Starinar
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Animal and plant remains in a tomb in test-pit 1/05, outside the fortified imperial palace Felix Romuliana
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During the excavations of a tomb located outside the defence walls of the imperial palace, Felix Romuliana, animal and plant remains were collected the analysis of which is the subject of the present study. The faunal remains include the bones and teeth of domestic animals - mule (Equus caballus x Equus asinus), domestic ox (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), sheep or goat (Ovis/Capra), pig (Sus domesticus) and dog (Canis familiaris), a few remains of wild animals - red deer (Cervus elaphus) and fox (Vulpes vulpes), and bone of a bird. Until now, no remains of mule have been discovered on sites originating from the classical period at the territory of Serbia. As for plant remains, pieces of carbonized oak wood (Quercus) and maple wood (Acer) were found, as well as a carbonized seed of a cultivated grapevine (Vitis vinifera vinifera) and a tiny fruit of goosegrass (Galium aparine).
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Annular brooches from the 13th and 14th century from Vojvodina
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By studying the features and contexts of the discovery of annular brooches from Vojvodina the author puts forward a proposal of their typology, in an effort to comprehend their layered functionality, both utilitarian and symbolic - particularly apotropaic. Special emphasis is placed on the interpretation of individual inscriptions. By placing the presented brooches in a broader geographic context and comparing them with analogous finds from neighbouring states, the author reaches interesting conclusions about the time and manner of their use, their potential producers, the directions of their expansion, and the distributors and bearers, highlighting the differences between discrete groups of finds.
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Application of LiDAR technology in analyses of the topography of Margum/Morava and Kulič
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Roman Margum and Mediaeval town of Morava, situated on the Orašje site in Dubravica at the confluence of the Velika Morava and the Danube, could not have been analysed more thoroughly in the past because of the damage caused by the river bed displacements and soil erosion on the one hand, and dense vegetation growing on such a moist terrain on the other. Archaeological research has so far failed to produce even a site plan. Available data on this important site are contradictory to a considerable extent, so the information one could obtain from the written and cartographic sources needed to be confronted with the archaeological ones and, especially, those derived from the recent LiDAR scanning of the terrain, conducted within the scope of the Archaeo-Landscapes Europe Project. Among the most important plans of the confluence area are those left by Marsigli in the 18th and Kanitz in the 19th century. Felix Kanitz, the famous Balkan traveler, also provided us with a textual description of his visit to the site in 1887. Our analyses of the two plans have revealed a number of inaccuracies. Through analyses of the obtaineded LiDAR scans, however, the preserved area of the two settlements has been clearly demarcated, measuring 7-8 hectares, and the eastern edge of the Roman agglomeration - presumed already in the course of the 2011 excavations - was confirmed. Most probably it was the eastern rampart of the Roman fortification. Apart from this, the purpose of a canal stretching along the whole plateau, and mentioned by Kanitz, has been established. Given that to the east of the canal there was the presumably Roman rampart, and to the west of it there were recently excavated ruins of Roman buildings, the canal itself must have been of a more recent date. Bearing in mind the established vertical stratigraphy of the site, we conclude that it was in fact a Mediaeval defence trench. The topography of the nearby fort Kulič has been studied as well. It is often believed that this fortification was originally built in Roman times, but the analyses of DTM have shown the fort erected on an embankment, round in shape, i.e. on the more elevated terrain in comparsion to the largest part of the confluence area, where most of Roman Margum and Mediaeval Morava has been wiped out by water. So the Kulič fortification could have been originally erected only afterwords, i.e. in Turkish times. There are some data from the written sources to corroborate such a date, and we also know of two later accounts describing the 17th century settlement in front of it. There has been no field confirmation so far, but thanks to the results of LiDAR scanning one may observe the traces of a small settlement south of the fortification, protected by a trench. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177021: ArchaeoLandscapes Europe i Procesi urbanizacije i razvoja srednjovekovnog društva]
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Archaeological excavations at Gamzigrad - Romuliana in 2007-2008
