions, dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C. (Fig. 50: c).
104
• Plain kraters with thick walls had two variants: a) with an ovoid body, flat base,
two pseudo-handles, two bands with incised wavy lines under the rim, and lines
with diluted glaze on the rim; they are dated to the end of the seventh century
B.C. (Fig. 51: a); b) with a small wide body and a ring foot; they are dated to the
second half of the third century, and are usually found in monumental graves (Fig.
51: b).
2. The vessels with thin walls are divided into categories in the introduction of the
catalog:
I. painted pottery:
a. Orientalizing style,
b. black-figured,
c. red-figured;189
II. black-glazed pottery;
III. plain pottery with thin walls.
The catalog itself, however, does not retain this order.
• Painted kraters were numerous in both Tumuli 6 and 7. In Tumulus 7 a column
krater with friezes representing figures of animals in the Orientalizing style was
found, dating to the Early Corinthian period, that is to the end of the seventh
century B.C. (Fig. 52: a). In Tumulus 6, on the other hand, red-figured calyx- and
bell-kraters dated to fifth and fourth century B.C. were found: the most frequent
scenes were amazonomachies and Dionysiac celebrations (Fig. 52: b).
189
Corinthian, black-figured and red-figured pottery is described also by Dimo 1991, pp.
65-74.
105
• Pelikai are dated to the fourth century B.C. In Tumulus 6 two red-figured pelikai
were found, both with scenes involving Eros. Other black-glazed pelikai with
ribbed bodies like those from Tumulus 1 were found in both Tumuli 6 and 7.
Because of the low quality glaze and the clay fabric, Dimo has judged these to be
local products.
• Hydriai of large dimensions are represented by only two examples, one in each
tumulus; both had bands of diluted glaze on the body. They are dated to the mid-
third century B.C. Hydriai of small dimensions were dated, instead, to the fifth
and fourth centuries B.C. and were used as table ware. In this case Dimo also has
judged that they were produced at Apollonia.
• Oinochoai were found only in Tumulus 6 and they are all dated to the second half
of the fourth century B.C. Three of them were decorated with red-figure: two had
scenes with Eros, and one had an amazonomachy. The other oinochoai were
black-glazed, locally made as were the painted ones.
• Olpai were numerous and occurred in all periods of use of the cemeteries. A
Corinthian olpe decorated with animal figures, sphinxes and sirens in four friezes
was found in Tumulus 7, dated to the Early Corinthian period, that is to the end of
the seventh century B.C. (Fig. 53: a). Also in Tumulus 7 was found an Attic olpe
decorated with a sphinx and dated to ca. 575 B.C. Dimo has dated the black-
glazed olpai to the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. and has determined two
variants: a) with an ovoid body, almost cylindrical, the “Deianeira” shape
lekythos (Fig. 53: b), and b) with a globular body (Fig. 53: c). Variant a) had more
than half of the upper body painted with black glaze, usually reddish brown. On
106
the basis of the color of the fabric, Dimo has divided the vessels of this variant
into Ionian imports and Attic imports, both dated from the beginning of the fifth
century B.C. (in Tumulus 1, however, they were dated to fourth-third centuries
B.C.), and local products, dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C. According
to Dimo the vessels of variant b are all local and dated to the fourth and third
centuries B.C. The whole surface of the body is black-glazed (Fig. 53).
• Black-glazed jugs were very rare; there were only three examples in the two
tumuli. They all had ribbed globular bodies.
• Corinthian aryballoi also numbered only three, found in Tumulus 7, but they
presented two variants: variant a) is represented by a pear-shaped alabastron, or
bombylios (Fig. 54: a), variant b) by two traditional aryballoi with globular bodies
(Fig. 54: b). Both variants have a wide discoid rim and are dated to 625-600 B.C.
(Early Corinthian period). The alabastron is decorated on one side with a sphinx
capturing two swans, on the other side with a flying eagle. The aryballoi are both
decorated with sirens.
• Lekythoi were numerous in both tumuli, and present from the sixth to the second
century B.C. The earliest examples had a cylindrical body and were imported
from Attica. They were decorated in black-figure, usually representing warriors or
satyrs and maenads (Fig. 55: a). Also from Attica, but dated from the mid-fifth to
the mid-fourth century B.C. were black-glazed lekythoi decorated with palmettes
(Fig. 55: b). During the fourth century B.C. the body of the lekythos became
increasingly globular and the vessels are then called “squat lekythoi.” These
present three variants: a) red- figured, usually showing domestic scenes with
107
women and Eros (Fig. 55: c); b) with palmettes, of local production and dated to
the second half of the fourth century B.C. (Fig. 55: d); and c) black-glazed with a
ribbed globular body, also locally produced and dated from the second half of the
fourth to the end of the third century B.C. (Fig. 55: e). There is then a fourth
variant, variant d), which was not listed with the others: banded lekythoi, a local
product dated to the first half of the third century B.C. (Fig. 55: f).
• Skyphoi were the most abundant ceramic find in both Tumuli 6 and 7, occurring
in all the chronological phases of the cemeteries. The earliest were Corinthian
imports, and varied from very large (12.0 cm high) to very small dimensions (3.4
cm high). The only exception was one of Attic origin, painted with good quality
black-glaze and with a red painted band under the rim. The Corinthian vessels, in
contrast, were decorated with vertical lines under the rim, animal friezes on the
body and rays at the bottom, and can be dated to the last quarter of the seventh
century B.C. (Fig. 56: a) In the fifth century the shape of the body became slightly
more ovoid, and the measurements more standardized, between 4.5 and 6.0 cm.
On the basis of the fabric, Dimo has identified skyphoi from Corinth, Attica, and
Apollonia. Some vessels were of the glaux type, with one horizontal and one
vertical handle (Fig. 56: b). In the fourth and third centuries B.C. the skyphoi
were all local products, including two red-figured examples representing male and
female profile portraits. The shape became more elongated with a smaller foot
than in the previous period (Fig. 56: c).
• Kothons were rare, only one was found in Tumulus 6, and four in Tumulus 7 all
in the same grave. All belonged to the earliest phase of use in the cemeteries. The
108
examples in Tumulus 7 were Corinthian imports decorated with geometric
patterns and dated to the end of the seventh or beginning of the sixth century B.C.
(Fig. 57). The kothon in Tumulus 6 can be dated to approximately a century later
and differed in some respects from the others: the body was squatter and black-
glazed, decorated with red painted bands.
• Pyxides were found in both tumuli and are divided into two variants: a)
cylindrical (Fig. 58: a), and b) globular (Fig. 58: b). The cylindrical variant is the
more ancient of the two, with the characteristic tripod foot. A Corinthian pyxis
decorated with sirens can be dated to the end of the seventh century B.C. Other
examples, Ionian imports, are dated to the end of the sixth century: they were
decorated with bands and geometric patterns, and had flat bases. There was also a
single black-glazed pyxis of local production dated to the second half of the
fourth century B.C. The vessels of variant b have various provenances: the Ionian
examples are dated to the first half of the fifth century, and they were decorated
with bands and patterns of rays and dots. Of the same date was a pyxis produced
at Apollonia, decorated with black glaze, and geometric patterns. An example of
South Italian provenance is, instead, Hellenistic.
• Ionian kylikes of type B, dated to the last quarter of the seventh century, have
been found in both tumuli, but there are also examples imported from Attica
decorated with animal friezes (Fig. 59: a). In the period from the mid-sixth to the
mid-fourth century B.C. the shape of the body became deeper, and the handles
109
longer and curved compared to the previous kylikes. These vessels were Attic or
South Italian imports (Fig. 59: b).190
• Saltcellars were very numerous in the last phase of use of the cemeteries, that is in
the fourth and third centuries B.C. It is possible to distinguish an evolution in their
shape, from a flat base and straight rim to a ring base and inturned rim. Dimo has
identified three variants: a) with a flat base (the only two examples were Attic
imports) (Fig. 60: a); b) with a straight rim (some were Attic imports, and some
were locally produced). Their distinguishing characteristic is the stamped
decoration on the inner floor, usually palmettes, and the ring foot (Fig. 60: b); c)
with an inturned rim (the shape is similar to variant b, except for the rim, which is
thicker and curved inwards) (Fig. 60: c).191
• The only three plates all came from Tumulus 6. All were plain, produced at
Apollonia, and dated to the fourth century B.C.
• Black-glazed one-handler cups of the fifth and fourth century B.C. are divided
into two variants: a) with a flat base (Fig 61: a), and b) with a ring base (Fig. 61:
b). The first variant is also the earliest of the two, but it is represented only by two
examples, both local products. The cups of variant b) dated to the fourth century,
however, are numerous: among them it is possible to distinguish also an evolution
in the body from cylindrical to hemispherical. They also were produced at
Apollonia.
190
In reality the latter type is a cup-kantharos.
191
Type c is an echinus bowl.
110
• Black-glazed lamps were found in both tumuli in the graves of the second phase,
and judging by the fabric they were very likely of local production. Dimo has
distinguished three variants: a) with an oblique handle (Fig. 62: a, b), b) with a
vertical handle, and c) with no handle (Fig. 62: c). Lamps belonging to the first
group have a squat body and short nozzle; they are dated from the end of the fifth
to the mid-fourth century B.C. Variant b) comprises lamps with a conical body
and a wide nozzle with a sort of triangular end. They are dated from the second
half of the fourth to the mid-third century B.C. Variant c) is represented by a
single example, found in Tumulus 6. It is a mixture of characteristics of the
previous variants: the body is conical like that of variant b), but the nozzle is short
as in variant a). Dimo has dated it to the third quarter of the fourth century B.C.
• Unguentaria192 have been found as grave goods in burials from the last phase of
use of the cemeteries, dated from the end of the fourth to the second half of the
third century B.C. They were all produced at Apollonia, and they can be: a)
black-glazed, or b) plain. According to Dimo these two variants, however, do not
correspond to chronological differences, because “bottles” of both types have
been found in the same graves. Banded vessels are also included in the first group.
The unguentaria of variant a) have a globular body, and short neck and stem (Fig.
63: a). In some cases they are decorated with a painted net pattern, or a band of
painted leaves, or with incised lines on the shoulder. The bodies of the plain
unguentaria (variant b) are more elongated (Fig. 63: b).
192
Unguentaria are called “bottles” by Dimo.
111
3. Terracotta figurines were found in great numbers, but for the most part not in the
graves. Except for an Archaic painted terracotta fragment, probably from Attica (Fig. 64:
a), all were from Apollonia, on the basis of the clay fabric. Figurines represented human
beings and animals, mostly birds (Fig. 64: d). The human figures were worked with care,
while the animals are very crudely modelled. According to Dimo, the latter were
probably toys, and it is possible that they were made by children. More figurines were
found in the layers of soil that formed the tumuli rather then in the graves: the majority of
them were in the upper layer, dated to the fourth and third centuries B.C. Among the
human figures there are representations of female seated figures (Fig. 64: b) and
horsemen (Fig. 64: c).
At the end of the catalogue of the figurines is listed also a small core-formed glass
amphora found in Tumulus 6, which in Dimo’s opinion is an imitation of Corinthian
amphorai of the fifth century B.C., and a Phoenician import. The glass has zigzag lines of
three colors (blue, light blue and yellow).193
The catalogue of finds describes also the metallic vessels and other objects, listed
in four groups:
1. bronze vessels;
2. silver and bronze jewels;
3. bronze and iron weapons;
4. other objects made of bone and stone.
1. Bronze vessels were numerous — twenty — and were found in both Tumulus 6 and
Tumulus 7, but were located in only five graves. Some of them were complete, some
193
Dimo 1990, pp. 50-123.
112
restored, and some fragmentary. According to Dimo those dated from the Archaic period
to the end of the fifth century were Greek imports, while from the fourth century on they
came from South Italy.
• A bronze lebes, used as an urn, and with a bronze jug (Fig. 65: a) as a lid was
found in Tumulus 7. This large vessel was sitting on a stand in the shape of a ring
modeled with three lion’s feet. According to Dimo, on the exterior surface of the
lebes, there were imprinted traces of a cloth in which it had been wrapped. Based
on the date of the associated grave goods, the lebes and jug both belong to the end
of the seventh century B.C.
• A bronze amphora was also used as an urn in Tumulus 6, associated with grave
goods dated to the first half of the fourth century B.C. On the upper part of each
handle of the vessel there was a ring where a basket handle could pass, which
made it possible to hang the amphora (Fig. 65: b).
• A third urn, in Tumulus 6, was a bronze hydria , very elaborate, with ribbing on
the shoulder. It was decorated with palmettes and a lion’s head on the handles
(Fig. 65: c). There were no grave goods associated with this urn.
• In a single grave — grave 3 in Tumulus 6 — were found numerous bronze
vessels: a large bowl (Fig. 65: e), a stemless cup (Fig. 65: f), a lekythos (Fig. 65:
h), a ladle (Fig. 65: g), a strainer (Fig. 65: i), and a situla (Fig. 65: d). The situla
had a cylindrical body and flat base, and was decorated with lion’s heads at the
handle attachments. Other grave goods in the same burial were dated to the mid-
fourth century B.C.

113
• More bronze ladles and strainers were found in other graves, also in Tumulus 6.
The last bronze vessel worthy of mention is a cup with a cylindrical body, flat
base, and a vertical handle (Fig. 65: l).
2. Jewelry was not common; there were only three examples made of silver, and
eleven made of bronze. They were all found in graves dated to the fourth and third
centuries B.C.
• A medallion was made of two sheets, one silver and one bronze, joined with
minuscule bronze nails; it was decorated with the scene of the battle between
Bellerophon and the Chimera (Fig. 66: a). A finger ring and an earring were also
made of silver (Fig. 66: b).
• The jewelry made of bronze consisted mostly of spiral bracelets with animal head
finials (Fig. 66: c), but there were also two fibulae, one decorated with palmettes
and one with a ram’s head. Other finds included a medallion with an image of
Medusa (Fig. 66: d), and a finger ring with the word TYXA in Greek characters
on the bezel (Fig. 66: e). Nine buttons were found in two different graves, but
they were all of the same type, shaped as rosettes. Finally two mirrors came to
light but unfortunately both were very damaged.
3. Weapons were definitely more abundant than jewelry. The most frequent types
were spearheads, always found in pairs, together with strigils and knives. Swords,
helmets, and shields, however, were rare. Weapons were found in graves dated from
the end of the fifth to the end of the fourth centuries B.C.
• Only one bronze shield was found, in Tumulus 6, decorated with groups of circles
(Fig. 67: a).

