Publisher's Synopsis
The first volume in the final publication of the Franco-Albanian excavations led between 1993 and 2006 at the prehistoric lake-dwelling settlement of Sovjan, this work provides a general presentation of the site, its environment, and the main results of its exploration. It opens with a summary of the paleoenvironmental research carried out at the site, but also in the whole Korce basin, in parallel with the archaeological excavations. Next comes a history of the Sovjan excavations, placed in the context of the history of Albanian archaeology since the mid-twentieth century. The core of this work is a detailed presentation of the occupation phases of the settlement, from the dawn of the Neolithic period to the first centuries of the Iron Age; the sequence, which covers nearly 6 millennia, is based on data from stratigraphy, architectural structures, artefacts, and on a series of absolute dates defined through radiocarbon dating, but also - for the final phase of the Early Bronze Age, to which the remains of well-preserved wooden constructions are associated - through dendrochronology. The final chapter aims to place the settlement of Sovjan in its local, regional and supra-regional context for each of the periods of its long occupation.
