Udine/Aquileia, 12-17 October 2026
Programme & Abstracts
Cultural Exchange across the Danubian Provinces
Posters
Vasiliki Anevlavi — Petya Andreeva — Walter Prochaska — Gergana Kabakchieva — Kalina Petkova
Marble Supply and Cultural Exchange at the Roman Lower Danubian Limes: Archaeometric Evidence from Selected Artefacts
Marble was a key material in the visual expression of Roman power, identity, and connectivity, and its circulation provides valuable insights into patterns of cultural and economic exchange across the Danubian provinces. This paper presents preliminary archaeometric results from a selected group of marble artefacts recovered from sites located along the Roman Lower Danubian limes, including urban and military centres such as Novae and Oescus. The study applies a multi-proxy analytical approach, combining petrographic analysis, stable carbon and oxygen isotope measurements, and trace element analysis, in order to investigate the provenance of the raw materials and the associated supply networks. The results reveal a heterogeneous pattern of marble procurement, reflecting both regional exploitation and supra-regional connections within the wider Roman marble trade, including marbles from sources such as Prokonnesos, Thasos (Vathi), and the Asenovgrad region. These supply strategies suggest that local choices were embedded within broader imperial distribution systems, facilitating the movement not only of raw materials but also of technologies and artistic practices across the Danubian frontier zones. By focusing on a limited yet representative dataset, this contribution aims to open a broader discussion on marble circulation as an indicator of cultural exchange, rather than mass trade alone.
Andrzej B. Biernacki
Roman Architectural Practices on the Danubian Frontier: The Case of Novae (Moesia Inferior)
This paper presents a comprehensive comparative study of 1,386 architectural elements and details from Novae, analysed by archaeologists, architects, and geologists. Employing macroscopic petrographic methods, the elements – primarily Tuscan and Ionic-Roman capitals – were classified according to typology, style, and material. The study revealed a strikingly parallel chronology for the Tuscan and Ionic-Roman capitals and enabled broader conclusions on architectural programs and construction practices in Novae. The principia, a well-preserved legionary headquarters, and the valetudinarium demonstrate the extensive use of the Tuscan order, adapted to local crumbly limestone and reflecting Italian legionary building traditions. Conversely, the 48 Ionic-Roman capitals and 8 fluted capitals, mostly crafted from organogenous detrital limestone sourced from Hotnitsa, suggest stylistic influences from western Asia Minor and central Anatolia, as well as the organisation of quarry workshops and transport networks for stone elements. The research highlights variations in execution quality, unfinished decorative work, and the absence of evidence for on-site workshops in Novae, indicating broader logistical and labour considerations in Roman provincial construction. This study provides a foundation for understanding architectural production, material sourcing, and stylistic dissemination in the Lower Danubian frontier.
Nikol Blagoeva
Medical instruments from the collection of the Regional History Museum – Vidin
The topic of medical instruments from the territory of Bulgaria is known to us from numerous publications and specimens. However, there are no such specimens specifically from the region of Moesia Superior. This publication includes finds of medical instruments from the collection of the Regional History Museum Vidin. These finds are not many in number, but they are important because they are from key sites from the region (Ratiaria, Bononia…). An attempt has been made to interpret the available instruments from the fund and determine their functions according to known specimens in the literature. A large part of the instruments can serve more than one function. Also, the instruments can be more ordinary, as well as more special.
The specimens included here are representatives of the main instruments, including tweezers, needles and zips. As well as auxiliary instruments – spoons, spatulas, probes and others. Most of the specimens are made of bronze, only a few of them are silver.
Dorel Bondoc
Bull head representations from Little Wallachia (Romania)
Bull representations appear frequently not only in Dacia, but also in other provinces of the Roman Empire, on reliefs, statues, vessels and especially, on pandantives. There are rare cases when the bulls were rendered entirely, usually their representations limiting itself to just rendering the animal's head.
We can imagine from the very beginning, the bulls were especially sacrificied to the deities, during religious processions. On the other hand, the bull represent a symbol of the fecundity and fertility and also, of the masculine force and virility. These are the raisons why, such representations are frequently inside the Roman settlements.
From Little Wallachia come such representations on moulds and ceramic vessels, on bronze pandantives and statuary representations.
