Starinar
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'Tomb with cupids' from Viminacium
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The tomb G-160, known as the 'Tomb with Cupids', was discovered in 2003, during the excavations at the Pirivoj - Viminacium necropolis. The tomb has a trapezial section, characteristic for Viminacium tombs of the late antique period, and its interior was painted using the fresco technique. Scenes and motives are set on all four walls of the tomb. Since the western wall is damaged, the tomb is named after the depiction of cupids on the eastern wall. The wealth of the iconographic repertoire, together with an analysis of the geometry and symmetry, allowed the reconstruction of the conceptual context and it can be concluded that the tomb was dedicated to Venus, or Dionysus. The tomb painting could be dated to the beginning of the 4th century, owing to the analysis of the style, which combines an eclectic Eastern expressionism, classicism and illusionism of the Constantine era.
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A 12th century set of marvered purple glass vessels from Braničevo (Serbia)
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During the 2011 archaeological excavations at the Mali Grad site in Braničevo, a set of at least 16 vessels made of translucent dark-purple glass and decorated with marvered opaque white trails was discovered. This unique glass assemblage, consisting of at least eight bowls, three bottles, two cylindrical flasks and three further vessels which can be possibly attributed to flasks, was found in the most significant archaeological context in the urban centre of Braničevo, in the layer above the floor in House No 4. According to other archaeological finds from the same context, coins in particular, the glass vessel set is dated to the 12th century. Importantly, the finds from Braničevo are so far the earliest securely-dated vessels of this type in the territory of the Byzantine Empire, post-dating the reestablishment of its control over the Balkan Peninsula in the 11th century. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177021: Urbanization Processes and Development of Medieval Society]
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A Roman funerary inscription from Smederevo
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In this short paper the authors publish a Hungarian wartime postcard from Smederevo (Serbia), from 1916. It is reported that a Roman gravestone was found on the banks of the Danube and the text of the lost stone monument was also added. The authors intend to interpret the funerary text that was incorrectly transcribed.
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A camel skeleton from the Viminacium amphitheatre
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Camel remains have occasionally been found in Roman provincial sites throughout the Empire. In Serbia, several camel bones were found on Roman period sites. In the course of the excavations of the Viminacium amphitheatre, a partial camel skeleton was found in the western part of the arena. This find dates back to the middle, or the second half, of the 4th century AD, the period after the amphitheatre lost its function. As no other camel skeleton has been found throughout the European part of the Empire until now, this one represents a unique find in this territory. According to mixed morphometric features of the skeleton, it is suggested that the skeleton belonged to a hybrid individual. Based on taphonomic analysis of the skeleton, assumptions have been made as to how the corpse of this animal was treated after death. In this paper the role and significance of camels in Roman provinces in the territory of Serbia is also discussed.
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A case of myositis ossificans traumatica on one skeleton from Viminacium
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The Roman city and military camp of Viminacium is situated between the villages of Stari Kostolac and Drmno, 12 kilometres north-east of Požarevac, close to the confluence of the Mlava and the Danube. During its history, it became the biggest urban settlement and the capital of the province of Upper Moesia (Moesia Superior), later First Moesia (Moesia Prima). In one of the necropoles of Viminacium, Pećine, in grave No. 5785, skeletal remains of a juvenile male individual were discovered. The burial took place in Late Antiquity. Anthropological analyses revealed a fracture of the right femur followed by myositis ossificans traumatica. The trauma to the bone can damage the overlying muscle and, occasionally, the muscle tissue will respond to the trauma by producing bone directly in the muscle tissue itself. This condition is known as myositis ossificans traumafica (post-traumatic myositis ossificans or myositis ossificans circumscripta) and is most likely to occur in response to trauma in young male individuals, and in the femoral (the quadriceps muscles) or humeral region (brachium muscles). [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 47018: Viminacium, Roman city and military legion camp - research of the material and non material culture of inhabitants by using the modern technologies of remote detection, geophysics, GIS, digitalisation and 3D visualisation, Grant no. 177007: Romanization, urbanization and transformation of urban centres of civil, military and residential character in Roman provinces on the territory of Serbia and Grant no. 177021: Urbanization and development processes in the medieval society]
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A contribution to the study of lamellar armors
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The work is based on the finds of lamellar armors from the Early Byzantine site Svetinja at Viminacium. In addition to the analysis of the finds we presented also the analogies from Early Byzantine, Germanic and Avar contexts and we also paid attention to the so far insufficiently known find from Selenča. Along the armors we also analyzed the related lamellar helmets. The work includes discussion of the genesis of lamellar armor types - their Oriental origin and their continuance after the 6th century, i.e. the final years of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century, when lamellar armors were introduced in the Byzantine army and among Germans and Avars as a result of changes in warfare techniques. Finally, we suggest conclusions resulting from the precisely defined context of the Svetinja find.
