Ad Novas Castle

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Ad Novas Castle
Alternative name Ad Novas , Novae
limes Pannonian Limes
Dating (occupancy) no later than 2nd century AD
to 1st third of 5th century AD
Type Cohort / cavalry fort
unit a) Cohors I Montanorum  ?
b) Cohors III Alpinorum (Alpina) equitata  ?
c) Equites Dalmatae Novas
d) Auxilia Novensia
size 250 × 120 steps
Construction stone
State of preservation Obviously still clearly recognizable at the end of the 19th century after the discovery. Today only rubble remains and ceramic shards on a corridor largely occupied by a vineyard.
place Zmajevac (Vorosmart)
Geographical location 45 ° 48 ′ 6.7 "  N , 18 ° 48 ′ 24.3"  E
height 106  m. i. J.
Previous Fort Ad Militare (northeast)
Subsequently Fort Teutoburgium (southeast)
Backwards Mursa Fort (southwest)
The location of Ad Novas on the Pannonian Limes.

The Ad Novas fort was a Roman military camp , the crew of which was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the Limes Pannonicus . The river formed the Roman frontier in large sections. The fort probably stood near the Danube on a flood-safe plateau above the Croatian village of Zmajevac (Vörösmart) in the Osijek-Baranja County . Zmajevac can also be referred to as a military location due to the wealth of finds.

location

The oldest traces of settlement go back to the Bronze Age . A vessel flute made of clay, which is often mentioned in the relevant literature and which is now kept in the Natural History Museum in Vienna , dates from around 1400 BC. BC But already in the late La Tène period , before the occupation of the area by the Romans, vessels of Roman design can be found in the late Celtic warrior graves of Zmajevac, which were probably negotiated here. Zmajevac lies on the western edge of an old arm of the Danube. The river has shifted its bed further east over the centuries. During prehistory and early history , the sweeping river basin of the Danube was characterized by alluvial forests . In modern times, drainage began in the floodplain southeast of the town. Already in the town of Zmajevac, a mighty fold of terrain rises to the northwest with a large plateau that, coming from the southwest to the northeast, runs to the Ad Militare fort and converges ever more narrowly. This elevation is the last offshoot of the Banska kosa, a range of hills that the Romans called Aureus Mons (Golden Mountain). The fort was founded on this plateau above today's village, sloping slightly to the southeast. In the local area of ​​Zmajevac, the Kender Valley, a little to the north of the fortification, and the more distant southern Vadtal (Divlja dolina), two clear cuts in the plateau running almost parallel to the south-east, have carved themselves into the plateau.

Research history

In 1897 it was found that on the plateau north above the village center in the Várhegy corridor (German: Burghügel) a rectangular Roman fortification of the 2nd century AD, according to Flóris Rómer (1815–1889), 250 × 120 steps (around 187.5 × 90 meters) large Century AD, under which there are prehistoric layers of settlement - a total of five meters thick. Today only a few traces of the Roman fortifications can be found here. Numerous ceramic shards and rubble on the surface of the agriculturally used area indicate the facility. In 1943 , the year of the war , employees of the Museum of Pécs (Fünfkirchen) explored a Roman necropolis from the 3rd century AD near this archaeological zone and uncovered the remains of buildings on Popovo Hill. Another burial ground came to light in January 1998 when a wine cellar dug into the loess slope collapsed due to heavy rainfall north of the fort area . As the systematic excavations started in autumn 1999 and lasted until 2008 under the direction of the archaeologist Slavica Filipović from the Slavonian Museum in Osijek (Esseg) showed, these tombs were created during the second half of the 4th century AD. The many high-quality finds from the cemetery were presented to the public for the first time in 2010 in an exhibition at the Slavonian Museum Esseg and were on view in 2011 during a nationwide traveling exhibition in the Archaeological Museum Split in the City Museum of Šibenik and then in the Archaeological Museum Zagreb . Up to this point in time, they are the richest and most complete of this epoch that Croatian science has ever seen. In April 2012 Filipović received the Josip Brunšmid Prize of the Croatian Archaeological Society for her work during the excavations in Zmajevac. In 2009, a large-scale field inspection took place in the corridors of Zmajevac and the neighboring villages of Suza and Kotlina to the west, during which, among other things, Roman finds came to light.

Building history

The archaeological facts from the first three centuries of Roman rule are very sparse for both the fort and the vicus , the civil camp village belonging to it. The oldest datable find until 2010 was a coin from the reign of Emperor Claudius (41–54). The importance of Ad Novas only seems to have acquired a new quality in late antiquity.

The mention in the Notitia dignitatum , a late antique state manual from the first half of the 5th century, underlines the importance of Ad Novas at that time . But also the Itinerarium Antonini , a Roman imperial street directory from the 3rd century AD, mentions ad Novas et Aureo monte .

