RECONSTITUIRE ISTORICO-ARHEOLOGICĂ: SĂPĂTURILE PREVENTIVE EFECTUATE ÎN ANUL 1962 LA PALATUL GUVERNATORULUI CONSULAR AL DACIEI ROMANE DE LA APULUM
HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION: RESCUE EXCAVATIONS CARRIED OUT IN THE ROMAN DACIA CONSULAR GOVERNOR’S PALACE AT APULUM, IN 1962

Summary/Abstract: Throughout this article, the authors aim to highlight unpublished pieces of information about archaeological research done by the well-known Roman Dacia experts Al. Popa and I. Berciu, in the spring of 1962. The archaeological excavations started due to the construction of a new building belonging to The Crafts School (currently “Dionisie Pop Marțian” Economical Secondary School), located on 11, Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea Street (currently Octavian Goga Street), in the northern area of the building complex known as Roman Dacia governor’s Palace (praetorium consularis) at Apulum. Done in several stages, the fieldwork concerning governor’s Palace was conducted through systematic or rescue excavations carried out by A. Cserni (1888-1908), I. Berciu and Al. Popa (1943, 1962), V. Rusu-Bolindeț and collaborators (from 1992 until present times), and nevertheless by A. Timofan, R. Ota (2007) and O. Oargă (2019). During the 1962 excavation, the archaeologists discovered in the area located north to A. Cserni’s researches the ruins of a building complex, unearthed on a 575 m2 area. Amongst these, a monumental edifice stands out, consisting of several rooms decorated with polychrome painted plaster, equipped with heating systems and an impressive stairway, having at least two construction phases. The archaeologists have never published either a report or a detailed study regarding this excavation, except for the scientific emphasis on special finds. Therefore, relying on the aforementioned archaeologists’ journal and some documents kept in the Archives of The National Museum of Union from Alba Iulia (MNUAI) (the correspondence between The Regional Museum of Alba Iulia and the people involved — recipient, builder, local administrative representatives and the ones of the Communist Party, Romanian’s Academy Institute of History from Cluj —, briefings regarding the artefacts), the authors tried to bring light on this important part of governor’s Palace from an archaeological and historical perspective. The study focuses on presenting the stages of archaeological research. The examined archive documents revealed that communist authorities did not value either the historical value of the ruins or their cultural and touristic potential. Thereby, although it was decided by everyone to organise the excavation in the span of two weeks (starting on 24th of February 1962), the deadline was exceeded, so that I. Berciu and Al. Popa had investigated the entire area in a period of 5-6 days. In the minutes signed on the 4th of March 1962, the archaeologists announced, on the one hand, that the documentation in connection with the artefacts was finalised and, on the other hand, the agreement to continue both the construction of the building and the archaeological supervision. At the end of the excavations, the archaeologists wished upon public and touristic cherishing of the Roman buildings by restoring and preserving them. As a testimony for this stands a memo written by the museum’s manager Al. Popa, one of the researchers, addressed to municipal and regional authorities requesting funds for both future research and touristic assessment. He used the precedent set by the city of Constanța (Tomis), where “The Edifice with Mosaic”, found in 1959, was well restored shortly after its discovery. He proposed to design the Roman walls on school’s pavement, as well as documenting the ruins found in the school foundations by means of displaying photos accompanied by detailed descriptions. Although the timeframe for researching and documenting the Roman ruins discovered was truly short, the archaeological results were impressive: The sketch drawn in the journal with the general plan regarding the excavation, as well as the information found there allowed us to notice the structures of three possible buildings: Building I, located near the northern extremity of the foundations, parallel to Stahanov Street (currently Lucian Blaga Street), had only one room uncovered, consisting of the walls A and B (Pl. III), both pointing NW-SE, measuring 0.6 m in width and being built in opus mixtum technique. The foundations were built with limestone and sandstone blocks, while the elevation was made out of bricks bound by mortar. Considering the direction of the walls, it is possible that it continues to north and west (inside The Craft School’s yard) as well as to east (towards Stahanov Street, currently Lucian Blaga). Likewise, we do not have any clues if there was an alley/lane for access between this building and the next one (Building II), but the absence of structures points towards this conclusion. Building II is the most important edifice discovered in the centre and south-eastern corner of the future school’s foundations (in the area where the L-shaped sides cross each other) and had five rooms (Pl. III). This is “the building of impressive dimensions” that constantly shows up while the authors describe the excavations, without mentioning