DOI Artikel:
Dyczek, Piotr: Forty years of excavations at Novae
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41865#0009
Piotr Dyczek
Wars a w
FORTY YEARS OF EXCAVATIONS AT NOYAE
Lothar I, King of the Franks, was said to have said in travesty of Ovid: Tempom
mutantur nos et mutamur in illis. The history of research at Novae stands in
confirmation of these words. The realities of the actual digging have changed
the original objectives and research ąuestions, giving them in many cases a new
direction. In 1960 Prof. K. Majewski believed that “the ąuestion of trade routes
from the southem Orient to our lands is very important... other ąuestions con-
cern the local Thracian elements... and the survival of Graeco-Roman culture of
the ancient period in the Early Medieval-Byzantine culture...” [Majewski 1961,
75]. As the work was supposed to cover also medieval Novae and Early Slavic
archaeological sites in the nearest vicinity, the Warsaw University Archaeologi-
cal Expedition was to be directed by two persons: Prof. K. Majewski and Prof.
W. Hensel [Majewski 1961, 76].
The site was chosen by Majewski from the Warsaw University and by
D. Dimitrov from the Institute of Archaeology of the Bulgarian Academy of
Sciences (fig. 1 and 2). They were determinated in their choice by ancient sources,
as well as K. SkorpiTs documented reports of remnants of defensive walls and
towers [Skorpil 1905, 456-457]. Freąuent finds of ancient objects in neighbor-
ing fields and the locality name of Staklen suggested the presence of a big and
rich archaeological site. Not without importance were the discoveries madę by
S. Stefanov, director of the local museum, who observed traces ancient aque-
ducts and described the antiąuities found in the stretch of land along the Danube
bank from Sviśtov to Jantra [Stefanov 1931, 265-279]. The collection of the
municipal museum, as well as the finds that madę their way to the museum in
Bucureęti also testified to the importance of the settlement here. Countless spo-
lia were observable in the walls of modern buildings in the neighborhood
[cf. Kazarov 1927, 342-344; Dimitrov 1937, 521 f.].
No regular excavation work, except for Stefanov’s testing for the ancient water
system, had been carried out at Novae before. A provisional stratigraphy of the
site was obtained from a trench — dug in 1960 to accommodate a new water-
Wars a w
FORTY YEARS OF EXCAVATIONS AT NOYAE
Lothar I, King of the Franks, was said to have said in travesty of Ovid: Tempom
mutantur nos et mutamur in illis. The history of research at Novae stands in
confirmation of these words. The realities of the actual digging have changed
the original objectives and research ąuestions, giving them in many cases a new
direction. In 1960 Prof. K. Majewski believed that “the ąuestion of trade routes
from the southem Orient to our lands is very important... other ąuestions con-
cern the local Thracian elements... and the survival of Graeco-Roman culture of
the ancient period in the Early Medieval-Byzantine culture...” [Majewski 1961,
75]. As the work was supposed to cover also medieval Novae and Early Slavic
archaeological sites in the nearest vicinity, the Warsaw University Archaeologi-
cal Expedition was to be directed by two persons: Prof. K. Majewski and Prof.
W. Hensel [Majewski 1961, 76].
The site was chosen by Majewski from the Warsaw University and by
D. Dimitrov from the Institute of Archaeology of the Bulgarian Academy of
Sciences (fig. 1 and 2). They were determinated in their choice by ancient sources,
as well as K. SkorpiTs documented reports of remnants of defensive walls and
towers [Skorpil 1905, 456-457]. Freąuent finds of ancient objects in neighbor-
ing fields and the locality name of Staklen suggested the presence of a big and
rich archaeological site. Not without importance were the discoveries madę by
S. Stefanov, director of the local museum, who observed traces ancient aque-
ducts and described the antiąuities found in the stretch of land along the Danube
bank from Sviśtov to Jantra [Stefanov 1931, 265-279]. The collection of the
municipal museum, as well as the finds that madę their way to the museum in
Bucureęti also testified to the importance of the settlement here. Countless spo-
lia were observable in the walls of modern buildings in the neighborhood
[cf. Kazarov 1927, 342-344; Dimitrov 1937, 521 f.].
No regular excavation work, except for Stefanov’s testing for the ancient water
system, had been carried out at Novae before. A provisional stratigraphy of the
site was obtained from a trench — dug in 1960 to accommodate a new water-