Renata Ciołek
Countermarked Coins from Novae on the Lower Danube
This poster examines countermarked coins from the Roman legionary fortress of Novae and considers their place in the circulation of bronze coinage on the Lower Danube. The reported early Imperial group comprises seven specimens from Sectors IV, XI and XII, although the quality of their archaeological documentation varies. Three coins from stratified contexts in Sector XII preserve identifiable Moesian countermarks. According to Paunov’s typology, these include both standardised combinations classified as type C1 and an isolated countermark of type C2b. Most of the early Imperial specimens belong to the reign of Claudius or to the same circulation horizon, with a sestertius of Nero as the principal exception. Their heavily worn surfaces and clearly legible countermarks suggest that the marks were applied at an advanced stage of circulation and may have facilitated the continued use of the coins.
A separate case is a provincial bronze coin with the marks Δ and NIKO, discovered in Sector XII in 2024 and probably dating to the Severan period. It is likely the first known specimen of this group from a securely recorded archaeological context. Its presence at Novae indicates that at least one such coin reached a military site beyond the urban centre tentatively associated with the NIKO mark.
The evidence does not represent a single, continuous countermarking practice. Instead, it points to chronologically and functionally distinct uses of secondary marks. The findspots document the presence and circulation of these coins, but do not establish where, or by whom, the marks were applied.
Gabriela Cristescu
Some small discoveries with horse representations from southern Romania
Archaeological discoveries made in recent years within the research of the Oltenia Museum Craiova, have highlighted several pieces with representations of animals, among which, those with horses, have a certain number. Such objects with representations of horses come from the sites of Cioroiu Nou, Răcari, Slăveni and Romula. All of these belong to the Roman era and are located in the southern area of Romania. Going beyond the purely decorative purpose of the representations, one can also glimpse a certain realism regarding the appearance of these animals, in Roman antiquity.
Diana Dobreva
From the Black Sea to the Northern Adriatic: Explaining the Presence of Sinopean Amphorae at Late Antique Aquileia
Why do amphorae produced on the southern shores of the Black Sea appear in archaeological contexts more than 1500 kilometres away, in the northern Adriatic? The discovery of a Pontic carrot-type amphora in the context of a Late Antique marketplace collapse in Aquileia offers an opportunity to address this question and reconsider the role of the northern Adriatic within the long-distance exchange networks of the 5th century CE. Pontic carrot-shaped amphorae, which morphologically mostly conform to Kassab Tezgör’s type-variant C Snp III-1 or 2, have been produced along the southern coast of the Black Sea, particularly in the region of Sinope. Archaeological evidence suggests that these containers were manufactured between the early 4th and the early 6th century CE and circulated widely beyond the Pontic basin. Although they are most commonly interpreted as vessels for the transport of wine, the precise contents of these amphorae remain uncertain, and other commodities, such as fish products or oil, have also been proposed.
Rather than representing an exceptional occurrence, the presence of a Sinopean amphora at Aquileia reflects the role of the northern Adriatic as a western interface of Pontic exchange systems, demonstrating that connections with the Black Sea world remained active even during the transformative decades of the late 5th and early 6th centuries.
Diana Dobreva — Stefano Magnani — Maddalena Zunino
Dal Mar Nero ad Aquileia.Una possibile nuova testimonianza epigrafica riguardante le relazioni economiche a lunga distanza
Un frammento di anfora, trovato durante gli scavi delle Grandi Terme di Aquileia, reca un'iscrizione graffita in greco che arricchisce le conoscenze relative alla rete di relazioni commerciali tra l'altro Adriatico e le regioni del Ponto Eusino e alle tipologie di prodotti che erano commerciati.
Dragana Gavrilović — Ivan Bogdanović — Goran Stojić — Kristina Ponjavić Višnjić
The Temple in the Service of the Amphitheatre and Its Wall Decoration
Archaeological investigations of the temple discovered adjacent to the amphitheatre at the archaeological site of Viminacium (eastern Serbia) have yielded numerous remarkable results. The temple was used during religious ceremonies performed as part of processions (pompae) that preceded the combats in the arena. Archaeological research has demonstrated that the structure had at least two construction phases. A new building of slightly larger dimensions (29 × 10 m) was erected on the site of the earlier structure. Both buildings featured an apse on the southern side. The temple was in use from the 2nd century until the first half of the 4th century, with the latest alterations in the northern part of the building—where additional rooms were added—carried out at the end of the 3rd century.
