Novae : the Roman Legionary Defences : Excavations of 2009 and 2010

Abstract

The roman military and Early Byzantine town defences of Novae, the easternmost roman legionary base on the danube before Trajan, today in northern Bulgaria, from about Ad 46 until 86 in undivided Moesia, later in Lower Moesia, and from diocletian until the late 6th c. in Moesia II, were excavated from 1960 until the early 1990s by Polish and Bulgarian teams. Archaeological recording of the excavations carried out in the late 1980s and the early 1990s by the local museum (historical Museum, Svištov) could not have been completed. This was the main reason why westarted in 2005 a post-excavation project aiming to clean up old trenches and to record still visible architectural remains and stratigraphy. The first results have already been published. 1 The fieldwork of 2009 and 2010 was concentrated along the defences on the eastern and northern fronts of the fortress (Towers Nos. 4 and 27, the northern curtain wall and Northern Gate) (Fig. 1).