114
• Three bronze helmets enriched the collection of armor: two of them were dated
by associated finds to the sixth or fifth century B.C. (Fig. 67: b), while the third
one was of Macedonian type belonging to the fourth century B.C.
• Three iron swords also came to light, of different types but all with a one-edged
blade. They were positioned to the left of the bodies, with the handle on the
shoulder of the deceased. On one of them there were still traces of a wooden
handle, and close to the end of the sword a half disk made of bone, which was
part of the sheath (Fig. 68: b).
• Other weapons included knives, sickles, and one dagger, all very decomposed.
• Spearheads were numerous, and Dimo has classified them in three variants: a)
with a narrow tip (Fig. 68: a), b) with a wide tip (Fig. 68: b), and c) squared, in the
shape of a chisel (Fig. 68: c). According to Dimo, the three variants do not
correspond to chronological differences; in fact, spearheads of different types
have been found in the same graves. They are generally dated from the end of the
fifth to the beginning of the third centuries B.C.
• Bronze strigils were usually found in graves together with weapons, especially
spearheads. Their shape shows an evolution over time: the earliest ones, dated
from the first half of the fifth to the first half of the fourth century B.C., had a
small blade, and the handle curved in on itself without being fixed with rivets
(variant a) (Fig. 69: a). Later, from the mid-fourth to the third century B.C., the
blade became larger, and the handle was fixed with rivets (variant b) (Fig. 69: b).
Iron strigils came also to light, in graves dated to the fourth century B.C. that are
115
built with bricks: they were generally very decomposed, but from what was still
preserved they looked very much like the bronze ones.
4. This last group includes “other metallic objects and objects made of bone:”194 two
pairs of iron frames of sandals (Fig. 70: a), various iron nails, an iron horse bit (Fig. 70:
b), three small bronze coins with Athena represented on them, at least one of Apollonia,
and astragaloi.195
1996 Campaign
Almost ten years after the excavation of Tumulus 7, a joint project between
scholars from the Institute of Archaeology at Tirana and members of a team led by Pierre
Cabanes investigated one more tumulus of the necropolis of Apollonia, which was called
Tumulus 8. It was situated approximately eight hundred meters east of Apollonia (Fig.
71), and it was chosen because of its definite contours and because it looked intact.
During the excavation, however, the archaeologists found out that the cemetery had been
looted repeatedly during ancient and modern times.
The results of the excavation have not been published, and only two brief
preliminary reports exist: the purpose of the project was to see if the pottery dated to the
last quarter of the seventh century found in Tumulus 7 was an isolated case, or if it was
194
In the introductory classification this group was called “objects made of bone and
stone.”
195
Dimo 1990, pp. 123-144.
116
more common, in order to confirm Dimo’s hypothesis that Apollonia had been founded
earlier than 588 B.C.196
The excavation was conducted by dividing the tumulus in four sectors along the
cardinal axes, and leaving bulks between them (Fig. 72). Four different layers of soil
were detected: 1) the sterile soil on which the tumulus was built was a whitish and clayey
type; 2) the layer with the earliest graves was a very dark color, similar to the one found
in Tumuli 6 and 7; 3) the third layer was completely different from the previous ones: it
was in fact definitely sandy; 4) on the upper surface of the mound there was finally a
layer of humus.197
The joint Albano-French campaign lasted one month, and it was not possible to
excavate the tumulus completely. Because of problems with looters, however, it was not
safe to leave the tumulus with the graves easily accessible, so Dimo finished the
excavation by himself; fourteen graves were brought to light before the end of the month
of joint investigation,198 in addition to three undetermined structures; 199 Dimo found six
more graves after the French team left.200 Inhumation was without doubt the preferred
burial ritual: thirteen of the fourteen total graves were of this type.
196
Dimo 1990, p. 144; Dimo 1991, p. 75.
197
Dimo and Fenet 1996, p. 222.
198
Cabanes et al. 1997, p. 856; Dimo and Fenet 1996, p. 221.
199
Dimo and Fenet 1996, p. 221: the archaeologists could not decide if these were
cenotaph graves, votive deposits, or damaged graves.

200
117
The types of graves were the same as those observed in the other excavated
tumuli: limestone sarcophagi, child burials within pithoi, graves built with bricks, graves
built with tiles, and simple pits. The majority of graves were sarcophagi (6 cases),
followed by simple pits (3 cases), pithoi graves (2 or 3 cases), graves with bricks and tiles
(2 cases). The majority of the graves seemed to be dated to the late Classical and
Hellenistic periods.
Grave goods included pottery and metal objects, but there is no detailed
description of any of them: the presence of amphorai, red-figured pottery, plain ware,
small cups, aryballoi, and at least two pithoi are indicated. Bronze and iron objects
consisted of spearheads, strigils, and fibulae. A few bronze coins of Apollonia were also
found.201 Pottery older than the beginning of the sixth century was not found in the
graves; a few sherds dated to the Bronze Age were out of context.
All the osteological material was kept, and it is planned to carry out a physical
anthropological study of the remains. From the first analysis of the arrangement of the
graves, it was not possible to see groupings based on familial or social connections.202
MRAP SURVEY
One of the components of the MRAP project has been the preparation of a
detailed contour map of the necropolis of Apollonia (Fig. 73), with two main objectives:
to help in creating a management plan in order to protect the site from looting and other
dangers (such as erosion and extraction of raw materials including sand and gravel for
201
202
Dimo and Fenet 1996, pp. 221-223; Cabanes 1997, pp. 854-856.
118
building purposes), and to understand better the extent and the spatial organization of the
cemetery.
The method of work consisted of shooting topographical points with an Electronic
Distance Measuring instrument (EDM), producing a topographical map that defined
mounds and mound-like features, and then ground-truthing the results. The survey started
from the portion of the necropolis which stretches along the road from Kryegjata to
Radostina: in 1999 twenty one definite and two possible tumuli were identified on the
map and verified on the ground. In 2000 the mapping of this portion of the necropolis
was completed, and the impression of the archaeologists responsible for this project —
Michael Galaty, Muzafer Korkuti and Jim Newhard — was that the number of tumuli is
approximately one hundred, and that the necropolis extends for about eight hundred
meters: in their opinion it is delimited on the north by the përroi203 Vajës which has
damaged with its water some tumuli itself, and south by the Radostina-Apollonia road
(Fig. 74).
Another section of the necropolis, south of the previous one and above the
abandoned military installation at Kryegjata, was also mapped (Fig. 75): this area had
been looted and damaged by bunkers and gravel quarries even more massively than the
first section. It is here that in 1998 a tumulus was surface collected as Site 006.204 In
2000, a soil profile in one of the quarries was sampled for pedological analysis and
thermoluminescent dating because it was near a large Paleolithic site. In 2001, members
of MRAP returned to this quarry to take more samples, only to find that it had been
203
Albanian for stream.
204
Davis et al. 1999; Davis et al. 2000; Davis et al. 2001; Davis et al. 2002.
119
greatly expanded and that several Hellenistic graves had, as a consequence, been
destroyed and systematically looted. These and other graves in the vicinity appeared to
have belonged to a large previously undocumented tumulus. This tumulus was one of
several that had been constructed midway along the ridge. These have been substantially
eroded, making them difficult to recognize. The tumulus discovered in 2001 and
excavated by Bejko and Amore in 2002 is likely to have been part of a larger mound
group, to which also belonged several well-preserved tumuli at the western end of the
ridge.205
205
Amore 2004, note 5.
120
THE WORK OF THE ALBANIAN RESCUE ARCHAEOLOGY UNIT
At the beginning of 2002 the Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit, in collaboration
with the Institute of Archaeology of Tirana,206 excavated the tumulus that has been
designated Tumulus 9. The study and publication of the results of the project are in
progress.207 As already mentioned at the end of the last chapter, the tumulus had been
heavily damaged, because the hill on which it was located had been used as quarry for
gravel. As a consequence, several graves had been destroyed, or exposed and then looted.
The Archaeological rescue project consisted of accurate excavation and documentation of
the tumulus, and expansion of the archaeological protected area so that Tumulus 9 was
included.208 The motivation for the excavation, besides rescuing what was left of the
tumulus, was to conduct a research the most complete possible of the funerary customs in
Apollonia. It is important to point out also that, for the first time in the exploration of its
necropolis, the human skeletal209 and faunal material210 from a tumulus have been the
object of study.
206
The Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit was represented by Lorenc Bejko and the
author, and the Institute of Archaeology by Vangjel Dimo. Members of the team were
also: Iris Pojani, Surja Lela, Saimir Shpuza, Sabina Veseli, and Florian Mino. The team
was completed by two architects, a draftsman, and a group of workers from Radostina.
207
Drawings and pictures are not yet available for all the finds.
208
Ministria e Kulturës 2003, p. 31 (Vendim nr. 109, date 20.02.2003).
209
The physical-anthropological study has been conducted by Luc Buchet and Marième
Bouali from the CNRS of Nice.

210
The faunal analysis has been conducted by Adrienne Powell from Cardiff University.
121
METHODOLOGY OF EXCAVATION
Tumulus 9 was located approximately two kilometers northeast of Apollonia,
very close to the village of Radostina (Fig. 76). It was the easternmost tumulus in a line
of mounds located on a ridge oriented east-west; a second tumulus and probably a third
one are still in place (Fig. 77). The east side of the tumulus, which is estimated to have
comprised approximately one third of the tumulus, had been vertically cut and eroded.
Signs of scraping by heavy machinery were visible in the profile (Fig. 78).
The first operation before starting the excavation was to clean the whole surface
of the vegetation, fortunately consisting of grass and low bushes, with no deep roots.
During this activity all the pottery sherds and the human bones scattered on the surface
were collected. The area was also systematically mapped with a “Total Station”
instrument, in order to obtain a three dimensional model of the tumulus and the zone
around it.
The hill was then divided into four sectors along the cardinal axes.211 A
conventional center was established, dividing the hill so that the sectors each had a
similar volume. Half-meter-wide balks were preserved between the sectors until the end
of the excavation, especially close to the center. It was not always possible to keep the
balks for all their full length because of graves positioned within them. The maximum
preserved height of the tumulus was approximately two and a half meters, but the surface
of the artificial hill was extremely irregular due to vegetation, erosion, and holes of
211
Sector 1 occupied the northeast part of the tumulus, Sector 2 the southeast part, Sector
3 the southwest part, and Sector 4 the northwest part. Sectors 1 and 2 contained the area
of the original center of the tumulus.

122
looters. The axes of the excavated area measured approximately seven meters north-south
by eleven meters east-west.
The stratigraphy was complex, because the layers of soil were not always
horizontal, and because of the numerous holes — some of them of large dimensions —
produced by modern and ancient robbers. Schematically, it is possible to define five main
layers: 1) the superficial layer, so-called “humus”, very disturbed and rich in organic
wastes; 2) a layer approximately 0.70 m thick, mostly sandy, and still disturbed; 3) a
layer approximately 1.20 m thick, clayey, with visible intrusions by ancient looters; in
both these last two layers the presence of gravel was detected. Below the third layer,
there was 4) a layer, approximately 0.30 m thick, with the same characteristics as the
third layer, but much more gravelly, and containing fewer sherds, even approaching
sterility at the very bottom; and 5) the last layer consisting of the whitish gravel which
formed the natural hill, used as a quarry. This schematic stratigraphy was more regular in
the northeast and southeast sectors of Tumulus 9, which represented the original central
part of the complete tumulus. In the other two sectors — northwest and southwest — the
layers were thinner and showed much more disturbance than in the previous two.
FEATURES
The stratigraphic excavation brought to light 65 graves, 12 ceramic deposits, and
a feature difficult to define: it consisted of two parallel rows of mud-bricks
approximately thirty cm apart, between which there were burned animal bones and
123
fragments of five vessels; some sherds were also at the outer side of the mud-bricks.212
This feature is dated to the Archaic period by both stratigraphy and associated ceramics,
and it was positioned close to the probable center of the original tumulus (Fig. 79).
Single complete vessels, two or more complete vessels grouped together, and
concentrations of fragmented vessels outside graves were called “ceramic deposits” (Fig.
80). In contrast no complete metal objects were found outside graves, either alone or
associated with ceramics in circumstances which could be interpreted as deposits. In
three ceramic deposits, however, the vessels were associated with terracotta figurines. All
the ceramic deposits were found spatially separate from graves, and the directors of the
“Tumulus 9 Project” have interpreted them as probable offerings presented at the
anniversary of the death by the families of the deceased, but placed apart from the graves.
HUMAN OSTEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS213
The skeletal material has been analyzed in order to assess the age at death and the
sex of the individuals buried in the tumulus. The analysis of the age includes dividing the
sample into general age classes (child, adult/subadult, adult) and determination of an
approximate age. Among 78 total individuals found in graves, 38 were children, 3 were
212
When this feature was discovered, a grave number was assigned to it (Grave 62). A
similar structure was found by Aleksandra Mano in Tumulus 1, Grave 119: she has
defined it as a cenotaph. In this case, however, there were pottery fragments and traces of
burning, but absolutely no bones. Grave 119 is dated to the Archaic period (Mano 1971,
p. 112).
213
The analysis of the French anthropologists is still in progress.
124
adults/sub adults, and 36 were adults.214 In one case the skeleton was so poorly preserved
that it was impossible to estimate the age.215
There are also different levels of confidence in the assessment of the sex of the
adults. Among the 36 total adults, the sex of 10 could not be identified; 9 females and 6
males were classified with certainty, and 4 females and 7 males were identified with a
margin of doubt (Table 8). Remains of 19 other skeletons, 6 of which were children, were
also found in the tumulus. Because of their incompleteness and of lack of context, they
could not be considered graves, although they surely come from graves destroyed either
in recent or ancient times.
FAUNAL ANALYSIS
Almost all of the animal bone remains from Tumulus 9 were concentrated in
“Grave” 62, the Archaic mud-brick structure that has not yet been fully interpreted. The
fragments identified are attributed to two sheep/goats. As for the unidentified fragments,
the specialist who conducted her analysis is fairly sure that they come from the two
cremated sheep or goat found associated with the feature, but the intense heat of the fire
has fractured the bones and left many splinters too small to piece together and identify. It
is possible to say also that one animal was smaller than the other; the body parts present
214
Following the system used by Buchet and Bouali in their analysis of the material, the
category of children includes individuals from 0 to 18 years old; the category of
adults/sub adults individuals between 18 and 20 years old; and the category of adults,
individuals over 20 years old.

