In the period from November 13 to December 13, 2019, the public institution Center for Conservation and Archeology of Montenegro realized revision archeological excavations of the early Christian basilica located in the southern part of the Old Town of Budva.
During the archaeological excavations in 2019, attention was focused on determining the older layers, ie. buildings that preceded the construction of the basilica.
Probe 1 (dimensions 7.50 × 3m), which was exceveted in the 2018 campaign, placed along the west wall of the central nave, gave us the best results obtained on the basis of which we singled out several life stages before the construction of the basilica. As the discovered small archeological finds has not yet been processed in detail, there is still the possibility of changes in terms of the exact dating of the selected phases.
In the first phase, an east-west street with a slight deviation to the south stretched at this place. It is made of stacked stone on a stable base. Its southern edge has not been preserved, so we do not know the exact width, but it must have been wider than the 2.5 m, which we found. South of the street are piles of pebbles that can be simultaneously or even older. A layer of clay soil dating back to the 1st century AD was formed on the street, which tells us that the street was used in the first century with possibilities even earlier during the Hellenistic period of Budva.
The second phase of life is characterized by an object made of stone and mortar, which is unfortunately only affected in the northwest corner of the probe. Not much can be said about it because only a wall measuring 1.60 m and about 0.50 m wide was found, badly damaged in later interventions. The third period leans on the mentioned wall and it is not clear whether it functioned at the same time as phase 2. It is a light construction building that was destroyed in a fire and dates back to the II / III century. At this stage, the issue of the discovered hearthstone also remained unresolved. It is a circular hearthstone with a tile with the PASIANA seal in the middle. Its connection with the burning layer is not clearly defined, so the doubt remains whether the hearthstone is made just before the fourth phase. The fourth separate phase indicates the leveling of the space, probably for the construction of the basilica. Parts of the mortar floor, mosaics and pieces of walls (0.17 m thick) and material from the 2nd to the 3rd century were discovered in the rubble layer, although some fragments of pottery can be dated to the 4th century. What connects the hearth with this layer is the pot discovered next to the hearthstone and the pitos whose fragments were discovered through the rubble.
The surfaces of both both vessels were treated the same, ie. polish with small strokes in no particular order. Obviously it is not about Roman but about indigenous production which makes the problem even more interesting. The last period registered at this place destroyed all the phases described so far. It is about digging foundation trenches to build the walls of the basilica. The filling of these trenches contains mixed material, which is logical, but there are also examples of ceramics that certainly date from the IV century.
Probe 2 was also opened in the eastern part of the southern nave, thus completing archaeological research in 2019. Excavations in itis probe did not provide such clear data. In its eastern part, a poorly preserved plaster floor of the basilica, 3 m long, was discovered. Next to it to the west we came across an old probe where the only layer was a modern causeway. A wall without plaster was discovered at its bottom. Although it is an already excavated probe, the findings of Hellenistic pottery at the very bottom leave the possibility that the wall is part of a building of Hellenistic Budva.