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Systematical archaeological excavations at the site Gamzigrad - Felix Romuliana continued in 2007-2008 in the south-eastern part of the fortified imperial palace, in the section of the thermae according to the plan of archaeological research for this site (2005-2009). In 2007, squares L'XXIV, M'XXIV, M'XXIH and M'XXII, which were investigated in 2005 to the horizon c, dated to the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 6th centuries, were completely excavated to the level of the porch of the earlier fortification of Romuliana (Plan 1). The stratigraphy of the cultural layers in these squares is as follows (Fig. 1): Below horizon c there is a layer of construction rubble mixed with brownish-yellow, clay like, sandy soil, 50-75 cm thick, comprising the finds dated in the last quarter of the 4th-5th centuries, layer D; The level of layer D is horizon d, where a structure destroyed in a conflagration, house 1/07, was discovered in squares M'XXII and M'XXIII. It could be dated, on the basis of the preserved household (pottery, metal and antler items, coins, etc.), from the last quarter of the 4th to the middle of the 5th century; Horizon d 1 is a mortar floor discovered beneath horizon d, which presents the earlier phase of house 1/07; Horizon d 2 is the earliest mortar floor inside the house 1/07, covered with a later mortar floor (horizon d 1) and a levelling layer of yellow sand and gravel, which comprises the finds dating also to the last quarter of the 4th to the middle of the 5th centuries; Layer E, 15-40 cm thick, is below horizon d, comprising dark brown soil with rubble and lenses of soot at the bottom, together with finds dated to the second half of the 4th century; Horizon e is covered with layer E, and spread across all the squares which were investigated to the south and to the east of Galerius' bath, where 8 large postholes, which outlined a space 7 x 3 m large and probably some kind of porch, were found along with two furnaces and two pits; Layer F, about 30 cm thick, is the substructure of horizon e and it comprises crushed stone and pebbles mixed with lime mortar, and in places has a levelling of reddish-brown sand. Finds here were dated to the end of the 3rd and the first half of the 4th centuries; Horizon f is a mortar floor of the later fortification of Felix Romuliana at a level of 184.75 m in the west and 184.55 m in the east (an average level of 184.64 m), which was interrupted by a trench running in an east-west direction along the southern section of squares L'-M'XXIV. The trench was filled with soot, small rubble and reddish-brown sand and comprised a large amount of artifacts, such as pottery and glass fragments, metal and bone items and coins dated to the second half of the 3rd century (Fig. 4). Layer G consists of dark brown and yellowish-brown clay with small rubble and soot. It was a levelling layer above the intense construction rubble from the previous horizon and a substructure of horizon f. This layer comprised archaeological finds dated to the end of the 3rd and the first half of the 4th centuries and to the prehistoric period (Early Iron Age); Horizon g is a mortar floor of the porch of the southern and eastern rampart of the earlier fortification of Romuliana. 4 pillars of the eastern porch (pillars 1-4, discovered in 2004-2005), a corner pillar in an L-shape (pillar 5) and one pillar of the southern porch (pillar 6) have been ascertained. From this level the water and sewage canals were dug (Fig. 5). In squares K'XXII-XXIII a trench, measuring 4 x 2 m, in an east-west direction, was opened which aimed to investigate the layers beneath the Roman horizon g. The stratigraphy in this trench is as follows: - Layer G at a level of about 184.53 m; - Layer H, about 35 cm thick, is greenish-yellow clay in which Roman canals were buried, comprising the fragments of the Early and Late Iron Age pottery and fragments of reddish rammed earth (Fig. 2); Layer I, about 20cm thick, is greenish-brown clay, comprising the scarce fragments of the Early and Late Iron Age pottery; Virgin soil consists of yellow clay starting from a level of 184.00 m in the west and of 183.60 m in the east. In 2008, the remains of an earlier building were discovered beneath the floor of the apodyterium of Galerius' bath found in 2002 and below the foundation of the sudatorium and the tepidarium of the same structure, which were found in 2005. Also, for the purposes of conservation and restoration of the thermae, an apsidal room next to the west wall of the apodyterium, so called 'Galerius' dressing room', was completely filled with construction rubble, among which was found a part of an abraded vault (Fig. 6). Excavations proved that the apsidal room had been a pool with cold water, a frigidarium, which was twice renovated and was decorated with mosaic made of black, white and grey stone cubes (Fig. 7). The phases of reconstruction of the frigidarium could also be noticed in its eastern wall (Fig. 8). Also in the rubble inside the pool, glass mosaic cubes of deep blue and golden colours were discovered, indicating the decoration of the vault. In the latest phase, two pillars were constructed to carry the stairs made of stone slabs (Fig. 8). The earliest phase of this room, which had a rectangular layout and a mortar floor, could be part of the building dating back to before Galerius' bath (Plan 2). During the cleaning of the eastern wall of the frigidarium, a semicircular niche with a fresco decoration of geometrical and figural motives, painted in black, dark red, orange and blue on an ochre