215
Grave 3.
125
make up one complete skeleton with some additional fore and hind limb bones. There are
also a few pieces coming from other contexts, which include again sheep/goat, but also
cattle and fox. They were found, however, in superficial layers and thus could be modern
remains.
BURIAL RITUALS
The tumulus was used for three centuries, from the beginning of the sixth to the
end of the fourth century B.C.216 Inhumation and cremation were both practiced in the
tumulus, but inhumation was the greatly preferred ritual: there are 71 inhumations, but
only 7 cremations. It does not appear, however, that cremation had a chronological or
social distinction. In a sarcophagus grave (Grave 55), in fact, where two skeletons were
present, one was inhumed and the other cremated. Usually the cremation was performed
in situ in simple pits (Fig. 81)217 or in graves outlined with wood (Fig. 82),218 except for
the case of the sarcophagus described above, and one urn.219 Cremation was practiced
also during the whole period of use of the cemetery; the sarcophagus grave, for example,
is dated to the sixth century B.C., while the urn dates to the end of the fourth century B.C.
Single burials were most common in Tumulus 9; there are, however, eleven
multiple burials, nine of which had two individuals,220 and two of which had three
216
This statement is based on the date of the grave goods.
217
Graves 18, 53, and 60.
218
Graves 31 and 58.
219
Grave 61.
220
Graves 4, 7, 9, 11, 25, 38, 41, 46, and 55.
126
individuals.221 Except for Grave 55, all the multiple graves were inhumations. In the
majority of inhumations, the body had been placed in a supine position, with extended
arms and legs. There were, however, two exceptions: in the first the skeleton had the right
arm flexed on the chest,222 and in the other the deceased had both arms lying over
pelvis.223
The graves had various orientations. According to Aleksandra Mano, the
prevalent orientation of the Tumulus 1 burials made her think that the bodies had been
laid down so that they could “look” at Apollonia.224 In Tumulus 9 the same is not true;
since the tumulus lies to the northeast of Apollonia, skeletons oriented with their heads
towards the northeast and their feet toward the southwest would have faced the city. In
fact, this is one of the less common orientations. The preferred orientations were towards
the southeast and southwest, followed by the west, northwest, south, and finally
northeast. Only a single case each was oriented towards the east and north (Fig 83).
GRAVE TYPES
The graves included almost all of the types known from previous excavations in
the necropolis: sarcophagi (Fig. 84),225 enchytrismoi (Fig. 85),226 graves built of mud-
221
Graves 26 and 34.
222
Grave 39.
223
Grave 45.
224
Mano 1971, pp. 111-112.
225
Graves 4, 5, 21, 22, 46, 51, 55, and 56.
226
Graves 3, 14, 24, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 43, 47, 49, 50, and 52.
127
bricks (Fig. 86)227 and bricks (Fig. 87),228 simple pits (Fig. 88),229 and urns (Fig. 89).230
As mentioned in the discussion about cremation, two graves consisted of pits outlined
with wood (Fig. 82), a feature that has not been found in the other Apollonia tumuli. In
one case, in the northwest sector of the tumulus, a concentration of fragmentary tiles not
in their original context was found, probably remains of a destroyed grave “alla
cappuccina” or with the tiles forming a coffin (Fig. 90).
The majority of graves were simple pits (48%), followed by enchytrismoi (23%),
sarcophagi (12%), and graves built of mud-bricks (11%). There were only two graves
outlined with wood, while urns and graves built of bricks were represented by only one
exemplar each (Fig. 91).
Table 9 illustrates the types and number of graves grouped by chronological
periods,231 with additional information regarding the ritual, anthropological data, position
within the tumulus, and presence/absence of grave goods for each grave. The information
in this table can be summarized as follow:
227
Graves 7, 9, 19, 39, 54, 59, and 63.
228
Grave 26.
229
Graves 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 29, 30, 32, 36, 38, 41, 42,
44, 45, 48, 53, 57, 60, 64, 65, and 66.
230
See note 193.
231
In Tumulus 9 the Archaic period includes all the sixth century and the first quarter of
the fifth century BC; the Classical period from the second quarter of the fifth century to
the third quarter of the fourth century BC; and the Hellenistic period only the last quarter
of the fourth century B.C.

128
• Simple pits were widely used during all periods of the cemetery. Because of the
compact nature of the soil in the cemetery it has been impossible to distinguish
the original outline of this type of graves. Given the nature itself of the tumulus,
which consists of an artificial hill built by bringing soil from the surrounding area
to cover the graves, it is likely that the deceased was laid down on the tumulus
surface, which had simply been cleaned and leveled, and that a sunken pit had not
been excavated into the extant surface.
• Enchytrismoi were preferred in the Archaic and Classical periods. Both pithoi
and transport amphorai were used for this purpose, but with an overwhelming
prevalence of pithoi (in a ratio of 4:1). Sometimes the mouth of the vessel was
closed by a tile or a stone slab.
• Sarcophagi also were used in the Archaic and Classical periods and they were
carved from a single limestone block. Monolithic limestone sarcophagi are a
typical Corinthian custom.232 At Apollonia they were usually covered by roof
232
In the North Cemetery at Corinth monolithic sarcophagi were widely used beginning
in the Protocorinthian period, but they flourished in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.
(Corinth XIII, p. 71). In the fourth century B.C. the production diminished (Hitzl 1991, p.
24). In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. the use of sarcophagi was widespread also in
Ionia, as well as in Sicily, at Gela, Siracusa, and Megara Hyblaea (Hitzl 1991, pp. 27,
42).
129
shaped — or gabled — lids.233 The best preserved lid in Tumulus 9 (Grave 5) was
decorated with an incised triangular pattern on the underside (Fig. 92).234 Among
the eight sarcophagi found in the tumulus, two were of small dimensions, for
children.235 One of these was covered with an unworked stone slab, and the other
one by tiles. Three other sarcophagi236 were lined with pale red stucco.237 In
Tumulus 9 two sarcophagi were visibly reused (Graves 4 and 5).238 They were
close to each other and at quite a high elevation. One of them was not covered by
its proper lid, but by one too large and heavy for it, so that the walls of the vasca
had been broken as well as the floor. The other reused sarcophagus had grave
goods dated to the Classical period, but an inscription in the Archaic Corinthian
alphabet on the upper rim of the vasca (Fig. 93). The inscription is complete and
consists of three letters. It is possible to read Lambda or Π, Epsilon, and San. The
233
Sarcophagi lids are predominantly flat (Corinth XIII, p. 71; Hitzl 1991, p. 24), but
there are a few exceptions, like grave 222 in the North Cemetery (Corinth XIII, p. 71, pl.
15), and in the necropolis of Ierissos (Hitzl 1991, p. 27).

234
There is one example in the North Cemetery (grave 218) where the triangular pattern
is painted (Corinth XIII, p. 72, pl. 17; Hitzl 1991, p. 25, note 9); the grave is dated to the
mid-sixth century B.C. (Corinth XIII, p. 202).

235
Graves 21 and 51.
236
Graves 4, 5 and 56.
237
In Corinth, most of the sarcophagi were lined with white or yellowish waterproof
stucco (Corinth XIII, p. 72).

238
This custom is known also in the North Cemetery at Corinth. See Corinth XIII, p. 76.
130
first letter is dubious because the top stroke is inclined like in a lambda, but
appears to have a short hook like in a Π; the inscription, therefore, could read LES
or ΠES.239 No other inscription on such an early sarcophagus is known.240
• Graves built of mud-bricks are dated to the Classical period, predominantly fourth
century B.C. Because of the nature of the mud-brick itself and of the soil by
which the graves were covered, the single bricks were fused together, forming a
compact structure. Only in one case was it possible to identify the dimensions of
the bricks, which measured 0.46 x 0.46 m.
• Two burials lined with wood, both cremations, were also found in Tumulus 9.
One of them is dated to the Archaic, and the other to the Classical period, by
stratigraphy. Under the wood there were also traces of burned clay or mud-bricks.
No similar features have been published from the other Apollonia tumuli.
• Only one grave built of bricks was found in Tumulus 9. It was a multiple burial
with three inhumations dated to the Hellenistic period. Although heavily damaged
by looters, it was possible to distinguish the dimensions of the bricks: 0.38 x 0.38
x 0.08 m, the same size as in the other graves of the same type found in Tumuli 1,
6, and 7.
239
Jeffery 1990, p. 114.
240
The only other Archaic inscription in the necropolis of Apollonia was the name
Ksenaristas on a stele found in Tumulus 1 (Mano 1971, p. 197, pl. 47, 2). At Metaponto,
incised Greek letters or monograms (interpreted as mason marks) have been found in the
necropolis on seven cists dated from the end of the fourth to the beginning of the third
century B.C. (Carter 1998, pp. 87-88).