Troop

In 2001 the archaeologist and epigrapher Barnabás Lőrincz (1951–2012) presented his comprehensive localization of the auxiliary troops for the Pannonia of the Principate's time . This representation is supplemented, among other things, by the units named in the Notitia dignitatum . The archaeologist Zsolt Visy , contrary to other researchers' opinions, assumed that there is probably no auxiliary force to be found in Ad Novas , but that military use of the place can still be assumed.

Time position Troop name comment
2nd century AD Cohors I Montanorum ? The archaeologist Jenő Fitz (1921–2011) assumed, like other researchers, that the Cohors I Montanorum (1st cohort of mountain dwellers), which was also conjectured for the Cornacum fort in the 2nd century AD, was in Ad Novas and was at the end in the 2nd century came from there to a new garrison. Lőrincz speculated that the mountain dwellers in the Danube fort Őcsény-Szigetpuszta were in the 3rd century .
3rd century AD Cohors III Alpinorum (Alpina) equitata ? The troops were in Dalmatia from the 1st century AD, for which there is numerous evidence in the form of inscriptions and a military diploma . A brick stamp of this unit recovered in 1999 in the Dalmatian Tilurium - probably from the 2nd century - could point to a location inhabited at that time by the 3rd partially mounted cohort of Alpine inhabitants. According to the ancient historian Géza Alföldy (1935–2011), the troops may have made a vexillation in Tilurium at this time , but the main force was in Andetrium . The grave inscription of a member of this troop is also known from there. According to Alföldy, the troops were transferred to Pannonia as early as the late 2nd century when the Eastern Pannonian Limes was reorganized during the reign of Emperor Commodus (180-192). The brick stamps of the cohort discovered in Ban (Baranyabán) and Bilje (Bellye) are said to date from this period. At the latest in the 3rd century AD, the cohort is finally documented for Pannonia. As a result, the cohort of Alpine inhabitants could have replaced the Cohors I Montanorum in Ad Novas , while Lőrincz sees them in the Pannonian inland fort Lébény-Barátföldpuszta (Quadrata) for this time . Their brick stamps were discovered there during the excavation and attributed to the renovation phase in the second half of the 3rd century. At the end of the 3rd century, Sisak (Siscia) was its next location.
4th / 5th Century AD Equites Dalmatae Novas , Auxilia Novensia As the Notitia dignitatum mentions, the "New Dalmatian Horsemen" and the auxiliary troop unit Auxilia Novensia were in Ad Novas in late antiquity .

Vicus

The results of the field inspection carried out in 2009 describe the approximate location of the vicus , which is apparently southwest of the Várhegy corridor . Traces in this direction were found on the slope along the folds of the terrain across the Divlja-dolina valley and almost beyond the neighboring town of Suza. Evidence of Roman presence has also been found around the village of Kotlina west of Suza.

Late antique burial ground

The rescue excavation initiated in 1998 after the discovery of a necropolis built in the second half of the 4th century AD brought a total of 37 excellently preserved individuals to the north of the Várhegy corridor by 2000. The majority of the mostly northeast-southwest grave pits consisted of individual, primary body burials . Only five graves contained two people each, who were buried in the following composition: Grave 7 contained two young people, graves 25 and 28 each contained a young person and an adult woman, grave 27 an adult man and an adult woman and grave 1 two women. By 2008, an area of ​​around 1,700 square meters with 175 burials had been uncovered. The youngest graves were found in the western part of the necropolis. It turned out that the dead were buried in rectangular grave pits with mostly rounded corners and that they were in more or less precisely laid out rows. Only 17 graves were clad inside with bricks until 2008 and had a corresponding gable made of specially manufactured, interlocking fired bricks. Few of the dead had been laid in square, oval, or irregular pits. The most interesting burials for Filipović were those in which the deceased was buried in a kind of niche at the bottom of the grave made in the solid loess . Some cases have been documented in which a person buried first was subsequently pushed aside to make room for a second person. In addition to the remains of wooden coffins, burials in cloths were most likely also observed. The dead were oriented both northeast-southwest and vice versa. But other locations also occur. One dead person was found in 149 of the tombs known until 2008, 16 contained two and nine contained three dead. In most of the graves with two deceased there was a mother with a child. The results of the anthropological analysis showed a balanced sex ratio in the necropolis, with a large number of child burials. These results showed that the cemetery was used by the entire settlement community in Ad Novas and that an objective cross-section of the local conditions in the 4th century was possible.

