Mariana Egri

Recent archaeological studies focusing on collective feasting in temperate Europe during the
Late Iron Age primarily discussed the impact of Mediterranean wine and drinking-related implements
on the dining styles of different communities and social groups. Though it allowed a better understanding
of particular aspects which influenced the local social dynamics, it also overemphasized the importance
of alcohol consumption within these feasts, while other important components sourced locally were
left in the background. One of the locally sourced components was meat, a type of foodstuff for whom
sourcing, preparation and consumption were frequently associated with the male warlike identity. Thus
the article discusses whether meat consumption was also an integral part of the collective feasts in
Late Iron Age Dacia, which were its practical and symbolic functions, and what this practice can tell us
about the local social dynamics. The investigation is based on the contextual analysis of some categories
of archaeological evidence coming from different Late Iron Age Transylvanian sites, including certain
categories of metal artefacts which are commonly used to prepare and serve meat – forks, flesh-hooks,
firedogs, gridirons and skewers – as well as faunal remains.

The article is discussing the macrobotanical remains which have been identified in soil samples taken from different archaeological contexts associated with the Roman villa rustica at Oarda-Bulza, Alba County, during the 2019 campaign. This is the first major agricultural estate from Roman Dacia which has been systematically investigated using an interdisciplinary approach, the primary aim being to shed light on the interplay between particular forms of production, cultural consumption, community formation, and the integration into a number of provincial and imperial networks. The analysis of this first set of macrobotanical remains is offering relevant data regarding the agricultural and consumption practices of the inhabitants who once lived on a very fertile area from the hinterland of Apulum, the most important conurbation from Roman Dacia.

The article is discussing the macrobotanical remains which have been identified in soil samples
taken from different archaeological contexts associated with the Roman villa rustica at Oarda-Bulza,
Alba County, during the 2019 campaign. This is the first major agricultural estate from Roman Dacia
which has been systematically investigated using an interdisciplinary approach, the primary aim being
to shed light on the interplay between particular forms of production, cultural consumption, community
formation, and the integration into a number of provincial and imperial networks. The analysis of this
first set of macrobotanical remains is offering relevant data regarding the agricultural and consumption
practices of the inhabitants who once lived on a very fertile area from the hinterland of Apulum, the most
important conurbation from Roman Dacia.

Starting from a series of fragmentary amphorae belonging to the Dressel 24 similis type which bear different painted inscriptions, the article is discussing some aspects regarding the olive oil supply of the Legio XIII Gemina, whose headquarters were located at Apulum in Dacia between the early 2 nd century and the middle of the 3 rd century AD. Another question that is taken into consideration concerns the influence of the military supply system on the civilian consumption of olive oil in the urban environment at Apulum.

New data from Mithraeum III at Apulum (Dacia)—the first scientifically excavated mithraeum in the province—challenges the conception that Mithraic communities were isolated social cells, and points at a province-wide social network. Such social dynamics help to explain processes of maintenance and diversification of cult “content” within Roman Mithraism.

The connections with the Mediterranean world played an important role in the cultural reconfiguration of the communities from the Carpathian Basin. They contributed to the circulation of various goods from the south to the north, and also influenced the means through which these goods were imitated or adapted to the practical and symbolic needs of the communities in question. The present article is going to focus on the ways and means through which the Mediterranean goods reached the eastern Carpathian Basin, and also on the mechanisms used in their imitation and adaptation by the Celtic communities from the mentioned area. The analysis will take into consideration the Greek ceramic and metal vessels discovered in LT contexts. These artefacts and other categories of Greek „imports” (for example the amphora-shaped glass beads, the coral beads or the filigree-decorated silver beads etc), define the main distribution routes of such products, which connect the Mediterranean or the Pontic region with the Carpathian Basin. The familiarisation with the Greek products contributed to the process of imitating certain Mediterranean forms in the local environment. However, the latter products were adapted according to the functional and symbolic norms and customs of the Celtic communities. This is the case of the Danubian kantharoi, for example, or of some ceramic oenochoai, or of some bronze jewellery that copied the decoration of some Mediterranean objects made of precious metals (for example the filigree or granulation decorated objects etc).

Nicolae Gudea, to whom the present volume is dedicated, carried out several archaeological investigations in the Danube’s Iron Gates gorges, as part of his long standing interest in the history and archaeology of the Danubian provinces. These investigations were included afterwards into a series of studies about the frontiers of Moesia Superior and Dacia. The present article is analysing a silver brooch discovered at Divici, Caraş-Severin County, not far from Pojejena, and is bringing into discussion certain aspects of the 3rd century AD in the mentioned region.