surface, was discovered (Fig. 3). Under Galerius' bath, a large earlier building was investigated (trenches 1-5/08). Only its foundation zone is preserved. The walls of the Imperial bath were founded on the earlier walls, which were 0.65 m thick and had foundations which were 0.90 m thick (Plan 2). The pilaster of the west faeade of the thermae was also founded on the earlier wall, but it destroyed a water canal (canal A discovered inside the south room of Galerius' bath in 2004), which was constructed after the earlier structure and before the Imperial bath (Fig. 9). It is interesting that the part of the earlier building to the west of the thermae was not demolished during the construction of the Imperial residence. It was adapted and incorporated into the plan of the fortified palace. The original construction was a large public building, probably theprincipia, with a row of rooms around a large courtyard, the atrium. The entrance, which had a porch and a pylon with two square towers and thresholds made of stone slabs, was in the north. (Figs. 10-14) Previously, this building was mistakenly dated to the 4th-5th centuries, because it had been reused in Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods. (Figs. 15-18) However, based on the results of the new research, it could be dated to the 3rd century. .
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Archaeological finds from the vaulted building at Krševica
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The completely preserved building with barrel vault was discovered in 2008 in the course of investigation of the remains of an urban settlement dating from the 4th /3rd centuries BC at the site Kale in the village Krševica (southeast Serbia). We are presenting in this work the archaeological finds discovered in this structure. They included pottery, worked stone and many skeletons of horses and dogs that are assumed to be the ritual sacrifice.
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Archaeological site of Bolnica in Paraćin and its importance for the prehistory of the Central Morava Region
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The paper presents the horizontal and vertical stratigraphy of the site of Bolnica in Paraćin, based on both earlier and the latest archaeological excavations and the material which had been collected for decades by the Hometown Museum in Paraćin, as a result of the construction works connected with the constant urbanisation of the area. The presented archaeological material is attributed to a period from the Early Neolithic to the so-called Dacian La Tène, meaning the 2nd century AD. One of the subjects discussed in this paper is the possibility that the sites of Bolnica and Motel Slatina, in fact, represent one large site, which was artificially divided by the E 75 highway and the Serbian Glass Factory. The comparative analysis, which encompassed the sites positioned on the right bank of the Velika Morava River, showed that this is one of the sites with the most independent chronological sequences in the Central Morava Region. Likewise, the importance of this site as a strategic point and an important intersection on the route from the Danube River to the Central Balkans, and further towards the south and east is underlined. Finally, we analysed the appearance of Dacian material culture during the 1st and the 2nd century AD and compared the occurrence of certain forms and decorations with relevant sites in present-day Romania. The paper cautiously suggests that the Dacian material culture represents traces of the deportation of 100,000 Transdanubians to the territory of Moesia by the legate Silvanus Aelianus, possibly between 61 AD and 64 AD, during the reign of Emperor Nero, which has been partially confirmed by new archaeological excavations at the site of Gloždak-Lidl during 2018. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177020: Cultural Identity, Integrating Factors, Technological Processes and the Role of the Central Balkans in the Development of European Prehistory]
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Arhitektonska dekorativna plastika crkve u Bregovini
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Laissant de côté l’architecture de l’église, déjà publiée et bien analysée notre attention est focalisée cette fois-ci sur la sculpture architectonique, dont les éléments, soit fragmentaires soit complets, furent trouvées en un nombre étonnant au cours des fouilles et des reconnaissances archéologiques (entre 1957 et 1960). Il s’agit de la sculpture non seulement des éléments de construction de l’église (chapiteaux, colonnes et bases) mais aussi des éléments du mobilier liturgique (plaques de parapet colonnettes, ambon, autel, ciborium). Une vision générale nous permet de constater que l’édifice entier, aussi bien par l’organisation de son intérieur que par le choix des motifs décoratifs de la sculpture architectonique et de son traitement, fait apparaître toutes les caractéristiques des écoles locales, provinciales de bâtisseurs et de tailleurs de pierre de l’Illyrique du nord, en particulier de celles appartenant au cercle de Caricin Grad. Dans ce sens, le répertoire de la sculpture de la basilique de Bregovina ne diffère pas beaucoup des autres ateliers provinciaux de l’empire de Justinien; loin des puissants centres urbains, ils imitaient des modèles depuis longtemps dépassés par la mode.