131
• Only one urn, also dated to the Hellenistic period, was found in the Tumulus 9. It
was a plain hydria, containing the cremated remains of an individual aged 10-15
years.
GRAVE GOODS
A large number of the burials, 69%, had grave goods. Moreover, 72% of the
individuals under age 18 years were buried with objects, in comparison with 57% of the
adults. Grave goods consisted mostly of pottery; in addition, some metal objects,
including bronze jewelry, bronze and iron strigils, and few iron weapons, also
accompanied some individuals (Fig. 94). In the graves of the younger individuals
astragaloi were frequent,241 although their number in individual graves varied from one to
150 (Table 10).
The distribution of grave goods varied depending on the types of graves (Table
11). The most frequent grave type, the simple pit, also produced the greatest variety of
goods. There was nearly an equal number of pit burials with and without objects; among
the ones with grave goods, the number of objects per grave ranged from 1 to 13. Among
enchytrismoi and sarcophagi the majority of graves were associated with grave goods,
but the average number of objects per grave was not very high. Graves built of mud-
bricks, bricks and wood, and the only urn were all associated with objects. The grave type
with the highest average number of grave goods was the burial built of mud-bricks; it is
followed by the grave built of bricks, although since just one was found in Tumulus 9, it
alone would not be statistically relevant. On the other hand, in the other tumuli previously
241
For the presence of astragaloi in child burials see Carter 1998, pp. 838-839.
132
excavated a high number of objects in graves with bricks was also observed,242 so it is
reasonable to see a consistent general trend, with a confirmation in Tumulus 9 of the
pattern found elsewhere in the necropolis of Apollonia.
Pottery243
The study of the finds from Tumulus 9 at this stage is not complete yet, so the
pieces illustrated below are only a sample of the materials found during the excavation;
the examples chosen, however, are good representative of the body of grave goods. The
most common shapes found in the graves in Tumulus 9 were drinking vessels such as
kotylai, skyphoi, one-handler cups, two-handler cups, cup-skyphoi, cup-kantharoi, and
mugs. They were found in graves of all periods and types except the urn and those
outlined with wood, and with individuals of all ages and both sexes:
• Several kotylai imported from Corinth were found in graves of different types:
those dated to the second quarter of the sixth century were decorated with rays in
the bottom half (1). Toward the end of the century the rays became simple vertical
lines (2). To the second third of the sixth century B.C. are dated also a few kotylai
decorated with a simple linear pattern or with a chain of lotus buds (3).
• In the fifth century black-glazed Type C skyphoi were introduced (4), but type A
was also represented (5). In the fourth century local imitations were widespread.
Also in the fourth century red-figured Italic imports appeared (6), followed by
242
Mano 1971, p. 125; Dimo 1990, pp. 28, 30, 33-35, 38.
243
See Appendix 1 – Catalogue.
133
local imitations (7). They were decorated with male and female heads in profile
on both sides, and with palmettes under the handles.
• Dated to the Classical period are local one-handler cups, with a horseshoe shaped
handle (8) or with a strap handle (9).
• Dated to the Classical period are black-glazed two-handler cups, such as bolsals
(10), and small vessels with stamped palmettes on the tondo (11), probably of
local production.
• A very fine cup-skyphos, an Attic import dated to the third quarter of the sixth
century B.C. (12), was the only example of this shape from a grave in Tumulus 9.
It was decorated with a tongue pattern alternating red and black close to the stem.
• Another Attic import was a black-glazed cup-kantharos with stamped decoration
on the tondo, dated to the third quarter of the fourth century B.C. (13).
• Of probable local production, instead, was a mug with a ring-shaped handle, dated
to the end of the fourth century B.C. (14).
The category of pottery with the second largest number of examples comprised
pitchers such as oinochoai, jugs, olpai, and hydriai; these were, nevertheless, only half as
many of these as of the previous category. These vessels were found in graves of all
periods, but not of all types: they occurred in simple pits, enchytrismoi, sarcophagi, and
graves built of mud-bricks. Pitchers were not always associated with drinking cups, and
they were mostly in the graves of younger individuals. They were all of small
dimensions, approximately ten or twelve cm high: 244
244
This is true except for the Archaic round-mouthed oinochoe in the sarcophagus Grave
55 (21), and for the Hellenistic hydria used as an urn in Grave 61.
134
• Trefoil oinochoai dated to the Classical period were infrequent and very
fragmentary. In a sarcophagus grave of the Archaic period, among other finds,
there was also a Corinthian round-mouthed oinochoe dated to the first quarter of
the fifth century B.C. (21).
• Olpai found in Tumulus 9 were of the same type as those found in previously
excavated tumuli, and were very likely of local origin. It is possible to see an
evolution of the shape through time, from an elongated (22) to a squat body (23).
• Hydriai were rare in Tumulus 9, but there was one interesting red-figured
example, an Italic import dated to the Late Classical period (24). It was decorated
with a female figure making an offering at a grave marker, with a large palmette
under the vertical handle and ovules and palmettes on the shoulder and on the rim.
Table amphorai, of local production, were scattered in graves of Classical,
especially Late Classical, and Early Hellenistic periods. They were found mostly in
simple pits, but also in burials built of mud-bricks, and in the only one with bricks. The
shape is uniform in Tumulus 9 and in the other tumuli: a rounded body, sometimes squat,
a slightly flaring neck, and a triangular rim (25).
Different types of lekythoi were found, although the total number was not very
high. They were found only in graves outlined with mud-bricks and simple pits, dated to
the Classical and Late Classical/Hellenistic periods. Red-figured squat lekythoi were very
small, approximately six or seven cm. high, and were probably of local production: some
were decorated with two female heads without details, apparently looking at a mirror
(26); some were decorated with palmettes, imitating Attic examples (27). In a simple pit
135
grave there was one ribbed black-glazed lekythos with an unusual outturned rim,
probably of local production (28).
In two Archaic graves, a sarcophagus and an enchytrismos, were found
Corinthian so-called “kothons” or “exaleiptra”: in the sarcophagus there were four
identical examples, decorated with lines and with a chessboard motif (15). In the
enchytrismos the vessel was of small dimensions and was decorated with a sort of
meander (16). In the sarcophagus grave, associated with the kothons, there was also a
lydion, an Ionian import dated to mid-sixth century B.C. (29), and the Corinthian round-
mouthed oinochoe dated to the first quarter of the fifth century B.C. (21), mentioned
above.
Pyxides were found only in pithoi used as enchytrismoi, and thus were associated
exclusively with new borns and the youngest individuals. Two of them were of globular
type, complete with their lids: they were Corinthian imports of the Late Corinthian II
period, that is dated to after the mid-sixth century B.C., one decorated with a tongue
pattern on the shoulder and with a chain of lotus buds on the body (30). The other two
pyxides were of cylindrical type: one was a tripod pyxis, probably of Ionian provenance,
dated to the end of the sixth century BC. It was decorated with horizontal and vertical
red- and black-painted lines, forming panels in which a snake and a swan were
represented (17).
Very few kraters were found in the graves in Tumulus 9. The only complete
example was a red-figured calyx krater (18), very likely of local production. It was found
in a mud-brick grave245 with two adult individuals, one probably male and the other one
245
Grave 7.
136
unidentified, dated to the Late Classical period. The grave was rich in grave goods: two
table amphorai, two black-glazed skyphoi, a black-glazed one-handler cup (8), a black-
glazed cup-kantharos (13), a small jug (22), an iron spearhead, two iron strigils, and a
part of a bronze medallion (41).
Two Corinthian plates dated to the Middle Corinthian period, that is to 590-570
B.C., were in the same Archaic simple pit grave that contained the Attic cup-skyphos
(12): one was decorated with panthers and grazing deer in two friezes (19); the other
plate was decorated with a phytomorphic motif (20). These are the earliest finewares
found in a grave of Tumulus 9.
A fragmentary neck of a Corinthian Type A transport amphora (Fig. 125) was the
earliest dated pottery from Tumulus 9, found isolated at the eastern edge of the tumulus
that was damaged by the bull-dozer (31). It is dated to the last quarter or even the third
quarter of the seventh century BC.
Metal Objects
Grave goods other than ceramics were not very abundant in Tumulus 9. In addition,
some pieces consist of unidentified objects of corroded iron. The majority of the metal
objects are, in any case, jewelry.
• Two spiral bronze bracelets with animal head finials were found in a simple pit
grave (Grave 32) of an individual 4 to 8 years old, dated to the Classical period
(32-33). This type of bracelet is also known from the other excavated tumuli.
What is unique to Tumulus 9, however, is the presence of two bronze bracelets
typical of the local Developed Iron Age culture (34-35) in an Archaic simple pit
137
grave of an adult individual, probably female. One has truncated-pyramidal
finials, and is decorated with incised groups of lines and circles; the other one is a
simple bronze wire, with an oval section. The bracelets were associated with the
following:
• Two iron spectacle fibulae,246 unfortunately extremely corroded. A totally
different type of fibula comes from the sarcophagus grave of a child: it is made of
bronze and has a sort of rhomboidal shape (36).
• Also in two simple pit graves of children247 were found bronze earrings. A single
one (37) was in the same grave as the two spiral bracelets with the animal head
finials (32-33). A pair is dated to the Late Classical/Hellenistic period and was
associated with an individual approximately two years old (38).
• With a cremation in a simple pit of an adult or sub-adult was found the only finger
ring from Tumulus 9: it is a fine silver example with rhomboid bezel decorated
with a bird and two gold dots (39).
• A bronze small medallion or applique decorated with a repoussé Medusa face (40)
was found in the reused sarcophagus grave, with the inscription on the rim of the
vasca. A similar one had been found by Dimo in Tumulus 6. These types of
decoration are also not uncommon in South Italy. Two bronze parts of medallions
with animal heads finials were also discovered in the grave with the red-figured
krater and in the grave built of bricks (41).
246
Andrea 1985, pl. 6, grave 40, 1-3.
247
As it is possible to observe in Tumulus 9, jewelry was common in child graves. This
does not correspond with the North Cemetery at Corinth (Corinth XIII, p. 83).
138
A few bronze and iron strigils (42-43) were included in some Classical mud-brick
and simple pit graves and in the Hellenistic brick grave, with both adults and individuals
under age 18 years. When an adult is associated with a strigil, the individual is male or
probably male.248 The best preserved bronze example has a handle with a leaf-shaped
termination fixed with a rivet to the body of the strigil (42). This detail is common in
strigils dated after 400 BC.249
In the category of weapons, a total of only three iron spearheads was found in two
mud-brick and in one simple pit grave dated to the Classical period. In each case the
spearhead was associated with adults, among whom one was certainly male and one
probably male. All the three spearheads have an olive leaf shape (44).
A few iron knives were associated with both male and probable females in
sarcophagus graves that are also of the Classical period, and in the Archaic simple pit
grave with jewelry of the native culture attributed probably to a female. They are, in
general, very corroded. The Archaic example has one cutting edge (45). Also among the
metal objects in Tumulus 9 were iron frames of a pair of sandals (46), and a horse bit (47)
similar to those found in Tumulus 6.
CONCLUSIONS
248
The same custom is observed in the North Cemetery at Corinth (Corinth XIII, p. 83).
At Metaponto, instead, strigils are associated also with females (Carter 1998, p. 801). In
the brick multiple grave there is, indeed, also a female individual.
249
Carter 1998, p. 799.
139
In this chapter I focused my analysis of Tumulus 9 on the graves, and on the finds
and the osteological material associated with them, because they come from a context
which can provide reliable information. I did not treat here the ceramic deposits and the
material from the layers created by filling the tumulus or from destroyed graves.
Furthermore, as I pointed out at the beginning of the chapter, the study of this tumulus is
not yet concluded. Finally, it must also be remembered that data from approximately one
third of the tumulus was missing and destroyed before the scientific investigation began.
The picture resulting from the excavation does not differ in its major trends from
that of the other tumuli previously excavated; the duration of use, the types of graves, and
most types of objects are all similar. But there are also two characteristics which give
Tumulus 9 its own “identity”: the high number of child burials compared to other tumuli
(34% of the total sample is aged under 3 years),250 and the presence of grave goods of
native culture mixed with the usual imported ones.
There are some limits to the analysis, due to the fact that 65 graves are not a very
large sample, especially when they are divided into chronological phases. Also the
impossibility of attributing age and sex to all the skeletons prevents the recognition of
some correlations and the identification of potential patterns in the mortuary customs. But
despite these difficulties, interesting information has been obtained from Tumulus 9.
First, as illustrated in Table 9, it is possible to observe a decline in the quantity of grave
goods in the Hellenistic period for both general age classes of children and adults, except
in the case of the multiple inhumations in the grave built of bricks. In addition, there is an
250
What surprises one is not the high number of child burials in absolute terms, but with
respect to the other tumuli.

140
increase in the number of simple pit burials starting from the Late Classical period. In the
Late Classical period enchytrismoi and sarcophagus graves also disappear, while graves
outlined with mud-bricks start to be used.
If the graves in Table 11 are split in the two broad categories of simple pits and
graves with structures (of whatever kind), it is evident that the sum of the number of
grave goods is higher in the group of graves with structures. Comparing the number of
grave goods associated with males and probable males to those associated with females
and probable females demonstrates that women had in total a higher number of grave
goods. Except for strigils and probably spearheads, however, it does not seem that there
were objects typically attributed to males or females. It is possible to observe a
distinction, instead, between individuals under age 18 years and adults: astragaloi, and
also pyxides and jewelry were associated with children, with the exception of the adult
probable female with goods of native culture. Indeed the two spiral bracelets and the
earrings were found in child burials. The one individual accompanied by the silver ring
could be a sub-adult or an adult.
Regarding the controversy about the founding date of the colony, in Tumulus 9
there is no evidence to support the theory of a date earlier than the traditional one: the
only grave good that can be dated to the end of the seventh century, the Iron Age bronze
bracelet of native culture, is associated with other objects of later date, including a
Corinthian kotyle of the second quarter of the sixth century B.C. (Fig. 95). The neck of a
Corinthian Type A transport amphora, dated to the last or even to the third quarter of the
seventh century, should not surprise us, since relationships based on trade were likely to
have been established with local populations much earlier than the establishment of the
141
Greek settlement. The amphora could have been reused as an enchytrismos grave after it
had ceased to be used for its original function.
The Archaic grave with typical jewelry of local Iron Age culture may provide
evidence for understanding the identities of the people buried in the tumuli necropolis of
Apollonia. But is it coincidental that this grave, the only one with this type of object
among hundreds of graves excavated to date, is in Sector 4, that is in the northwest part
of the tumulus, and that it is the only Archaic grave in that area, quite far from the
original center of the tumulus where the other Archaic graves are grouped?
My very last remark is that it is really necessary to excavate more tumuli in
different areas of the necropolis, both in order to have a wider view of the structure and
the formation of the necropolis, and to compare the results so as to individuate patterns or
differences among the tumuli. It is necessary also to proceed with the new model set by
the “Tumulus 9 Project”, consisting of careful excavation, analysis not only of pottery
and other objects, but also of the human skeletal material, and comprehensive
publication. Indeed it is essential to develop a physical anthropological study on a much
larger sample, so that it will be possible to define age and sex of the deceased with more
confidence, and to allow more correlations to burial customs. Having a larger skeletal
sample, it would be possible and useful to elaborate new methods of study, such as DNA
analyses to establish whether family groups occurred in the same tumulus, or other type
of analyses to investigate life-style, diet, and pathologies of the ancient inhabitants of the
colony and of the chora. There are still many questions to answer about Apollonia, its
origin, its relationships with the local population, its trade and its development; the
necropolis has an enormous potential to provide some answers.

142
CHAPTER 5: SYNTHESIS: INTEGRATION OF THE DATA FROM THE
SETTLEMENT AND THE CEMETERY
After the description and the analysis of the data coming from the various projects
in the city, in the chora, and in the necropolis of Apollonia, it is of great interest to
compare the information acquired so far. As we have seen in Chapter 2, the area that has
been explored within the city walls is not very large compared to the extension of the
colony itself, at least in the period of its highest flourishing. In addition there is the long
and continuous occupation of the city, which caused the obliteration of evidence for the
earliest settlement and construction of the most ancient buildings. In fact, Archaic finds
are quite sporadic and casually found during the excavation of later structures, as in the
case of the recent exploration of the “building with the mosaic” or sacellum, west of the
stoa with niches, and dated to the third-first century B.C.,251 or of structures to the north
of the stoa with niches.252 The Archaic material found in excavations since the beginning
of the 20th century is limited to: a pottery workshop,253 deposits along the fortifications,254
and the foundations of the so-called gymnasium.255 It consists mostly of fragments of
Corinthian Type A and Type B transport amphorai, Ionian cups, and Corinthian and Attic
251
Cabanes et al. 1997, p. 853; Cabanes et al. 1999, p. 573; Cabanes et al. 2000, pp. 626-
627.
252
253
Vreka 1994, pp. 205, 208.
254
Sestieri 1942, p. 50; Koço 1987, p. 246.
255
143
black-figured pottery. Unfortunately, of this recently discovered evidence, there are only
brief notices in publications, without illustrations or figures of the material.
The structures said to be Archaic and even contemporary with the founding of the
colony are also not well documented. There is only: the foundations of a building or an
altar on Hill 104, reported by Hasan Ceka and Praschniker, and associated with proto-
Corinthian and Corinthian ceramic fragments;256 the foundations of a building thirty
meters long and ten meters wide uncovered on the acropolis, and interpreted by
Praschniker as a temple;257 the structure of “stepped” courses of blocks worked with large
chisels found in 1987 under the southeast corner of the monastery’s retaining wall, and
dated by Lame Koço to the sixth century B.C. after comparing the chiseling technique to
the method used to carve Archaic sarcophagi.258 Recently, some time after the discoveries
described above, traces of an Archaic street were found and documented by a team led by
Cabanes under later structures to the north of the stoa with niches.259 Based on this
limited evidence, we are still a long way from understanding the nature and development
of the settlement from its first phase through the fifth century B.C. Only in the fourth
century B.C. do we get a picture of Apollonia as a well established city with an imposing
agora, a carefully organized urban plan, wealthy houses,260 a ingenious hydraulic system
for storing and distributing water,261 a large theater,262 and impressive fortifications.263
256
H. Ceka 1958a, p. 217.
257
Praschniker 1922, col. 35-40.
258
Koço 1987, p. 246.
259
260
Rey 1925, pp. 11-15; Rey 1927, pp. 17, 25; Rey 1927, p. 16; N. Ceka 1982, pp. 51-53.
144
In the territory around Apollonia, the most visible monument representing the
status of the colony is the temple of Shtyllas. Its uncertain date and dedication, however,
does not allow us to place it concretely into a specific phase of the city. Very recently, in
September 2004, a new excavation conducted by the team led by Davis, Pojani, Dimo,
and Stocker in the property called “Pojan Bonjakët” has brought to light votive material
dated from the last quarter of the sixth century to the Hellenistic period, and part of a
large stone temple, previously unknown.264 A stele representing Artemis found in a field
near the property, with a dedicatory inscription to her, might suggest to which deity the
temple was dedicated.265
New data have been produced also by the survey of the Mallakastra project in the
chora, the first of this kind ever conducted in the region, which has investigated an
261
Dimo 1977-1978, pp. 317-319; N. Ceka 1982, pp. 61-63.
262
N. Ceka 1982, pp. 53-54; Mano 1977-1978, p. 279; Mano 1999-2000, pp. 183-207.
263
Dimo 1984, pp. 199-213; Koço 1987, p. 246; Koço 1990, pp. 257-258; Balandier-
Koço 1996, pp. 205-216; Cabanes et al. 1999, pp. 577-580; Cabanes et al. 2000, pp. 621-
624; Balandier-Koço 1996, p. 216; Balandier-Koço 1996, p. 207.