In the lower zone of the apsidal area, remains of wall paintings imitating stone revetment were discovered. In this part of the structure, the paintings were restored several times in antiquity. Through conservation and restoration work on fragments of wall paintings found in the soil, several coherent units were reconstructed, providing information about the motifs that once adorned the walls and columns of the building. Fragments of floral decoration and part of a Latin inscription were identified.
Ștefan Georgescu — Ana Cristina Hamat
The Danubian Connection. From Isis lactans to Venus nutrix
This poster will discuss a finger bone distaff discovered in Callatis, today the city of Mangalia on Rumanian Black Sea coast.
The find from Romania joins to several similar finger bone distaff (all 9 of them republished by Vessela Atanassova in 2023), discovered in different settlements from the territory of the Central and Eastern Roman Empire, in what is today’s Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia. The distaff discovered in a tomb from the Callatis necropolis is an older find (made in 1968), and it was not included in the aforementioned typology, even do, the context was published in 1969 by Constantin Iconomu. This particular distaff was worked in bone and decorated with a figurine depicted a woman in the manner of a naked Venus, holding a child in her arms and breastfeeding him. Like all of the artefacts coming from discoveries made in Odessos, Iatrus, Appiaria, Deultum, Cabyle, Horeum Margi, and in an unknown place from the territory of Hungary, it was preserved fragmentary. Corroborating this particularity of the findings with a complex iconography, we mention the fact that today, their identification and functionality is not completely clear. Our paper will present this find, and will try to demonstrate that this rare typology is specific for Danubian provinces (at least, at this stage of the discoveries).
Beatrice Harrach
Identità in discussione: categorie etniche e interpretazioni accademiche sui Vandali
Nel dibattito storiografico del XX secolo, l’attribuzione delle popolazioni vandaliche a una presunta “famiglia” germanica oppure a una matrice slava è stata a lungo terreno di contesa tra approcci di storia etnica, filologia delle fonti e letture politico–culturali dell’Europa tardoantica. Questo ricostruisce criticamente l’evoluzione delle interpretazioni accademiche, mettendo in evidenza come categorie identitarie “nazionali” o “etniche” abbiano spesso guidato (o distorto) la lettura delle testimonianze materiali. Saranno discussi i criteri metodologici adottati dagli studiosi per collegare i Vandali a aree linguistiche e geografiche alternative: tipologia dei nomi, confronto onomastico, lettura delle migrazioni e uso (talora selettivo) delle evidenze archeologiche. Il poster propone quindi una sintesi comparativa delle principali linee interpretative (germanista vs “slavista”, con varianti interne), evidenziando quali assunzioni risultino oggi più solide e quali invece siano state indebolite da revisioni critiche delle fonti e da una maggiore cautela nell’impiego di categorie etniche rigide. Obiettivo finale è mostrare che l’etichetta attribuita ai Vandali non è soltanto un dato storico, ma un indicatore della maniera in cui le discipline storiche hanno costruito i propri oggetti: un percorso che, attraverso il XX secolo, rivela il rapporto dinamico tra metodo, fonti e immaginari identitari.
Simona Maria Herlea
Capidava Fortress: Archaeological Context and Ceramic Restoration (4th–6th Centuries AD)
Identified by Vasile Pârvan in 1912 during an archaeological survey, the fortress of Capidava (Topalu commune, Constanța County), situated midway between Axiopolis and Carsium, was built in the early 2nd century AD under Emperor Trajan, in the context of the organization of the Danubian limes and the preparations for the Dacian Wars. Located on the right bank of the Danube, the fort occupied a high rocky promontory that provided a strategic defensive position controlling an important river crossing. Rebuilt several times between the 2nd and 11th centuries, Capidava represents a characteristic example of the transition from the Roman to the Late Roman, Romano-Byzantine, and Middle Byzantine periods in terms of military, administrative, and ecclesiastical organization.
Archaeological excavations at Capidava began in 1924 under the direction of Grigore Florescu and, despite interruptions during the communist period, have continued to the present day. Since 2008, I have coordinated students from the Conservation and Restoration program at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, in preventive conservation on the site and in the restoration and curative conservation of ceramic material recovered at Capidava. This poster presents the restoration stages of two ceramic artifacts dated to the 4th–6th centuries AD.
