Are you interested in supporting archaeology and the discovery of the human past? We are seeking support for the Korça Regional Neolithic Research Project - an international archaeological project working in the Korça region of southeast Albania, led by three young directors from institutions in Albania, Germany, and the United States. The project is based in a mountainous region close to the borders with Greece and North Macedonia, situated between the pristine alpine lakes Ohrid and Prespa.

Our work includes students and researchers from 7 countries and a variety of research backgrounds, for a truly interdisciplinary and international collaboration. Together, we have been studying the origins of some of the very first farming communities in Europe (starting from 6400 BCE!) and how people in the region adapted to ever-changing environmental conditions over the past 8500 years. Not only have we sought to understand the initial transition from foraging to agriculture, but how these communities lived and responded to major climate change events and created sustainable ways of life over several millennia. Importantly, this research also asks how this knowledge about the past can inform sustainable land use in the Mediterranean region today, where the dramatic effects of climate change are already having an impact on food production.

In our first three field seasons (2022–2024) we have surveyed the Neolithic sites in the region and excavated at a site called Luadisht that dates to 5600–5000 BCE, i.e., the Middle Neolithic. We uncovered many prehistoric artifacts, partial remains of houses, and a prehistoric surrounding ditch - representing the first and only Neolithic ditch excavated in Albania to date. We also began a survey in the mountains between Lakes Ohrid and Prespa, which had never been systematically investigated before, to discover new sites. The survey explores the long-term development of land-use systems and connections between the lakes and has already identified dozens of previously unknown archaeological sites.

Our team in the process of excavating the first Neolithic ditch investigated in Albania. Ditches are an important research topic because they represent the first large communal building projects in the region.

An important component/intention of this project is training the next generation of archaeologists in the field and to bring together students from several different nations during our campaigns. In our first three years, we are incredibly proud to have trained around 40 students in archaeological field methods, from site prospection to excavation and interpretation, environmental sampling and artifact analysis, heritage protection and public engagement, and more. This project has introduced many of these students to their first experience abroad and the wonders of immersion in the past and present of another culture.

Our survey team in the process of a systematic prospection, walking lines spaced 10m apart and collect all artefacts to find out more about the extent, distribution, and dating of known sites, or discover new sites.

Co-director Jana Anvari and one of our Albanian students uncovering a pot.

Our archaeozoologist, Viki Fries, smiling about a well-preserved animal mandible.

We are currently preparing to conclude the first phase of our research and publish the results from the initial three years of our work. To do this, we need to fund laboratory-based analyses of samples. We are also getting ready for our next yearly field season in summer of 2025. In funding our ongoing research, we face the same challenge of steeply rising costs seen elsewhere, but particularly in Albania – coupled with the fact that public resources for social sciences research are allocated ever decreasing budgets. To conduct the kind of rigorous, impactful research that is at the heart of our project, and to maintain the capacity to train new students who are eager to join the project and experience the rich cultural heritage of Albania, we seek the support of individuals who see the value in helping expose young people to the wonders of the human past and asking the big questions about what we can learn from it to create a better present and future.

Students from Albania and the US doing flotation to recover small botanic remains from excavated soil. This is supported by a friendly farmer couple who live next to the site and provide the water needed for this process!

We hope you will consider making a donation to the Korça Regional Neolithic Research Project for lab analyses done between the field seasons and forthcoming fieldwork in 2025. Your contribution will directly support costs of equipment and transportation, student room and board, and visits to other regional heritage sites. It will also fund the processing of samples after each field season, for example radiocarbon or OSL dating.

 Co-directors Patrick Willett and Eda Andoni in the process of dating pottery.

 

Here’s what your donation could fund:

1200€ The participation of one Albanian student (room and board for six weeks). The Albanian Institute of Archaeology doesn’t have funds to support the participation of Albanian colleagues in our project, but it is very important to us to contribute to the training of the next generation of Albanian archaeologists and foster an international network for the many students who participate.

2900€ One rental van (6-week rental and fuel). We require three vans to drive our team between accommodation and the different sites we work on between the plain and the mountains.

1000€ One excavation tent. Used by most modern excavations to not only prevent heat exhaustion in the excavators, but also to preserve archaeological features in the short term (so that they don’t fade white we are trying to understand them) and long term (for posterity).

500€ One OSL sample. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is a method that can tell us how long ago soil was last exposed to sunlight, giving us a precise date for its burial. We’re using it to date the construction of our Luadisht ditch, the first Neolithic ditch excavated in Albania.

325€ One radiocarbon date. In modern archaeology, it is standard to date lots of samples (20-50 per site) so to get a detailed understanding of past lives, e.g. the time difference between the occupation of two houses.

100€ One thin slide. Using a method called micromorphology, archaeologists take soil block samples; a lab processes them into thin sections and then a researcher studies them under a microscope. Through the samples we took from Neolithic Luadisht, it is possible to observe information about the archaeological site that cannot be observed macroscopically.

10-80€ Smaller donations can fund tool replacements – trowels, shovels or wheelbarrows need to be replaced at regularly. And what is the most important archeological tool? Plastic bags! We require a lot of plastic bags to store and label finds and samples, about 400€ worth per season.

How we’d acknowledge your donation:

All donors who provide their email address will receive our bi-annual newsletter with updates from the project.

For a donation of at least 3000€, we will include you by name in the Acknowledgements section of our forthcoming monograph on the results of our fieldwork, as well as on our website (if you prefer to not be mentioned by name, please just let us know). Donors of at least 1000€ will be acknowledged on our website.

We deeply appreciate your interest in supporting this project and our ongoing research in Albania.

Many thanks!

-The Korça Regional Neolithic Research Project

 

You can read about the project on our website: http://bit.ly/KorcaNeolithicProject

You can follow us on social media:

Instagram: @korcaneolithicproject

Bluesky: korcaneoproject.bsky.social

For any further questions and to get in touch, please do not hesitate to email us!

 

Testimonials from our students:

 

“A life-changing experience…The connections and knowledge I gained through this program are like no other, and will benefit me throughout my entire academic and professional career.” - Hanna Murphy, Junior at University at Buffalo, SUNY

 

“My time in Albania as a part of this field program were some of the greatest times of my life. I was able to learn so much with the aid of the leading Professors that I will be able to carry with me into my own projects and classes.” - Mackenzie Kornbluth, Freshman at Stockton University

 

“I have just spent the last 7 weeks of my life on an amazing journey with some of the best people I have ever met, doing what I think is one of the coolest things in the world...this summer was transformative for me.” - Kayli Reynolds, Junior at University at Buffalo, SUNY

 

“An amazing educational opportunity surrounded by people just as enthusiastic about history, archaeology, and environmentalism as I am…I also believe that I went through a lot of positive character development and have come out of it a new man.” - Alex Rivera, Junior at Stockton University

Teaching in the field – discussing the excavated features.

Visitors on excavation :)