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Coin weighers and dealers in the Early Byzantine city: The case of Justiniana Prima
Get PDFUp to the present day, the study of coin quality control in tax payment and moneyexchange in Late Antiquity has not relied much on archaeological data. This is sobecause coin scales and weights have rarely been found in cities, other settlementsand fortresses, or in coin hoards and graves.On the other hand, the decades-long excavations at Caričin Grad (Justiniana Prima) have yielded numerous scales and glass and bronze weights. These finds speak bothfor the importance of coin quality control in the sixth century and for the unstablevalue of the solidi and their fractions used in exchange in northern Illyricum.Roads and rivers
Space Use in Syrmia During the Migration and Avar Periods
Get PDFAlthough there is no general agreement on what geographic area constitutes Central Europe, Syrmia should certainly be considered its part. Lying between the Danube and Sava rivers, this history-soaked land used to be the northern fringe of the Roman Empire and, later on, the southernmost possession of the Avars
Agricultural niche building in the Neolithic central Balkans
Get PDFAgronomic studies emphasise that agriculture is modelled by different groups of
factors that form complex and dynamic socio-ecological systems of agricultural
production. Biological by nature, this form of production is influenced by natural
environment, many aspects of which are not under farmer’s control, such as, for
instance, species suitability, (micro-)regional climate, pests and diseases.
Farming decisions are further shaped by economic goals, including ensuring
dietary sustenance and generating income. Finally, agricultural activities are
embedded in the social contexts created and reproduced by the farming
households and societies.
This presentation is concerned with plant-based agricultural production in the
Neolithic in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. It observes how crop
cultivation practices varied between the settlements and how they changed
through the c. 1700-year long period (6200-4500 BC). Two transformational
developments punctuate this sequence: (1) transmission in the late 7th
millennium BC of the Early Neolithic farming practices northwards from the
Aegean and into the continental parts of the Balkan Peninsula. We track
adaptations that these practices underwent, as evidence of adjustment to local
environments and climate; such adaptations underpinned creation of the
regional socio-economic context known as the Starčevo culture; (2) emergence
of a new socio-economic context, the Vinča culture, in the 2nd half of the 6th
millennium BC, accompanied by new pottery technology and settlement pattern,
an apparent increase in the population size, and followed by the beginning of
extractive metallurgy at the turn of the millennia; we illustrate how changes in
crop production were one additional element of this general economic growth.
For archaeobotanical inferences on the adaptations and modifications in plant
production, we rely on the analysis of crop and wild diversity (=the range of
species and their relative abundance) in the assemblages from Starčevo and
Vinča culture sites in Serbia
Досадашњи резултати и перспективе археолошких истраживања српских средњовековних некропола у области Раса
Get PDFПочетак истраживања српских средњовековних гробаља у области Раса везан је за архитектонска ископавања која су била обављана у оквиру манастирских комплекса и чији су резултати врло брзо указали на неопходност присуства археолога на терену. Недуго затим, током шездесетих и седамдесетих година 20. века, започета су истраживања средњовековних некропола које окружују црквене комплексе попут Петрове цркве и цркве Св. Петра и Павла у селу Попе, као и прва систематска археолошка ископавања насеобинских некропола у оквиру средњовековног Трговишта. Почетком осамдесетих година 20. века проучавање простора средњовековног Раса је интензивирано. Нажалост, и током тог периода средњовековна гробља су махом испитивана сондажно у оквиру истраживања остатака архитектуре, попут некрополе око цркве у Дежеву, или у оквиру заштитних истраживања на локалитетима Латинска црква и Напреље. Последња у низу обављана заштитна археолошка ископавања на локалитету Дубље, као и она у порти Петрове цркве, изнедрила су значајна открића али и упутила на нужност сумирања досадашњих резултата. Са једне стране увиђа се неопходност повезивања досадашњих проучавања историчара уметности који су своју истраживачку пажњу усмерили на проучавање одлика видљивих делова надгробних споменика са резултатима археолошких истраживања подземних делова средњовековних гробних конструкција. Такође, у оквиру рада биће учињен кратак осврт на промену методологије истраживања и документовања гробних целина, као и на угроженост српских средњовековних гробаља на простору Раса која неминовно указује на неопходност њиховог документовања. Крајњи циљ представља покушај усмеравања будућих проучавања кроз установљавање истраживачких питања и стратегије.XLV скупштина и годишњи скуп Српског археолошког друштва одржан у Прокупљу између 26. – 28. мај 2022. годин
The Right Book at the Right Time: Early Reactions and Continuing Debates
No full textSince its publication in 1940, African Political Systems (APS) has both inspired anthropologists (as well as sociologists like Eisenstadt (1959)), and at the same time provoked some important debates (Gellner 1969; Holý 1979; see also Lewis, Chapter 2 in this volume). In this chapter, I will first analyse the critical responses to the book, as published in the leading anthropological and sociological journals of the time, and will conclude with the general view about the issues that the contributions in this volume address
Два језичка типа „Мартиновка” из Дубравице и Старог Костолца
No full textУ раду су обрађени језичци типа „Мартиновка” који дуги низ година чине
инвентар средњовековне збирке Народног музеја у Пожаревцу. Реч је о случајним на-
лазима који су пронађени на археолошким локалитетима Маргум (Margum) – Орашје у
Дубравици и Тодића црква у Старом Костолцу. Полазећи од чињенице да изостају пода-
ци о условима проналаска, циљ овог рада је да на скроман начин пружи осврт на налазе
групе „Мартиновка” и обогати карту њихове распрострањености у Србији. Помоћу
аналогија на налазиштима из 6. и 7. века у Европи које су до сада доступне у стручној
литератури, као и резултата досадашњих археолошких истраживања, покушаћемо да
извршимо датовање језичака и дефинишемо њихову етничку интерпретацију
Abrasive stone tools in the Neolithic of Serbia : from recognition to publication
No full textAbrasive stone tools are artifacts with abrasive features, due to the petrographic characteristics of the raw materials from which they were made, those being various types of sandstone, conglomerate and magmatic rocks. What is common in the majority of tools with abrasive properties is that their final form was created during long-term use and was not formed by intentional grinding in the process of production as seen with tools with a cutting edge. Abrasive tools encompass various kinds of grindstones, whetstones, handstones, querns and mortars.