Kalina Petkova — Ruslan Stoychev — Veselka Katsarova
From Hellenistic to Roman Times: Cultural Change in an Ancient Settlement near Voditsa, Northeastern Bulgaria
The poster presents the results of archaeological excavations conducted in 2020 at an ancient settlement near Voditsa, Northeastern Bulgaria, with a focus on the Hellenistic occupation of the site and the presence of Roman period features within the same settlement area. An area of approximately 7,000 sq. m was investigated, revealing 116 archaeological structures, the majority of which date to the Hellenistic period (3rd–2nd century BC), alongside a smaller but significant group of Roman period features.
The Hellenistic occupation is represented mainly by pits and by the remains of rectangular dwellings with wattle-and-daub walls. These structures indicate an organized settlement with stable domestic and economic activities. The spatial distribution of the features suggests intensive use of the area during the Hellenistic period.
Roman-period structures appear within this established settlement zone rather than forming a separate occupation area. Their presence indicates continuity in the use of the site, accompanied by changes in practices and material expression. A distinctive Roman period feature demonstrates a different approach to the use of space and depositional behavior when compared to the earlier phase.
The evidence highlights both the persistence of Hellenistic settlement traditions and the integration of Roman period elements in Northeastern Thrace.
Stefan Pircher
The Roman settlement of Tasinemetum – Emmersdorf near Rosegg in Carinthia (A)
The discovery and verification (between 2014 and 2017, project management: Paul Gleirscher (kaernten.museum)), a site previously known primarily for its extensive Hallstatt period burials came to the attention of scientists. Finds secured in the vicinity of the two Drau bridges and already published (by Ursula Schachinger (Graz) and Christoph Hinker (ÖAI/ÖAW)) illustrate the frequent use of the crossings from the late La Tène period to the end of the Roman Empire. Between 2020 and 2023, extensive settlement areas were identified on both banks of the Drau using geophysical prospecting (BDA, ÖAI/ÖAW (Christian Gugl), Geosphere Austria GmbH (Ralf Totschnig and Klaus Löcker).
In the resulting excavation campaigns carried out between 2023 and 2025, several sections of the areas surveyed geophysically both north and south of the river Drau were excavated (project management: Stefan Pircher (AFIN and KIAGK)). In the course of this, it was possible to identify a sanctuary with a potential altar or possible statue base, which was enclosed by a temenos. In 2025, the archaeological excavations carried out in cooperation with the Department of Ancient Studies at Paris Lodron University Salzburg (Felix Lang) focused on the areas immediately north of the Drau, where parts of a storage building with a probable landing stage for river traffic have been documented.
Angelina Raičković Savić
Imported Fine Wares and Cultural Exchange in Early Roman Viminacium (1st–2nd c. AD)
Early Roman Viminacium, the capital of Moesia Superior and the base of Legio VII Claudia, provides a unique context for examining cultural interaction along the Danubian frontier. Among the most informative categories of material culture are imported fine wares, whose presence in the earliest horizons reflects both military supply systems and wider economic networks of the western provinces. This poster focuses on three key groups of imported ceramics dated to the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD: Italic thin-walled vessels, northern and central Italian fine wares, and selected forms of Gallic terra sigillata (Drag. 25, 35, 36, 17b, 18, 33). Several pieces bear potters’ stamps, allowing for more precise attribution and chronological definition. Their distribution within the camp, suburban zones, and early necropoleis demonstrates stable trade routes connecting the Danube with northern Italy and southern/central Gaul, but also reveals aspects of consumption, identity formation, and status display within a military-urban environment. Comparative analysis of imported shapes and their local imitations further indicate the gradual integration of provincial workshops into broader Mediterranean ceramic traditions. By presenting representative examples and their archaeological contexts, the poster highlights imported fine wares as key indicators of cultural exchange, mobility, and connectivity in early Roman Viminacium.
Janusz Recław
Waterways of the Novae Microregion
The Novae microregion is understood here as the part of the Roman province of Lower Moesia extending between Oescus, Melta, Nicopolis ad Istrum and Sexaginta Prista, with Novae as its central point. In this area, during the Principate (1st–3rd c. AD), a dense network of water routes operated. This paper presents the preliminary results of the reconstruction of riverine component.