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Armes provenant de tombes celtes d’un site inconnu
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En automne 2003, lors d’un contrôle effectué à la frontière entre la Serbie et la Hongrie et en application de la loi sur la protection des biens culturels, les autorités de police ont confisqué à X une certaine quantité d’objets archéologiques en fer qui ont été confiés à la garde du Musée national de Belgrade. La plus grande partie de cette saisie, que l’on suppose être constituée de trouvailles originaires du Srem, était constituée d’armes celtes présentant divers degrés de conservation (Pl. I-III). Il s’agit de trois épées pliées avec leurs fourreaux, deux anneaux de ceinturon, six fers de lance, deux talons de lance, trois umbos dont un avec manipule en fer, deux grands coutelas, deux rasoirs, trois couteaux recourbés et un bracelet. Au vue de la nature du matériel en question il est permis d’en conclure que ces objets proviennent de tombes pillées, appartenant peut-être à une grande nécropole des Scordisques, qui correspondrait à La Tène Moyenne (LT C2), soit la première moitié et le milieu du IIe siècle av. n. è. En l’absence d’autres données on ne peut que supposer qu’il s’agit, pour le moins, de trois sépultures distinctes, en soulignant que ce matériel peut déjà être rangé parmi les plus remarquables panoplies de guerriers pour la période La Tène Moyenne provenant du territoire des Scordisques. Simultanément, il pourrait s’agir d’un excellent exemple du type d’armement des Celtes de l’Est pour cette époque.
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Astragal und eiförmige motive auf Stuckdekor der Wandmalerei Sirmiums
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Im Laufe archäologischer Ausgrabungen 1977 kamen in Sremska Mitrovica, auf der Fundstelle Nr. 56, in einem Gebäude, dessen Grundriss und Typ nicht festgestellt werden konnten, neben anderen Funden auch mehrere Fragmente an Stuckdekoration zutage. In dieser Studie werden ihre Elemente parallel zu ähnlichen Motiven, die auf anderen in Sirmium gefundenen Wandmalereien auftreten, betrachtet. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47018: Viminacium, die römische Stadt und Militärlager - Forschung der materialen und geistigen Hinterlassenschaft mit der Verwendung moderner Technologien: Ferndetektion, Geophysik, GIS Digitalisation und 3D Visualisation]
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Auctoritas Maiorum in the edict of Galerius of 311 ad
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The phraseology of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius in 311 reveals a unique motive on the part of the emperor for his persecution of Christians: the Christians had abandoned the religious convictions of their ancestors and made their own laws, which consequently had led them - allegedly - into atheism. Galerius issued an order that they (the Christians) should return to the practices established by their own forefathers. Thus, the re-establishment of mos maiorum, endangered by Christian 'atheism', was Galeirus' prime motive for confronting the new religion. If this was the real motive, it was carefully chosen: mos maiorum was the key point for the preservation of traditional (pagan) religion, social order and the Roman Empire, as Ciciero and Symmachus put it. When Galerius proclaimed, on his deathbed, that Christians should pray for his salvation, he remained devoted to his polytheistic convictions.
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