The investigations of this year aimed to have a full understanding of the archaeological situation revealed in the excavation sector near by the surrounding wall, located between the wide road and the terrace at the foot of hill 104 of the ancient city of Apollonia. The excavations uncovered a channel (US 242) with a brick floor and l sides. Its upper part seems to have been demolished by the foundations of another, later, structure (US 252) built above it. The channel falls down from the south following the slopes of hill 104, up to the point, where it was cut by the road, at the northern side. A wall (12) of limestone blocks was uncovered at the lower levels of the channel. It seems to have lost its function during the construction of the channel. The excavations showed that wall 12 continued toward south, until it joined with the fortification tower (structure 233 identified during the excavations of 2000) of the upper part of the city. Next to the wall 12, a structure (222) consisting of two parallel walls and a floor made of small irregular stones was uncovered. The structure seems to be of the same period with wall 12. At the point where the road was interrupted by another one which runs toward hill 104, a structure was uncovered. It has the floor (US 246) paved with small stones and walls made of large limestone stone blocks (US 228). One of the walls has its outer side higher then the inner, this probably because the wall functioned also as a terrace wall for the structure. This due to the fact that this latter was built on the lower slopes of the hill. The material found in the layers associated with the building alongside wall 12, and with that near the road, dates to the second half of the 2nd Century BC.

During the archaeological season of 2006, a number of test pits were carried out in the agora of the ancient city of Apollonia, aiming to confirm the interpretation and define an accurate dating for the structural anomalies identified during the geophysical investigations of the previous years. This year’s dig were located in two sectors to the northern and southern area of the city, revealing a number of wall structures surrounded by a network of straight roads, which formed a rectangular plan of _insulae_ at this quarter of the city. The excavations at the northern sector (test pits 1 and 2), showed that the _insulae_ of 12, 5 wide and 15 m long are divided by east-west running roads of 3 m wide. The stratigraphic excavations at the southern side of test pit 2 went as far as 2 m deep, revealing a series of layer with material dated from the Early Imperial to the later archaic periods. The excavation did not reach to the natural ground, assuming in this way for the existence of other earlier occupation layers. In addition, a dividing wall of regular large stone blocks was uncovered within an _insula_, at test pit 2, which dates probably between the end of the Classical and the beginning of the Hellenistic periods. It is likely to have been used as terracing wall for a dwelling (as it consists of four rows of stones at the northern and two at the southern façade) and a gravel road which run below the insula floor level. This level altering is due to the fact that the habitation quarter was built on the steadily descending slope up to the breaking point of the hill, where the upper and lower parts of the city were divided. The dividing wall was set on the foundations of another wall, which runs in the same directions and is built with small irregular stones. The second wall is associated with artifacts of the later archaic period. The superposition of these two walls indicates probably, that the construction of the habitation quarter initiated in the later archaic period. The large number of materials revealed in the layers of the Roman republic and Hellenistic periods consisted mainly of tiles, bricks and amphorae. The archaeological material uncovered in the archaic layer appears just as rich as in the upper layers, and is represented by a small bird terracotta figurine, a Corinthian pyxis lid, a lamp, ceramic loom weights, as well as fragments of Corinthian transport amphorae, local painted pottery (decorated with lines), and black gloss wares from Attica. While the discovery of carbon traces could suggest for the existence of a kiln nearby. There is a suggestion that part of the building was reserved for women. The same urban plan, consisting of habitation _insulae_, was also identified in the southern sector of the excavations (test pit 3). It enabled the understanding of the expansion of the urban quarter in the southern side of the agora, up to the foot of hill 104. The deeper layer, laid directly above the natural ground, and below the _insulae_, contained numerous carbon traces, carbonized seeds, Corinthian pottery fragments (including a skyphos), a pyramidal shaped loom-weight, and a engobe painting cup, all dated at the end of the 7th Century and beginning of the 6th Century BC.

During 2007 the excavations for the discovery of the archaic and Classical habitation quarter in the northern and southern sectors of the agora of the ancient city of Apollonia continued. In the northern sector, the excavations carried on with the expansion of the sondages opened during the excavations of 2006. The northern corner of one of the _insulae_ of the terracing quarter was revealed in sondage b1. The direction of the road axis that goes toward the acropolis was also defined. In sondage b2, a road section running between two of the _insulae_ was uncovered. Two phases of use of the road were identified, which were both paved with river gravel: the later phase seems to be a construction of the Archaic period, and stayed in use through whole Hellenistic times (related to the northern extreme of the insulae, US 480); the earlier phase, which is contemporary with an archaic wall (US 513, revealed below the _insulae_ wall-US 480) was built and utilized during the 6th Century BC. The foundations of the archaic wall (US 513), were laid above a fill clay and burning layer, which contained ceramic materials of the second half of the 6th Century BC and numerous pieces of metal slag. This latter suggest for the existence of metallurgic activities in the city of Apollonia since the first decade of its foundation. It seems that the habitation quarter with the _insulae_ and rectangular streets was built at this time. This is also suggested by the discovery of a rectangular pit below wall 513 (US) which goes as deep as the sterile ground level. At the upper layers, at both the opened sondages, the excavations unearthed bricks structures of the Hellenistic period. The excavations undertaken in the southern sector (sondages 3, 8f, 11, 12, and 13), to the west of the big Hellenistic portico, identified a series of north-south walls of the houses, which defined at the same time the limits of one of the _insulae_ (app. 13 m wide) and a 3 m wide street. The uniform fill layer below the road and the _insulae_ identified in sondage 8f contained rich ceramic materials (including two small terracotta human faced masks) of the 1st Century BC, which suggest that the construction of the quarter continued during the late Hellenistic period. The archaeological material, mainly ceramic fragments (including an Ionian cup of BI type, two painted Kraters with Corinthian patterns, an aryballos neck with a female head of _Liebieghaus_ group, some A type Corinthian amphorae, and etc.) identified in the earlier layers of sondages 3, 5c-d, and 11, date to the end of 7th and beginning of 6th Century BC, suggesting therefore, that the construction of the habitation quarter began since the later Archaic and the early Classical periods.

