During the excavations of 2009 at the north-eastern part of the Vrina Plain, of particular interest was the investigation of the medieval deposits covering the western part of the Roman mausoleum, aiming to determine the original and the exact nature of the settlement during this time.
Massive deposits of rubble (context 04, 117) all around the mausoleum showed the demolition of the walls and the removal of all useful material elsewhere. Virtually all the graves within and without the mausoleum had been rifled and disturbed; ceramics of the 12th century was associated with this event. Layers of blackish soil (contexts 3, 79, 89, 105), radically different from the Roman and late-antique horizons seen elsewhere, also contained ceramics of the 12th century, including high-quality glazed wares and a range of fine metal objects. This is likely to represent activity from a site further to the south and west, perhaps within the courtyard of the ex-villa complex.
To the west of the mausoleum and only just visible within the trench was a structure with a fine stone edging, a rubble fill inside and a flat paving stone (contexts 118, 119, 120). This structure which is connected with a late Roman surface (context 90) to the west of the mausoleum may indicate that it is in fact of Roman origin and was merely used as a site for rubbish dumping in the middle ages.
Subsequently the medieval site was abandoned, as demonstrated by the successive thick alluvional layers covering the Vrina Plain. The upper spit of this horizon had been turned over and used as agricultural soil for the state farm created in the 1960s and a pan busting activity had gouged deep ruts own into the archaeological levels, in part damaging the mausoleum structure.
The medieval deposits, especially context 105, very rich in material, such as fine painted and sgraffito wares, bronze objects, Byzantine coins and a lead seal, may suggest that there was some official connection to this activity. This remarkable evidence marks the site out as very unusual. The 12th century is currently absent from Butrint’s archaeological history, and yet, here, outside the ancient city, on the Vrina Plain, lay a thriving site with fine material culture and significant outside contacts.