Peuce. Studii si Cercetari de Istorie si Arheologie

7-48

Authors: Cristian MICU, Michel MAILLE, Florian MIHAIL, Laurent CAROZZA, Mihai FLOREA

This article presents the stratigraphic and chronological data found during the archaeological surveys Northeast of the tell settlement at Luncavita, point « Cetățuia » (Tulcea County).

79-122

Authors: Maria-Magdalena ȘTEFAN, Dan ȘTEFAN, Valeriu SÎRBU, Sorin-Cristian AILINCĂI, Alexandra ȚÂRLEA

In addition to the decades-long known archaeological ensemble (consisting of a 6th-3rd centuries BC settlement and tumuli necropolis) on Celic Dere valley, in Northern Dobruja, a second settlement (Cassiana) of the same period was recently documented – just 2.5 km to the east – on the same river valley, right near Celic Dere Monastery. The newly surveyed settlement at Celic Dere Monastery/Cassiana was field assessed, in 2013 and 2014, by geophysical survey (magnetic method), aerial photogrammetry and systematic collecting of surface materials. LiDAR data was used as an integrative background of the landscape analysis. The discovery is meaningful because it gives the opportunity to discuss once more, and with enhanced elements, the impact of Greek colonisation in western Pontus upon the aggregation processes of local populations. The proximity of two contemporaneous large settlements characterized by the same rich mix of materials (consisting of Archaic and Classical periods amphorae fragments, Archaic monochrome grey wheel-made ware and hand-made local pottery of late Hallstatt tradition), even if for the Monastery settlement the considered pottery originates only from surface surveys, reveals the consistent demography of the communities inhabiting the high hills bordering the Danube, their endurance in the same places from late Hallstatt till early Hellenistic period, and their organisation in habitation nuclei based on steady markets directly connected with the western Black Sea Greek colonies, of which Orgame and Istros were located at ca. 50-60 km to the south-east. The two settlements on Celic Dere valley, for which a peak of early activity seems to be the end of the 6th century BC and the 5th century BC, mainly exploit the proximity of a major Danube ford (at Isaccea, 20 km north) and the existence of an important inland route going towards the former Black Sea golfs – now the lakes Babadag-Razim-Sinoe. They represent a nucleus within a larger group of emerging settlements, at the end of the Archaic period, throughout Northern Dobruja – either near Danube (like Revărsarea Tichilești or Novoselskoe – on the other shore), far inland, in the high plateaus (Beidaud) or in a 20-8 km range around Istros and Orgame and the former navigable golfs (Tariverde, Nuntași, Vișina, Sinoe, Vadu). If the last category was often interpreted as Greek establishments, results of colonial activity, inhabited by an ethnically mixed population, the sites of the same type, located in the Danube area, point to the reality of a more extensive process of social development and demographic growth happening inland, linked to a specific period – end of the 6th-5th century BC.

135-142

Authors: Valentin BOTTEZ, Florin TOPOLEANU

The article analyzes a fragmentary marble relief of the Thracian Horseman, discovered in 2003 in the ancient city of Halmyris (Tulcea County, Romania), and dated to the beginning of the 3rd c. AD. Even if – taken separately – the iconographic elements (the horseman hunting and impaling the boar with a spear, the dog, the serpent coiled on a tree, touching a burning altar with its tail, the lion and the bull) appear on many other monuments dedicated to the god, their combination and the manner in which they are represented make this a unique relief.

181-224

Authors: Iulia ILIESCU, Valentin BOTTEZ

In this study, we present a part of the lychnological material discovered during the archaeological excavation carried out between 2013 and 2020 on the Acropolis Centre-South Sector in Istros (Constanța County). The entire lot includes almost 190 pieces that, from a chronological point of view, belong to the Greek (Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic), Early Roman and Late Roman period. We selected for discussion in this paper only the Late Roman material, which is the most numerous (130 lamps, of which 107 typologically determined) and more representative for the archaeological complex under investigation. The lamps belong to many types, some of them newly attested in Istros, and are both imported products and pieces manufactured at a regional, maybe even local, scale.

261-300

Authors: Aurel-Daniel STĂNICĂ, Constantin NICOLAE, Mihai Anatolii CIOBANU

Like all the Ottoman fortresses in Dobrudja, the fortress of Hârșova was little known until today. In the absence of an archaeological research, only a few documents, often questioned too, were the only sources that presented the image of a strong fortification. The conquest of Dobrudja at the beginning of the 15th century also involved the Ottomans' preoccupations regarding the care and repair of the existing fortress, the conquerors being motivated by the strategic and military importance of the region. The integration in the political, military, administrative, economic, and social system of the new Ottoman province represented for Hârșova a new historical stage of special relevance. Hârşova was a significant fortified centre, that housed an important garrison, but also with a decisive economic function given by the port and by the access to the main roads that crossed Dobrudja, as well as a crossing point of the Danube, which offered a connection with the Transcarpathian roads. All these aspects gave Hârșova a special place in the Ottoman administrative framework, with consequences in the organization of the city and the surrounding land integrated into a kaza. The image of the Ottoman fortress was well known, especially thanks to the lithographs dated 1826, which depicted an imposing structure. The cartographic document published by von Moltke in 1856, which represents the oldest plan of the fortress and the town of Hârșova known so far, recorded an imposing bastion fortification, which closed the perimeter between Citatel Hill (Dealul Cetății) and Belciug Hill (Dealul Belciug). Aside from this plan, to which some brief descriptions could be added, we notice a lack of data regarding the Ottoman fortress. Thus, we turned our attention to the cartographic sources, trying to identify new plans and maps which would allow a clarification of the evolution of the Ottoman fortification. In this article, we present some of the plans of the Hârșova fortress recently discovered in the archives of Kiev and Moscow. These are particularly important and will be critically analysed in relation to the results obtained in the archaeological research so far and other documentary sources that we have at our disposal. The discovered plans constitute new, original research sources, and allow a better knowledge of the situation of the fortification from Hârșova in the course of the 18th-19th centuries.