It took 4 weeks of excavations to uncover new traces and data about the Illyrian city in Bushat, Shkodër.

The excavations were led by Associate Professor Saimir Shpuza from the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana and Professor Piotr Dyczek from the University of Warsaw in Poland, in collaboration with Helidon Sokoli, an archaeologist from the Cultural Heritage Regional Directorate (DRTK) Shkodër.

Following previous campaigns that revealed two entrance gates of the city and its overall extent, this year’s excavations focused on the upper city, aiming to uncover its internal urban organization.

The research mission is revealing that this part of the upper city was massively constructed as early as the mid-4th century BC, according to preliminary dating.

The fieldwork aims to fully uncover the layout of these constructions and identify their roles.

The Albanian-Polish research in Bushat is expected to continue for several years in an effort to uncover as much as possible about the form and history of this city. Thanks to the collaboration between the Archaeological Mission and DRTK Shkodër, a technical dossier is being prepared for the designation of “Protected Archaeological Zone” A and B, thus completing the archaeological map of the Shkodër area with an ancient city and a future visitable archaeological site.

Since 2011, the Albanian-Polish Archeological has been investigating the traces of ancient Shkodër, uncovering significant discoveries and artifacts over the years about the city’s extent, urbanization, and defense system in its lower part.

/a.p./