The tumulus at Kamenica is situated in the south-eastern corner of the Korça plain. It was very badly damaged during 1997, and since then looters have systematically dug; for this reason the Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit set up a rescue and research project in close co-operation with the Albanian Institute of Archaeology and the local archaeological office and Museum of Korça.
The first phase of the project was dedicated to the preparation work with the aim of clearly defining the damaged and in situ portions of the tumulus. The tumulus was divided into four sectors along the cardinal axes, and the cleaning procedure was carried out contemporaneously in all of them. The next task was to investigate the real extent of the tumulus and the main elements of its architecture. Soon after it became clear that the tumulus of Kamenica was one of the biggest known so far in the country, with a diameter more than 40m and approximate height at the centre of more than 3m.
There is one particular feature of the tumulus stratigraphy which is unusual compared with other similar monuments of the region: a thick layer of medium and large size stones used to fill the southern half of the tumulus. The irregular distribution of stone layer and their use only in particular portions of the monument is a characteristic element of the tumulus of Kamenica.
During this field season 60 graves were excavated and recorded from the intact portion of the tumulus. In 75% of the cases graves were just simple pits. The second most numerous grave type, almost 20%, were stone-lined graves, the remaining 5% were urn graves.
Inhumation was the dominant way of disposing the dead. However cremation was not rare. Single inhumation was the most common burial practice, but there were also cases of multiple burials with two individuals in the same grave. Two are the most preferred ways of disposing the body in the grave: extended and flexed position. Orientation of graves and skeletons does not seem to have followed any strict rule.
Grave goods are common, but there are also “poor” graves with no associated objects. Most of the finds are ceramic pots. Body, clothes, head ornaments and jewellery, accessories and weapons are frequently found in developed Iron Age graves.
The study of human bones was concentrated this year on the study of the remains carefully collected from the disturbed part of the tumulus. The goal of this study was to evaluate the number of individuals and graves that were damaged by looters, and to extract from the very fragmented material important data such as the gender and age of the individuals.