Informations : https://www.instrumentum-europe.org/en/publications/colloque_londres_juin2019/
Contact : Isabelle Bertrand, instrumentum@free.fr

These proceedings capture the breadth of research presented and we are delighted to include contributions from students/ early career researchers through to those well-established in their respective fields. Hoarding and deposition is a dynamic field of study and encompasses a complex range of practices. As such, a key advantage of approaching this topic from a broader geographic and chronological scope is that key themes across time and space can be observed and the impact of new discoveries can be set in their wider contexts. For this reason, the volume has been split into three sections:
– New discoveries: casting fresh light on depositional prac tices;
– Deposition in wet contexts;
– Hoarding and deposition: process, meaning and practice.
Each section includes examples of case studies from different periods across Europe, which we hope illustrates similarities and differences that emerged. The volume concludes with an invited contribution from Richard Bradley who succinctly highlights the long-term nature of depositional practices, which stretch even beyond the scope of these proceedings.
Research into hoarding and deposition has long captured the imagination of archaeologists and a key aim of the confe rence was to demonstrate the vibrant state of this topic and the new directions it is going in. While editing the contributions it became clear that our understanding continues to widen and change with every new approach taken, much like deposition itself.

Over the course of the second century CE, worship of the Persianate god Mithras swept across the whole of
the Roman Empire. With its distinctive traces preserved in the material record—including cave-like sanctuaries
and images of Mithras stabbing a bull—the cult has long been examined to reconstruct the thought-systems
of Mithraism, its theology, through such monumental trappings. This volume starts from the premise that, like
much “religion” in the Roman world, the cult of Mithras must be examined through its practices, the ritual
craft knowledge which enabled those rites, and the social structures thus created. What did Mithras-worshippers
do? How do we explain the unity and diversity of practices observed? Archaeology has the potential to
answer these questions and shed new light on Mithras-worship. Presenting new discoveries, higher resolution
archaeological data on finds and assemblages, and re-evaluations of older discoveries, this volume charts new
paths forward in understanding one of the Roman Empire’s most distinctive cults.

The Iron Age cemeteries from Sâncrai-Darvas are located on a high terrace on the left bank of the Mureș River. The site was initially identified in 2015 during the evaluation survey conducted before the construction of the Sebeș–Turda motorway. Preventive archaeological excavations were organized in 2016, the results indicating that the cemeteries are extending outside the western limit of the motorway. Systematic archaeological investigations were initiated in 2020, first targeting the south-western area of the site. Five surfaces (Sp A – E) were opened, of which two identified nine features, eight of them being graves that can be dated to the Scythian horizon. Six graves are inhumations, while one is a double burial containing one inhumed and one cremated deceased. The second campaign was organized in 2021, continuing the investigation of the south-western area by opening two other surfaces, Sp F and Sp G. Six features were identified, of which five are graves that belong to the Scythian horizon. Two are double burials, one containing two inhumed individuals and another containing one cremated and one inhumed individual. The other three graves are all inhumations. The funerary inventory, as well as the human and animal remains, and soil samples were all retrieved, registered and processed for further laboratory analyses. The preliminary results of this campaign provided important information regarding the extension of the Scythian cemetery, the associated funerary practices and the origins of some artefacts. They are also indicating that the Iron Age cemeteries at Sâncrai-Darvas are much larger than anticipated, requiring the continuation of systematic archaeological investigations during the following years.

The archaeological campaign conducted in 2021 on the site at Oarda-Bulza continued the systematic investigation of the main building A, initiated in 2019, and also targeted the largest horreum of the villa, conventionally named C.
In the case of the main building A, the main objectives of this year were: to excavate the eastern half of the Gepidic house identified and sectioned in the preceding campaign, which partially superpose the storage room located on the north side of the south-eastern apse, to investigate the second room from the same area, belonging to the second phase of the building, to expand the investigations in the eastern court belonging to phase I, to obtain more soil samples for archaeobotanical and palynological analysis, and to delimitate and date the medieval interventions in front of the south-eastern apse.
In the case of the horreum C, the main objectives of this year were: to clarify the chronology and the architectural and constructive characteristics of the building, and to identify the goods stored inside through the systematic analysis of all remains.
These archaeological investigations have offered new data regarding the chronology and planimetry of the two buildings, the most likely functions of different structures, their internal organization, and their fate after the abandonment of the province around the middle of the 3rd century AD.
Aside from the fieldwork and the laboratory-based analysis of the recovered artefacts, the archaeological campaign has also continued the interdisciplinary investigations which were initiated in 2019. This has involved the systematic collection and analysis of all faunal and macrobotanical remains, soil samples, construction materials (mortars, plasters, bricks and tile), charcoal and palynological samples. The preliminary results of these studies have offered information about the agricultural practices and the diet of the inhabitants, about their fuel and timber consumption patterns, and about the construction techniques and architectural solutions which were used throughout the entire duration of the villa.

