Considerații privind managementul arheologic în contextul proiectului minier Roșia Montană. Programul Național de Cercetare „Alburnus Maior” (2001-2006)
Considerations Regardind The Archaeological Management In The Framework Of The Roşia Montană Mining Project. „Alburnus Maior National Research Program (2001–2006)

Summary/Abstract: Alburnus Maior (Roşia Montană, Alba County, Romania) is an ancient mining site located in western Carpathians, which became known some 150 years ago throughout a series of chance discoveries of a unique category of epigraphic Roman artefacts, the wax coated tablets found in the ancient mining galleries. Up to 2000 the area remained known only by chance finds of epigraphs and funerary architecture elements. In 2001, in the context of a private mining investment project, after performing an evaluation study regarding the heritage values, was initiated a large scale research program (“Alburnus Maior” National Research Program established by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs) for investigating the surface archaeological vestiges and, for the first time in Romania, the underground mining networks. Thus various heritage components of the Alburnus Maior ancient site were identified, considering that the area is overlapped significantly by the contemporary locality and historical mining exploitations, continuously developed in the last 700 years. Due to the impact of the industrial development against the archaeological sites a large scale rescue excavation program was implemented aiming to ensure the mitigation through data recovery for a certain number of sites (habitation and sacred areas, necropolises, mining exploitations). Also the discoveries allowed the outlining of certain areas with significant archaeological vestiges which will be preserved and designated as “archaeological reserves”. In the end, is to be expected that here will be created a mining museum (including also an open-air exhibition) displaying restored archaeological vestiges, original parts and reconstructions of the most significant historic galleries etc. The paper aims to present briefly the main features and results of the archaeological research programme of an ancient mining site and to provide an overview about the archaeological management strategy developed for undertaking such a challenge. From this perspective the program represents an effort of unprecedented scale in terms of human and financial resources, managing unitarily, in an integrated manner, the archaeological researches, the interdisciplinary studies, the finds’ recording system and the editorial & dissemination project. Last but no least, the Roşia Montană mining project was the first one in Romania which required an environmental impact assessment (EIA) with a significant component regarding the archaeological heritage elements of the area and the adequate policies proposed to mitigate their disturbance.

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