These stone tools had an important role in the daily life of Neolithic populations. They were used in production of stone, bone, antler, ceramic and wooden objects, as well as in food preparation. At the end of the Late Neolithic and the beginning of the Early Eneolithic, i.e. in the final stages of the Vinča culture, abrasive stone tools were also used in the processing of metal objects. Nevertheless, these tools, mostly massive and relatively unattractive, have been somewhat neglected in earlier archaeological research in Serbia. Explorations of Neolithic sites in the last decades have yielded an enormous number of abrasive artifacts. After analyzing assemblages from several Neolithic sites in Serbia – Vinča, Pločnik, Ilića Brdo, Crkvine, Masinske Njive, Jaričište, Aria Babi, Bataševo etc. – a remarkable quantity of new information on technology, traceology and raw material acquisition was collected. Abrasive stone tools are definitely not luxurious items but they represent such a category of artifacts that researching them is of
great importance for understanding the organization of everyday life, economic structure and the functioning of agricultural communities in the Neolithic of Serbia
Mortars of the Roman Frontier on the Danube
Get PDFThe mortars have been always one of the most interesting topics for the researchers of Roman building constructions. The knowledge on this complex building material used in Roman architecture is mostly based on the research of the monumental structures in the territory of today Italy. However, many mortar examinations were executed by the researchers of provincial Roman archaeology as well, who tried to find evidence of the quality of building activities in the provinces. The territory of today's Serbia, except for the existence of scarce studies, was never in the research focus. Even the monumental bridge over the Danube, built at the beginning of the 2nd century that made Trajan’s conquest of Dacia possible, was not researched thoroughly enough when we speak of its building materials. During the last few years, the interest in the Roman buildings at the Danube territory has grown. Mortar Design for Conservation – Danube Roman Frontier 2000 Years after (MoDeCo2000) project is funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia. Its aim is to investigate the mortars used in Roman buildings along the former Danube Limes in Serbia, as well as to offer
mortar recipes for building conservation practice
Geology of Raw Materials in Roman Mortars of the Danube Limes in Serbia
Get PDFGeological building materials have always played a very important role in the construction of all types of buildings. They were among the first mineral raw materials exploited, processed, and used by man (Prikril et al., 2016). In most cases, these are raw materials of a local character, cheap, and easily available. Accordingly, geological building materials used to make Roman mortars, known for their enviable mechanical properties and durability, played a very important role in the area of the Danube Limes in Serbia. Geologically, this area is built of petrologically different rocks of different geological ages. The rocks formed from the Palaeozoic to the Quaternary contain all the basic geological building materials: sand and gravel, stone, clay, etc
Supplying and management of wild beasts for the spectacles in the amphitheatre of Viminacium
No full textSensational participation of wild beasts in Roman games held in amphitheaters, such as animal displays, hunts, fights or executions are evidenced with numerous ancient texts and iconographic data. Information on the nature of capturing beasts, their trade and management are occasionally shown, too. It is not only that such data are perceived as exaggerated, but they are also mostly related to the spectacles held in the Colosseum and other large amphitheaters throughout Italy, so the questions of supply and management of beasts in provincial amphitheaters are challenging to answer. Recent excavations at the amphitheater of Viminacium, situated in the Roman province of Upper Moesia, enabled precise research on the supply and management of wild beasts in provincial amphitheaters. Animal bones discovered in the amphitheater area, together with architectural features related to beast management, opened a wide range of questions related to spectacles held within the Viminacium amphitheater. This paper will combine various sources of data, from archaeozoology to architectural aspects, enabling a better understanding of how wild bests were supplied and managed in Viminacium and other provincial amphitheaters