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At the current time Romania, as a state, has set up a mechanism to implement the nomination procedure for the Dacian Limes on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as part of the FRE – Frontiers of the Roman Empire. While drafting the nomination and the management plan, the issue of different categories of stakeholders should be discussed and activities should be planned accordingly. In order to plan a series of activities a thorough analysis should be made, to establish who are the stakeholders of such an endeavour, when and how they should be addressed, what roles and responsibilities they have within the current process and within the management of the future World HeritageSite. This article is not meant to be an exhaustive approach to the subject, it is just the beginning of a deeper and more thorough study of the issue, bringing some examples of small-scale good practices, the lesson’s learned by other countries and raising questions to be answered in the future.
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Located between Vienna and Bratislava, Carnuntum is by far the largest archaeological landscape in entire Central and South-Eastern Europe. Nearly the entire ancient Roman city once spanning 10 square kilometres is still preserved underneath the fields and vineyards of Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. The Federal State of Lower Austria not only set new international scientific standards but it also designed a model in regards to land use planning and archaeological monument conservation how to shape future concepts destined to balance history, spatial planning and economy. In the interests of the public the archaeological heritage is also exploited more economically: by restoring old excavations, with new research excavations and partial or full reconstructions, which give visitors a better approach to ancient times; furthermore, by involving the public more closely when investigations can be observed “at close hand”, and the presentation of finds in museums and special exhibitions. To this end, new presentation techniques and multimedia systems are used to communicate this information, including mobile phone application for VR.
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Romania has signed the World Heritage Convention in 1990. Its process of implementation was carried out along two decades, but the resulting legal framework does not grant at present the appropriate protection and management of the sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Moreover, even if steps have been taken towards the implementation of the Convention, the compliance with it is far from being a reality. This study brings forth the fact that in the case of the serial World Heritage Site “Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains”, there is a twofold non-compliance with the Convention. First, there is a substantive non-compliance, resulting from the almost complete dereliction of the site: in the last 20 years, there was no management system and 5 of its 6 component parts have been abandoned. Secondly, there is procedural noncompliance, resulting from the fake reporting to the World Heritage Centre, as well as from the omission of some reports. The real situation has recently surfaced, due to the intervention of the civil society, and the World Heritage Centre triggered the reactive monitoring process for this site. At the same time, the possible causes of this non-compliance have been analysed in view of identifying urgent solutions meant to re-establish the balance with respect to the Convention. The main directions of action proposed are the improvement of the legal framework and the adoption of appropriate heritage policies.
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Sarmizegetusa Regia was included, together with the other five Dacian fortresses, on the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999. They are a unique synthesis of external cultural influences and local traditions in terms of building techniques and overall, in the ancient military architecture, representing the grand expression of the civilisation of the Dacian Kingdom. These fortresses are the accurate expression of the exceptional development level of the Dacian civilisation, Sarmizegetusa Regia lying at the forefront of this fortified complex, epitomizing the evolution phenomenon from fortified centres to proto-urban agglomerations. As such, promoting these monuments and the numerous artefacts discovered by modern methods and techniques should become a priority. This paper presents a series of last generation applications and equipment that may be successfully used in promoting cultural heritage. Case studies include scanned artefacts and 3D reconstructions of the monuments in the site of Sarmizegetusa Regia, a monument on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites together with the other five Dacian fortresses (Bănița, Costești-Blidaru, Costești-Cetățuie, Piatra Roșie and Căpâlna). We present here the results obtained following the use of several hardware trackingsystems, augmented virtual reality applications and haptic devices. One of the important aspects, when attempting to make enhanced on-line use of heritage good is the extent to which it is accessible and reusable by various categories of users, either specialists or the general public. Digitalizing a good in the cultural heritage is the first step for ensuring the broad access via the on-line medium, the quality of this process ensuring the electronic format artefact legitimacy and credibility, which means that it should be an electronic duplicate truthful to the real artefact.
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The present paper deals with a recovered hoard of gold Hellenistic style jewellery, stolen in 2001 from the Dacian fortress of Căpâlna, archaeological site and UNESCO monument from Romania. After 7 years of illegal trafficking of the artefacts on the black market of antiquities, the Romanian law enforcements recovered the hoard from Germany, with the generous support of an expert from Frankfurt am Main. The items come from a Western Balkan workshop around the inhabited by the Danubian Celts, located onthe northern territory of Serbia and the western part of nowadays region of Banat (Romania). Nevertheless, one should not completely exclude the possibility that the items were made in a roving workshop on the territory of South-western Dacia. The technique used and the style of decoration prove the assimilation of late Hellenistic and Italic influences. The composition of the gold alloy is similar to the one used by jewellers in the late Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods. An important detail is the reconstruction of the ”discovery circumstances” inside of the protected area of Căpâlna fortress, by the archaeological poachers from Deva (Hunedoara County). During the judicial and forensic investigations, from 2006 to 2018, the members of the law enforcement observed the ”evolution” of the actual state of the monument. The conclusion is that during the twelve years since the fortress was a UNESCO monument, its protection and scientific promotion was minimal.
