The Lakeside Settlement of Sovjan (Southeastern Albania) During the Bronze Age in the Light of New Chronological Data

Abstract

While preparing the final publication of the excavations carried out on the prehistoric lakeside settlement of Sovjan (1993–2006), during the last years, we have undertaken (1) the complete re-examination of the stratigraphic data, (2) the detailed study of the pottery of the Bronze and Iron Age levels, and (3) the realisation of new absolute dates, by radiocarbon and even more so by dendrochronology. The latter is based on the analysis of a series of wood samples taken during the partial reopening of the excavation trench in 2018. From all these data, the relative and absolute chronological sequence of Sovjan could be completed, corrected, and updated, and the successive phases of human occupation synchronised with environmental change. As the most significant updates concern the Bronze Age, the present paper focuses on the definitive chronological sequence of this period and summarises the main related data.