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A contribution to understanding stratigraphy of Lepenski Vir
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This paper presents the results of the analysis of the documentation from the excavations at the site of Lepenski Vir during two investigation campaigns in 1966. The focus is on the analysis of the vertical stratigraphy and stratigraphic interrelations between the elements of the Mesolithic culture of Lepenski Vir, i.e. the layers associated with the Lepenski Vir I and II phases and the Neolithic settlement, in other words, the elements of the Lepenski Vir III phase.
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A group of painted vessels from Singidunum
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About 20 vessels, made of fine clay fired in whitish tones (10YR 8/2, 10YR 8/2-3, 5Y 8/1), with the polished surface ornamented with painting in fading brown, originate from Singidunum. In comparison with analogous material from Donja (Lower) Panonia and Dalmatia, the importance of these vessels is to be found in the fact that they were excavated from settlement horizons dated to the second half of the 3rd and early 4th century. Based on the shapes and technological features of ceramics from Lower Panonia and Dalmatia, which have been published, as well as on the observations of the finds from Singidunum, it is to be assumed that they were the output of the same workshop which not only had a small scale of production but also a meager scope of shapes, meaning goblets i.e. cups as favorable form.
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A head from Karataš attributed to emperor Clodius Albinus
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In the fortress on the Karataš site (Diana), which was enclosed in the Đerdap part of the Danube limes, a male head has been discovered, with portrait characteristics showing it as an official, imperial portrait. It is a portrait belonging to a specific, small group of imperial portraits originating from the territory of the Roman Empire, with the problem of identification and interpretation present in the international archaeology ever since the end of the 19th century. The find of the head from Karataš is connected with the mentioned small group of portraits belonging, according to a group of authors, to Septimius Severus (193–211), while the other group thinks it is a portrait of Clodius Albinus (193–197). After a few decades this is the first discovered find belonging to this group, which again actualizes the problem who of the mentioned two emperors was portrayed on the head from Karataš.
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A new inscription from Sirmium and the basilica of St. Anastasia
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A fragmentary marble inscription, preserved in the Museum of Srem in Sremska Mitrovica, seems to mention the basilica of St. Anastasia: [In dom]o beati[ssimae dominae nost]re Anast[asiae. This monument provides epigraphic evidence on the cult place of the martyr in Sirmium, already recorded by written sources. According to the Passion of St. Demetrius, the church of St. Anastasia had already existed in Sirmium when Leontius, praetorian prefect of Illyricum, started the construction of the basilica of St. Demetrius. Although the find spot of the plate is not known, the finds of Ostrogothic coins next to the northern city wall imply that the basilica of St. Anastasia was located in that zone of the city, as the Ostrogoths highly respected the Martyr. It is possible that it should be identified with a martyrium leaning against the northern city wall that had been unearthed and then destroyed at the end of the 19th century.
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A newly-discovered roman altar from Surčin
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The paper publishes the recent discovery of a Roman altar built into the Church of St Petka at Surčin, Greater Belgrade. From the palaeographic features of the inscription and the dedicant’s gentile name, the altar has been dated to the second half of the second century. Examination of the published epigraphic corpuses reveals the existence of yet another, fragmented, altar from Surčin, and the author draws attention to an error in its publication. The paper offers an overview of the portable archaeological finds from Surčin which suggest an early Roman settlement (first century) in the ager of Bassianae.
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