Scythia Minor

This paper aims to give an overview of the 37 dress accessories found at Halmyris, on the Danubian limes. These finds were discovered during field surveys in the area close to the fortress and inside the city walls. The main objective was to show the functionality of the pieces, establish a typology based on components (belt-buckles, belt-plates, strap-ends, appliqués) and propose a timeline based on analogies from different geographical areas, at the same time presenting
their range.

The authors present a series of suspended light devices discovered in Early Byzantine settlements from the province of Scythia. The finds were discovered in Halmyris/Murighiol, Beroe/Piatra Frecăței, (L)Ibida/Slava Rusă, Tomis/Constanța,
Capidava, Ulmetum/Pantelimonul de Sus, and Tropaeum Traiani/Adamclisi. The archaeological contexts of these finds are mostly unclear, but we believe that were used for illuminating civilian houses, military barracks, warehouses and religious places.

The contribution presents and analyses recently found documentation from the early research of the ancient site identified as Dinogetia, now Bisericuța, Garvăn (com. jijila, Tulcea county). The author of the documentation is the French architect Ambroise Baudry, a member of the expedition sent in 1865 to study the fortification of Troesmis (Iglița, Turcoaia, Tulcea county), which was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time. Rezumat: Contribuția de față prezintă și analizează materiale documentare din primele cercetări ale sitului antic identificat cu Dinogetia (azi Bisericuța, Garvăn, com. jijila, jud. Tulcea). Autorul acestor materiale este arhitectul francez Ambroise Baudry, membru al expediției trimise în 1865 pentru studierea fortificației de la Troesmis (Iglița, Turcoaia, jud. Tulcea), la acea vreme parte a Imperiului Otoman.

In the year 8 CE, the poet Ovid was sent in "relegatio in perpetuum" to Tomis, a Greek city on the Black Sea, identifiable with the modern Romanian town Constanţa. During his stay in Tomis – which lasted until his death – Ovid continuously complained about barbarians in town and about barbaric invaders. The most mentioned ones are the Getae, whom the Romanian nationalists consider as their ancestors. Our work bases on Alexander Podossinov's research Ovids Dichtung als Quelle für die Geschichte des Schwarzmeergebiets and analyses how far Ovid's poetry may be taken as a primary source for the studies of the Getic people and up to where it can be considered a poetical or a political invention. Its aim is also to give a critical point of view of some existing Romanian theories about Ovid and his relations with the Getae. As a conclusion, the verses of Ovid are mostly unreliable as historic source about the Getic population of his time, but give a good idea of the Roman knowledge and imaginary about Tomis and its region at the beginning of the first century CE.

The planigraphy’ analysis of big Ust’-Al’ma necropolis for the periods 1st – mid. 2nd cc. and the mid. 2nd -  mid. 3rd cc. (ca. 1100 individual and collective graves excavated from 1964 to 2015) in the western coast of Crimea devoted to the distribution of tamga-signs, the golden costume applications and the offensive weapons in its various parts and for two periods. Tamgas were absent in the elite crypts and presented only in 4,1% of graves (there were usually the Sarmatian wives from neigbouring communities) on the specific “wedding mirrors” and on the Roman clay dishes. The dishes with two tamgas of the relative clans used the purification rituals are of particular interest. In the 1st - mid. 2nd cc. complexes used the golden costume applications of 24 types; almost all of them have analogues in the more eastern Sarmatian tribes. The weapons are usually represented by one symbolic object (for early period it was often the sword, for late period - the spear or axe). According to various data, three accumulations of graves were identified (in the north, SW and east). They reflect the triple division of the community in Iranian tradition and identify the graves of the important members of such groups.
    KEY WORDS: necropolis planigraphy, Late Scythians of Crimea, 1st - mid. 3rd cc. CE, Ust’-Al’ma, tamga-signs, golden costume applications and weapons, three main accumulations of graves.
    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
Fig. 1. Ust’-Al’ma Hillfort (Al’ma-Tamak) in the north and Ust’-Al’ma Necropolis in the south (based on T.N. Smekalova, 2017).
Fig. 2. General Plan of Ust’-Al’ma Necropolis (after A.E. Puzdrovsky and A.A. Trufanov, vols. 1-3), with the series of elite, not robbed graves: a – elite crypts – catacombs; b – “Crypt of Priestesses”.
Fig. 3. Plans of the 2000-2014 field compaings in Ust’-Al’ma necropolis (after A.E. Puzdrovsky and A.A. Trufanov, vols. 1-3).
Fig. 4. Destribution of tamga-signs of the 1st — mid. 3rd cc. CE (after the excavations before 2015): c - crypt; я – pit; п – alcove grave; a – mirrors-pendants; b - pottery; c – zones of tamgas concentration; d – other types of artifacts; e – tamgas of the mid. 2nd – mid. 3rd cc.
Fig. 5. Destribution of the main types of golden costume applications of the 1st — mid. 2nd cc. CE
(after the excavations before 2015): c - crypt; я – pit; a – zones of concentration. 
Fig. 6. Destribution of the main types of weapons and some their details in the 1st — mid. 3rd cc. CE
(after the excavations before 2015): c - crypt; я – pit; п – alcove grave; a – swords and daggers; b – spears; z  - fragments of hauberk; K - bows and quivers; b – 2 arrows-amulets; c - set of arrows; d – graves of the mid. 2nd – mid. 3rd cc.; e - axe; f – zones of concentration.