264
In 1960 Anamali excavated what he called a sanctuary in the same area: he found
stretches of brick walls, and hundreds of terracotta figurines, usually representing two
female figures. He attributed the temple to Demeter and Kore and dated it to the fourth-
second century B.C.; this excavation has never been published.

265
http://classics.uc.edu/~davis/Bonjaketreport2004.zip
145
enormous area around the city.266 The study provides information and extensive data on
the use of the territory and its evolution through time from Prehistory to modern time.
From the analysis of the data from the Archaic and Classical periods done in Chapter 3,
emerges a picture of occupation of quite a wide area, from the coastal plain to Margëlliç,
but not an intensive distribution of finds. Concentration of pottery in Kryegjata and in
Margëlliç areas seems to be the most striking element of the artifact distribution pattern.
It is interesting to notice that in the Archaic period transport amphorai
predominate largely over other categories of ceramics, such as fine pottery, coarse wares,
and tiles and bricks. This result is compatible with the idea that the nature of the first
contacts between Greeks and local people was essentially commercial. In the Hellenistic
period there is then an “explosion” in the number of finds of all categories, which reflects
an increased interaction between the colony and the chora. Concentrations of finds that
have been called “sites” have a principal Hellenistic component, and most of them have
been interpreted as farmsteads. Very few of these sites show traces of activity in the
Archaic and Classical periods.
If we look at the data coming from the excavations in the city and from the
survey, and we compare them with the data from the necropolis, what is more striking is
the difference in quantity of the material from the Archaic period. As we have seen in
Chapter 4, from the major tumuli excavated till now – Tumulus 1 by Aleksandra
Mano,267 Tumuli 6 and 7 by Vangjel Dimo,268 Tumulus 8 by Dimo and Fenet,269 and
266
Davis et al. 1998; Davis et al. 1999; Davis et al. 2000; Davis et al. 2001; Davis et al.
2002.
267
Mano 1971.
146
Tumulus 9 by Amore, Bejko and Dimo – graves dated to the sixth and fifth century B.C.
make up a considerable proportion of the tumuli: 24% in Tumulus 1, 44% in Tumulus 6,
27% in Tumulus 7, 45% in Tumulus 8, and 46% in Tumulus 9. But more important than
their number is the richness, the quality and the variety of grave goods, in most of the
cases imported, and the economical effort put in the grave itself in the cases of sarcophagi
and enchytrismoi. The picture given by the necropolis is of a lively society, with intense
commercial activity, and with wealth to display. This should correspond to a well
established settlement with good infrastructures and a quite high level of life.
From the end of the fifth century B.C. in all the tumuli we notice the gradual
disappearance first of enchytrismoi and then of sarcophagi, and the appearance of
different types of burials. Graves built with mud-bricks are very common in the fourth
century B.C.; from the end of the fourth graves built with bricks appear, and in the third
century graves built with tiles forming a coffin or “alla cappuccina” are very frequent. At
the same time, from the fourth century, a considerable increase in locally made pottery is
detected among the grave goods. This evolution in the cemetery is contemporary to the
“monumentalization” of Apollonia, at least from what we know till now, and to the
establishment of farmsteads in the chora. Mano has talked about ethnic changes in the
268
Dimo 1990.
269
Dimo and Fenet 1996, pp. 221-222; Cabanes et al. 1997, p. 856; Cabanes et al. 1990,
p. 704.
147
population of the colony during the Hellenistic period,270 but there is no evidence to
confirm this.
270
Mano 1971, p. 109.
148
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS
This study has shown that it is critical to examine all aspects of Apollonia, as with
every other settlement, including city, chora, and cemeteries, in order to understand its
history and development. It is important to stress that all archaeological work, even small
projects, can contribute to our understanding of the city. But, it is essential that all field
work is done carefully, described and documented thoroughly, and published promptly.
The current study demonstrates the importance of comparing data from different
sources and projects, even of different nature, and the positive result given by the
integration of the data from them. The intensive surface survey showed that there is a
great potential in this technique to highlight land use in a wide area and over an even
wider time span, and to point out places where it is worth focusing attention. Even so,
there is a lack of data from the city regarding the foundation of the colony, and the first
two centuries of its life.
This lack is filled partially by the work done in the necropolis. However, after
comparing data from the various tumuli excavated, it is evident that they are far from
uniform, and that more study is necessary. Future work should address the definite size of
the “Greek” necropolis and actual number of tumuli: in fact, the number found by the
MRAP project, approximately 100,271 varies significantly from the number identified by
Dimo, approximately 300.272 A second goal should be to try to identify areas within the
necropolis: it has been said that tumuli, which are a traditional Illyrian cemetery form,
271
Davis et al. 2000.
272
V. Dimo (pers. comm.).
149
must have been used by the local population;273 if this is the case, where were the Greek
colonists buried? Looking at the large size of the necropolis, and considering that every
tumulus includes approximately 100 individuals (as an average number between large
tumuli and small tumuli), from my point of view it is difficult to imagine that only part of
the population is buried there. In my opinion it is difficult to imagine also that marriages
between Greeks and local population did not happen, and that members of families with
mixed ethnic origins were not buried together in the same tumulus. Hopefully the
physical anthropological study started by the Tumulus 9 Project can help find an answer
to this question. Similar study of the human bones must be pursued in every future
project, and possibly also in the tumuli already excavated from which skeletal remains
have been collected, in order to have a wider sample to study. In addition, the analyses of
the skeletal material gives information on sex, age at death, pathologies and diet of the
individuals buried: these data, integrated with the archaeological data, can give an
enormous amount of knowledge regarding burial customs and way of life, making it
possible also to see differences through time.
In preparing this thesis I have been fortunate enough to have used primary data
from new research conducted in the hinterland as well as the necropolis of Apollonia. At
the conclusion of my analyses I consider the colonization at Apollonia as a process
started with commercial exchanges and based on interactions between colonists and local
populations. Evidence of the commercial activity is the imported pottery and the high
quantity of transport amphorai. By the end of the sixth century B.C. Apollonia was likely
a well established city, judging from the size of the necropolis, and the richness and
273
Mano 1977-1978, pp. 65-66.
150
variety of grave goods, but with limited archaeologically visible impact on the hinterland.
In the fourth century B.C., that the city was flourishing is reflected in the enormous
development in the use of the chora, in the monumentalization of the city and in the
massive production of pottery. In the necropolis the shift in the use of new types of
graves shows an evolution, but it is still difficult to interpret its meaning.
As a final remark, I would like to say that I see this study not as an end, but as a
starting point: I hope that, besides all its limitations, it can be useful for understanding
where we are in the interpretation of Apollonia, and help in pointing future research in
fruitful directions.
151
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCES
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157
APPENDIX 1: CATALOGUE
The reference numbers indicate: sector. stratigraphical unit/inventory number.

Dimensions are expressed in centimeters, weight in grams.
The study of the finds from Tumulus 9 is not complete: the objects described below are a sample of finds
from graves, except for the Corinthian Type A amphora neck (31).
The objects have been grouped in broad categories: open shapes and closed shapes for the pottery; jewelry,
strigils, weapons, tools, and various for the small finds.
POTTERY
Open shapes
1. 4.166/709 (Grave 45) Kotyle Fig. 95
H 6.5; Diam rim 9.0; Diam base 4.2. Restored; missing handle. 2.5Y 8/3 very pale
yellow, purified clay; Corinthian fabric. Glaze worn off. Ring foot, straight rim, and bell
handles. Dilute black-glaze fired red. Band of triangular rays at base of wall. Black and
red bands on body. Painted concentric circles on underside. Cf. Bentz 1982, no. C-47-
495, pl. 7.
575-550 B.C. (Late Corinthian).
2. 1.093/469 (Grave 24) Kotyle Fig. 96
H 6.0; Diam rim 8.4; Diam base 5.0. Restored; missing handle, part of rim, and
center of bottom. 7.5YR pink, purified clay, not Corinthian fabric. Surface worn away,
encrustation inside and out. Ring foot, straight rim, and bell handle. Dilute black-glaze;
oblique linear rays on band at base of wall. Black-glazed 2/3 of body. Painted circle on
underside. Cf. Corinth XIII, no. 252-2, pl. 35.
Late 6th century B.C.
3. 2.227/859-860 (Grave 62) Kotyle Fig. 97
H 10.5; Diam rim 15.5; Diam base 7.5. Restored; missing part of rim and part of
base. 10YR 8/2 very pale brown, purified clay; Corinthian fabric. Ring foot, straight rim,
and bell handles. Dilute black-glazed short linear rays on band above base; black band
and red lines, chain of lotus buds on 2/3 of body. Painted concentric circles on underside.
Cf. Dehl-von Kaenel 1995, no. 2383, pl. 53.
570-540 BC (Late Corinthian)
4. 3.197/815 (Grave 54) Black-glazed Type C Skyphos Fig. 98

158
H 7.0; Diam rim 8.0; Diam base 4.0. Intact, missing one handle. 7.5YR 8/4 pink,
purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Ring foot, straight rim, and horseshoe
handle. Fully glazed except for bottom lower side. Fugitive black-glaze. Cf. Agora XII,
no. 321, pl. 15.
Second half of 5th century B.C.
5. 2.078/483 (Grave 19) Black-glazed Type A Skyphos Fig. 99
H 7.5; Diam rim 8.4; Diam base 4.8. Restored. 5YR 7/6 reddish yellow, purified
soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Torus foot with groove on exterior, straight rim, and
horseshoe handle. Fully glazed, included underside. Fugitive black-glaze. Cf. Agora XII,
no. 350, pl. 16.
First half of 4th century B.C.
6. 2.078/482 (Grave 19) Red-figured Skyphos Fig. 100
H 8.5; Diam rim 7.7; Diam base 3.8. Restored; missing part of one handle. 7.5YR
7/4 pink, purified clay. Italic fabric. Ring foot, straight rim, and horseshoe handle.
Reserved band above base, black-glazed inside, miltos at center of underside. Male head
in right profile on one side, female head wearing a sakkos in left profile on other side,
palmettes beneath the handles, ovules at rim. Cf. Andreassi 1979, p. 137, no. 72.
7. 4.101/487 (Grave 26) Red-figured Skyphos Fig. 101
H 7.6; Diam rim 6.0; Diam base 4.0. Missing handles. 5YR 7/4 pink, purified soft
and powdery clay. Local fabric. Tall ring foot, straight rim, and horseshoe handle.
Reserved band at base of wall, black-glazed inside, miltos at center of underside. Male
head in right profile on one side, male head in left profile on other side, palmettes beneath
the handles, ovules at rim. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 2, pl. 22; Dimo 1990, no. 267, pl. 24.
8. 3.037/402 (Grave 7) Black-glazed One-Handler Cup Fig. 102
H 38; Diam rim 7.1; Diam base 3.6. Restored. 10YR 8/4 very pale brown,
purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Ring foot, hemispherical body, straight rim,
and horseshoe handle. Uneven black-glaze inside and out. Encrustations. Cf. Mano 1971,
no. 5, pl. 30.
159
4th century B.C.
9. 3.144/698 (Grave 39) Black-glazed One-Handler Cup Fig. 103
H 4.3; Diam rim 9.0; Diam base 3.8. Complete. Flat base with slightly concave
bottom, hemispherical body, flat rim, and horizontal handle. Reserved band at base of
wall. Dilute black-glaze fired red inside and out. Encrustations. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 6, pl.
29.
5th century B.C.
10. 1.163/708 (Grave 44) Black-glazed Two-Handler Cup Fig. 104
H 5.3; Diam rim 10.5; Diam base 7.0. Profile. 5YR 6/4 light reddish brown,
purified clay. Attic fabric. Ring foot, convex body with groove at junction with foot,
straight rim, and horseshoe handles. Shiny black-glaze inside and out. Central dot on
underside. Cf. Agora XII, no. 541, pl. 24.
11. 1.081/462 (Grave 20) Black-glazed Two-Handler Cup Fig. 105
H 2.7; Diam rim 6.8; Diam base 4.0. Complete. 2.5YR 7/6 light red, purified soft
and powdery clay. Local fabric. Ring foot, convex body, slightly inturned rim, and
horseshoe handles. Nipple on underside. Uneven black-glaze inside and out. Miltos at
center of underside. Four closely grouped stamped palmettes on floor.
4th century B.C. (second half?).
12. 1.220/829 (Grave 60) Decorated Cup-Skyphos Fig. 106
H 13.0; Diam rim 22.0; Diam base 9.5. Restored; full profile preserved. 2.5YR
6/6 red, purified clay. Possibly Attic fabric. Conical foot hollowed out (with biconical
nipple on underside), short stem, deep bowl, slightly thickened rim, and two horizontal
handles set angled. Thick and glossy black-glaze inside and out, handle attachments and
on the resting surface of the foot reserved. Tongue pattern alternating red and black, and
a band of dots at the base of the bowl. Cf. shape: Corinth XIII, no. 262-8, pl. 36;
decoration: Corinth XIII, no. 246-2, pl. 93.
Late 6th-early 5th century B.C.

