I'm a Roman period archaeologist of the Aquincum Museum. I have been working as a supervising archaeologist in the Aquincum Museum for over 20 years. I have been mainly involved in both planned and developer-funded excavations in the Aquincum Civil Town and its vicinity. Beside my work on archaeological excavations I am also curator of the collection of Roman wood objects (mainly building material) at the museum. My field of research is connected to the Aquincum Civil Town, I am currently working on the periodization of the buildings in the North-East quarter of the town, including the re-evaluation of old excavation materials. In connection with the latter, I have become very interested in Roman urbanization, the processes involved in urban development, the identities of various populations in the town as well as aspects of industry and crafts in an urban setting. Address: BHM Aquincum Museum
H-1031 Budapest
Záhony u. 4.
Aquincum 130-The very best! A selection of the finest finds from the past 130 years of excavation... more Aquincum 130-The very best! A selection of the finest finds from the past 130 years of excavation in Aquincum-temporary exhibition in the Aquincum Museum (14 June-31 October 2024). The Aquincum Museum of the Budapest History Museum celebrates the 130th anniversary of its foundation in 2024. On this occasion, the team of the museum has created a temporary and complementary exhibition displaying the most spectacular, beautiful, and interesting Roman finds from the almost one-and-a-half century of excavation in Aquincum in the so-called 'old museum building' and the protective building of the mosaic floor with the Dirke scene. The items are arranged in the showcases in the order of their times of discovery; the selection includes gold coins, stone carvings, a mummy portrait, the remains of an ornate Roman wagon burial, and, in a separate part, some mosaics of the one-time Roman town, all presented in the context of the history of Budapest. In her opening speech, Paula Zsidi, the retired director of the Aquincum Museum, gave a brief overview of the history of the Aquincum Museum and Archaeological Park; this summary is also presented in this paper.
Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Belgrade - Viminacium, Serbia, 2nd September - 9th September 2018, 2024
Even though, excavations at most sites along the Roman Limes have been going on for 120-150 years... more Even though, excavations at most sites along the Roman Limes have been going on for 120-150 years now, publishing the several decades old excavation data and finds is always problematic. Different standards of evaluation were used to document excavations from the 19th century onwards ranging from short reports and traditional layer-description methods to writing long “stories” on drawings and find bags..... How can data and finds of an early 20th c. excavation be used nowadays for example? Can these various types of documentations be integrated with the more recent researches and re-interpreted according to more modern methods? How can these data be re-evaluated? Could re-evaluation of old excavation documentations lead to the elimination of old topoi concerning a site? What are your experiences? This section is rather planned to be a methodological one (with case studies), but extremely important, as large amount of data and finds from age-old excavations of Limes settlements still await processing.
Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortres... more Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortress, Military and Civil Towns, villa estates) have so far revealed 250 complete or fragmentary hand querns and millstones of different types. Most were discovered reused in secondary contexts, but some were found in their original position (i.e. in the courtyards of town houses or villas).The cataloguing of this group of finds has just been completed (although new ones continue to be found in ongoing excavations), and therefore detailed research on the types, material, and economic significance has only just begun (in a cooperation between the University of Oxford and the BHM Aquincum Museum). This paper presents the preliminary results of this work on the find location and dating of these stones, as well as distinguishing between hand querns and water-mills. It explores the potential of this neglected group of Aquincum finds, and especially what they might suggest about the extent of the use of water-powered milling on the Roman frontier in Pannonia.
„A világot nem kell megváltani, bár kis szerencsével azt is lehet". Ezt a tanácsot adta utolsókén... more „A világot nem kell megváltani, bár kis szerencsével azt is lehet". Ezt a tanácsot adta utolsóként Póczy Klára tizenöt évvel ezelőtt, a halála előtt egy készülő cikkéhez Láng Orsolyának, aki most összefoglalja a nők szerepét a főváros római kori régészeti emlékeinek kutatásában.
HADRIANUS MCM Proceedings of the international conference on the occasion of the 1900th anniversary of the Emperor Hadrian’s accession to the throne, 2023
Unlike the legionary camp and the Military Town, the area of Aquincum Civil Town was not built up... more Unlike the legionary camp and the Military Town, the area of Aquincum Civil Town was not built up after the Roman Period, and, therefore, it is available for research with the exception of two traffic corridors that have existed for hundreds of years and the residential area and a factory (Gasworks) on the outskirts of the present-day city. Therefore, our understanding of the settlement has continuously evolved for 130 years now and knowledge continued to accumulate in the past 20 years. Moreover, modern development projects, authenticating excavations, and the review of archaeological assemblages that had been brought to light earlier yielded a wealth of new information, which in some cases fundamentally changed our perception of the Civil Town's topography and chronology.
