DOI Artikel:
Żelazowski, Jerzy: A new name stamp from the army camp at Novae
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41949#0162
160
Hitherto little attention has been paid to the opportunities for interpretation present in
an archaeological study of the findspot and the circumstances of discovery of stamped
building ceramics. This was largely due to the naturę of the sources treated as inscriptions
and therefore analyzed as a rule by epigraphers concerned with instrumentum domesticum
but morę often than not without a deeper knowledge of a given site. On the other hand,
owing to the abundance of the category, archaeologists tended to underestimate the im-
portance of the archaeological context for the interpretation of stamp impressions. These
methodological straits are currently commonly perceived,4 as is the need for a close asso-
ciation between epigraphers and archaeologists. Here is the window of opportunity that
has opened on the issue of stamp interpretation and the verification of earlier determina-
tions on the subject, especially on sites like Novae, where stamped building ceramics have
been discovered continuously in the course of fieldwork lasting now uninterrupted for
morę than half a century.5
In 2011 a fragment of stamped rooftile6 [Fig. 1] was found in sector XII, where regular
excavations had started in 2010. The area is situated east of the principia, next to the via
principalis in the location of masonry barracks of the First Italie legion, perhaps the First
cohort.7 The army buildings in this location were cut by a spacious canal, which was built
probably in the early second century AD. The rooftile fragment discovered next to this
canal lay on the floor layer in one of the barrack units. Accompanying it in the same con-
text was the rim of an early variant of a Kapitan II type of amphora.8
Fig. 1. Name stamp from Novae
(drawn by M. Duch, elaborated by M. Różycka, photo M. Bogacki)
4 Kolendo, Żelazowski 2003, pp. 11-17, 42-46,
170-171 (J. Kolendo).
5 Sarnowski 1983, pp. 17-61; Sarnowski 1997, pp.
497-501; Ivanov 2002.
6 Inv. no. 45/11 c, ha XVIII, sq. 6, south 0.40 m, east
1.37, depth 46,90 m. a.s.l.; dimensions: 12.8 x 20 x
3 cm.
7 Sarnowski et alii 2012, pp. 72-73 (M. Lemke);
Lemke2011, pp. 195-199, n. 10.
8 Inv. no. 160/11 w, type 18 according to Dyczek
1999, pp. 107-115; Dyczek 2001, pp. 137-144.
Hitherto little attention has been paid to the opportunities for interpretation present in
an archaeological study of the findspot and the circumstances of discovery of stamped
building ceramics. This was largely due to the naturę of the sources treated as inscriptions
and therefore analyzed as a rule by epigraphers concerned with instrumentum domesticum
but morę often than not without a deeper knowledge of a given site. On the other hand,
owing to the abundance of the category, archaeologists tended to underestimate the im-
portance of the archaeological context for the interpretation of stamp impressions. These
methodological straits are currently commonly perceived,4 as is the need for a close asso-
ciation between epigraphers and archaeologists. Here is the window of opportunity that
has opened on the issue of stamp interpretation and the verification of earlier determina-
tions on the subject, especially on sites like Novae, where stamped building ceramics have
been discovered continuously in the course of fieldwork lasting now uninterrupted for
morę than half a century.5
In 2011 a fragment of stamped rooftile6 [Fig. 1] was found in sector XII, where regular
excavations had started in 2010. The area is situated east of the principia, next to the via
principalis in the location of masonry barracks of the First Italie legion, perhaps the First
cohort.7 The army buildings in this location were cut by a spacious canal, which was built
probably in the early second century AD. The rooftile fragment discovered next to this
canal lay on the floor layer in one of the barrack units. Accompanying it in the same con-
text was the rim of an early variant of a Kapitan II type of amphora.8
Fig. 1. Name stamp from Novae
(drawn by M. Duch, elaborated by M. Różycka, photo M. Bogacki)
4 Kolendo, Żelazowski 2003, pp. 11-17, 42-46,
170-171 (J. Kolendo).
5 Sarnowski 1983, pp. 17-61; Sarnowski 1997, pp.
497-501; Ivanov 2002.
6 Inv. no. 45/11 c, ha XVIII, sq. 6, south 0.40 m, east
1.37, depth 46,90 m. a.s.l.; dimensions: 12.8 x 20 x
3 cm.
7 Sarnowski et alii 2012, pp. 72-73 (M. Lemke);
Lemke2011, pp. 195-199, n. 10.
8 Inv. no. 160/11 w, type 18 according to Dyczek
1999, pp. 107-115; Dyczek 2001, pp. 137-144.