Фибули от римската епоха и Късната античност (I – VI век) от местността Градище край Враца
Fibulae from the Roman Period and Late Antiquity (First–Sixth Centuries) from Gradishte Locality near Vratsa

Summary/Abstract: Between 2007 and 2022, during regular archaeological excavations in the Gradishte locality, west of the city of Vratsa, various archaeological artefacts were discovered, including 14 bronze fibulae from the Roman period and Late Antiquity (first to sixth centuries). The goal of this paper is their analysis and inclusion in scholarly circulation. The publication of the jewellery from Gradishte is a result of scholarly research on fibulae from the Roman period and Late Antiquity, discovered in present-day Northwestern Bulgaria. The finds are analysed on the basis of comparison with analogous finds from the Roman provinces of Moesia and Thrace, as well as neighbouring territories. An attempt is made to trace the origin and routes of penetration of the described fibulae. The jewels are described, and a catalogue is compiled with inventory number, dimensions, weight, and dating using the typology by E. Gencheva of the fibulae from the Roman period and Late Antiquity, discovered in present-day Bulgarian lands, and the typology of O. Almgren for the Roman and Late Antiquity fibulae. Depending on their shape, the fibulae in question belong to type Augenfibeln/type 39b or late fibulae with “little eyes”; type 12a – fibulae with a ring in the beginning and end of the bow; type 12b – fibulae with highly reduced profiling; type 20a – fibulae with a bent foot, made by bending a metal band; type 20b – cast fibulae with a bent foot; type 24v – cross-bow fibulae with circular bulbs; type 25v – fibulae with a crescent moon shape; type 29b – zoomorphic fibulae; and type 14v – fibulae, originating from Aucissa-type fibulae with enamel decoration. It is proposed that the Gradishe fibulae have arrived through the military units (cat. ##1, 12–14) and via trade (cat. #2, 8–11). Some of the finds (cat. #3–7) are probably produced in a local atelier. The finds from Vratsa are dated as follows: cat. #1 – second half of the first to the beginning of the second century, cat. #2 – second century, cat. #3 – late second to the early third century, cat. ##4–7 – sixth century, cat. ##810 – last third of the sixth to the beginning of the seventh century, cat. #11 – last quarter of the third to the first decade of the fourth century, cat. #12 – second half of the first to the second century, cat. #13 – second century, and cat. #14 – second or third quarter of the first century to the first half of the second century.

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