Open Day

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Open Day
Free handout
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The Project Directors
Kris Lockyear Kris is a lecturer in archaeology
at the Institute of Archaeology, University
College London. He specialises in the
archaeology of the later Roman Empire, Roman
coinage and field techniques. At Noviodunum he
has carried out much of the photography and
geophysics, and also runs the field survey.
Adrian Popescu Adrian worked for the Institutul
de Arheologie Vasile Pârvan in Bucharest, and
now works for the Fitzwilliam Museum, University
of Cambridge. Adrian originally worked at
Noviodunum in 1990, and obtained his PhD studying
the coins from the site in a regional context.
At Noviodunum Adrian is again studying the coins
as well as providing specialist advice on the
finds and the site.
Tim Sly Tim works for the Department of
Archaeology, University of Southampton and
specialises in medieval archaeology, surveying
and computing. At Noviodunum he has undertaken
the detailed topographic survey of the site as
well as over-seeing the computing.
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Surveying
The survey (topographic and detail) of Noviodunum
was started in the first season (2000) using a
Leica Total Station and a very small team the
three directors and two students (one from
Southampton, one from UCL). The survey was
continued in following seasons (2002 and 2003)
and was completed in 2004, using multiple Leica
Total Stations. Data from the Total Stations is
downloaded and processed using the Liscad
software further processing is then undertaken
using the following software AutoCAD, CorelDRAW
and ArcGIS. The survey now consists of over
37,000 discreet points and has revealed the
fascinating topography of the site, with feature
dating from the Roman period to almost the
present day (mud brick huts). The survey has
been particularly useful in revealing the
strategic nature of the site over the last 2000
years, with military features dating from the
Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and later periods. In
subsequent seasons additional surveys were
undertaken of Ottoman Turkish forts one in the
orchards above Noviodunum and one on the far side
of Isaccea in addition to the one within the
Roman fort of Noviodunum. Also in recent seasons
high accuracy Leica RTK GPS has been used to
locate the site and other sites within the wider
landscape.
Whenever possible we undertake geophysical survey
before undertaking excavation. This is so we
have some idea of what is below the ground before
we start digging. At Noviodunum we have
undertaken resistance survey where we pass an
electrical current through the soil and measure
its resistance. We can make a map of the
readings. The figure shown to the right clearly
shows part of the walls of the fortress, and this
enabled us to place our trench exactly on the
entrance through the wall.
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Noviodunum Archaeological Project 2007
Excavation Area 1 is a settlement site where
there is evidence of food preparation and rubbish
dumping, and large storage spaces such as the
dolium, a pot as big as a person. We also have
part of the defences of the late Roman
fortress. Area 2 is a cemetery with many
skeletons being found from the late Byzantine
period. Area 3 is a new excavation on a probable
2nd century military site between the villages of
Telita and Posta.
First the site is cleared of vegetation and
topsoil by workers with mattocks. This takes us
to the top layer of occupation, seven hundred
years ago in the late Byzantine period.
The site itself dates from c. AD 100 700 and c.
AD 1000 1200. These are Roman and Late
Byzantine periods.
We then clean the site with trowels to make all
the pits, walls, and other archaeology clear.
Although cleaning dirt and soil seems strange it
is an important part of excavation. Clean soil
means we can see where to dig, as you can see by
the photo on the right where everything is
visible.
Trenches are dug in the site based upon
geophysical data (using electronic devices to
look below the ground for walls) to see where the
interesting archaeology is. When features in the
ground (eg. pits) are excavated, we draw and
measure them accurately, and work out their exact
depth with a total station (shown left).We give
all the pits separate numbers (context numbers)
so that the things we find in them can be
separated and interpreted.
Area 3 Between Telita and Posta we are digging a
third 10x10m trench in order to examine the trade
connections between Noviodunum and the rural
settlements around it. The site was field-walked
last Easter and the surface finds suggested it
would be a good site to excavate. To our
surprise we have discovered stamped military
tiles and lots of imported amphorae and so it
looks likely this is a military site.
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Finds Processing
Finds Processing is the stage immediately
following excavation, where objects of all types
found during digging or sieving are assembled
into SMALL FINDS or BULK FINDS, and then cleaned
and recorded prior to examination and/or
conservation if required.
Decorated bone handle
Ceramic net sinker
Roman glass fish head
Roof tile with grafitti of feet
Small Finds Small Finds are individual objects or
fragments of an artefact which has
characteristics or features that can provide
dating or other information useful to
understanding specific aspects of the site being
excavated.
Bulk Finds Bulk Finds are objects often found as
fragments in large quantities during excavation
or field walking. They will not usually be
individually as informative as Small Finds but
remain an important source of analytical
information.

• Small Finds includes, for example
• BUILDING MATERIALS (stamped tiles)
• STONE (architectural fragments)
• POTTERY (stamped/special marks)
• METAL OBJECTS (coins/jewellery)
• GLASS (decorated and vessels)
• WORKED BONE

• Bulk Finds includes, for example
• POTTERY
• KILN FURNITURE
• FLINT AND BURNT FLINT
• ANIMAL BONE
• CERAMIC BUILDING MATERIAL

• IRON NAILS
• SLAG
• MUD BRICK
• DAUB
• GLASS (fragments)

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Conservation
Conservation at Noviodunum is primarily concerned
with the stabilization and preliminary
investication of finds. Treatment enables the
extraction of data in order to further research
and understanding of the object as well as the
site. We aim to prevent the further deterioration
of the excavated material in addition to cleaning
selected objects to reveal surface information
and in preparation for display
For example, copper alloy coins have been found
in all areas of the site. It is important for
these to be conserved as they can help to date
the layers from which they were excavated and
contribute to the understanding of the sequence
of the site as a whole.
Conservation Process for Coins When a copper
alloy coin is excavated, the original surface is
no longer visible as it is concealed by a layer
of green corrosion products. This is occurs as
the copper reacts with oxygen and moisture to
form corrosion products which obscure the surface
with a thick layer of oxides, often bright green
in colour. A conservator removes this corrosion
to reveal the original surface of the coin in
order to identify and date it. This can be done
in several ways.

