Port of Dyrrachium

The ancient city of Epidamnos-Dyrrachium, under the modern city of Durrës, Albania, was a renowned port of the colonies of Corinth and Corcyra. The port was founded in the seventh century B.C. and then took off as the starting point of the Via Egnatia that crossed the Balkan Peninsula and linked Italy to the east. Two coring campaigns, sponsored by INA and the Gerda Henkel Foundation, were conducted and are currently being studied by a French-Albanian team in the area formerly occupied by a vast lagoon to determine the extent of the port. These campaigns yielded cores used to reconstruct the evolution of the coastline and the extent of this lagoon during antiquity. The analysis of the core sediments, along with radiocarbon dates, are helping to determine in which environment the clays were deposited and which natural and human processes allowed this water corridor to form and persist.

Preliminary results have indicated that part of Porto Romano, and in the northern part of Dyrrachium, the Erzen delta has advanced over four kilometers into the sea over the last 5000 years. Contrarily, there have also been significant phases of erosion. The rapid advance of the southern tombolo, in contrast, took place in a calmer environment at the bottom of a protected gulf, suggested by the reduced height of the tombolo—lower than the northern tombolo—and its generally finer sands. The naturally protected area may sufficiently explain this phenomenon, and the presence of the clayey corridor was partly clarified by the core analyses. This area likely has a natural origin since it seems to pre-date the Archaic period, based on radiocarbon dates. The study of sherds found deep in different cores demonstrate that these areas were heavily frequented for a very long time, from the Archaic to at least the late Roman period. It may have been closed at some point, probably before the Roman aqueduct was built during the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117–138).

At this time, the team is attempting to answer questions such as why this area was closed, or was the closure due to natural disasters or human intervention. Were two ports present at Dyrrachium, one in the north—that was abandoned—and another in the south? For the time being, the construction of walls in Porto Romano—which still need to be examined—may help answer whether the port was still in use there.