News | | Digitizing the Roman Limes. Sector:Brâncovenești-Sărățeni

19/04/2016International Conference, Newsadmin

Conference regarding the History of Archaeology in Alba Iulia

Most museums around here (and not only) have a rich history of their collections, usually starting with some zealous antiquarian and/or amateur archaeologist somewhere around the 19^th century. Such was the situation of the National Museum of the Unification in Alba Iulia, where during the Belle Époque Cserni Béla started a meticulous archaeological program to investigate Roman Apulum. On the 100^th anniversary of his death, researchers interested in the history of archaeology organized an international conference entitled “Adalbert Cserni and His Contemporaries. The Pioneers of Archaeology in Alba Iulia and Beyond”.

In between the new session of spring field-surveys, some of our team-members found some time to attend this event held in Alba Iulia from the 14^th of April until the 18^th. The presented subjects included a paper about the collection of Kovács Ferencz (important especially in the case of Călugerni), the different century-old sources for various types of stamped bricks and tiles from Călugerni and the nationalistic and imperialistic influences on the archaeology of the Belle Époque in Transylvania. Around 50 participants from 6 countries (from Great Britain to Russia) made the event truly of value and also highly enjoyable.

01/04/2016International Conference, Newsadmin

Presenting interdisciplinary results on the next level: ESAS 2016

Lately, the XRF and FTIR spectroscopic investigations of iron slag finds from Brâncovenești, Călugăreni and Vătava (mentioned in the previous post) were amended by ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry) and completed with EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) analysis.

These new results had to be made public, and we found just the right place for this: the European Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry, held in the beautiful town of Eger, Hungary, between the 31^st of March and the 2^nd of April, 2016. The paper was presented in the form of a poster, by one of our team-members.

esas1

The scale of the conference was quite impressive, uniting around 200 of the top researchers of atomic spectrometry from all over the world.

17/03/2016International Conference, Newsadmin

XXI. International Scientific Conference of Young Engineers

Nothing shows better how interdisciplinary this project is than the fact that some of our colleagues together with chemists and other specialists took part in the XXI. International Scientific Conference of Young Engineers, held in Cluj-Napoca, on the 17-18^th of March, 2016.

The presentation’s topic consisted of the archaeometric analysis of iron slags discovered during the recent excavations at Brâncovenești, Călugăreni and Vătava. As part of the archaeometallurgical investigations, the samples were subjected to FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy and surface XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopic investigations in order to approximate their mineralogical composition (FTIR) and to determine their elemental composition and inhomogeneity (XRF).

15/02/2016Newsadmin

Exhibition in Călugăreni – save the date!

Remember the two pavilions, the construction of which began during the summer field school of 2015? Well, after the last layer of paint had dried, our team vigorously began the planning of the two exhibitions to be placed inside the “twins”.

The pavilion facing the auxiliary fort will introduce you in a military atmosphere, presenting the fort from Călugăreni and the unit stationed here, in addition to some notes on the soldiers’ equipment, daily life and diet. The other one, towards the Roman baths will show you how these bathing facilities functioned in the Empire, and how this particular one worked, here on the Dacian limes. How did they manage to heat the building? From where did they get the necessary water? These are just some of the questions to which we are preparing the answers. Also you will get some insight on Roman civilian clothing and on some basic methods of body care used back then. All this with a selection of finds from the excavations of the previous years and realistic replicas, 3D models and miniatures.

Soon you will get the official invitation as well, but until then, save the date: on the 6^th of May we will open the exhibition in the Time Box pavilions!

03/12/2015National Conference, Newsadmin

The Limes Forum IV national conference

The 4^th edition of the Limes Forum national conference, organised by the Roman Limes Research Centre of the Mureș County Museum (Târgu Mureș) and the National History Museum of Transylvania (Cluj-Napoca) took place between the 4^th and 6^th of December 2015 in Sovata. The event continued the series of annual meetings of specialists in the research of the frontiers of the Roman Empire from Romania, providing a forum for scientific debate and exchange of views and information on the subject at hand. Furthermore, the meeting to facilitated in a considerable manner the collaboration between museums, research institutes and universities for the conception and implementation of the ‘Limes Dacicus’ national research programme. The programme of this edition comprised a conference session and a visit to the Roman archaeological park from Călugăreni.