Men's graves

In 125 graves known up to 2008, the deceased were buried in the supine position with their weapons, whereby these weapons were often found in different places near the body. Overall, the men's graves contained fewer finds than those of the women. Mainly the bronze onion button fibulae , bronze belt buckles and belt fittings typical of the late antique Roman military , which were richly decorated in their various designs. A special case was the children's burial in grave 86. The onion button fibula of the type Keller 6 found there consisted of gilded bronze sheet and can be dated to the years around AD 400 or the first half of the 5th century. It was usually awarded by socially distinguished personalities and as a badge of honor. Why she got the child into the grave is unknown. A similar case is known from a late antique burial ground in Krefeld-Gellep (grave 3031). Next to it, grave 86 contained an ornate belt with Christian and pagan motifs, a glass bottle, a bronze inkwell with dried-up ink residues and two bronze utensils that possibly served as a holder for a scroll. The most recent grave finds, which point to a possible Germanic occupation (so-called federates ) in the Ad Novas fort , included the remnants of a defensive hanging for a Germanic spathe and a solidus from the reign of Emperor Theodosius II (408-450) until 2008 . These finds also represent the end of the Roman occupation in Pannonia, because in 433 AD the troops finally withdrew from the region.

Women's graves

The graves of women and girls contained many pieces of jewelry, some of which were of high quality, while toilet items such as tweezers and knocking combs were only documented in a few burials. In grave 141, the remains of an iron lock with an elaborate mechanism were found as a special feature. Most noticeable was the burial in grave 60. The young girl's grave goods - partly silver jewelry - came from the cultural environment of Germanic Goths and were to be assigned to the end of the 4th century, when the ethnic composition of Pannonia received new impulses, especially through the migrations of the Germanic peoples.

More finds

The finds from Ad Novas - outside of the burial grounds - include amphora fragments, clay lamps, ceramics and coins. In addition, there were brick stamps of the Legio VI Herculia established under Emperor Diocletian (284–305) , which left an epigraphic testimony for this troop in the form of a building inscription from 307 AD in the fort Ad Militare .

Post-Roman development

Finds from the Huns and an Avar cavalry grave from the 7th century are typical testimonies to the migration period , which also left its traces in Zmajevac.

Lost property

The finds from the excavations are in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest , in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb and in the Slavonian Museum in Osijek. Pre-Roman finds are also stored in Pécs.

Monument protection

Archaeological finds and sites as well as archaeological zones, landscapes and parts thereof are cultural assets of the Republic of Croatia and enjoy special protection. The Croatian Administrative Authority for Monument Protection in the Ministry of Culture in Zagreb is responsible. Law no. 01-081-99-1280 / 2 of June 18, 1999, with its subsequent additions and amendments, is governed by Article 89 of the Croatian Constitution. Damage, destruction and theft of cultural property must be reported to the competent authority immediately, but no later than the next day. Unannounced excavations are forbidden, violations of the export regulations are punished as a crime in the most serious case , and in the lightest case as an offense within the meaning of Croatian law.

