Some Considerations on the Brick and Tile Stamps from the Frontier Watchtowers of Dacia Porolissensis
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SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE BRICK AND TILE STAMPS FROM THE FRONTIER WATCHTOWERS OF DACIA POROLISSENSIS Horațiu Cociș* * Universitatea “Babeș-Bolyai”, Cluj-Napoca; [email protected] Rezumat. Fortificațiile minore ale frontierei Daciei Porolissensis, îndeosebi turnurile de supra- veghere, oferă, doar în câteva cazuri, indicii cu privire la cronologia lor, la garnizoana care este detașată în ele sau la diferitele faze de construcție sau refacere. Prezentul studiu își propune să trateze un tip de artefact extrem de rar identificat în rândurile acestor structuri și anume ștam- pilele tegulare. Dispersate în zona nord-vestică și nordică a frontierei Daciei Porolissensis, aceste ștampile tegulare, în număr de 6, aduc informații noi cu privire atât la construcția/refa- cerea structurilor minore din cadrul limes-ului dacic, cât și la trupele din castrele auxiliare afe- rente detașate în turnuri. Turnurile de frontieră în care s-au identificat până în momentul de față ștampile tegu- lare sunt în număr de 4, iar ele se plasează în zona castrelor de la Bologa (jud. Cluj), Buciumi (jud. Sălaj), Porolissum (jud. Sălaj) respectiv în zona frontierei nordice, la Bârsău Mare (comu- na Gâlgău, jud. Sălaj). Toate aceste ștampile au fost identificate inițial în cadrul unor săpături arheologice incluse în cercetări de anvergură, care vizau zonele frontierei, întreprinse pe par- cursul deceniilor 7, 8 și 9 ale secolului trecut. Deși istoriografia românească a manifestat și manifestă un interes special pentru ștam- pilele militare romane, fiind produse constant studii de o reală importanță pentru istoria Daciei romane, aceste cazuri izolate de ștampile identificate în cadrul ruinelor turnurilor de suprave- ghere au fost relativ ignorate, în mare parte din pricina faptului că artefactele în sine sunt “rătă- cite” în depozite muzeale sau în colecții private, în unele cazuri existând doar un desen al pie- selor (nepublicat). Astfel, în această situație particulară, 3 din 6 ștampile sunt inedite, doar în două cazuri fiind identificate și piesele arheologice. Cuvinte cheie: ștampile tegulare, Dacia Porolissensis, frontiera romană, turn de supraveghere, instalații minore. The amount of small finds reflecting the daily life of the soldiers accommodated in the watchtowers from the northern and north-western frontier of Dacia Porolissensis is quite low1. Neither in the case of datable finds things are not much better2. Never- 1 See for example Ferenczi, 1972, p. 37-46; Gudea, 1985, p. 143-218; Ferenczi, 1988, p. 251- 289; Ferenczi, 1991, p. 127-151; Gudea, 1997, p. 34-86. More recently see Pop, Cociș, 2018, p. 41-75. A similar situation from Ripa Pannonica in Szabó, 2011, p. 129-139. 2 Several datable artefacts were find during the excavations of the watchtower from Ciceu- Corabia / Poniță (realized by Corneliu GAIU and Radu ZĂGREANU; see the general context 399 theless, a special type of artefacts, very rarely encountered in a frontier watchtower excavation, makes the subject of this paper: the brick and tile stamps of the military units. During the systematic frontier surveys and excavations carried out in the second half of the 20th century and in the first decade of the present one3, several interesting artefacts were uncovered; among these, six bricks and tile stamps distributed within four watchtowers, in the north-western and northern confines of Dacia Porolissensis. Unfortunately, only three of these were ever mentioned, the other three being recently rediscovered, completing in a certain extent our image about the functioning of this Roman frontier. In order to keep the classical description order from south to north4, we shall begin with the area of the Bologa auxiliary fort. 1. Cornul Sonului (Hodișu, Poieni commune, Cluj county)5 The watchtower is located on the edge of a plateau, between the watchtowers from Râmbușoi Hill and Vârful Grebăn6 (Fig. IV). The structure was firstly identified by Károly TORMA7 and seen later by Árpád BUDAY8. István FERENCZI saw also this structure, concluding that the ruins belongs to a frontier watchtower9. Nicolae GUDEA took a step forward, and after the identification of the tower10, he excavated it, finding a rectangular structure of 8.5 × 8.5 m built in the opus incertum technique with a width of the walls of 1 m11 (Fig. III). Beside potsherds, regular bricks, tegulae and imbrices, a stamped brick belonging to cohors II Hispanorum, garrisoned in the auxiliary fort from Bologa12 was found. Even if the drawing of the stamped was initially published by N. Gudea13, the brick itself was never published (Fig. 1, 2). The stamp has an almost rectangular signaculum but the cartrige is missing; the edges of the signaculum are barely visible in the upper part; between R and II is observable a rectangular mark, the end of the stem. The dimensions of the stamp are 2 × 9.6 cm, the letters ranging between 1.3–1.4 cm, with the mention that the numbers and the letters from the end are wiped out or missing. Above the numeral there are two small squares and the S seems to be stamped in negative. This type of stamp has obvious in Gaiu, Zăgreanu, 2017, p. 30-33); for the known datable finds see especially Ferenzi, 1967, p. 143-162; Gudea, 1971, p. 507-532; Gudea, 1985, p. 143-218; Ferenczi, 1988, p. 251-289; Gudea, 1997, p. 76; Pop, Cociș, 2018 (forthcoming); Cociș, Băcueț-Crișan, Bejinariu, 2018 (forthcoming). 