Hellenistic Pottery from Butrint (Albania) New Data from the Butrint Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project

Thanks to its privileged geographical position, Butrint played a key role in relations between eastern and western Mediterranean Sea throughout the antiquity. While during the Archaic and Classical periods Butrint fell within the sphere of influence of the nearby colony of Kerkyra, starting from the Hellenistic period, Butrint gains full political and commercial autonomy becoming an important harbour in the routes connecting the two sides of the Mediterranean and it kept this key role during all through the antiquity. During the RFE Project (2011–2014), important archaeological data concerning all these phases came to light. Regarding Greek Butrint, deep soundings under the Roman levels, in particular under the pavement of the forum’s basilica (Unit 21), have brought to light a stratigraphic sequence that allows us to follow all the main phases of the settlement, from the earliest Corinthian occupation, until the construction of the Roman forum at the end of the 1st century B. C. In particular, the study of pottery from this sequence clearly shows the passage from the Corinthian sphere of influence, attested by the almost absolute predominance of Corinthian pottery in the Archaic period, to the progressive autonomy during the Hellenistic period when Butrint’s material culture is fully comparable to that from nearby Epirote sites. In this text, a summary of the study of early Hellenistic contexts from the RFE project will be presented, focusing on the features of the new Hellenistic material culture in Butrint.