Research

The first phase of land-use study was initially based on an agrarian report prepared by CeRPHAAL in collaboration with a local agronomist, Krenar Ismaili. The information indicates that agriculture has historically been the basic activity in the Vjosa Valley, while the main cultivated products seem to have been cereals and vineyards. 

This field work was performed during May and June 2015 in collaboration with hydro-engineer Josif Miti, who prior to the survey, prepared a desk-based research about the natural hydro network and traditional irrigation systems of the study area. 

During 2015 the research on historical archival documentation has provided new information about the historical parcels. In the case of Rio Monachil, the parcels system from the beginning of the XX century have been fully digitalised, allowing to plan and perform spatial analysis of the parcels distribution in order to study their evolution and relation to the historical water administration of the different traditional irrigation systems.

During the months of May and June 2015 a new archaeological survey was carried out in the municipalities of Lanteira and Jérez del Marquesado (Granada). This survey is the product of a collaboration between the Prehistory and Archaeological Department of Universidad de Granada, a project for the study of Preindustrial Minery at the Nevado Filábride Complex, financed by the Andalusian Government, and the MEMOLA project. Through the survey we have located more than twenty new sites dated from the prehistory period to the modern age.

The second archaeological excavation (August- September, 2015) at Lanteira - Pago de Jarafí - has provided interesting results regarding the data obtained the previous year. 

The excavation at the necropolis, and housing located at sondage 30.000, continued this year expanding from 13.6 meters to 18.70. Additionally, the located silos for grain storage have been fully documented. The continuation of the excavation resulted in the identification of two oven structures, one dedicated to ceramic and the other, possibly, for domestic use. 

The study of pottery recovered in the 2014 campaign, at Pago del Jarafi, allowed to complete the data obtained during fieldwork. This exhaustive study has provided a more concrete chronology of the settlement. We now know that the identified remains located at sondages 30.000 and 60.000 can be dated between IX-XIII centuries, after which the settlement was abandoned. This information corroborates the data obtained in the archival documentation about the development of local rural communities.

During the months of July and August, an initial analysis and catalogue of the materials found in 2014 was developed. All ceramic fragments have been counted and coded, pieces of a same piece have been joined, and an initial statistic analysis of the pieces found has been designed. This first approach to the ceramics of Pizzo Monaco will be useful to develop a further, and more exhaustive, analysis that will be oriented towards typologies and chronology, fundamental to obtain more specific conclusions in regards to the type of settlement we are studying.

During July and August 2015, the second archaeological excavation campaign took place at Pizzo Monaco (Custonacci, Trapani). This year we have excavated 7 new cells, together with the already excavated in the previous season, totaling 12. Although the stratigraphic analysis is very similar throughout the site, each cell has its peculiarities and commonalities. We can say that all of them were built at the same time since the walls show a single construction phase.

Hydraulic survey, along with an ethnographic interview, have been carried out in the area of Calatafimi by Univeristies of Sheffield, Granada and Palermo, along with Arqueoandalusí partern. Fieldwork is focused on locating local water resources, such as fountains, springs, historic irrigation channels, irrigation pools, underground channels, among others.

In September- October, CeRPHAAL in collaboration with the University of “Aleksandër Xhuvani”, Elbasan, undertook a non-systematic archaeological survey, which covered the territories on the southern part of the Upper River Vjosa Valley.