During the year 2003, in the ancient city of Apollonia, an archaeological excavation was undertaken in order to understand an amphora layer that covered an area of 120 m². This amphora layer was noticed since the year 1950 although their function was not clear at the time. The excavation defined the outline area covered by the amphoras which were expanded to a 21 m of length and 5, 7m of width, parallel to the retaining wall of the portico. Three other lines of amphora were without reaching to the natural rock foundation. The amphorae are of A1 type and were founded inverted, in regular lines. It was initially considered that this unique discovery represents an “amphorae wall”. Based on its size (the biggest known so far in the ancient Greek world), its homogeneity (the utilization of the same type of amphorae), and the dating (3-th century B.C.), this “amphorae wall” was probably used as a drainage system to protect the portico from the humidity, and the city from the possible deluges.

The excavations at the so-called amphorae wall resumed following an interruption of 4 years. This wall was located approximately 10 m to the south of the temenos wall, nearby the Roman library and the eastern stoa of the ancient city of Apollonia. The entire mass of the amphorae is 21 m long, 5, 60 – 11 m wide, from 1, 10 to 1, 40 m deep and has the shape of a trapezium. The stratigraphic sequence of this excavation can be clearly followed. Above the natural layer, a fill soil deposit containing materials dated from the 5th to the middle of the 3rd Centuries BC was noted. The fill layer was followed by a 30 m thick clay stratum, above which the amphorae mass were laid. Their position was conditioned by the terrain features. Two amphorae rows were therefore revealed at the highest point of the terrain, to the north. As the terrain lows down, at the center, the amphorae group consisted of three rows. In the midpoint of this amphorae alignment, their width reaches to 5, 60 m, and with the expansion of the terrain, in the southern base, the amphorae mass is 11 m wide. The position of the amphorae seems to follow a particular scheme. The first amphorae row was laid on the clay layer, with their mouth downwards. In between the amphorae of the first rows, another second row was set (the amphorae were in same position), and above it the third row. The amphorae were initially filled with soil and then placed in the ground. The major parts of the amphorae were damaged, almost all of them were missing the bottom part, and no sign of amphorae lid was found. The estimates suggest that the wall comprised about 2000-2100 amphorae, most of them probably damaged during the construction of the Roman library. It seems that all the amphorae mass were placed at the same period of time, as the excavations did not observe any second or third phase of construction. Their arrangement in the territory and the construction technique, suggest that the amphorae group probably functioned as a terracing wall, built at the foot of the hill 104 during the Hellenistic period. They might have also functioned as a drainage system for rising damp. This idea is supported by the lack of amphorae lids and ends, creating thereby a sort of capillary tube. The wall is built with amphorae of various types and origins, imported in the city in different periods. Most of them are of Greco-Italic Will a1/MGS V, Will a2/MGS IV, Will C/MGS VI types, while the rest belong to the Corinthian B and A, Chian, and Rhodian types, including another one, which arrives from as yet unknown area of the Aegean. All these amphorae types date between the middle of the 4th until the middle of the 3rd Centuries BC, defining a chronology for the construction of the “amphorae wall”, perhaps at the third quarter of the 3rd Century BC.

The field season of 2008 signalled the third excavation carried out in the amphorae wall at the centre of the ancient city Apollonia. The results of the excavation showed that the amphorae wall relates to the last phase of a construction project conducted at the foot of hill 104. The abandonment of the Archaic wall of temenos along with the rearrangement of the terrace at the foot of hill 104, lead to the construction of two other stone retaining walls (one of them known as the eastern stoa). Later on, the amphorae wall was constructed. In order to create the required sustainability for the large mass of amphorae, a shallow cut was made, which was then filled with a 30 m-thick clay layer. The amphorae were placed above the compacted clay stratum; the upper row seems to have been covered with a soil deposit which formed the platform. The materials uncovered in the fill and clay layer date more or less to the same period, suggesting that this new building initiative, which includes the new temenos wall, the supporting wall of the eastern stoa and the amphorae wall should be of the same period, probably with short distances of time between them. If the duration of the above mentioned works remains as yet unclear, based on the dating of the amphorae used in the wall, their construction seems to have ended at the third quarter of the 3rd Century BC. It is quite clear that the amphorae wall had two functions. Firstly, as a drainage system controlling the running waters which threatened the terrace at the edge of hill 104 and the nearby stoa. Also, this area is very humid during autumns and winter and the amphorae acted like capillary vessels, for sponging up, and preventing in this way the water discharge toward the city center. Furthermore, the location of the amphorae wall can be related to the rearrangement of the terrace located below the hill 104, which at this time was extended toward west. Other amphorae were uncovered during this season, which are of the same typology as those discovered in the previous seasons. Most of them are represented by the Greek and Italic types, which originate mainly from the southern Italy (probably Brindisi and Lecce) and date between the end of the 4th and the beginning of 3rd Centuries BC. Corinthian amphorae of types A and B, dated to the 3rd Century BC, were also uncovered. Apart from two of the amphorae (Corinthian A and B), which were used to carry oil, all the others were probably used for wine transport.