160
13. 3.037/405 (Grave 7) Black-glazed Cup-Kantharos Fig. 107
H to rim 5.9; Diam rim 10.5; Diam base 5.5. Restored; missing part of an handle and of
the body. 5YR 7/4 pink, purified clay. Attic fabric. Molded ring foot, deep bowl, offset
rim, and two horizontal inturned handles. Thick black-glaze inside and out. Stamped
rosette in the center of a circle of small rosettes on floor. Cf. Agora XII, no. 683, pl. 28;
Mano 1971, no. 3, pl. 24; Dimo 1990, no. 136, pl. 15.
Third quarter of 4th century B.C.
14. 3.135/687 (Grave 36) Black-glazed Mug Fig. 108
H 7.7; Diam rim 8.0; Diam base 4.0. Restored; missing part of rim and body.
10YR 7/4 very pale brown, purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Ring foot, ovoid
body, offset outturned rim, and vertical ring-shaped handle. Uneven black-glaze fired
brown inside and out. Miltos at center of underside. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 3, pl. 36.
15. 2.201/818, 820, 822 (Grave 55) Kothon Fig. 117
H 5.5; Diam rim 8.7; Diam base 11.4. Complete. Surface: 10YR 7/4 very pale
brown, purified clay. Corinthian fabric. Ring foot, horizontal “omega” shaped handle.
Three bands of black-glaze lines distributed on body; band with chessboard pattern on
shoulder. Concentric black-glazed circles on underside. Cf. Dehl-von Kaenel 1995, no.
1557, pl. 38.
570-550 B.C. (Late Corinthian I).
16. 1.190/810 (Grave 52) Kothon Fig. 118
H 3.5; Diam rim 4.3; Diam base 5.7. Complete. Surface: 2.5Y 8/2 pale yellow,
purified clay. Corinthian fabric. Ring foot, horizontal “omega” shaped handle. Black-
glaze stopped meander pattern on the shoulder, sets of lines on body. Concentric black-
glaze circles on underside.
Mid-6th century B.C. (Late Corinthian I).
17. 1.093/470 (Grave 24) Pyxis Fig. 121
H. 5.5; Diam rim 6.9; Diam base 7.1. Restored, missing part of body. 2.5YR 6/6
red, purified clay. Ionian fabric. Tripod pyxis with cylindrical body. Horizontal black and
red bands on rim and foot; in between: panels with black glaze animal figures, swan and
snake preserved. Cf. Corinth XIII, no. 253-3, pl. 35.
161
Fourth quarter of 6th century B.C.
18. 3.037/403 (Grave 7) Red-figured Krater Fig. 122
H. 30.7; Diam rim 29.0; Diam base 14.2. Complete, restored. 7.5YR 7/6 reddish
yellow, purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Calyx krater. On one side, at the
right, a seated bride wearing a chiton with long sleeves and holding a large box in her left
hand, turning back and looking at a winged nude male figure, Eros, holding probably an
animal skin or a scarf in his right hand; he is walking away from her, but turning back
and looking at her. On the other side two draped male figures: the one at right is holding
a long walking stick in his right hand, while the figure at left is walking away but turning
back, and holding a strigil in his right hand. Between the two figures are probably a
thyrsos and a hanging scarf. Ivy leaf and rosette pattern under the rim; meander at the
bottom of the figured scenes. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 3a-b, pl. 20; Trendall 1987, no. 1/86,
no. 1/90, pl. 10; Trendall and Cambitoglou 1991, no. 2, pl. 10.
19. 1.220/824 (Grave 60) Plate Fig. 123
Diam rim 30.0; Diam base 20.0. Restored, missing part of rim and body. 2.5Y 8/2
pale yellow, purified clay. Corinthian fabric. Wide, strongly curved rim with rounded
edge; groove near edge on top of foot and on resting surface. Two holes on the rim.
Surface partly worn off. On floor two animal friezes with panthers and grazing deers;
space filled with dots. Applied purple on edge of rim. Cf. Dehl-von Kaenel 1995, no.
1638, pl. 41.
590-570 B.C. (Middle Corinthian).
20. 1.220/952 (Grave 60) Plate Fig. 124
Diam rim 30.0; Diam base 19.5. Restored, missing part of rim and body. 2.5Y 8/3 pale
brown, purified clay. Corinthian fabric. Wide, strongly curved rim with rounded edge;
groove near edge on top and on resting surface. Surface partly worn off. On floor
phytomorphic decoration with lotuses and leaves; space filled with dots. Cf. Corinth
XV,iii, no. 769, pl. 36.
590-570 B.C. (Middle Corinthian).
Closed shapes
162
21. 2.201/821 (Grave 55) Plain round-mouthed Oinochoe Fig. 109
H 18.5; Diam rim 4.3; Diam base 7.0. Restored; missing part of the body.
Surface: 10YR 7/4 very pale brown, core: 5YR 6/8 reddish yellow, purified clay.
Corinthian fabric. Disk base, very broad squat body, cylindrical ringed neck, vertical
strap handle. Smooth, fine surface. Cf. Corinth XIII, no. 255-2, pl. 34.
22. 1.047/454 (Grave 10) Black-glazed Olpe Fig. 110
H to rim 14.5; Diam rim 4.1; Diam base 4.3. Restored. 5YR 7/4 pink, purified soft and
powdery clay. Local fabric. Disk base, elongated body, lip rim, upswung handle. Dipped
upper body, reserved lower body. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 9, pl. 37; Carter 1998, p. 689 OL 1
(T336-2).
5th century B.C.
23. 3.037/401 (Grave 7) Black-glazed Olpe Fig. 111
H to rim 10.0; Diam rim 4.0; Diam base 3.4. Restored. 7.5YR 7/4 pink, purified
soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Flat base, ovoid body, outturned rim, high upswung
handle. Fully glazed. Miltos at center of underside. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 7, pl. 35; Morel
1981, no. 5152a 1, pl. 155.
4th century B.C.
24. 2.078/476 (Grave 19) Red-figured Hydria Fig. 112
H 13.8; Diam rim 5.3; Diam base 4.7. Restored, missing part of body. 7.5YR 7/4
pink, purified clay. Italic fabric. Miniature; high ring foot, ovoid body, outturned rim.
Standing female figure wearing a chiton, and making an offering at a grave marker.
Large, ten-frond palmette with volutes springing from either side beneath the vertical
handle. Pattern of palmettes and ovules on shoulder. Ovules on the rim. Cf. Carter 1998,
no. T51-1, p. 614.
25. 3.037/398 (Grave 7) Plain Table Amphora Fig. 113

163
H 33.0; Diam rim 14.9; Diam base 10.7. Complete, restored. 7.5YR 6/6 light
brown, purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Disk base, squat body slightly
flaring neck, triangular rim, and vertical strap handle. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 5-6, pl. 7.
4th century B.C.
26. 4.043/386 (Grave 9) Red-figured Squat Lekythos Fig. 114
H 112; Diam rim 3.5; Diam base 4.1. Complete, restored. 7.5YR 7/6 reddish
yellow, purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Molded ring foot with groove at
junction with narrow neck, deep conical mouth flaring outward from neck, and vertical
handle. Two silhouette female heads in profile wearing a kekryphalos, and facing each
other; inbetween: an oval object (a mirror?). Large, ten-frond palmette beneath the
handle. Pattern of ovules and tongues on shoulder and base of neck. Traces of miltos on
neck decoration, palmette, and “mirror”. Traces of applied white on kekryphaloi. Cf.
Mano 1971, no. 5, pl. 23; Carter 1998, no. T46-5, p. 625.
27. 1.072/415 (Grave 17) Red-figured Squat Lekythos Fig. 115
H 8.5; Diam rim 3.2; Diam base 3.6. Restored, missing small part of neck. 10YR
7/4 very pale brown, purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Ring foot, rounded
body, narrow neck, deep conical mouth flaring outward from neck, and vertical handle.
Large, nine-frond palmette on body. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 8-9, pl. 23; Corinth XIII, no.
422-13, pl. 97.
28. 4.156/705 (Grave 42) Black-glazed Lekythos Fig. 116

H preserved 9.5; Diam rim 4.7. Restored, missing bottom part. 7.5YR 7/6 reddish
yellow, purified soft and powdery clay. Local fabric. Ovoid ribbed body, narrow neck,
wide-lipped rim, and vertical handle. Fully glazed. Cf. Carter 1998, p. 683, SL 30.
29. 2.201/817 (Grave 55) Lydion Fig. 119
H 8.0; Diam rim 6.0; Diam base 2.7. Complete, restored. 2.5Y 7/4 pale yellow,
purified clay. Ionian fabric. Tall conical foot, squat body, wide neck, and wide-lipped
164
rim. Black-glaze foot and neck, sets of black-glaze lines on body. Cf. Corinth XIII, no.
X-241, pl. 90; Dehl-von Kaenel 1995, no. 3613, pl. 66.
Mid-6th century B.C.
30. 1.127/678-679 (Grave 34) Pyxis Fig. 120
H with lid: 10.8; Diam rim 4.3; Diam base 6.1. Complete. Surface: 2.5Y 8/4 pale
yellow, purified clay. Corinthian fabric. Ring foot, globular body, vertical rim, two
upright handles projecting from the shoulder. Tongue pattern on shoulder, chain of lotus
buds on upper half of the body, bands on lower half of the body. Black and red bands on
the lid. Cf. Corinth XV, iii, no. 914, pl. 42; Mano 1971, no. 8, pl. 18.
Second half of 6th century B.C. (Late Corinthian I).
31. 1.184/755 (Ceramic Deposit) Transport Amphora Fig. 125
Diam rim ext. 23.6. Fragmentary, preserved only rim, neck and one handle.
Surface: 2.5YR 6/6 red, core: 2.5YR 6/1 reddish gray, moderate inclusions. Corinthian
fabric. Corinthian Type A; heavy, squared rim, short vertical handle round in section. Cf.
Koehler 1978, no. 20.
Third or fourth quarter of 7th century B.C.
SMALL FINDS
Jewelry
32 3.121/075 (Grave 32) Bronze Bracelet Fig. 126a
Diam 4.9; weight 3.9. Complete. Spiral bracelet, hemispherical wire. Line of dots
on the sides, finials in the shape of rams’ heads. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 5, pl. 43.
33. 3.121/058 (Grave 32) Bronze Bracelet Fig. 126b
Diam 4.8; weight 1.5. Complete. Spiral bracelet, hemispherical wire. Line of dots
on the sides, finials in the shape of snakes’ heads. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 5, pl. 43.

165
34. 4.166/097 (Grave 45) Bronze Bracelet Fig. 127a
Diam 5.7; weight 3.3. Complete. Bracelet circular in section, overlapping for 1/3
of the circumference; cubic finials. Incised lines and punched dots. Native Illyrian. Cf.
Andrea 1985, no. 1-15, 16, pl. 37.
35. 4.166/096 (Grave 45) Bronze Bracelet Fig. 127b

Diam 5.3; weight 6.0. Complete. Wire bracelet rhomboid in section, overlapping
for ¼ of the circumference; flattened finials. Native Illyrian. Cf. Andrea 1985, no. 1-10,
no. 2-2, pl. 37.
36. 1.094/069 (Grave 22) Bronze Fibula Fig. 128
L 4.3; weight 1.4. Almost complete, missing part of the pin. Arched fibula,
rhomboid plate. Punched dots and incised lines.
37. 3.121/076 (Grave 32) Bronze Earring Fig. 129a
L. 2.9; weight 2.7. Almost complete, missing pin. Sickle-shaped earring. Groups
of three dotted circles on the body.
38. 1.53/041 (Grave 12) Bronze Earrings Fig. 129b
L. 2.0; weight 0.9 each. Almost complete, both missing pin. Sickle-shaped
earrings. A circle at mid-body.
39. 2.075/084 (Grave 18) Silver Finger Ring Fig. 130

166
Diam 2.8; weight: 14.4. Complete. Finger ring with rhomboid bezel. Gold dots at
the angles. Incised bird (pelican?). Cf. Mano 1971, no. 3-5, pl. 44.
4th century B.C.
40. 2.020/022 (Grave 4) Bronze Medallion Fig. 131
Diam 3.0; weight 11.2. Complete. Circular plate with a hook. Repoussé Medusa
face. Cf. Dimo 1990, no. 68, pl. 10; Carter 1998, p. 823, Pr10 (T 193-20).
Late 5th-4th century B.C.
41. 3.037/035 (Grave 7) Bronze Medallion Fig. 132
L. 6.5; weight 5.2. Missing plate of the medallion. Part of medallion in the shape
of a hook, half circular in section and half flat. The flat part has two holes where the plate
of the medallion was attached, the circular part has finial in the shape of a duck’s head.
Cf. Mano 1971, no. 8, pl. 46; Dimo 2004, p. 85, fig. 46.
4th century B.C.
Strigils
42. 1.081/060 (Grave 20) Bronze Strigil Fig. 133a
L. 23.0; weight 24.2. Almost complete. Blade and handle one-piece; deep blade, strongly
curved. Front of handle: straight sides, apex is widened in a rhomboid shape. Back of
handle: straight sides. Termination: olive leaf-shaped, with one rivet. Cf. Mano 1971, no.
4, pl. 46.
43. 3.197/111 (Grave 54) Iron Strigil Fig. 133b
L. preserved 20.7; weight: 46.2. Missing back of handle and tip of blade. Deep
blade, strongly curved.
Weapons
44. 4.042/037 (Grave 9) Iron Spearhead Fig. 134

167
L. 48.2; weight 353. Complete. Conical socket round in section, long olive leaf-
shaped blade with raised mid-rib, rhomboid in section. Cf. Mano 1971, no. 3, pl. 45;
Dimo 1990, no. 123, pl. 14.
Tools
45. 4.166/105 (Grave 45) Iron Knife Fig. 135
L. preserved 8.0; weight 7.3. Complete but corroded. One cutting-edge blade,
edge slightly curved, back is straight. Triangular section. Pointed handle to be fixed in a
perishable material. Cf. Corinth XII, no. 1569, 1571, pl. 93.
Various
46. 4.042/042 (Grave 9) Iron Frames for Sandals Fig. 136
L. 21.0; weight 85.4. Fragmentary, missing parts. Frames for sandals or shoes,
rectangular in section. Rivets along the perimeter. Cf. Dimo 1990, no. 328, pl. 28.
47. 2.022/021 (Grave 4) Iron Horse Bit Fig. 137
L. preserved 9.0; weight 14.2. Fragmentary. Wire horse bit round in section. Cf.
Dimo 1990, no. 113, pl. 14.

