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Excavation

  • Structures at the Neolithic settlement of Kallamas
  • Kallamas
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    Credits

    • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

      MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

      ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

      AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

    • AIAC_logo logo

    Summary (English)

    • The in situ structure remains discovered during the field season of 2011 brought important data about the habitation phases of the Neolithic Age in the settlement of Kallams. A kind of circular platform, with a diameter of 1, 30 m was revealed in the anthropic layer of 1 m thick (app. 50 cm below its upper level) of sondage C8. The structure was made of baked mud (with an eroded surface) and, at its edges a posthole was noted (locus 810). Approximately 50 cm below this platform, the excavations revealed remains of two other clay structures (loci 812-813), or elements of the same structure (probably with combustion). The first element (locus 812) is a circular ground level (like a hollow) with the inner diameter of 0, 30m and wall thickness of 5 cm, while at its upper turn (which looks like the beginning of a vault) the preserved high is 10 cm. Two perforations with a diameter of 6 cm, which transverse the north-eastern and south-western walls, seem more like tunnels or labyrinths. The preserved part of the second element (locus 813), which was found to the south of the first one, has a rectangular shape (0, 60 × 0, 30 m), with a rising angle suggesting for an arched covering of 2 cm thick. The layer of white ash found above the soil (or in the soil), suggest that the two discovered structures/elements are perhaps part of two domestic kilns, even though their poor aspect of the construction material (friable clay), which could be explained with the hydro-morphic character of the context. These remains belong to the earlier habitation horizon (Middle Neolithic) and are laid above the natural clay bed of the lake, which was balanced through the use of small limes stones, visible below the structure’s level. A group of architectonic elements of baked clay (loci 806, 807, and 809) were identified in sondage D6, within the anthropic layer of black colour mixed with carbon remains and orange clay nodes. Most of them had one of the sides flat and the other with traces of circular or rectangular postholes, where the carbonized wood was sometimes still preserved in situ. These mud elements and wooden pillars are part of a wall or fencing of the site, which was destroyed after the abandonment of the settlement, perhaps due to a fire, as suggested by carbon remains noted in the construction clay remains. Some ceramic and stone objects of the Late Neolithic are associated with the site’s wall remains. In sondage D11, app. 30 from the upper level of the anthropic layer, the excavation revealed a habitation level consisting of ceramic fragments laid on the ground, architectonic elements of baked clay, plant remains, and several stone objects such as mill stones, sharp flints, and green stone blocks (locus 811).

    Director

    • Gilles Touchais - Université de Paris I
    • Petrika Lera - Instituti i Arkeologjisë Tiranë, Departamenti i Prehistorisë (Albanian Institute of Archaeology, Department of Prehistory)

    Team

    Research Body

    • Instituti Arkeologjik Tiranë (Albanian Institute of Archaeology)
    • Université De Paris I

    Funding Body

    • Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères
    • École Française d’Athènes

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