Hellenistic “Corinthian type B” amphorae from Butrint (southern Albania): reconsidering their typology and their role in the regional Hellenistic economy

Corinthian types are the most represented amphorae in all Hellenistic and pre-Hellenistic contexts from the Butrint Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project 2011–2014 (conducted by the University of Notre Dame and the Albanian Institute of Archaeology), and especially the type B. The paper thus focuses on Hellenistic Corinthian type B from Butrint, trying to contribute to both the main research themes on Corinthian type B amphorae: their morphological evolution and the identification of their production sites. First of all, this paper wants to present an updated typology of Hellenistic Corinthian type B amphorae from Butrint. The great number of sherds of this type from the RFE Project allows, indeed, to follow the evolution from the Classical type up to the late 3rd cent. B. C. The typology is based on both the available previous study on the evolution of the type (basically C. G. Koehler’s global studies on Corinthian amphorae and D. Kourkoumelis’ on Corinthian type B from Kerkyra) and on stratigraphical data from the Butrint excavations, together with pottery finds amphorae are in association with. At the same time, the paper will try to contextualize Hellenistic Corinthian type B from Butrint within the broader framework of the site’s economy and more generally of its regional background, following different topics: the earlier hypothesis about local production, the importance of the related agricultural exploitation of the region, the meaning behind the choice of the Corinthian-Kerkyrean model for transport amphorae and the regional distribution of these amphorae.