168
APPENDIX 2: TABLES
Table 1: MRAP: Distribution of Archaic Pottery from Tracts.
Areas Total Transport Amphorai Fine Other Tiles

Coastal Plain 1 1
Havaleas 1 1
Kraps 6 4 2
Kryegjata 26 16 4 5 1
Levan-Shaban 1 1
Margellic 22 8 3 9 2
Peshtan 1 1
Shtyllas Hill 1 1
Vadhize 4 4
Total 63 36 7 17 3
Table 2: MRAP: Distribution of Archaic Pottery in Sites.
Sites Total Transport Amphorai Fine Other Tiles

S005 3 1 2
S016 2 2
S031 2 1 1
S032 2 2
S033 3 3
S035 1 1
S043 1 1
S044 2 2
S045 3 3
Total 19 15 0 3 1
Table 3: MRAP: Distribution of Archaic to Classical Pottery from Tracts.

Coastal Plain 1 1
Kraps 1 1
Levan 1 1
Margellic 11 3 6 2
Perroi i Levanit 1 1
Peshtan 1 1
Radostina 1 1
Shtyllas Hill 2 1 1
Shtyllas Valley 2 1 1
Vadhize 2 2
W of Apollonia 1 1
Total 49 10 9 22 8
169
Table 4: MRAP: Distribution of Archaic to Classical Pottery in Sites.

S001 1 1
S005 1 1
S006 3 3
S009 1 1
S016 5 5
S031 1 1
S032 1 1
S033 2 1 1
S041 1 1
S043 2 1 1
S044 1 1
Total 19 10 0 5 4
Table 5: MRAP: Distribution of Classical Pottery from Tracts.

Coastal plain 5 1 2 2
E of Apollonia 5 4 1
Havaleas 2 1 1
Inside Apollonia 5 3 2
Kraps 5 5
Levan-Shaban 8 2 5 1
Margellic 13 4 5 3 1
Peshtan 1 1
Portez 1 1
Radostina 1 1
Shtyllas Hill 1 1
Vadhize 7 4 2 1
Total 88 21 39 13 15
Table 6: MRAP: Distribution of Classical to Late Classical Pottery from Tracts.

Kryegjata 1 1
Levan-Shaban 3 3
Margellic 1 1
Plyk 1 1
Total 8 7 1 0 0
170
Table 7: MRAP: Distribution of Classical Pottery in Sites.

S001 1 1
S002 1 1
S005 6 1 5
S006 1 1
S009 1 1
S016 3 3
S019 5 3 1 1
S027 1 1
S031 1 1
S032 3 3
S033 2 1 1
S034 1 1
S040 1 1
S041 5 4 1
S044 1 1
S045 1 1
S050 1 1
Total 35 18 10 5 2
Table 8: Tumulus 9: list of graves with assessment of age and sex of the individuals.
Grave Sex Age Estimate range

1 F 61.7 +/- 15.50 years
2 C 8-9 years
3 - -
4 (NJS 20) M? -
4 (NJS 22) M 38.9 +/- 14.76 years
5 F 39.1 +/- 15.50 years
6 C 1 year +/- 4 months
7 (NJS 37) M? -
7 (NJS 54) A -
8 F? -
9-1 M 55.6 +/- 14.76 years
-2 C 3 years +/- 12 months
10 C n.b.
11 - 1 C 0–1 year
-2 A -
12 C 2 years +/- 8 months
13 M 45.9 +/- 14.76 years
14 C 9 months +/- 3 months
15 C n.b.
17 A -
18 A/sa -
171

22 C 2-3 years
24 C n.b.
25 - 1 A -
-2 C 2-3 years
26 – 1 (NJS 100) M? 53.7 +/- 14.76 years
- 2 (NJS 101) M 35.9 +/- 14.76 years
- 3 (NJS 102) F 42.5 +/- 15.50 years
27 C n.b.
28 C 0-1 year
29 M 50.2 +/- 14.76 years
30 A/sa 18-20 years
31 A -
32 C 4-8 years
33 C n.b.
34 - 1 C n.b.
-2 C 5 years +/- 2 months
-3 A -
35 C n.b.
36 M? -
37 C n.b.
38 - 1 C n.b.
-2 C over 10 years
39* A 54.7 (M) +/- 15.50 years
56.4 (F) +/- 14.76 years
40 C 0-1 year
41 - 1 C 5 years +/- 16 months
-2 M? 30.4 +/- 14.76 years
42 F 49.1 +/- 15.50 years
43 C n.b.
45 F? -
46 - 1 F -
-2 F -
47 C -
48 M -
49 C n.b.
50 C n.b.
51 C 0-1 year
52 C 1 year
53 A -
55 - 1 F? 39.1 +/- 15.50 years
-2 A -
56 M? -
57 F 50.7 +/- 15.50 years
58 F -
59 F -
60 A/sa -
61 C 10-15 years
172

62 Deposit of animal bones
64 M? 58.6 +/- 14.76 years
65 A -
66 F? 39.1 +/- 15.50 years
A = adult sex unknown; M = male; F = female; C = child; A/sa = adult or sub-adult; n.b.: newborn; ? = probable
*Grave 39: 1 adult of sex unknown and thus 2 age estimates (whether male or female)
Table 9: Tumulus 9: list of graves by chronological periods.
Period Sect. Grave Ritual Grave No. of Age Sex Burial Grave
no. type indiv. Prim/Sec goods
Y/N
A 1 24 I E 1 C - P Y
A 1 34 I E 3 C,C,A -,-,? P,P,S? Y
A 1 35 I E 1 C - P Y
A 1 37 I E 1 C - P N
A 1 40 I E 1 C - P N
A 4 45 I SP 1 A F? P Y
A 1 47 I E 1 C - P N
A(L) 1 51 I S 1 C - P Y
A 1 52 I E 1 C - P Y
A 2 55 I,C S 2 A,A F?,? P,P? Y
A 2 56 I S 1 A M? P N
A 1 58 C W 1 A F P Y
A 1 60 C SP 1 A/sa ? P Y
A 2 62 C MB animal - - - Y
A? 1 66 I SP 1 A F? P N
CL 1 2 I SP 1 C - P Y
CL 1 3 I E 1 ? - P Y
CL 2 4 I S 2 A,A M?,M P,P Y
CL 2 5 I S 1 A F P Y
CL(L) 3 7 I MB 2 A,A M?,? P Y
CL 2 8 I SP 1 A F? P N
CL(L) 4 9 I MB 2 A,C M,- P,P Y,Y
CL 1 10 I SP 1 C - P Y
CL 3 14 I E 1 C - P Y
CL(L) 2 18 C SP 1 A/sa ? P Y
CL(L) 2 19 I MB 1 C - P Y
CL(L) 1 20 I SP 1 C - P Y
CL 1 21 I S 1 C - P Y
CL 1 22 I S 1 C - P Y
CL 4 25 I SP 2 A,C ?,- P,P Y
CL 1 27 I E 1 C - P Y
CL 1 28 I E 1 C - P Y
CL 3 29 I SP 1 A M P N
CL 1 31 C W 1 A - P Y
CL(L) 3 32 I SP 1 C - P Y
CL? 1 33 I E 1 C - P N
CL 4 38 C SP 2 C,C -,- P,P Y
CL(L?) 3 39 I MB 1 A ? P Y
173
Period Sect. Grave Ritual Grave No. of Age Sex Burial Grave
no. type indiv. Prim/Sec goods
Y/N
CL 4 42 I SP 1 A F P Y
CL 1 43 I E 1 C - P N
CL 1 44 I SP 1 C - P Y
CL 1 46 I S 2 A,A F,F P Y
CL 4 49 I E 1 C - P N
CL 4 50 I E 1 C - P N
CL 4 53 C SP 1 A ? P N
CL 3 54 I MB 1 C - P Y
CL 3 57 I SP 1 A F P Y
CL 3 59 I MB 1 A F P Y
CL(L) 1 63 I MB 1 C - P Y
CL 1 65 I SP 1 A ? P Y
LCL/ 1 12 I SP 1 C - P Y
HL
LCL/ 4 15 C SP 1 C - P Y
HL
LCL/ 1 17 I SP 1 A ? P Y
HL
LCL/ 3 23 I SP 1 C - P Y
HL
HL 2 1 I SP 1 A F P N
HL 4 6 I SP 1 C - P N
HL 4 11 I,C SP 2 C,A -,? P,P N,N
HL? 4 13 I SP 1 A M P N
HL 2 16 I SP 1 C - P N
HL 4 26 I B 3 A,A,A M?,M, P,P,P Y,Y,Y
F
HL 4 30 I SP 1 A/sa ? P N
HL 3 36 I SP 1 A M? P Y
HL 4 41 I SP 2 C,A -,M? P,P N,N
HL 4 48 I SP 1 A M P N
HL 1 61 C U 1 C ? P Y
HL 2 64 I SP 1 A M? P N
Period Grave type Age Burial

A – Archaic B – Brick A – Adult P – Primary
CL – Classical E – Enchytrismos C – Child S – Secondary
HL – Hellenistic MB – Mud-brick Sa – sub-adult
L – Late S – Sarcophagus Grave goods
? - probable SP – Simple pit Sex Y – Yes
U – Urn F – Female N – No
Ritual W – Wood M – Male
I – Inhumation ? – Adult
C – Cremation undetermined
174
Table 10: Tumulus 9: list of graves with numerical quantity per grave of ceramic vessels
and finds other than vessels, and presence (x)/absence (-) of astragaloi.
Grave Pottery Small Finds Astragaloi

1 0 0 -
2 0 1 -
3 3 1 -
4 1 6 -
5 0 0 -
6 0 0 -
7 12 4 -
8 0 0 -
9 6 2 x
10 1 0 -
11 0 0 -
12 0 1 -
13 0 0 -
14 0 2 -
15 0 1 -
16 0 0 -
17 4 0 -
18 0 1 -
19 10 1 x
20 1 2 x
21 1 0 -
22 0 1 -
23 0 0 x
24 2 0 -
25 3 0 -
26 7 3 -
27 1 0 -
28 0 1 -
29 0 0 -
30 0 0 -
31 0 3 -
32 2 7 x
33 0 0 -
34 1 0 -
35 1 1 -
36 1 1 -
37 0 0 -
38 2 0 -
39 1 0 -
40 1 0 -
41 0 0 -
42 2 0 -
43 0 0 -
44 1 1 -
45 2 10 -
46 1 4 -
47 0 0 -
48 0 0 -
49 0 0 -
175
Grave Pottery Small finds Astragaloi

50 0 0 -
51 1 0 -
52 3 0 -
53 0 0 -
54 2 1 x
55 6 2 -
56 0 0 -
57 2 0 -
58 0 1 -
59 4 0 -
60 13 0 x
61 1 0 -
62 (animal) 5 0 -
63 4 0 x
64 0 0 -
65 5 1 -
66 0 0 -
Table 11: Tumulus 9: list of distribution of grave goods by type of grave and number of
individuals.
Type of Total Total graves Total Total Total Average no. of

grave graves with no grave graves with individuals grave grave goods/
goods grave in graves with goods individual
goods grave goods
Simple pit 31 13 18 22 65 2.9
Enchytrismos 15 7 8 11 16 1.4
Sarcophagus 8 1? (looted) 7 11 18 1.6
Mud-brick 7 0 7 11 47 4.2
Wood 2 0 2 2 4 2.0
Brick 1 0 1 3 10 3.3
Urn 1 0 1 1 1 1.0
Total 65 21/22 43 86 161
176
FIGURES
Figure 1: Plan of the Apollonia area.
Figure 2: View of Hill 101.

177
Figure 3: Detailed plan of Apollonia with monuments (agora 1-8).

178
Figure 4: Monument of the Agonothetes.
Figure 5: Plan of the agora.

179
Figure 6: Roman “libraries” replacing a Greek stoa.
Figure 7: Fourth century B.C. stoa with niches.

180
Figure 8: “Obelisk”
Figure 9: Plan of the fortifications.

181
Figure 10: Arched portal.
Figure 11: Main street.

182
Figure 12: Theater at the bottom of the hill.
Figure 13: Cistern in the fortification walls.

183
Figure 14: Monumental fountain – view of the façade.
Figure 15: Monumental fountain – view from the top.

184
Figure 16: Water channel in the fortification walls.
Figure 17: Single column at Shtyllas.

185
Figure 18: Aerial view of the temple of Shtyllas.
Figure 19: Reconstruction of the temple of Shtyllas by Guri Pani.

186
Figure 20: “Gymnasium”.
Figure 21: Archaic street.

187
Figure 22: Ancient coastline and courses of the Apsos and Aous rivers.
188
MRAP SURVEY AREA
Radostina
Havaleas
Apollonia ata
j
eg
ry alle
y Vadhize
K as V
Shtyllas Shtyll
Portez
Shaban
Gj
Kraps
ani
ca
Plyk
Va
Levan
l
le
y
Mt. Likovun Peshtan
Margellic
Kreshpan
±
0 0.5 1 2 3 4
Kilometers
Figure 23: Map of the MRAP survey area with principal topographic features.
7000
6000
5000
4000
Series1
3000
2000
1000
0
Prehistoric Archaic+Classic Hellenistic Roman Medieval Post-Medieval
Series1 202 280 6231 535 23 1563
Figure 24: Pottery distribution in the MRAP survey area in the main chronological
periods.
189
MRAP SURVEY AREA
S047
! S030S003
!!
S016
S043 S049
! ! ! S024 S018
S008 S007S017
! !S006 ! S01!9
! ! S005 ! S023S029
S048
! !S004 ! !
! S013 S015 ! ! 20
S014 S0
! S009 ! !
S001S010!
S032 S033
! ! S011S012 ! !
! S002 !!
S026
S021S022
! S034
! ! S028 S040
! S037 S038
! ! ! !
S025
!
S027
! S042
! S035
! S039
! S041S045
S044S046
S036 !! ! !
!
±
0 0.5 1 2 3 4
Kilometers
Figure 25: Map of the MRAP survey area with site locations.
Figure 26: Map of the distribution of Archaic and Classical pottery in the MRAP survey
area.
190
Figure 27: Map of the Apollonia area with the location of the four tumuli excavated in
1956.
Figure 28: Plan of Tumulus 1 excavated in 1956.