25/11/2015National Conference, Newsadmin

Conference on History of Târgu Mureș and Mureș County

On the 28th of November a national conference took place in Târgu Mureș on the occassion of the The Day of the Hungarian Science in Transylvania cultural event. This edition of the conference is organized by the Borsos Tamás Association and the Transylvanian Museum Society. Athough the conference was destined mainly to the medieval up to the recent history of the city and county, this event was also an excellent forum for promoting our work concerning the protection of the Roman limes sector from this county. One of our colleagues held a lecture about the eastern limes of the Roman Dacia, focusing principally on the research strategies, questions and solutions related to the limes sector from Mureș County.

21/11/2015International Conference, Newsadmin

Ten years together. Archaeology and Geophysics

Ten years have been passed since a very fruitful and efficient collaboration started between the geophysic specialists of the Institute of Geography and Earth Science at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and archaeologists of our research team. Everything started at another important Roman military site of Dacia, in Porolissum which has been followed by many geophysicial surveys in the eastern Roman limes sector from Mureș County. Many important scientific results, frendship and a very trustful collaboration – so could one sum up this long period together. On this occasion, our geophysisist colleague from the Department of Geophysics and Space Science from the Eötvös Loránd University organised a very interesting and warm conference aimed to commemorate this outstanding collaboration. On the 16th of November 2015 friends and colleagues met in Budapest to discuss the common experience and scientific results of the 10 years. During these disscussions it came out very clear how well does geophysical surveys and non-distructive surveying methods complete and help the archaeological investigation . One of our colleague held also a presentation about these interdisciplinar investigations in the eastern limes of the Roman Dacia, especially in Mureș County.

21/11/2015event, Newsadmin

Identity and culture for the third time

On the 17th of November 2015 the third edition of the Students’ Scientific Association Conference has been organized in the topic ”Identity and Culture“ at the Faculty of Architecture from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The topic focuses on the cultural, scientific and turistical valorification of the Roman limes sector from Mureș County, Romania, especially on the heritage potentials of Călugăreni, for three years by far. The large interest in this topic, among the three-year old tradition, is also shown by the six “contestants”, each of them presenting projects related either to creating a multidisciplinary scientific base in Călugăreni, or to the valorification of the unique blend of Roman heritage and WW I shooting ditches in the same area. One of our team member took part in the jury composed of architect and archaeologist specialists, and had a very hard job to evaluate the interesting and thought-provoking projects.

14/11/2015Conference presentations, International Conference, Newsadmin

Journey to the West in Roman style. The Limes Congress in Ingolstadt 2015

Between the 13^th and 20^th of September 2015, two members of our team joined the 23^rd edition of Limes Congress in Ingolstadt, Germany. The one-week long intensive programme including many presentations and excursions was a great exercise both to our mind and body.

The four days of presentations included sessions related to signalling in the army; industry and commerce; defense strategies; reconstructions; crafts; Roman soldiers and religion, the Danube limes; timber forts; and many other sessions. Due to the huge interest and large audience these presentations were held simultaneously in four different rooms. Live video transmission in other rooms for those who could not manage to fit in the presentation rooms, was also a very useful facility.

During the excursions we visited many of the sites situated along the Raetian limes, like the famous fort and Limes Museum from Ruffenhofen, Eining, Pförring, the celtic oppidum of Manching, Regensburg and many other wonders of the beautiful Bavaria.

Our presentations and poster were dealing with the eatern limes of Roman Dacia that was approached in a multidisciplinary manner. We could present our foreign colleagues our limes part and the results of the recent researches in the domain, promoting in the same time the protection of this heritage.

14/11/2015Conference presentations, National Conferenceadmin

Discussing military and civilian art in Roman Dacia

On the 23^rd and 24^th of October 2015 a two-day long national archaeology conference was hosted by the History Museum of Turda for the 3^rd consecutive time, with the extensive participation of specialists from universities, museums and research institutes from across the country. The topic of the session encompassed various aspects of provincial Roman art in Dacia, focusing on the confluence of military and civilian artistic expression within the province. Our team was represented by Dávid Petruț who held a presentation on the subject of the funerary monuments discovered in the area of the auxiliary fort from Brâncovenești on the eastern limes of the province. The lectures engaged fruitful discussions related to modern approaches in the research of military provincial art. Besides the talks, the guests had the opportunity of attending the opening of the archaeological exhibition entitled: ‘Roman Potaissa. An archaeological retrospective’.