Pix Illyrica. The bitumen deposits of Selenicë (Albania): Matter, territory and society from Antiquity to the present day – PIX

This project focuses on the exploitation of bitumen deposits in southern Albania and proposes a transhistorical and transdisciplinary approach. It is based on a double hypothesis and has a twofold objective: on the one hand, we consider that this natural resource has shaped the region from which it is extracted in the longue durée and we will seek to explain to what extent its mode of exploitation, its uses and circulation have affected the surrounding society (land property structures, intercommunity relations, religious beliefs and practices, landscape and health status of the population). On the other hand, we consider that the bitumen as an “object” invites to an interdisciplinary approach and we propose to use it as an observatory of the implementation of the collaboration between disciplines (archeology, history, geology, anthropology, geography), thus reflecting on how each discipline involved contributes to building that object and, in turn, is affected by it.
The project is scientifically organized around four themes:
- Material and technological dimension. As the bitumen material is at the centre of the project, it is a question of studying, through chemical and physical analyses and studies, present or past, the different types of extracted products, their qualities, the possibilities and techniques of extraction; the location, extent and type of deposits; the types of transformations (on site or off site - for example, Marseille, Bari, etc.) and the uses of these products, as well as their packaging. Other materials and objects needed for the production and transport chain will also be considered.
- Material and technological dimension. As bitumen material is at the centre of the project, it is a question of studying, through chemical and physical analyses and studies, present or past, the different types of products extracted, their qualities, the possibilities and techniques of extraction; the location, extent and type of deposits; the types of transformation and uses of these products, as well as their packaging. Other materials and objects necessary for the production and transport chain will also be studied.
- Knowledge and beliefs. In Antiquity, the bitumen deposit was associated with a sanctuary located in the south of the Greek colony of Apollonia of Illyria founded by Corinth in the last quarter of the 7th century BC. This sanctuary of the Nymphs, which was also a bitumen deposit exploited from antiquity and where a flame permanently burned, visible from afar in the landscape, was the source of a singular oracle, but its exact location remains to be discovered. It is also a question of looking at the evolution of technical and commercial knowledge, from antiquity to scientific studies, from the end of the 18th century onwards.
- Territories, spaces, landscapes. This dimension concerns the territory used and mobilized according to the times for the extraction of bitumen. Attention will be paid to the link with land issues, as the mine was located in the Ottoman period in an imperial domain, which later became a state farm in the 20th century. The concession system introduced in the second half of the 19th century also raises the question of sovereignty. At a regional level, therefore, it will also be necessary to analyse the articulation with the agro-sylvo-pastoral space, as well as the impact on the landscape and the environment.
- Men and women. This concerns the social dimension, be it the question of the organisation of work (ethno-confessional, men and women, managers/workers, local/foreign) and the interactions between different groups (Muslims, Vlachs, foreigners) or its institutional frameworks. Specific forms of labour (such as forced labour mentioned for the Ottoman and communist periods) and their articulation with other activities, including agro-sylvo-pastoral activities, will also be studied.