191

192
Figure 32: Plan of Tumulus 1 excavated in 1958-1959.

193
Figure 33: Pithoi from Tumulus 1: a) with decoration; b) coated with pitch.
Figure 34: Transport amphorai from Tumulus 1: a) Corinthian, sixth-fifth century B.C.;
b) Corinthian, fourth-third century B.C.; c) from Lesbos.
194
Figure 35: Cooking pots from Tumulus 1: a) with one handle; b) with two handles.
Figure 36: Table amphorai from Tumulus 1: a) fourth-third century B.C.; b) third-second
century B.C.
Figure 37: Corinthian plates from Tumulus 1: a) with palmettes; b) with protomes of
horses.
195
Figure 38: Ionian pottery from Tumulus 1: a) oinochoe; b) cylindrical pyxis; c) globular
pyxis.
Figure 39: Lekythoi from Tumulus 1: a) with relief; b) with ovoid body; c) squat.
196
Figure 40: Jugs from Tumulus 1: 1) with narrow neck; 2) with wide neck.
Figure 41: Kylikes from Tumulus 1: a) kylix; b) cup-skyphos; c) stemless cup.
Figure 42: Kantharoi from Tumulus 1: a) with high body; b) with biconical body.
197
Figure 43: Olpai from Tumulus 1: a) with short handle; b) pear-shaped; c) elongated.
Figure 44: Oinochoai from Tumulus 1: a) ovoid; b) pear-shaped; c) with vertical ribbing.
198
Figure 45: Terracotta figurines from Tumulus 1: a) hydrophoros; b) woman with child;
c) seated man.
Figure 46: Bronze appliques from Tumulus 1: a, b) decorated; c) in the shape of rosette.
199
Figure 47: Strigils from Tumulus 1: a) with twisted and conical handles; b, c) with
curved handles.
Figure 48: Various bronze objects from Tumulus 1: a) ladle; b) pendant; c) hook.
200
Figure 49: Stone objects from Tumulus 1: stele; b) inscription; c) palmette.
Figure 50: Cooking pots from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with conical body; b) with horizontal
handles; c) with vertical handle.
201
Figure 51: Plain kraters from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with ovoid body; b) with wide body.
Figure 52: Painted kraters from Tumuli 6 and 7: orientalizing; b) red-figured.
Figure 53: Olpai from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) Corinthian; b) with ovoid body; c) with
globular body.
202
Figure 54: Aryballoi from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) pear-shaped; b) with globular body.
Figure 55: Lekythoi from Tumuli 6 and 7: a, b) Attic; c, d, e, f) squat.

203
Figure 56: Skyphoi from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) Corinthian; b) fifth century B.C.; c) fourth
century B.C.
Figure 57: Kothon from Tumulus 7.
Figure 58: Pyxides from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) cylindrical; b) globular.

204
Figure 59: Kylikes from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) Attic; b) South Italian.
Figure 60: Saltcellars from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with flat base; b) with straight rim; c) with
inturned rim.
Figure 61: Black-glazed cups from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with flat base; b) with ring base.
205
Figure 62: Black-glazed lamps from Tumuli 6 and 7: a, b) with oblique handle; c) with
no handle.
Figure 63: Unguentaria from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) globular; b) elongated.
Figure 64: Terracotta figurines from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) painted, Archaic; b) seated
female; c) horseman; d) bird.
206
Figure 65: Bronze vessels from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) jug; b) amphora; c) hydria; d) situla;
e) large bowl; f) stemless cup; g) ladle; h) lekythos; i) strainer; l) cup.
207
Figure 66: Jewelry from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) silver/bronze medallion; b) silver earring; c)
bronze bracelets; d) medallion with Medusa; e) bronze ring.
Figure 67: Bronze armor from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) shield; b) helmet.

208
Figure 68: Iron weapons from Tumuli 6 and 7.
Figure 69: Bronze strigils from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) with no rivets; b) with rivets.
Figure 70: Iron objects from Tumuli 6 and 7: a) sandals; b) horse bit.
209
Figure 71: Map showing location of Tumulus 8 with respect to Apollonia.

210
Figure 72: Aerial view of Tumulus 8 showing the division in four sectors.
Figure 73: Main necropolis – contour map.

211
Figure 74: Map of Kryegjata tumulus cemetery with confirmed tumuli indicated by dots.
Figure 75: Map of subsidiary necropolis.

212
Figure 76: Map showing location of Tumulus 9 with respect to Apollonia.
Figure 77: View from west of the ridge where Tumulus 9 and probably other two tumuli
are located.
213
Figure 78: Tumulus 9: view from east, showing the damage prior to the excavation.
Figure 79: Similar mud-brick features from Tumulus 1 and Tumulus 9.

214
Figure 80: Tumulus 9: ceramic deposit.
Figure 81: Tumulus 9: cremation in situ in simple pit.

215
Figure 82: Tumulus 9: cremation in situ in grave outlined with wood.
Grave orientation in TUMULUS 9

N-S, 1
E-W, 1
NE-SW, 4 SE-NW, 12
S-N, 4
NW-SE, 6
SW-NE, 11
W-E, 7
Figure 83: Tumulus 9: chart with orientation of graves.

216
Figure 84: Tumulus 9: sarcophagus graves.
Figure 85: Tumulus 9: enchytrismos.

217
Figure 86: Tumulus 9: grave outlined with mud-bricks.
Figure 87: Tumulus 9: grave built of bricks.

218
Figure 88: Tumulus 9: simple pit.
Figure 89: Tumulus 9: urn.

219
Figure 90: Tumulus 9: concentration of fragmentary tiles, probably from a destroyed

grave.
Figure 91: Tumulus 9: chart with percentage of grave types.

220
Figure 92: Tumulus 9: gabled lid with incised triangular pattern on the underside.
Figure 93: Tumulus 9: Archaic inscription on the rim of the sarcophagus.

221
Percentage of ceramics and metal objects in

graves
metal objects
39%
ceramics
61%
Figure 94: Tumulus 9: chart with incidence of ceramics and metal objects in graves.
Figure 95: Tumulus 9, grave 45: Corinthian kotyle dated to the second quarter of the
sixth century B.C. (1).
222
Figure 96: Tumulus 9, grave 24: Corinthian kotyle dated to the end of the sixth century
B.C. (2).
Figure 97: Tumulus 9, grave 62: Corinthian kotyle dated to the second third of the sixth
century B.C. (3).
223
Figure 98: Tumulus 9, grave 54: type C skyphos dated to the end of the fifth century
B.C. (4).
Figure 99: Tumulus 9, grave 19: type A skyphos dated to the first quarter of the fourth
century B.C. (5).
224
Figure 100: Tumulus 9, grave 19: Italic skyphos dated to the second half of the fourth
century B.C. (6).
Figure 101: Tumulus 9, grave 26: local imitation of an Italic skyphos dated to the end of
the fourth century B.C. (7).
225
Figure 102: Tumulus 9, grave 7: local one-handler with horseshoe shaped handle dated
to the fourth century B.C. (8).
Figure 103: Tumulus 9, grave 39: local one-handler with strap handle dated to the fifth
century B.C. (9).
226
Figure 104: Tumulus 9, grave 44: two-handler cup “bolsal” dated to the last quarter of
the fifth century B.C. (10).
Figure 105: Tumulus 9, grave 20: two-handler cup with stamped decoration dated to the
fourth century B.C. (11).
227
Figure 106: Tumulus 9, grave 60: Attic cup-skyphos dated to the third quarter of the
sixth century B.C. (12).
Figure 107: Tumulus 9, grave 7: Attic cup-kantharos dated to the third quarter of the
228
Figure 108: Tumulus 9, grave 36: mug with ring-shaped handle dated to the end of the
Figure 109: Tumulus 9, grave 55: Corinthian round-mouthed oinochoe dated to the first
quarter of the fifth century B.C. (21).
229
Figure 110: Tumulus 9, grave 10: olpe dated to the fifth century B.C. (22).
Figure 111: Tumulus 9, grave 7: olpe dated to the fourth century B.C. (23).
230
Figure 112: Tumulus 9, grave 19: Italic small red-figured hydria dated to the Late
Classical period (24).
Figure 113: Tumulus 9, grave 9: local table amphora dated to the Late Classical period
(25).
231
Figure 114: Tumulus 9, grave 9: red-figured squat lekythos dated to the Late Classical
period (26).
Figure 115: Tumulus 9, grave 17: red-figured squat lekythos dated to the Late Classical
period (27).
232
Figure 116: Tumulus 9, grave 42: ribbed black-glazed lekythos dated to the Classical
period (28).
Figure 117: Tumulus 9, grave 55: Corinthian kothon dated to the sixth century B.C. (15).
233
Figure 118: Tumulus 9, grave 52: Corinthian kothon dated to the sixth century B.C. (16).
Figure 119: Tumulus 9, grave 55: Ionian lydion dated to mid-sixth century B.C. (29).
234
Figure 120: Tumulus 9, grave 34: Corinthian pyxis dated to after mid-sixth century B.C.
(30).
Figure 121: Tumulus 9, grave 24: Ionian pyxis dated to the last quarter of the sixth
century B.C. (17).
235
Figure 122: Tumulus 9, grave 7: red-figured calyx krater dated to the fourth century B.C.
(18)
Figure 123: Tumulus 9, grave 60: Corinthian plate dated to 590-570 B.C. (19).
236
Figure 124: Tumulus 9, grave 60: Corinthian plate dated to 590-570 B.C. (20).
Figure 125: Tumulus 9: fragmentary neck of Corinthian Type A transport amphora,

dated to the third or fourth quarter of the seventh century B.C. (31).
237
a b
Figure 126: Tumulus 9, grave 32: bronze spiral bracelets dated to the fourth century B.C.
(32, 33).
a b
Figure 127: Tumulus 9, grave 45: native bronze bracelets dated to late seventh-early
sixth century B.C. (34, 35).
238
Figure 128: Tumulus 9, grave 22: bronze fibula dated to the Classical period (36).
a b
Figure 129: Tumulus 9, bronze earrings: a) from grave 32, dated to the second half of the
fourth century BC; b) from grave 12, dated to the second half of the fourth century B.C.
(37, 38).
Figure 130: Tumulus 9, grave 18: silver finger ring dated to the (Late) Classical period
(39).
239
Figure 131: Tumulus 9, grave 4: bronze medallion dated to the (Late) Classical period
(40).
Figure 132: Tumulus 9, grave 7: bronze piece of medallion dated to the (Late) Classical
period (41).
240
a b
Figure 133: Tumulus 9, strigils: a) from grave 20, bronze; b) from grave 54, iron (42,
43).
Figure 134: Tumulus 9, grave 9: iron spearhead dated to the fourth century B.C. (44).
241
Figure 135: Tumulus 9, grave 45: iron knife dated to the sixth century B.C. (45).
Figure 136: Tumulus 9, grave 9: iron skeletons of sandals (46).
Figure 137: Tumulus 9, grave 4: iron horse bit (47).

Amore Grazia 2005 - Settelment and Burial in Apollonia and Its Area (Albania)

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Amore Grazia 2005 - Settelment and Burial in Apollonia and Its Area (Albania)

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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Maria Grazia Amore

This work and its defense approved by:

Professor Jack Davis

A thesis submitted to the

Division of Research and Advanced Studies

in partial fulfillment of the

in the Department of Classics

Maria Grazia Amore

B.A. University of Torino, Italy, 1993

Committee Chair: Jack L. Davis

activities of the Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit. I am indebted also to Professor

CHAPTER 2: THE SETTLEMENT IN APOLLONIA AND THE

APOLLONIA AREA FROM THE ARCHAIC TO THE

CHAPTER 3: THE MALLAKASTRA REGIONAL

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT AND THE SETTLEMENT

IN THE ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIODS 47

CHAPTER 4: THE DATA FROM THE NECROPOLIS

THE EARLY WORK 58

THE WORK OF THE ALBANIAN RESCUE

ARCHAELOGY UNIT 120

CHAPTER 5: SYNTHESIS: INTEGRATION OF THE DATA FROM

THE SETTLEMENT AND THE CEMETERY 142

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS 148

APPENDIX 1: CATALOGUE 157

APPENDIX 2: TABLES 168

Table 1: MRAP: distribution of Archaic pottery from tracts. 168

Table 2: MRAP: distribution of Archaic pottery in sites. 168

Table 3: MRAP: distribution of Archaic to Classical pottery from

Table 4: MRAP: distribution of Archaic to Classical pottery in sites. 169

Table 5: MRAP: distribution of Classical pottery from tracts. 169

Table 6: MRAP: distribution of Classical to Late Classical pottery

from tracts. 169

Table 7: MRAP: distribution of Classical pottery in sites. 170

Table 8: Tumulus 9: list of graves with assessment of age and sex of

the individuals. 170

Table 9: Tumulus 9: list of graves by chronological periods. 172

absence (-) of astragaloi. 174

Table 11: Tumulus 9: list of distribution of grave goods by type of

grave and number of individuals. 175

Figure 1: Plan of the Apollonia area. 176

Figure 2: View of Hill 101. 176

Figure 3: Detailed plan of Apollonia with monuments (agora: 1-8). 177

Figure 4: Monument of the Agonothetes. 178

Figure 5: Plan of the agora. 178

Figure 6: Roman “libraries” replacing a Greek stoa. 179

Figure 7: Fourth century B.C. stoa with niches. 179

Figure 8: “Obelisk”. 180

Figure 9: Plan of the fortifications. 180

Figure 10: Arched portal. 181

Figure 11: Main street. 181

Figure 12: Theater at the bottom of the hill. 182

Figure 13: Cistern in the fortification walls. 182

Figure 14: Monumental fountain-view of the façade. 183

Figure 15: Monumental fountain-view from the top. 183

Figure 16: Water channel in the fortification walls. 184

Figure 17: Single column at Shtyllas. 184

Figure 18: Aerial view of the temple of Shtyllas. 185

Figure 19: Reconstruction of the temple of Shtyllas by Guri Pani. 185

Figure 20: “Gymnasium”. 186

Figure 21: Archaic street. 186

chronological periods. 188

Figure 26: Map of the distribution of Archaic and Classical pottery in