other technical details about it (firstly, its dimensions). Taking into account the sketch included in the journal, the NW-SE building had two perimetral walls, named C and H. Out of the discovered rooms, the biggest and the most richly decorated ones are 1 and 4. Room 1 appears to be what the discoverers named “The room with fresco”, because on one of its walls (inside G wall) a polychrome fresco was preserved. The segment has a length between 2.5 and 6 m, while the height measures between 0.65 and 1 m. It was built out of 4 successive plaster layers with different colours: Pompeian red, foncé red, grey and the last one consisting of “several marmoreal colours”. The last one, displayed in square panels that imitated marble, probably had in the upper part figurative representations, as the remaining fragments show. Room 4, referred to as “the room with hypocaust”, had a heating system that was preserved in its NW corner, consisting in five or more pilings rows made out of round bricks, placed on a floor built with big bricks. The sketch for the hypocaust system suggests that there was a channel with the aim of conducting the hot air, bounded by two little walls, having five bricks on width, bound with mortar. In the middle of the channel, there was a row of pilae, placed in the middle of it (Pl. III). On the sketch with the general plan of the preventive excavation from 1962, no possible entrances/doors between the rooms were marked, in order to be able to observe the way of communication between the rooms of Building II, except for the mention of monumental stairs, which connected room 4 (“the room with hypocaust”) and room 1 (“the room with fresco”). Thus, it is mentioned that this staircase consisted of four or five visible steps, made of large blocks (of sandstone), whose height reached almost 1.00 m. Since in the both rooms, floors made of opus signinum were found, under which were heating installations, the respective stairs must have represented an access staircase to a floor, which highlights, even more, the monumental character of the discovered building.Building III (?) is located in the far western corner of the excavated surface; it was defined only by the discovery of a single wall, called J, which was made of quarry stone, bricks and broken tiles tied with mortar. It was a perimeter wall, 0.90 m wide, uncovered up to a depth of -2.50 m. In the space between Building II and Building III, no other constructive elements were discovered. Suppose modern interventions modern interventions did not destroy them, in that case the presence of this space could indicate the existence of an inner courtyard, surrounded by porticos or cryptoporticos, where imperial statues could be placed and the imperial cult could be celebrated (among the artefacts discovered on the site were also the fragments of at least 3 or 4 imperial bronze statues).The site’s stratigraphy is discussed only in the excavation journal (without any drawings or photos), where are described the Roman layers observed on the foundations’ profiles: are mentioned two debris layers separated by a humus/another debris layer with compact traces of charcoal and ash. This stratigraphy, as well as the walls built in different techniques, made the authors initially consider that there were two habitation periods (because of the charcoal and ash traces), the first one dated before the Marcomannic wars, while the latter – after the wars. Subsequently, at the end of the archaeological campaign, they reconsidered these observations and reached the conclusion that the uncovered buildings had a construction phase followed by a repair one. Thus, are attested two Roman habitation phases, but a more careful examination of the preserved structures seems to indicate only one phase, most likely of Severan period. Despite the variations of the walls’ building technique (walls built with stone blocks and elevation made out of bricks bound by mortar vs. walls built with reused stones and building materials bound by mortar), they belong to large-size buildings specific for this period of intensive reconstructions. Only one separating wall – the wall I – seems to belong to a repair phase of room 4, being mentioned that it was more rudimentary than the other walls of Building II. Moreover, neither the journal nor the sketch preserve details regarding the discovery of any previous structure below the living surface of these buildings. This situation is confirmed by the similar discoveries made during the recent excavations (1992-2020) carried out on 15-17, Munteniei street, at about 150 m W of the Crafts School. The Severan buildings have impressive dimensions, floors with bricks or marble pavements, walls decorated with polychrome fresco or marble, and a heating system, therefore similar to the 1962 discoveries. Nevertheless, the stratigraphy, similar to the one discovered by I. Berciu during the 1943 excavations, could indicate the existence of two habitation phases that weren’t investigated in the ground in 1962. Also, a part of the archaeological material discovered – coins issued by Hadrian (2) or Antoninius Pius (1), building materials stamped with the name of legio XIII Gemina (simple or accompanied by the anthroponym Ael(ius) Valens), and the building materials of the well-known producer