A preventative archaeology excavation in advance of construction of a new hospital in Constanța, Romania, has unearthed 34 graves from the Roman period containing significant grave goods, including an extremely rare umbo from a parade shield. The graves date to the 3rd and 4th centuries.
Modern-day Constanța was the ancient city of Tomis. It was founded as a Greek colony in the 6th century B.C. and was conquered by the Roman Empire under Augustus in 29 B.C. The poet Ovid died there, exiled there by Augustus in 8 A.D. In his remaining eight years of life, Ovid wrote about his exile and what a depressing wasteland Tomis was in his poems. It was no longer a cultureless backwater by the time the necropolis was being used. It was a major urban center with an excellent harbor and bustling trade. At the beginning of the 4th century, it became the capital of the province of Scythia Minor.
The site where the new hospital is being built was known to be on the perimeter of Tomis’ imperial-era necropolis and was in the protection area of the 4th century early Christian Tomb with Orant. Heritage law required an archaeological survey, but the structural unsoundness of the old hospital building posed challenges to the excavation and it ended up having to be split into two phases for the safety of all involved. A team from the Constanta Museum of National History and Archaeology (MINAC) excavated the site in September and October of last year, then again in January and February of this year.
The burials are of different types, notably catacombs that housed multiple burials. The catacombs were in regular use for many years, and could be accessed by a tiled staircase that has survived in excellent condition. Most of the 34 graves had furnishings, including jewelry, delicate glass vessels, coins and a large number of amphorae made in North Africa.
Among the most singular discoveries, the museum report highlights two objects of exceptional value: a Greek-language inscription which, according to preliminary analyses, attests to the existence of a religious association in Tomis during the 3rd century CE, an epigraphic document of great importance for the social and cultural history of the province; and an umbo, the central decorative element of a parade shield, an object of extremely rare typology in the Roman provincial context and evidence of the presence of military or prestige panoply elements within the funerary sphere.
The inscription appears to be a fragment of a sarcophagus or funerary marker from the 3rd century that was later reused as building material at the necropolis site. After a dedication to the good health and perseverance of the emperor, the inscription refers to the dedicators as an “association” of a deity whose name is unfortunately lost. The names of some of the members are still present, however: Dionysylion, son of Valens, Aurelius Ataes of Kor, Aurelius Ka[…] and one more Aurelius.
The presence of three people named Aurelius in the inscription suggests it dates to the Severan era after the Edict of Caracalla issued in 212 A.D. which declared all free men in the empire Roman citizens. Caracalla’s full name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and as was the long-standing Roman custom, many of the new citizens adopted his family name Aurelius to honor him as their patron.
* This article was originally published here
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