Where x-ray facilities are not available, coins
can be mechanically cleaned. The conservator
uses a scalpel and stiff brushes to excavate
through the layers of corrosion. If the coin is
too fragile for this method it can be chemically
cleaned to attain the diagnostic information,
though this is a much more unreliable and
damaging treatment method. Once the original
surface is revealed, the coin is treated with
corrosion inhibitors and oxygen barriers to
prevent further deterioration.
It is very important that the coins are stored in
the right conditions after they have been cleaned
to protect them. They are kept in a sealed
container that maintains an environment of low
relative humidity. This ensures a minimal
quantity of moisture with which the newly exposed
copper may react, and helps to prevent the
formation of additonal corrosion products.
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Information Technology
Digital Images Many of the photographs that we
take are digital. We photograph a lot of small
finds as well as taking pictures of the
excavation, and all of these images are archived.
Many are added to the IADB so that they can be
referred to at a later date.
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Environmental Analysis
Product Botanical barley, wheat, rye, peas,
lentils and grapes and many other species have
been recovered. This helps develop a picture of
diet and how the landscape was cultivated in the
past and how it differs from today. Fig 3 shows
peas and cereals recovered from a dolium.
Faunal bones from wild and domesticated
animals have been found, including deer, cattle,
boar, dogs, cats, sheep and huge numbers of fish.
The levels and types of fish and cattle bones
indicate that food processing and preparation
occurred on site. Some boar were very large, see
tusks in Fig 4. Human - many human skeletons
have been unearthed in area 2 and, like other
remains, these must be processed. Once they have
been cleaned they get studied and there are 3
main areas to be looked at (Fig 5). Age - from
bone fusion and wear on the teeth Sex - from
pelvis and skull features Pathology - from
signs of bone healing and diseases.
AIM PROCESS PRODUCT

• Aim
• To answer some key questions
• What was the diet and the economy like at the
  fort?
• What was the environment and landscape like
  around the site?
• Process
• Flotation (Fig 1) a process by which water is
  pumped through soil samples taken from site to
  separate organic material. The organic material
  floats to the surface for collection and the
  inorganic sinks to the bottom.
• Sorting (Fig 23)floated organic material is
  separated into categories for analysis, such as
  seeds, charcoal and bone.
• Augering this process enables samples of
  natural deposits to be taken by drilling deep
  into the earth while avoiding destructive
  excavation.
• Magnets using a magnet over a sample can
  identify iron hammerscale fragments and this can
  tell us the type of metalworking taking place on
  site.

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Human Bone Analysis
Several human skeletons have been found during
the excavation. Detailed study of the bones
tells us how old the people were when they died,
and whether they were well-nourished in life. We
can also establish whether they suffered from
diseases like arthritis or tuberculosis, or had
bones broken during their life.
Excavation of the cemetery may allow us to learn
something about family and social structure and
the religious beliefs of the people who lived
here, for example, by looking at the position of
the burial and grave goods.
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Domestic or Wild?
One aim of the archaeological research at
Noviodunum is to look at how people living at the
site got food from animals. Although they
clearly maintained domesticated herds, did they
supplement their diet by hunting?
We can answer these questions by carefully
examining the animal bones we excavate and by
measuring them. Wild animals are usually much
larger than their domestic counterparts. This is
because there is competition for survival and the
bigger they are, the more likely they are to
survive. In particular male animals in a wild
population are much bigger than females.
Domesticated animals dont need to compete for
food or for mates because humans feed and protect
them and select their mating partners, which
leads to an overall decrease in size.
Using callipers, we measure certain features on
the bones which can indicate how big the animal
is. We try to measure bones that are a similar
size in fully grown males and females. We can
then look at the range of sizes and in particular
see whether two groups wild and domesticated -
are apparent. At present we are examining pig
and cow, since their bones are common on the site.
Look at the photographs here each set of bones
are the same, but one of each pair is clearly
bigger than the other. Which are most likely to
belong to a wild animal?
In an early excavation at Noviodunum the presence
of wild boars (Sus scrofa) and wild aurochs
(cattle -Bos primigenius) in a medieval
assemblage was indicated. They have also been
identified in material from Roman Telita-Amza and
prehistoric Luncavita in the Tulcea county area.
Bos primigenius is now extinct.
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Field-walking
Noviodunum did not exist in isolation but was
supplied with food and goods from both its local
hinterland and the rest of the Roman and
Byzantine Empires. The relationship between the
site and the wider world is one of the areas of
interest for the Project. At Easter and in the
early autumn the Project undertakes field-survey
in the area around Noviodunum including the
territories of Isaccea, Niculitel, Parches and
Telita. Field walking is a method used by
archaeologists to locate and characterise sites
in countryside by collecting material, mainly
pottery, from the surface of ploughed fields.
This has to be done systematically so that we can
use the evidence in our analyses.
Walking in circles
For the project we have developed a new system
for field-walking. We lay out a transect of
points, five wide at 30m intervals across a
field. At each point we collect all the material
found within a circle with an area of 2m2. When
we have collected 25 points (a 5x5 grid) we then
input the results into a small hand-held computer
for statistical analysis. The transects are
located in the landscape using handheld GPS and
the data then analysed using our Geographical
Information System.
Late Roman crossbow brooch
Distribution of finds at La Pod, a site
previously excavated by Dr. Baumann
Locating a grid with GPS