See also

literature

  • Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. Exhibition catalog. Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 .
  • Mirjana Sanader: The border in Croatia. In: Gerhild Klose, A. Nünnerich-Asmus (Ed.): Limits of the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3429-X , pp. 153–156.
  • Zsolt Visy : The Yugoslav stretch of the Pannonian Limes. In: Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , pp. 126-130.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ István Bóna: The Middle Bronze Age of Hungary and its Southeastern Relations. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1975, ISBN 963-05-0250-X , p. 215 ff.
  2. ^ Zenon Woźniak: Contacts along the Amber Road. Muzeum Archeologiczne w Krakowie, Krakow 1996, ISBN 83-8695708-5 , p. 26.
  3. ^ Andreas Graf: Overview of the ancient geography of Pannonia . Hungarian National Museum, Budapest 1936, p. 112 (Dissertationes Pannonicae I 5).
  4. ^ Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 13.
  5. ↑ a b c Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , p. 126.
  6. ↑ burial at 45 ° 48 '17.59 "  N , 18 ° 48' 17.03"  O .
  7. ↑ a b Mario Šlaus: 3.3. The Zmajevac skeletal series. In: The bioarchaeology of continental Croatia. An analysis of human skeletal remains from the prehistoric to post-medieval periods. Archaeopress, Oxford 2002, ISBN 1-84171-402-X , p. 29.
  8. ↑ Exhibition of the finds in the Split Archaeological Museum: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - dead link since September 19, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.omh-split.hr  
  9. ↑ Exhibition of the finds in the Archaeological Museum Zagreb: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu .
  10. ↑ Savica Filipović receives the Josip Brunšmid Prize .
  11. ↑ Zvonko Bojčić, Marko Dizdar, Tomislav Hršak, Igor Vukmanić, Domagoj Dujmić, Tino Leleković: Terenski pregled područja između Batine i Suze. In: Annales Instituti Archaeologici. VI / 1, Ožujak 2011, pp. 80–87.
  12. ^ Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 15.
  13. ↑ Itinerarium Antonini 243.6.
  14. ↑ Barnabás Lőrincz: The Roman auxiliaries in Pannonia during the Principate's time. Volume 1: The inscriptions (= Viennese archaeological studies 3). Forschungsgesellschaft Wiener Stadtarchäologie, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-902086-02-5 , p. 90.
  15. ↑ a b Jenő Fitz: The military diplomas from Pannonia Inferior in the second half of the 2nd century. In: Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 7, Budapest 1959, pp. 421-442; here: p. 430.
  16. ↑ Miroslava Mirković: Military diplomas from Viminacium and the settlement of auxiliary veterans: city or countryside? In: Géza Alföldy , Brian Dobson, Werner Eck (eds.): Emperor, Army and Society in the Roman Empire. Commemorative publication for Eric Birley (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07654-9 , pp. 365-375, here p. 368.
  17. ↑ Barnabás Lőrincz: The Roman auxiliaries in Pannonia during the Principate's time. Volume 1: The inscriptions (= Viennese archaeological studies 3). Forschungsgesellschaft Wiener Stadtarchäologie, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-902086-02-5 , p. 104.
  18. ↑ a b Jan Beneš: Auxilia Romana in Moesia atque in Dacia. On the questions of the Roman defense system in the Lower Danube region and in the adjacent areas. Academia, Prague 1978, p. 15.
  19. ↑ Werner Eck: A constitution for the troops of the province of Dalmatia under Nerva. In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik , 163, Bonn 2007, p. 233ff .; here: p. 235.
  20. ↑ ( CIL 16, 38 )
  21. ↑ René Ployer: Brick stamps of Roman military units in the province of Dalmatia. In: Limes XX. Estudios sobre la frontera romana. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid 2009, ISBN 978-84-00-08854-5 , pp. 1447-1459; here: p. 1454.
  22. ^ Géza Alföldy: The auxiliary troops of the province of Dalmatia. In: Géza Alföldy: Roman army history. Contributions 1962–1985. Brill, Amsterdam 1987, ISBN 90-70265-48-6 , pp. 239-297; here: p. 246.
  23. ↑ CIL 3, 14935 .
  24. ↑ CIL 3, 3759 .
  25. ^ Géza Alföldy: The auxiliary troops of the province of Dalmatia. In: Géza Alföldy: Roman army history. Contributions 1962–1985. Brill, Amsterdam 1987, ISBN 90-70265-48-6 , pp. 239-297; here: p. 247.
  26. ↑ CIL 3, 04665b
  27. ^ Dénes Gabler: Preliminary report on the uncovering of the Roman military camp of Barátföldpuszta in 1964/65. In: Arrabona. 8, 1966, p. 98.
  28. ↑ Barnabás Lőrincz: The Roman auxiliaries in Pannonia during the Principate's time. Volume 1: The inscriptions (= Viennese archaeological studies 3). Forschungsgesellschaft Wiener Stadtarchäologie, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-902086-02-5 , p. 51.
  29. ↑ Notitia dignitatum occ. XXXII 9: Novas ; occ. XXXII 28: Equites Dalmatae, Novas .
  30. ↑ Notitia dignitatum occ. XXXII 40: Auxilia Novensia, Arsaciana (Antiana?) Sive Novas .
  31. ↑ Zvonko Bojčić, Marko Dizdar, Tomislav Hršak, Igor Vukmanić, Domagoj Dujmić, Tino Leleković: Terenski pregled područja između Batine i Suze. In: Annales Instituti Archaeologici. 6, 1, Ožujak 2011, pp. 80-87; here in particular, p. 81 and p. 85.
  32. ^ Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 17.
  33. ^ A b Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 19.
  34. ↑ Renate Pirling , Margareta Siepen: The finds from the Roman graves of Krefeld-Gellep. Catalog of graves 6348-6361. Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08891-1 , p. 339.
  35. ^ Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 25.
  36. ^ A b Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 23.
  37. ^ Slavica Filipović: Kasnoantička nekropola u Zmajevcu. (Exhibition catalog) Muzej Slavonije Osijek, 2010, ISBN 978-953-6191-46-8 , p. 21.
  38. ^ Sándor Soproni : Tabula Imperii Romani . Aquincum, Sarmizegetvsa, Sirmium. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1968, p. 25.
  39. ↑ CIL 3, 10665h .
  40. ^ AE 1964, 226 .
  41. ↑ Jan Filip : Encyclopedic Handbook of Pre- and Early History of Europe. Volume 1, Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy, Prague 1966, p. 646.
  42. ↑ Dezsö Csallány: Archaeological monuments of the Avar period in Central Europe. Hungarian Academy of Sciences Publishing House, Budapest 1956, p. 216.
  43. ↑ The legal regulations on the website of the Croatian Ministry of Culture (Croatian)