The archaeological records revealed during the excavations of 2008 along with the material study, mainly the ceramics, clarified the situation regarding the occupation phases of the upper part of the ancient city of Apollonia, since its foundation in the archaic period until the Roman Empire. In particularly, a rich chronology of local and imported ceramics of the pre-Hellenistic periods was exposed in sondages 1, 1b and 2, opened at the northern sector of the excavation, to the southeast of the acropolis area, while the Hellenistic and Roman artifacts were revealed in almost all of the excavated sectors. The earlier occupation levels (those of the archaic and classical periods) appear to have been destroyed during the terracing rearrangement and the construction of new structures in the Hellenistic period. The most understandable stratigraphic sequence of the Archaic and Classical periods contains 4 occupation horizons. The earlier level relates to the deepest layer, set directly above the sterile ground and consists of roads, insulae and ceramics remains. The ceramic materials were represented mainly by large vases and imported proto-Corinthian kraters, hydrie, pyxis (of cylindrical and globular shapes), spherical aryballos, Ionian (of type BI) and Attician cups (sondage 2, US 516 and 521), as well as ceramic loom weights of pyramidal shape, which are all dated to the late 7th and the first half of the 6th Centuries BC. The successive horizon was richer in structural remains (road segments and traces of insulae) and ceramic materials of various origins and typologies (US 499, 504, 510, 514, 515 of sondages 2, 1b, 5c, 8g - h, 9 and 11), and dates to the late 6th and beginning of 5th Centuries BC. The domestic wares consist of red-figured vases, black-gloss or painted kraters (three of the fragments discovered in sondage 11, are distinguished for their decoration with palmettes and lotus, wild animals, and a figurative scene of knights riding their horses to war), cups, hydriai, cylindrical oinochoe, kotyle, and miniature _kalathiskoi_ vases of Corinthian origin, globular skyphos, etc., of regional production (territories between Dyrrhachion and Corcyra), and many other fragments made of local clay. Also, numerous fragments of pithoi, loom weights of conical shape and small bases, lamps, bowls, and two _perirrhanterion_ fragments were uncovered in the occupation level of the late archaic period. The third occupation horizon represents a transitional phase between the Archaic and Classical periods, as the related archaeological sequences contain mixed ceramic materials (US 502 in sondage 2, 5c and 5d) of the 5th Century BC. The forth occupation horizon relates to a sequence of uniform layers which are rich in archaeological material of the later 5th and the early 4th Centuries BC, representing thus for the Classical period of the agora of the city. The revealed material, mainly the ceramic consist of hundreds of types and categories, is dominated by both local and imported (Corinth and Corcyra) fabrics. These include cooking or tables vases of black-gloss or painted types: oinochoe, olpe, small kraters, jugs, _unguentaria_, hydriai, amphoriskos made of pure clay, jugs decorated with palmettes, handle-less or handled pots, drinking cups of rounded stool, vessels of vertical handles or S profiles, etc; along with transported amphorae of Corinthian B types, lambs, and etc. Cups, kettles’s and other tables wares, as well as several structures uncovered in sondage 1b (US 483), seem to be associated with a reception hall and a banquet of one of the houses of agora during classical period. These earlier occupation horizons are followed by a series of layers, which are rich with materials and structures of Hellenistic, Roman Republican and Early Imperial times.

