Fortified Roman border outpost excavated in north-western Romania
Poorly surveyed part of the fortified border of the Roman Empire, present in today's Romania, is being studied by a team of archaeologists from Toruń. This year, they discovered, among other things, a previously unknown fortified border post and recreated the recipe of the ancient mortar.
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General view of the fort Resculum (Bologa, Romania); the line of the fort embankments is set by the rectangular line of trees [Credit: F. Marcu] |
The newly discovered outpost was directly incorporated into the limes walls. It was on the shortest route from the Roman province of Dacia Porolissensis leading west toward the ancient Aquincum, which is today's Budapest. Originally it was a stone structure measuring 50 by 50 m. With time, however, it was severely damaged by a nearby quarry.
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The team during research (Bologa, Romania) [Credit: J. Rakoczy] |
The newly discovered outpost is located just 4 km from Resculum - Roman camp, where larger legion units were stationed. The soldiers from the fort manned the nearby fortifications of the limes and ventured beyond its borders.
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Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń during research (Bologa, Romania) [Credit: J. Rakoczy] |
"This season, we were able to unearth another part of the praetorium, the seat of the camp command. It proved to be larger than we thought last year at the time of discovery. We already know the spatial layout of the entire east wing," reported Dr. Rakoczy.
During excavations, archaeologists unveiled a room heated with a hypocaust. "There could be more such rooms, but for now we can not get to them because we found well-preserved remains of collapsed walls lying on floors. Practically, we can measure the thickness of the walls and trace the stages of internal reconstruction of the building. In some places there is well-preserved plaster and spaces remaining after the wooden parts of the structure, which allows to reconstruct the technique of erecting such buildings," said Dr. Rakoczy.
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The remains of the northern gate of the Roman fort Resculum during scanning (Bologa, Romania) [Credit: J. Rakoczy] |
"We have identified river sand used by the Romans, which in the right proportions, together with water and slaked lime formed mortar," said Dr. Rakoczy. The scientist suggested that the Romans could have been using additional ingredients to accelerate the rate of mortar setting and accelerate the construction process. "If there were such ingredients, for now they remain a mystery to us," he added.
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Securing Roman plaster in situ, in the place of discovery (Bologa, Romania) [Credit: J. Rakoczy] |
It was a symmetrical design with single entrance and two towers on both sides. Towers from the outside had the plan of a semicircle, bow facing the foreground of the fort. The gate was built of stone, like most structures in this fort. According to archaeologists, the gate towers probably had three storeys, reaching almost 9 m.
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Preliminary visualization of the scan of the remains of the fort Resculum gate (Bologa, Romania) [Credit: J. Rakoczy] |
"At such large sites digital documentation methods are already a standard that enables the acceleration of work. The advantage of this method is also huge accuracy and the ability to combine data from different seasons, so that the picture of the site is full," concluded Dr. Rakoczy.
Source: PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland [October 11, 2016]
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