Статията спира вниманието върху монасите от така нар. “нео-халкедонизъм” – теологично движение, което възниква след Четвъртият вселенски събор / Халкедонският събор (в малоазийския град Халкедон от 08 октомври до 01 ноември 451 г.). Монасите от това движение са описани в античните писмени извори като „скити“ (= “Scythian”). Тяхната самоличност все още не е изяснена напълно, макар да се знае, че са имали важна роля за династията на Юстиниан Велики (527–565), чрез тяхната борба срещу популяризирането на император Анастасий I (491–518).
Авторът предполага, че споменатите монаси са свързани с по-интензивно изследвания в последно време античен град Залдапа (община Крушари, България). Представени са всички извори, в които тези монаси са споменати и в: общ контекст; политически и религиозни аспекти и с акцент върху периода преди началото на така нар. спор за „Божието / Христовото страдание“ (= “Theopaschite Controversy”). Дадени са биографични бележки за по-известните Scythici monachi – според изискванията на “Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire”.

This paper aims to present an exhaustive inquiry of the practice of artificial cranial
deformation in the Scythia province. This province corresponds nowadays to the territory of
Dobrogea and the Dobrici region of Bulgaria. So far, 39 skulls have been discovered in 39
graves that are artificially deformed, in four necropolises and a crypt of a basilica: at Beroe,
Callatis, Histria, (L)Ibida and Tropaeum Traiani. The graves were dated between the fourth and the sixth centuries AD. The emergence of this practice corresponds to the appearance of
the first migrants in Dobrogea, the Sarmatians. Other migratory peoples who brought here
this practice were: the Huns, the Alans, the Ostrogoths and the Protobulgarians. The graves
were discovered in Christian necropolises. The burial ritual was inhumation. The orientation
of graves is W - E, with variations, the skeletons were in dorsal decubitus position and, in
most cases, individually deposited. The funerary inventory is poorly represented and contains
beads, ceramic vessels, earrings, combs and buckles. The analysis is based on the analogies
between artificially deformed skull graves and the rest of the graves in the five-studied
necropolises. In general, cultural differences become more entrenched when groups interact.
In the case of the nomads in Scythia province, adoption of sedentary modes of life and
Christianization led to their assimilation, but they preserved artificial deformation as a
defining element of their identity. The analogies made confirm that there are no differences
between the funeral ritual practiced in the case of deformed skull graves and the funeral
ritual practiced in the other graves. Moreover, those graves with deformed skulls are not
grouped within the cemeteries, being completely mixed with the rest of the graves.

Poster presented by Philip J.E. Mills (Freelance/University of Leicester, UK), Nicolas Beaudry (Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada) and Dominic Moreau (Université de Lille, France), at LRCW 7 - 7th International Conference on Late Roman Coarse Ware, Cooking Ware and Amphorae in the Mediterranean : Archaeology and Archaeometry. The End of Late Roman Pottery. The Last Centuries at the Crossroards (Valencia, Riba-roja de Túria and Alicante, 15-19 October 2019).