The archaeological season of 2009 undertaken in the agora of the ancient city of Apllonia, revealed new data about the occupation phases of the Roman Republic and Early Imperial periods. The richest stratigraphical sequence of Roman ceramics was uncovered in US 422 of sondage 4. It consists of a yellow clay layer containing abundant fragments of Arretine _sigillata_ of the 1st Century AD, pseudo-_sigillata_, as well as common and cooking ware fragments. This layer was not associated with any structural trace, as the sondages are located at the foot of hill 104. Consequently the assembled materials seem to arrive from the top or slope of the hill 104. However, the context appears chronologically reliable and coherent. Roman artifacts coming from the other sondages were often found in association with late Hellenistic materials (sectors: 1 -US 455; 1B –US 456; 2- US 411 and 439; 5-US 574; 13-US 634). These materials, which appear slightly uniform in the stratigraphical context, belong to the 2nd – 1st Centuries BC. Nevertheless, the uncovered layers are very important as they show that the previous Hellenistic ceramic types (of black gloss) and the new Roman groups (_sigillata_), were in use during same time. These stratigraphic units generally correspond to corridors as well as demolition layers. Among the _sigillata_ ceramic group, Italic wares and pseudo –_¬sigillata_ fragments dominate. The latter represent local productions of the 2nd Century, which stayed in use together with the Italic and provincial _sigillata_, until Early Imperial times. The pseudo-_sigillata_ (dominated by plates and cups) reproduces almost all the _sigillata_ forms, though the clay and painting appears of a less good quality. The common and cooking wares which represent the largest number of shapes found in the excavated sondages consist of pots, bowls, plates, lambs, _unguentaria_ etc., mostly without decorations. Some of the vessels are covered with bitumium on their inner parts, and is most likely to be of local production as this mineral used to be (as mentioned by Strabo W. 5, 8, C 316) and is still present in the territories around Apollonia. The chronology of the Roman pottery revealed in the agora of the ancient city began at the 2nd Century BC and was interrupted at the 1st Century AD. It remains to be established whether this interruption relates to the temporary abandonment of the agora in the 1st Century BC, and the construction in the 2nd Century AD of a new public area, located at the southwestern part of the hill 104 (conventionally named as “the monumental center”), or to the military interventions of the last century.

The excavations of 2010 undertaken in the agora of the ancient city of Apollonia were located in sectors 15, 16 and G. In sector 16 the extremity of the eastern wall of the portico was uncovered, while the excavations carried out in sector 15 aimed to clarify the monument’s phases of use, and also reveal other earlier structures of this part of the city. Traces of the road system of Apollonia along with a building with a koilon, which is of an earlier phase then the portico wall and might correspond to a bouleuterion, were also revealed in sector 15. The structure has a curved wall with a perimeter of 15 m, which seems to have been destroyed in the Hellenistic period by the construction of the rear wall of the portico. Traces of a rectangular building were identified within the rounded wall, though the relative chronology between these two structures couldn’t be defined during this season. In the eastern edge of the portico, below the foundation layers, several terracotta figurines of the second half of the 6th Century BC were uncovered, which might relate with deposits layers of a sanctuary built at the top of the next by hill. While in sector G, a 40 m long ditch was dug, which was part of the urban system of the lower part of the city of Apollonia. Two phases of use were also noted in the sector; one of the Hellenistic and the other of the Roman Imperial period. These phases of use are associated with the occupation layers of a house revealed in this sector. It was built as a large stone structure in the Hellenic time and transformed into a mud brick house during the Roman period. The excavations revealed some extraordinary finds, such as two marble busts and a bronze leg, part of a large statue found in sector G, as well as the discovery of the _sima_ of the portico of the city.

The archaeological season of 2011 was located in the agora of the city, in sectors 15 and 16, between the acropolis area and the hill 104. Sector 16, where during the previous seasons a curved structure was uncovered, extending to the west of a large public square, confined in the north by the long Hellenistic portico; whiles the other sector located to the eastern extreme of the portico. This year’s excavation revealed 5 extensive phases of occupation. Right above the sterile ground, the excavations uncovered layers of ceramic wares (proto-Corinthian cups, Corinthian oenchoes, globular hydrie, monochrome kotyle, and etc.), along with traces of productive activities (burned earth, charcoal, pyramidal and conical loom weights of Corinthian imports, spindle whorls and ceramic coils, related probably to textile industry, metal slag and etc.) and occupation (timber post holes of semicircular cut, decomposed clay remains of wall plasters) activities, all dated to the archaic period (late 7th and beginning of 5th Centuries). These layers were cut by irregular stone wall foundations of houses and then by east-west road beds. Their associated layer contained material (mainly pottery with painted bands) of the first half of the 5th Century BC, a time which seems to be related to the urban planning of _insulae_, divided by a network of perpendicular or parallel roads, and the beginning of construction works at the habitation area of the agora. Above these latter structures, other wall lines and road traces were identified, which appear to be of a different orientation (north-south) and building technique (with irregular limestone blocks and baked bricks). The related material dates between the end of the classical and beginning of the Hellenistic periods, suggesting for the transformations of the habitation area at this time. The walls of one of the _insulae_ are cut by the foundations of the semicircular structure, and their fill deposit contains ceramics (mainly black-gloss wares) of the Hellenistic period. The construction of an embankment of the same period, next to this structure, suggests that the agora was re-leveled. In the inner part of the northern side of the apsidal structure, the excavations revealed the stone foundations of the rear wall of the large portico, a building which was constructed at a later time, though within the Hellenistic period. A tomb uncovered above the foundations of the rear portico wall contains funerary artifacts of the 2nd- 3rd Centuries AD, suggesting the devastation or seizure of the monument during the Imperial period. This event also marked the final phase of occupation in this part of the city.