3 The results of the systematic research in Gudea, 1999. 4 Torma, 1863; Torma, 1880. 5 See Fig. I, no. I. 6 See Gudea, 1997, p. 41-42, 44-45 (with older bibliography); Marcu, Cupcea 2013, p. 583. 7 Torma, 1880, p. 60. 8 Buday, 1912, p. 107-108. 9 Ferenczi, 1967, p. 147. 10 Gudea, 1971, p. 519. 11 Gudea, 1985, p. 163-164; Gudea, 1997, p. 43-44. 12 See Marcu, 2009, p. 34-36 (with bibliography). 13 Gudea, 1997, p. 44. 400 Co(ho)r(tis) IỊ (H)ịṣ(panorum). Fig. 1. Photo of the stamped brick14. Fig. 2. Redrawing of the stamp15. analogies in the auxiliary fort from Bologa16. Based on the primitive signaculum letters, Ioan PISO and Dan DEAC are dating this batch of stamps in the 3rd century17. 2. Cetățea (Bozna, Treznea commune, Sălaj county)18 This watchtower and more precisely the location of it was the subject of a quite long misunderstanding. Located on a high promontory that separates two valleys, it was never excavated (Fig. V). The structure was reported to Nicolae GUDEA by Silviu Papiriu POP, a local amateur archaeologist from Buciumi19. Around 1860, Torma KÁROLY describes Roman presence on Vraniță Hill20, 500 m north-east of the tower. However, the only Roman presence in this area is the abovementioned watchtower. On the plateau of Vraniță Hill Valentin VASILIEV excavated a fortified Hallstatt Ha.b2-Ha.C settlement, with no Roman traces found21. To test Torma’s theory, we realized a magnetometer survey followed by 3 test trenches and another field survey22. We did not find even a Roman potsherd. Instead, on the surface of the tower, Nicolae GUDEA identified bricks and tegulae. Before that, Silviu Papiriu POP was able to find two stamped tiles of cohors II Augusta Nerviana Pacensis (milliaria) Brittonum23. Unfortunatelly, they are currently missing, only the drawings being available24 (Fig. 3). 14 Courtesy of the National History Museum of Transylvania. Photo credit: Horațiu COCIȘ. 15 after Gudea, 1997, p. 44. 16 Gudea A/4 type (Gudea, 1972, p. 419, 428, Fig. 7, nr. 1-3); Gudea, 1997c, p. 83, Fig. 15; Piso, Deac, 2016, p. 234-236, LV/1-6 (with older bibliography). 17 Piso, Deac, 2016, p. 235. 18 See Fig. I, no. II. 19 Gudea, 1997, p. 66. 20 Torma 1863, p. 12-13. 21 Vasiliev, 1993, p. 43-67. 22 The excavation report in Cupcea et alii, 2016, p. 221-222, nr. 119. 23 Pop, Kalmar, 1988, p. 74. 24 Pop, Kalmar, 1988, p. 74, fig. 10. 401 Coh(ortis) IỊ [Ṇ(ervianae) Pa(censis)]. Coh(ortis) [II N(ervianae) Pa(censis)]. Fig. 3. Tile stamps found at Bozna-Cetățea25. The first stamp has a rectangular signaculum, unfortunately only the letter COH being visible. Based on other analogies, the dimensions of the stamp should be around 8.5 × 1.5 cm26 and letters vary between 1–1.5 cm. The cartridge of the signaculum is rectangular with letters in positive. Most probably at the end of it there is a ligature of the PA letters. The second stamp is similar to the first one, only bigger, missing the PA part. Its dimensions are 9 × 3 cm, the letters varying between 1.4–1.7 cm. The cartridge seems slightly visible in the upper part with the letters in positive. These type of tile stamps has direct analogies in the auxiliary fort from Buciumi27, where this troop is garrisoned28. In this case, the dating can range from the reign of Hadrian throughout the 2nd and the 3rd centuries. 3. Poiana Moigrădanilor/La Maje (Porolissum, Mirșid, Mirșid commune, Sălaj county)29 The watchtower is situated on a relatively isolated peak where the earth vallum from Porolissum linear defence system bifurcates, one side going to the Roman custom office (Zollstation) and another one going (probably) to Ortelecului Valley30 (Fig. VI). It was firstly seen by Buday ÁRPÁD around 191231. After the aerial surveillance of Porolissum area, Aladár RADNÓTI mentions the existence of this structure, observable from the light plane32. Subsequently, István FERENCZI mentioned also this tower in a later study33. Nicolae GUDEA describes in 1970 a ruin affected by modern inter- ventions, with a huge amount of potsherds, bricks and tiles scattered all around the 25 Redrawn after Pop, Kalmar, 1988, fig. 10 26 See for example Gudea, 1997a, 95, fig. 12. 27 Gudea, 1997a, p.