The Iron Age cemeteries from Sâncrai-Darvas are located on a high terrace on the left bank of the Mureș River. The site was initially identified in 2015 during the evaluation survey carried out before the construction of the Sebeș-Turda motorway. The cemeteries were first excavated in 2016 during the preventive archaeological campaign, but the results have shown that the cemeteries also extend beyond the western limit of the motorway. The 2020 campaign targeted the south-western area of the site. Five surfaces were opened, of which two intercepted nine features, eight of them being graves that can be dated to the Scythian horizon. Six graves are inhumations, while one is a double burial containing one inhumed and one cremated deceased. All inventory, as well as the human and animal remains and soil samples were retrieved, registered and processed for further laboratory analyses. During this campaign were also initiated some interdisciplinary analyses. A total number of 210 micromorphological samples and 24 glass samples were retrieved, processed and analysed. The preliminary results of this campaign provided important information regarding the extension of the Scythian cemetery, the associated funerary practices and the origins of some artefacts. They are also indicating that the Iron Age cemeteries at Sâncrai-Darvas are much larger than anticipated, requiring the continuation of systematic archaeological investigations during the following years.

Previous archaeological campaigns on the site at Oarda-Bulza, carried out in 2018 and 2019, revealed the existence of an assemblage of buildings and annexes belonging to a very large Roman villa rustica. The short archaeological campaign in 2020 targeted the area to the east of the main buildings and the surroundings of the water source of the villa. In the eastern area, the field survey identified a concentration of iron processing debris probably belonging to a workshop. The field survey in the surroundings of the water source identified traces of a Roman built structure, as well as ceramic and iron finds. Aside from field surveys, the 2020 campaign also continued the interdisciplinary investigations. These included the analysis of a number of glass samples recovered from the main building and that of the painted plaster recovered from both the main building and the annex B. The results provided important information regarding the supply sources with glass objects, as well as about the building technologies use in the construction and embellishing of the villa and its main annex.

The two archaeological campaigns of the site at
Oarda-Bulza, carried out in 2018 and 2019, revealed the
existence of an assemblage of buildings and annexes
belonging to a very large Roman villa. The assemblage
consists of at least five built structures and numerous
annexes. The investigations also identified some of the
enclosure wall and an access road. Two buildings were
partially excavated, each having three major constructive
phases. The recovered inventory, consisting of building
materials, as well as ceramic, metal, glass, stone and
bone artefacts, faunal and botanical remains, soil, charcoal
and building material samples indicate a prosperous
property that can be provisionally dated to the first half of
the 2nd century – middle of the 3rd century AD. Due to the
exceptional dimensions, complexity and inventory of this
site, which would be extremely relevant for the history of
economic development of Roman Apulum and the entire
province of Dacia Superior, it is absolutely necessary to
initiate systematic archaeological investigations, in order
to recover the entire archaeological information and
to contribute to the preservation and protection of the
archaeological remains.

The main scope of this campaign, carried out in July – August 2016, was to continue the works of previous campaigns by extending the excavated area to the west, east and south, in order to finalize the unearthing of the Mithraic sanctuary and to identify the functions of other structures partially excavated in the vicinity.

The study of cultural change in the Roman world is increasingly benefitting from longer term and wider geographical perspectives, lifting artificial boundaries between Republican period Mediterranean and Imperial period provincial studies. Works such as Keay/Terrenato 2001 have shown how different academic traditions shaped scholarly opinion in ways that cannot only be accounted for by real regional differences in antiquity. Different academic backgrounds and traditions have also been key to modern understandings of religious change. Although some similar divides between Italy and provinces, and Republican and Imperial period are discernable, the debate on the 'religious romanization' of the conquered areas has also taken very different paths. This session explores the interaction – or lack thereof – between the expanding Roman empire and existing or newly emerging religious and cultic constellations by focusing on the archaeology of cults and cult places. Carefully collected and analyzed archaeological data can offer information on the way that sacred spaces were established and used over time, and for processes of transformation where traditionally we have seen static and continuous cultic activity. At the same time, in such approaches the tension between large-scale overarching interpretations and the single constituent parts is particularly evident and needs explicit consideration. Engaging with different research traditions and areas, the session seeks to explore common trends as well as variabilities from a wide geographical and temporal perspective.

Coloniae, civitates foederatae, ager: culti e santuari nel Piceno meridionale tra romanizzazione e municipalizzazione, Filippo Demma and Tommaso Casci Ceccacci
Cult places during the Roman conquest of Eastern Iberia (3rdc. BC-1stc. AD). Transformations of ritual practices and sacred landscapes, Ignacio Grau Mira
Romans at Greek sanctuaries: a view from the Aegean, Annelies Cazemier
De-Romanizing religious developments in the Roman West, Ralph Haussler
The impact of empire on cult places and ritual practices in Roman Gaul and Germany, Ton Derks
Mithraism and Religious Change: A View from Apulum Mithraeum III, Matt McCarty, Mariana Egri, Aurel Rustoiu