Diachronic reconstruction of human-environmental interactions at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Butrint: A new archaeobotanical perspective from Albania

Butrint, located in southern Albania, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992 and has been explored archaeologically since 1928. However, its archaeobotanical aspects remain underresearched. This study marks the first comprehensive investigation into plant macroremains at Butrint, aiming to understand human-environment interactions over time. The site’s long history, from the Archaic to the Venetian period, offers a wide range of archaeological contexts with well preserved plant remains. Samples collected in 2022 and 2023, preserved by charring and waterlogging, that come from the medieval context of Western Defences (9-10th century AD) and the Roman forum (3rd century BC to 7th century AD) display, in the former, a charred carpological assemblage mainly composed of cereals and pulses. Anthracological remains from the same context include abundant fragments of deciduous oaks, olive, and maple. In contrast, the Roman Forum area is characterized by abundant waterlogged remains of grapevine, elderberry, and blackberry. This research aims to fill a significant gap in the environmental reconstruction of Butrint contributing to broader discussions on human-environment interactions in the Mediterranean context. It will also shed light on the adaptive strategies, subsistence patterns and agricultural evolution of the diverse communities that inhabited Butrint over the centuries, using taxonomical and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope archaebotanical analysis.