P(ublius) Ael(ius) Ter(-entius, -entianus) – can stand proof for the dating of the first phase in the 2nd century AD (the second half ?). However, we shall take into account that the coins could have had a long lifespan, in some cases surpassing more than a century, while for the building materials, the stamps of Publius Aelius Terentinus were also found in 3rd century contexts, being imitated by other producers. Finally, the military diploma that belonged to a descendent of Bonio (a veteran of cohors II Hispanorum settled most likely in the canabae of legio XIII Gemina), who was part of the governor’s staff or guard, can also be an argument for an earlier dating of the first phase. In lack of more evident archaeological contexts for the structures and artefacts unearthed, the previous/first phase of the buildings discovered in 1962 cannot be dated more precisely. The next habitation phase, to which the buildings from the 11, Dobrogeanu Gherea pertain, is dated to the Severan period and can also cover the last two quarters of the 3rd century AD, because the last coin discovered was issued by Philippus I (AD 247-248). The artefacts discovered and identified in the MNUAI deposits have an exceptional documentary value. They are represented by: a votive altar dedicated to Minerva Augusta by six exceptores consulares (secretaries of the provincial administration); a fragmentary military diploma (of which have been preserved parts from tabella II intus and tabela II extrinsecus) with the name of Bonio, son of Veranius from cohors II Hispanorum, released on August 14th AD 99 from the army of Upper Moesia; the component parts of bronze statues probably belonging to Roman emperors (two hands, an index finger and 74 fragments of cloak – paludamentum), which attests at least three such statues of dimensions exceeding the human stature; building materials stamped with the name of Legio XIII Gemina (with a simple stamp or accompanied by anthroponyms (Ael(ius) Valens and Annei(us) Saturninus), as well as soldiers or the governor's guard (in the variants p(edites) sin(gulares), ped(ites) s(ingulares), n(umerus) sing(ularium) and singul(ares)), but also of private producers (M(---)I(---)D(---), P(ublius) Ael(ius) Ter(-entius, -entianus)) and Q(uintus) CAE(cilius) M(aximus). Another important discovery is given by the identification of a painted plaster (wall-plaster) in the al fresco technique with a length of 2.50 or 6 m (data from the Archive are contradictory) and a height of 0.65-1 m. Nine painted fragments and 22 stucco fragments were found in the museum's deposits. The painting is displayed in registers and decorative panels in which colours as red, blue, green, brown, or white were used, some in various shades. The presence of the shadow painting technique was also found. A graffito with the anthroponym Aurel[ius] was discovered on this painted wall. It would not be surprising to have to deal with a note of a character who passed by, or even of an official who wanted to leave “an unforgettable memory”. Stuccos are ornamental elements that accompany the painting, enriching the decoration of walls and vaults through decorative panels, friezes, cornices and plinths, with or without decoration. The decorations comprise vegetal motifs (palmettes made in different styles), wild animals running (lioness and gazelle?), ovolos, astragalus and pirouettes. Some of these ornamental elements are found both on various buildings discovered at Apulum (including the Governor's Palace) and on those at Potaissa, in the province of Dacia. Comparing the discoveries of stucco in the “small baths” and the Governor's Palace (from 1890 and 1962) we came to the conclusion that the ornament in braids that formed the motif "in the shape of eyes" was made by the same craftsmen, in a dateable period between the last two or three decades of the 2nd century and the first two decades of the 3rd century AD. The chronological classification is based on the stratigraphy’s reinterpretation of some complexes from the southern sector of the canabae of Legio XIII Gemina/municipium Septimium that was done in a 2009 study .The analysis of the way the statues are made, as well as the techniques of the decorative elements, indicate the presence, even if only for a short time, of some craftsmen specialised in the art of bronze statuary and stucco ornamentation, but also of some talented painters who usee a diverse range of pigments. The decoration of the rooms, but also of the inner courtyards of such a complex that constituted the Governor's Palace, implied the presence of the most capable artists and architects. Highlighting the unpublished documents kept in the MNUAI archive which contain information regarding the rescue excavations carried out in 1962 is very important for a better knowledge of the area associated with the governor’s palace at Apulum. Based on these documents, the general plan of the excavation that has been redrawn and reinterpreted was placed on the satellite image alongside the other areas of the praetorium consularis investigated so far. Moreover, by publishing the archaeological materials discovered in this area, we hope to enrich the general view on this imposing official seat of the Roman provincial administration.

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