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The visible and invisible traces of the Roman Frontier in Dacia have been, for quite a long time, one of the most representative archaeological sites in Romania, and especially in Transylvania. On one hand, the Roman frontier in Transylvania, also known as Limes, symbolises a border between the GreekRoman world and the local civilisations found in the regions north of the Danube. On the other hand, we rather deal with a large contact zone between the two parts of the antique ecumene. Romania decided to join the international initiative known as Frontiers of the Roman Empire (FRE) UNESCO siteby inscribing on the UNESCO Heritage List the components found on its territory – the Dacian Limes and the segments of the Danubian Roman Border. The activity of preparing the nominations is conducted by several institutions. Along with the National Heritage Institute, that is responsible, by tradition, of all the UNESCO nominations in Romania, the activity also involves the National History Museum from Bucharest, the National Museum of Transylvanian History from Cluj-Napoca and the National Museum of the Eastern Carpathians from Sf. Gheorghe. The National Limes Commission has been established to coordinate all the undertaken activities and to assure proper communication between the above-mentioned institutions, both inside the national partnership and with the international partners.
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Since 1972 UNESCO has established a frame of protection for cultural and natural heritage (Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage) and the “World Heritage List”, which it considers as having outstanding universal value. In 1994, at the Nara Conference, the Document on Authenticity was established, stating that “the protection and enhancement of cultural and heritage diversity in our world should be actively promoted as an essential aspect of human development”. Today, many factors affect the authenticity and integrity of cultural heritage: intensive tourism, excessive restoration works, new inappropriate investments or uncorrelated private interventions, etc. The debates on cultural heritage research, preservation and management have increased in recent years as the effect of UNESCO standards, namely to establish “an effective system of collective protection of the cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal value, organized on a permanent basis and in accordance with modern scientific methods”. The problem of preservation, management, and promotion of heritage is of crucial importance from many points of views: scientific, technologic, socio-economic, and cultural.
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Book review, NEIL CHRITIE, HAJNALKA HEROLD (eds), Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe. Defended Communities of the 8th – 10th centuries, Oxbow Books: Oxford & Philadelphia, 2016, done by Sergiu MUSTEAȚĂ
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Book review, KNUT ANDREAS BERGSVIK, MARION DOWD (eds), Caves & Ritual in Medieval Europe, AD 500-1500, Oxbow Books: Oxford & Philadelphia, 2018 done by Sergiu MUSTEAȚĂ
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The author examines the inscription from Montepulciano, outskirts of Clusium (today Chiusi) (cippus Bucellius), where the Greek Dorian term was mentioned, which means a military colonist. Taking in consideration previous researches, the author tries to prove prescription of cippus Bucellius as a boundary; explain earlier date of the inscription (earlier 3rd, not 2nd centuries BC); represent own explanation of discussion terms, namely, ser is considered as reduction of the praenomen servei; hilar is determined as a plot of land; claruχieś is seen as a genitive case of term which means a military colonist-mercenary, created like the personal Etruscan names.
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New insights about the previously unpublished inscription of cohors III Alpinorum, located in the Archaeological Museum in Zadar, are brought to light. Previously documented as an inscription from an unknown site, calling upon the diaries of a Friar Lujo Marun, it is now identified as an inscription from Petrovo polje; more precisely from the Cecela hilltop in the village of Siverić near the city of Drniš. So far, eight inscriptions with the record of Roman auxiliary units were found in the area of Petrovo polje, thus the inscription from Cecela should not be considered as an isolated case, but rather as a part of a relatively larger group of epigraphic records of Roman auxiliary units. The inscriptions were found in several locations (Tepljuh, Otavice, Kadina Glavica, Umljanovići) and as such, they represent the foundation of a hypothesis for the existence of several Roman auxiliary forts in Petrovo polje. On the other hand, it has recently been suggested that only one fort should be located in Petrovo polje, i.e. in the wider area of Kadina Glavica. The proposed location for the auxiliary fort is found at the slope below the place name "Glavičina" in the area of the village of Parčić near Kadina Glavica. From that point, several scholars are often mentioning ‘the auxiliary fort in Kadina Glavica’, sometimes even as a proven and undoubted fact. The authors hereby disregard such interpretation and give a new perspective on the presence of Roman soldiers in the area of Petrovo Polje.
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This paper explores new approaches to epigraphic evidence from the Antonine Wall that, in some respects, depart significantly from perceived wisdom. Addressing the inscriptions from alternative perspectives and incorporating attribute analysis, material mapping and a review of historical sources has revealed previously unexplored dimensions to a significant category of inscriptions here referred to as Distance Stones. The results cast new light onto these enigmatic ancient artefacts, exposing potential inconsistencies relating to units of measure and challenging hypotheses that have endured for more than two centuries. Critical review has uncovered patterns of difference and similarities that alter our perception of these unique frontier sculptures and lend credence to the proposal that they may have originally been placed, not along the Wall as has been traditionally accepted, but along the Military Way where passers-by could more meaningfully engage with them.
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Knowledge of the number and location of mines of the ancient periods has been the subject of common research between archaeologists and archaeo-mineralogists. The scientific significance of the subject becomes apparent when the direct relation between the power of the ancient rulers and number of the mines they owned is perceived. The gold and silver mines, like today, were accounted as the main economic credit and backing of the ancient states. Although mixing silver with other metals was used to produce diverse metal artefacts, silver on its own was most popular for minting coins. Since coin was a symbol of the sovereignty of rulers and an indicator of the economic power of ancient civilizations, silver mining was probably one of the main activities of the ancient craftsmen. The main aim of this research is to investigate the conditions surrounding, and the techniques used for, extraction of silver from different mines during the reign of Alexander of Macedon, Seleucid rulers (336-129 BC), and Parthian kings (247 BC-224 AD). The kings, whose coins are studied in this research, ruled in Iran from 4th -1st BC. This research is focused on the laboratory results obtained from XRF tests on 24 coins belonging to the mentioned kings.The analysis of the results revealed that despite the advanced technology used for recovering silver from zinc and lead mines in the Seleucid era, the Parthian craftsmen were not highly skilled in this field. In other words, the silver recovery technology was more advanced in the Seleucid era than the Parthian period
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This article presents a case study of three different coin series (RRC 468-RRC 470) minted near contemporaneously in Hispania during the latter stages of the civil war, which present strikingly different representations of foreign peoples and places. While Caesar’s coin series (RRC 468) displays an image of submissive Gallic captives and a military trophy, Cnaeus Pompey Jr’s two series (RRC 469=470) feature personifications of the region and local cities and depicts them working together with their Pompeian counterpart in the pursuit of victory in the area. The article incorporates hoard evidence to further develop our understanding of how a contemporary viewer might have experienced these contrasting images of foreign peoples and places. It demonstrates which would have been the more common image in circulation and provides evidence for potential audience targeting with the Pompeian coin series. In light of recent scrutiny of Pompeian patronage networks in Spain, this hoard evidence for potential audience targeting allows a new interpretation of the Pompeian coin series as targeting a potentially wavering host community to be put forward.
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The extant documentary information for the part of Moldavia between Prut and Dniester rivers in the 15th century made possible a global overview of the situation of this region in that century (Appendix). Out of the 850 documents issued by the chancery of Moldavia in the 15th century, over a third refer to situations, realities and personages directly involved in the (social, political, economic, religious etc.) life of that region. Several conclusions surfaced, which apply to the whole of Moldavia: the mention of a certain locality implies its existence before the mentioned date; there were landowners who possessed villages both on the left and right of Prut River; some places were individualized by certain remarks (the presence of certain houses, courts, the names of certain local dignitaries); the documents provide information about the size of the territory of a village; there are documents of donation to some of the oldest monasteries in Moldavia; there is proof of the rising of a new category of boyars with large possessions in the second half of the 15th century as well as confirmation of the preservation of the large land properties from the first quarter of the century; the time of Stephen the Great brings along the stabilization of property. This documentary information invites one to undergo a systematical archaeological investigation which would lead to valuable insights into the medieval history of Romania and of the Republic of Moldova.
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The topic of my research is the archaeological examination of the religion and the beliefs of the Lombard population in the 6th century AD, in the western part of the Carpathian Basin, which was the former province of Pannonia. My main purpose was to identify and collect the amulet types. I have collected the finds from twenty-four cemeteries, including two hundred thirty-four women and children graves of Western Hungary and Northeast Austria. Although they were probably baptized in the 6th century, their amulets show the existence of pagan habits. These pagan amulets are usually worn as necklaces, or on their pendant-belts, but there are some types which are found in their bags hanging on their belt. Among the necklaces, there is a special amulet type, called bracteat. These bracteats are one-sided gold or silver coins with attached loops. On their upper side, the gods and figures of the Scandinavian mythology were depicted. To determine the function of the finds which are located on the pendant-belt was not easy, because they might have been worn for representational purposes, and they also might have had only practical function. In addition, they might have had personal content. In my research, I have collected those object types that admittedly had apotropaic character based on the opinion the archaeology of the Merovingian period and the written sources. I formed four groups of amulet types. The pearls which might have had apotropaic character due to their material belong to the first group. The second group contains the metal amulets. The zoolite type of amulets are collected in the third group and the last group consists of the finds from ancient times. I tried to determine which age-category used the mentioned object types the most.
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