UN FRAGMENT CERAMIC INCIZAT CU CIFRE DESCOPERIT ÎN COLONIA AURELIA APULENSIS
A POTSHERD INCISED WITH NUMBERS DISCOVERED IN COLONIA AURELIA APULENSIS

Summary/Abstract: A potsherd incised with Roman numbers was discovered during the rescue archaeological excavation carried out in the south part of the Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (Digului Street, Partos district, Alba Iulia), in October 2008. The archaeological context of the discovery places the object inside the Roman habitation (probably insula type) dated from the IIIrd century A. D. Typologicaly, the fragment belongs to a Roman bowl (orange fine fabric, brick-red slip, oxidizing firing ), with semispherical body and with a rounded rim, inclined inwards (24 cm in diameter). The incision of the numbers was made before the firing process. The piece could be considered an instrumentum domesticum. The roman numbers represented on the potsherd, are organized on four columns, with the following dimensions and characteristics: first column is preserved over a height of 1,5 cm, with illegible numbers; both the second and the third column have a height of 4,5 cm and contain the Roman numbers from C (100) to CVII (107), respectively from I (1) to VIII (8). The last column has 2,5 cm in height with the numbers XX (20), XXX (30), XXXX (40) and L (50). Rows are marked with small horizontal incised lines (aprox. 1 cm in lenght). The increasing representation of the numeral groups reflects, beyond all doubt, a writing exercise illustrating at the same time the attempt to acquire certain fundamental notions and instruments.

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