The authors present three fibulae found in the Museum of National History and Archeology of Constanța. The first is a silver fibulae with a semicircular upper plate and a lower pentagonal one. The piece has the best analogies in the discoveries belonging to the cultural complex Sântana de Mureş – Cernjakhov. The next two fibulae are from the migration period and are part of the curved-fibulae category. One has a lower plate ornamented with spirals, the other is a zoo-anthropomorphic fibula with a smooth surface. The three fibulae newly discovered in Dobruja complement the existing data for the south-eastern territory of Romania in the 4th–7th centuries, thus diversifying the types and variants known to date. Their provenance from fortuitous discoveries deprived us of the presentation of an archaeological context. Such objects are not frequent discoveries in the territory of Dobruja, so we considered it important to bring them to the attention of specialists.

The paper presents an iron shield umbo from the rural settlement of Ibida – ’Fântâna Seacă’. It was discovered during the 2014 archaeological research, in the ’S3’ section, ’C2’ square, at a depth of 50 cm from the current stepping level (represented by the vegetal layer), on the pavement of the ’E1A’ building. Through its shape, the umbo of Ibida belongs to the type ’Zieling I3/Mălăești’, dated to the periods C2-C3 (the years 250-370 AD). It was exceptionally found in a civilian area, in a settlement with a dominant agricultural character, situated in the rural territory of a fortified town. The rural site and the city to which it belongs are situated in the middle of the province, far from its borders. In addition, our item is the only one known in this area, dating to an earlier period (based on the archaeological context), to the third quarter of the 4th century AD. Whereas the research of the ’Fântâna Seacă’ site is still at its beginnings, some discoveries could explain the discovery of an umbo in its inventory. In the previous years, three ’Zwiebelknopffibeln’ brooches were found. Such clothing accessories were mainly used in the military environment. In addition, during the 2018 archaeological campaign, another arrow head made of iron was discovered. All these artefacts are specific to the military milieu, thus suggesting the existence of a correlation between the site of Ibida – ’Fântâna Seacă’ and representatives of the Roman army or administration. The owner of the villa where the umbo was uncovered seems to have been a veteran with a role in the local administration or even an active soldier.

Investigations in the south and southwest sector of Tropaeum Traiani (actual C) provided for a long time numerous archaeological, historic, architectural data, etc. Research started nearly four decades ago (in 1969), but stopped shortly afterwards, to be later resumed during the campaigns in thè70s and thè80s. At the end of the '90s, archaeological survey continued (with some interruptions) until 2014 (with funds from the Ministry of Culture and from the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța) in the south Roman-Byzantine district of Tropaeum Traiani (sector C), near the south gate of the city, which was built during Constantine period. The objective was to obtain new information on the overall image of the late Roman dwelling s and existing road system in the area, mainly via forensis (or cardo), which led to the south gate. However, we note that it was very difficult to abide by an archaeological excavation plan (annual and five-year) with pre-set goals, because the financing was intermittent. The area is divided at present in two sub-sectors, C I and C II. In sector C I, as architectural discoveries, until now were identified three possible civil (private) buildings, conventionally called 1, 2, and 3, initially with plenty of free space available. The most impressive is no. 2, covering on a large area, west of via forensic – a Roman domus (slightly adapted to the construction space in the district). The building is oriented north-south, 9.50-9.60 m wide and a 18.50 m long. Inside the building we uncovered several compartments, the clearest being an atrium (7 × 5 m) and a vestibulum (12 × 3.80 m). The building seems to have, at this stage of research, six entries, two on the east side, two on the west side, one on the south side and one on the north side. Its initial construction is believed to belong to Constantinian era or not long afterwards, towards mid 4 th century AD. The destruction of some of the rooms through partition walls that closed smaller surfaces, the possible dismantling from the end of 6 th century and the beginning of 7 th century AD and again later on, have affected the internal structure of the house, making an analysis by room very difficult. However, for the moment, except for the atrium and vestibule, we cannot clearly indicate the purpose of the rooms. This trend or necessity to repartition some big " aristocratic " buildings by increasing the number of the rooms inside the same building surface at the expense of comfort is a general phenomenon in the Balkan.