The area is dominated by the Danube, but its tributaries and smaller streams also play a crucial role, having been used by the Romans for transporting raw materials and another heavy products. The survey identified several dozen sites directly connected with waterborne transport: towns, emporia and ports, quarries and stone-working installations, centres of ceramic and metallurgical production, as well as associated military sites like fortresses, forts and watchtowers, all functionally linked to nearby watercourses.
Analysis of the spatial distribution of these points shows that most of them are located on higher, dry edges of the tributary valleys—on the side of the steep right slopes—as well as along the margins of the Danube floodplain. This pattern reflects valley asymmetry and the way it was exploited logistically. A recurrent logistic scheme can be observed: “mine or workshop – short overland haul – river transport down to the Danube”. At the same time, hydrological observations make it possible to trace landscape changes along this stretch of the limes, opening the way for further research into the evolution of the fluvial network and its impact on the organisation of transport in the Novae microregion.
Saša Redžić
Sacred Waters of Viminacium: Exploring of the Nymphaeum Complex
In 2003, a combination of geophysical surveys and archaeological excavations led to the discovery of two aqueducts that supplied water to the inhabitants of Viminacium. Several years later, the aqueducts once again became the focus of archaeological interest. On that occasion, they were identified much closer to Viminacium, along the road extending eastwards from the eastern gate of the Castrum towards Pincum, at a distance of 1,300 m from the gate. At this point, both previously discovered aqueducts reached two separate structures.
The western aqueduct connected to a castellum aquae, whose purpose was to slow down and purify the water brought by the aqueduct before it was distributed through pipes to the city. The eastern aqueduct was linked to a structure measuring 16 × 12 m, which can be confidently identified as a nymphaeum. Situated along an important road, the Viminacium nymphaeum functioned not only as a fountain providing refreshment for travellers, but also as a sanctuary dedicated to the nymphs, protectors of springs. As the nymphaeum complex was threatened by open‑cast coal mining, it was relocated in its entirety to another area within the Archaeological Park.
Marina Rubinich
Laterizi bollati dalle Grandi Terme di Aquileia e da Castra (Ajdovščina)
Mattia Vitelli Casella
Appunti per un quadro aggiornato della romanizzazione nella Dalmatia interna
Le recenti indagini nell’ambito dell’epigrafia e dell’archeologia hanno significativamente accresciuto le nostre conoscenze sul territorio interno della Dalmazia, corrispondente in gran parte all’attuale Bosnia-Erzegovina. Sicuramente si tratta di una zona in cui le condizioni geografiche e le possibilità economiche – fatto salvo lo sfruttamento delle miniere – erano molto meno attrattive che sulla costa, laddove fin dalla tarda Repubblica si insediarono gruppi di commercianti italici e furono poi fondate ricche e popolose colonie. Non serve qui ricordare che la romanizzazione procedette su binari molto differenti, ma gli studi cui si è accennato mostrano una certa diffusione dell’integrazione nei nuovi costumi anche tra le popolazioni indigene dell’attuale Bosnia. L’obiettivo del mio articolo sarebbe unire dati vecchi e nuovi per fare il punto sulla romanizzazione dell’area, partendo dai monumenti iscritti, con una particolare attenzione all’elemento di genere.
Mirjana Vojvoda
Coins and Burials: Numismatic Evidence from Viminacium’s Funerary Practices
Archaeological excavations at Viminacium have so far uncovered more than 12,000 graves and over 8,600 coins within its extensive necropoleis. This substantial corpus of coins recovered both from graves and from sacrificial areas above individual and group graves at the necropolis provides a valuable basis for examining the role of coinage within funerary practices. The poster presents the results of analyses focused on several key aspects: differences in coin use between cremation and inhumation burials; the placement of coins in relation to the deceased in inhumation graves; and coins deposited on sacrificial areas associated with recurrent commemorative rituals performed after burial. Together, these datasets offer new insights into the symbolic, ritual, and practical dimensions of monetary offerings within the funerary sphere of Roman Viminacium.
Documentation
Downloadable versions of the programme and Book of Abstracts:
Partners
In collaboration with:
With the support of:
