Fieldwork at Novae 2014

Abstract

Novae is located on the Danube in northern bulgaria, not far from modern Svištov. This Roman legionary fortress of the legio i italica and Late Antique town in the province of Moesia inferior has been investigated since the 1960s. 1 The 2014 campaign (4 August – 4 September) was the fourth one at Sector 12 (Fig. 1), where fieldwork was initiated in 2011. 2 The task is to establish whether the principal structure was the building of the immunes, legionary barracks (possibly of the first cohort), the house of a high-ranked officer, or something altogether different. 1 our research is kindly supported by the University of Warsaw and the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki), within the project: “obóz legionowy i miasto późnoantyczne – kontynuacja badań. baraki I kohorty i późna zabudowa” (Legionary fortress and Late Antique town – continued research. barracks of the 1stcohortand latearchitecture), N N109 182140. 2 For the first three campaigns and further reading on Novae see: M. LEMKE, Fieldwork at Novae 2011, “Światowit” IX (L)/A (2011), 2012, 195–200; idem, Fieldwork at Novae 2012, “Światowit” X (LI)/A (2012), 2013, 151–156; idem, Fieldwork at Novae 2013, “Światowit” XI (LII)/A (2013), 2014, 189–196. 3 Cf. M. LEMKE, Fieldwork at Novae 2013… For the discussion regarding the garrison see: M. LEMKE, What if it Wasn’t the eighth Legion? remarks by the devil’s Advocate, (in:) T. Sarnowski (ed.), Novae. The Moesian Base of the eighth Augustan Legion, forthcoming. 4 M. LEMKE, Fieldwork at Novae 2013…, 192–194. In 2014, the investigated area (Fig. 2) was enlarged by around 260 m2 towards the north, east and south, divided into 16 trenches, and now it measures ca. 1200 m2 in total. The year 2014 brought merely few remains of architecturefrom the wooden phase of thecamp, 3 but some extraordinary small finds from the 1st c. will be discussed below