This paper revisits the late Roman lamps from Maria and  dr. George Severeanu collection, namely the Pontic, Micro-Asian, and African types, both imported and imitations. The lamps featured have been previously published by George Severeanu himself and later by C. Băluță, mainly in a purely descriptive manner. George  Severeanu’s publication is of particular importance as it registered the provenance of the artifacts, lost for many other pieces of his vast collection. Most of the pieces were discovered at Tomis, one at Callatis and one other at Olbia. One of the lamps has no place of provenance, but by means of analogies for the type, we can suggest one, at least for the center of production. The present paper revisits these lamps and attempts to bring new information and insight while placing them into a larger social and economic context.

This paper publishes a fragmentary Greek dedication of the Roman imperial period, engraved on a big limestone plaque displaying the "Thracian Horseman", and found among the various spolia in the Late Roman fortified town of Zaldapa (province of Scythia). It contains the final part of the topic epithet of a local god, Heros Hephaistos Dabatopios-here with the variant Dabatopias, attested in two other unpublished inscriptions, whose sanctuary lied about 15 km southwest of the modern village of Telerig in NE Bulgaria. This inscription was most probably removed from its original location, as other Greek and Latin monuments, to be used in Zaldapa when this town was fortified in the fourth c. AD. This fragmentary plaque appears to be the third monumental dedication taken for sure from the sanctuary of Telerig, judging after the name of the honoured god, that was discovered among the spolia at Zaldapa.

Fragmentarily preserved vessels of Late Roman red slip wares imported from distant production centres: Pontic, Aegean and North African, selected from the pottery materials collected during the excavations carried out recently near Basilica A in Tropaeum Traiani, were analyzed and discussed in order to obtain important chronological indicators for the studies on the identified contexts, and to show the significance of the location of the investigated settlement at the crossroads of the two principal communication lines in Scythia Minor for the inland distribution of commodities imported from overseas. The highest class red slip pottery finds were divided according to the identified wares originating from different
production centres, and to their specific forms. They are presented in typo-chronological sequences within the wares, while the wares are discussed according to their presence in Tropaeum Traiani: from the most numerous to the least frequently encountered finds. Altogether 132 fragments of imported Late Roman red slip ware vessels were identified. The most numerous were the imports from the Aegean workshops: Late Roman C / Phocaean Red Slip ware (98 fragments) and Late Roman Light Coloured ware (21 fragments). It is important to note that the products from the most distant workshops in Northern Africa - African Red Slip ware (10 fragments) were found more frequently than those from the north-eastern Anatolia, called Pontic Red Slip ware (5 fragments). It clearly indicates that the most significant part of the analyzed pottery was transported together with the strategically important supplies along the western coast of the Black Sea to Scythia Minor from the central part of the empire. The diachronic overview of the discussed finds shows that the first Late Roman red slip vessels began to be brought from the Aegean to Tropaeum Traiani around the late fourth or early fifth century. The significant increase of these imports took place in the second half of the fifth century and the regular overseas supplies lasted until the early seventh century, with their intensification in the first half of the sixth century. The obtained results reflect the settlement activity in and around the excavated part of Tropaeum Traiani and match the general picture of the distribution of the imported red slip vessels along the principal routes of Scythia Minor to its numerous economic and military centres, in the discussed period.

Keywords: Tropaeum Traiani, Scythia Minor, Late Antiquity, red slip pottery, road system, long-distance trade

In this study, we present a part of the lychnological material discovered during the archaeological excavation carried out between 2013 and 2020 on the Acropolis Centre-South Sector in Istros (Constanța County). The entire lot includes almost 190 pieces that, from a chronological point of view, belong to the Greek (Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic), Early Roman and Late Roman period. We selected for discussion in this paper only the Late Roman material, which is the most numerous (130 lamps, of which 107 typologically determined) and more representative for the archaeological complex under investigation. The lamps belong to many types, some of them newly attested in Istros, and are both imported products and pieces manufactured at a regional, maybe even local, scale.

Starting with 2013, a team from the University of Bucharest undertook an excavation in the southern part of the acropolis of Istros (Histria, Constanța County, Romania). In five excavation seasons we delimited the last Late Roman insula, divided into two nuclei (N and S), with two phases of functioning. Phase I: first half of the 6th  c. – 559 (Kutrigur raid); Phase II: reign of Justin II – beginning of the 7th c.