TRANSPORT AMPHORAE FROM APOLLONIA, ALBANIA: WHAT DO THEY REVEAL ABOUT INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GREEKS, GREEK COLONISTS IN THE ADRIATIC AND THE ILLYRIANS OF WEST-CENTRAL ALBANIA?

Determining if vessels such as transport amphorae (TA) arrived from Corinth with Greek traders or were produced by Greek colonists or Illyrians provides insights into contact and exchange patterns between the Greek world and indigenous peoples. The aim of this study is to evaluate contact and exchange patterns between Greek colonists at Apollonia, other Greeks, and Illyrians by using chemical data from Corinthian and other types of TA and possible local source materials. Sixty-eight TA have been collected by the MRAP surface archaeological survey in the territory of Apollonia, of which 52 are believed to have been imported from Corinth. Of note is that six of these are Archaic in date and have been instrumental in establishing that Apollonia was founded in the later 7th century B.C. rather than in 588 B.C. as has been traditionally believed. The remaining 16 TA were thought to be non-Corinthian. Principal component analysis was conducted on X-ray fluorescence data for the TA to assess chemical variability between the two types. The majority of the Corinthian TA group plots separately from the other TA but there is some overlap and six outliers. Zr was plotted against Cr to evaluate better the variability between the amphorae. Two main trends are observed that parallel the PCA groupings. All of the Corinthian TA vary in Zr and Cr contents, while the majority of the non-Corinthian TA display minimal variation in Cr but have a wide range of Zr concentrations, indicating that these two sets were indeed manufactured from different source materials. The possible source materials that have been identified in the region of Apollonia, however, were not employed in the manufacturing of the other TA, based on the Cr concentration of the TA. The highest Cr concentration for the other amphorae is 533 ppm whereas the lowest Cr concentration for the possible source materials is 568 ppm. The high Cr concentrations of the local materials reflect the presence of igneous sources in the headwater regions of the rivers that run through the central region of Albania. Therefore the non-Corinthian TA probably were manufactured elsewhere, or source materials were transported to west-central Albania. One possible source region that should be explored, based on known sources for millstones used in the area of Apollonia, is Sicily, but there are many other possibilities in Greece and the Greek colonial world.