The 2018 archaeological research and topographic survey campaign of the Butrint Project, as per agreements with Albanian colleagues from the Institute of Archeology of Tirana and the Butrint National Park, focused on four main different areas of intervention.
The excavation was carried out through two limited sondages within the filling of the Hellenistic walls built in trapezoidal pseudo-isodome masonry in the stretch between the Forum and the so-called Tower Gate. In this area, the defensive curtain runs for a large stretch in the woods and seems to have been partially removed in ancient times, bypassed and probably incorporated by the buildings of the city when it expanded beyond the limit of the Hellenistic walls.
Analytical cleaning activities were conducted on the upper plateau of the Acropolis, in the area where the Acropolis Basilica was built. The aim was to better understand the stratification of this part of the site, whose occupation seems to go from the Archaic to the Medieval age.
As in previous years, the team was engaged in the topographic survey of the wall circuit using the laser scanning methodology. This time, the survey proceeded from the segment between the Columbarium, near the Lion’s Gate, to the North Gate.
Finally, an analysis of the state of conservation and degradation of the wall structures was conducted on the same section surveyed, along with a preliminary reading of the different building phases.