A Hellenistic Period Sanctuary at Vau i Dejës, Northern Albania – a ‘Road Sanctuary’ between the Adriatic and the Central Balkans?

该项目的重点是在Vau i Dejës（北方阿尔巴尼亚）的希腊化避难所，仅在2015年被发现。这个小村庄位于Zadrima平原的东北部，该平原在现代城市Shkodra和Lezha之间延伸，以前是Skodra和Lissos的古老城邦。迄今为止，该遗址仅因发现与东方神萨巴齐奥斯有关的一只许愿青铜手而闻名。奥地利考古学家Camillo Praschniker和Arnold斯科贝尔在第一次世界大战期间访问了北方阿尔巴尼亚和黑山，他们认为沃代什是他们从斯库台到罗马后期的维格要塞之旅的一个重要站点。德林河的支流只能在Vau i Dejës附近穿过，在那里离开山脉。在古代，一条道路已经穿过德林山谷通往巴尔干半岛中部。该地点位于村庄东部出口的一座山上，岩石表面崎岖，因此不适合定居。简短的检查导致发现了数量惊人的陶瓷碎片和硬币，主要是沿着南坡上方的中断带来的最近的一个建筑工地。这些非常丰富和有启发性的发现主要包括精美的希腊化陶瓷碎片，还有大约十几个来自女性神灵的兵马俑碎片以及十枚希腊化硬币。此外，还有一些器皿碎片和两枚罗马晚期的硬币。没有一个单一的对象可以归因于罗马时期（公元1 - 3世纪）。考古证据表明，在Vau i Dejës的避难所被遗弃在所谓的伊利里亚-潘诺尼亚起义（公元6-9）。最近发现的地点在Vau i Dejës因此是唯一的避难所从希腊罗马时代考古学证明阿尔巴尼亚的领土以北Dyrrachion/都拉斯。在Vau i Dejës的项目的目的是记录考古证据在抢救性挖掘。它的目的是一方面记录遗址的解释和年代分类所需的仍然剩余的证据，另一方面，理解希腊化的还愿祭和那些与古代晚期的发现有关的考古背景。通过分析材料，希望获得对圣所年代的全面了解，并确认在古代晚期的假设重用。该遗址的特殊考古意义进一步被认为是Sabazios从“Vau i Dejës”的还愿之手的最有可能的起源，今天保存在地拉那的阿尔巴尼亚国家博物馆。由此产生的问题是，该遗址是否曾是亚得里亚海海岸和巴尔干半岛中部之间的路边避难所，在那里，旅行者能够给予，除其他外，“异国情调”的还愿产品。

The project focusses on a Hellenistic sanctuary at Vau i Dejës (Northern Albania) which was discovered in only 2015. The small village is located in the northeast of the Zadrima plain which extends between the modern cities of Shkodra and Lezha, formerly the ancient poleis of Skodra and Lissos. To date, the site has been known only for the discovery of a votive bronze hand associated with the oriental god Sabazios. The Austrian archaeologists Camillo Praschniker and Arnold Schober who, visiting Northern Albania and Montenegro during WWI, qualified Vau i Dejës as an important station on their trip from Shkodra to the late Roman fort at Vig. The substantial Drin river could be crossed only near Vau i Dejës, where it leaves the mountains. In antiquity a road already led through the Drin valley towards the Central Balkans.The site which is located on a hill at the eastern exit of the village is marked by a rugged rock surface and was hence unsuitable for settlement purposes. Brief inspections led to the discovery of a surprisingly large amount of ceramic fragments and coins, mainly along the southern slope above the disruptions brought about by a recent construction site. The remarkably rich and instructive finds consist chiefly of sherds from fine Hellenistic ceramics and further of about a dozen of terracotta fragments from a female deity as well as ten Hellenistic coins. In addition, there were some vessel fragments and two coins from the late Roman period. Not one single object could be attributed to the Roman Period (1st-3rd centuries AD). The archaeological evidence suggests that the sanctuary at Vau i Dejës was abandoned during the so-called Illyrian-Pannonian revolt (6-9 AD).The recently discovered site at Vau i Dejës is consequently the only sanctuary from the Hellenistic-Roman era to be archaeologically attested on Albania’s territory north of Dyrrachion/Durres.The purpose of the project at Vau i Dejës is to document the archaeological evidence in a rescue excavation. Its aim is on the one hand to record the still remaining evidence needed for the site’s interpretation and chronological classification and on the other, to comprehend the archaeological contexts of the Hellenistic votive offerings and those pertaining to the finds from late antiquity.By analysing the material it is hoped that comprehensive insight into the sanctuary’s chronology is gained and that an assumed reuse in late antiquity is confirmed. The site’s particular archaeological relevance is further to be put into perspective as the most likely origin of the votive hand of Sabazios from ‘Vau i Dejës’, today kept in Albania’s National Museum in Tirana. The question thus arises as to whether the site once represented a roadside sanctuary between the Adriatic Coast and the Central Balkans, where travellers were able to bestow, among others, ‘exotic’ votive offerings.