The only objective of the field season of 2009, in the ancient city of Bylis was to carry on the archaeological excavations in the Episcopal quarter. The results of the previous seasons suggests that at the end of the 5th century AD, the Episcopal quarter was expanded to the southeast of the cathedral, around the intersection of the two straight roads of the city. The entrance to both the upper and lower parts of the quarter was through a yard in the eastern side. The yard facilitates the transports of gross edible goods for storage in the quarter’s structures, and the export of other products, mainly wine and oil, as well as livestock. This yard was surrounded by buildings, where olive and grape pressing tanks, in situ storage pithoi, kilns, etc., were revealed. During this season, the excavation of building N (rooms N2, N3, N4, N5) and K-P (rooms P4 and P1A) continued. Thes enclose the yard on the northern and southern sides. In rooms N2 and N4-5, partly excavated during the field seasons of 2007-2008, the digging identified a large warehouse, the olive or grape pressing area, and three tanks. In the storehouse N2, the excavations revealed once again several pithoi, which were set in regular line and covered from the inside with bitumen, a local tradition used to isolate these types of wares. In room N5, apart from the grape pressing tank and 4 pithoi found against the eastern wall, two other larger tanks were found in the northern side. The tanks were linked to each other by a wall where the extracted liquid was collected, and a staircase was used to remove the residues.
A deep cistern for wine production was uncovered in room N4; it had an inner staircase and a wooden coverage, while the mixed liquids seem to have derived from the two tanks found to the north of room N5. At a later phase the cistern appear to have lost its primary function. In room P4, the excavations revealed the lowest level, found below the destroyed floor of the upper storey, and a blocked entrance in the eastern wall, which suggests for the abandonment of the lower floor at the end of the 5th century AD.
The excavations carried out in the western side of the kitchen (room P1), identifying another kiln, covered by a later tank. The sondage opened in the outer part of this room, uncovered a drain channel used to collect kitchen and rain waters. To the southeast of building K9, a passageway was found (P2), blocked by a north-east and south-west directed wall of large stone blocks and other construction debris. The wall seems to have marked the southern limit of the Episcopal property. Other excavations were undertaken in front of the southern entrance of room P3, where a destruction layer cut by the foundations of another structure, which was later then building K-P was exposed. Building K-P is likely to have remained in use until the late 6th century, a time which corresponds with the official abandonment of the city of Bylis.