Aquincum 130-The very best! A selection of the finest finds from the past 130 years of excavation... more Aquincum 130-The very best! A selection of the finest finds from the past 130 years of excavation in Aquincum-temporary exhibition in the Aquincum Museum (14 June-31 October 2024). The Aquincum Museum of the Budapest History Museum celebrates the 130th anniversary of its foundation in 2024. On this occasion, the team of the museum has created a temporary and complementary exhibition displaying the most spectacular, beautiful, and interesting Roman finds from the almost one-and-a-half century of excavation in Aquincum in the so-called 'old museum building' and the protective building of the mosaic floor with the Dirke scene. The items are arranged in the showcases in the order of their times of discovery; the selection includes gold coins, stone carvings, a mummy portrait, the remains of an ornate Roman wagon burial, and, in a separate part, some mosaics of the one-time Roman town, all presented in the context of the history of Budapest. In her opening speech, Paula Zsidi, the retired director of the Aquincum Museum, gave a brief overview of the history of the Aquincum Museum and Archaeological Park; this summary is also presented in this paper.
Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Belgrade - Viminacium, Serbia, 2nd September - 9th September 2018, 2024
Even though, excavations at most sites along the Roman Limes have been going on for 120-150 years... more Even though, excavations at most sites along the Roman Limes have been going on for 120-150 years now, publishing the several decades old excavation data and finds is always problematic. Different standards of evaluation were used to document excavations from the 19th century onwards ranging from short reports and traditional layer-description methods to writing long “stories” on drawings and find bags..... How can data and finds of an early 20th c. excavation be used nowadays for example? Can these various types of documentations be integrated with the more recent researches and re-interpreted according to more modern methods? How can these data be re-evaluated? Could re-evaluation of old excavation documentations lead to the elimination of old topoi concerning a site? What are your experiences? This section is rather planned to be a methodological one (with case studies), but extremely important, as large amount of data and finds from age-old excavations of Limes settlements still await processing.
Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortres... more Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortress, Military and Civil Towns, villa estates) have so far revealed 250 complete or fragmentary hand querns and millstones of different types. Most were discovered reused in secondary contexts, but some were found in their original position (i.e. in the courtyards of town houses or villas).The cataloguing of this group of finds has just been completed (although new ones continue to be found in ongoing excavations), and therefore detailed research on the types, material, and economic significance has only just begun (in a cooperation between the University of Oxford and the BHM Aquincum Museum). This paper presents the preliminary results of this work on the find location and dating of these stones, as well as distinguishing between hand querns and water-mills. It explores the potential of this neglected group of Aquincum finds, and especially what they might suggest about the extent of the use of water-powered milling on the Roman frontier in Pannonia.
„A világot nem kell megváltani, bár kis szerencsével azt is lehet". Ezt a tanácsot adta utolsókén... more „A világot nem kell megváltani, bár kis szerencsével azt is lehet". Ezt a tanácsot adta utolsóként Póczy Klára tizenöt évvel ezelőtt, a halála előtt egy készülő cikkéhez Láng Orsolyának, aki most összefoglalja a nők szerepét a főváros római kori régészeti emlékeinek kutatásában.
HADRIANUS MCM Proceedings of the international conference on the occasion of the 1900th anniversary of the Emperor Hadrian’s accession to the throne, 2023
Unlike the legionary camp and the Military Town, the area of Aquincum Civil Town was not built up... more Unlike the legionary camp and the Military Town, the area of Aquincum Civil Town was not built up after the Roman Period, and, therefore, it is available for research with the exception of two traffic corridors that have existed for hundreds of years and the residential area and a factory (Gasworks) on the outskirts of the present-day city. Therefore, our understanding of the settlement has continuously evolved for 130 years now and knowledge continued to accumulate in the past 20 years. Moreover, modern development projects, authenticating excavations, and the review of archaeological assemblages that had been brought to light earlier yielded a wealth of new information, which in some cases fundamentally changed our perception of the Civil Town's topography and chronology.
LIMES XXIII. Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Ingolstad 2015, 2018
Even though industrial activity is traditionally considered to be something restricted to areas o... more Even though industrial activity is traditionally considered to be something restricted to areas outside the settlements in the Roman period more and more data refer to the contrary nowadays: several workshops-even those with stinking, combustible and noisy activities-have been located inside civil settlements, sometimes even close to the centres. This raises several questions about urban structure, town planning or even the interests of the workshops' owners and merchants in the settlements' public life. This paper will focus on the archaeological imprints of industry and commerce in military and civil settlements along the Pannonian Limes, taking into consideration both the old and new archaeological data.
Hadrianus MCM - International Conference on the occasion of the 1900th anniversary of emperor Hadrian’s accesion to the throne, 2017
A Civil Town’s Early Roman history is more or less well known due to the more than 120 years of c... more A Civil Town’s Early Roman history is more or less well known due to the more than 120 years of continuous archaeological research. The settlement started as a civilian vicus and the rapid urbanistic development began by the beginning of the 2nd c. AD (during the Hadrian’s governorship) - as a result of Aquincum’s new status as a capital of Pannonia Inferior. Receiving the rank of municipium in the early 120s – during the reign of Hadrian - also gave a great impetus to the development of the town: according to the previous researches this was the time ofconstructions of public buildings and utilities, town defences, or the fixed insula system. Re-evaluation of old materials and control excavations carried out in the past 15 years added new informations to the understanding of the structure of the town in the first decades of the 2nd c. AD as well as shedding new light on the function of some buildings. The paper will list and examine these new results and tries to fit these new data into the history of the 2nd c. Civil Town.
Industrial and commercial activities in the Roman civil town of Aquincum (Budapest, Hungary) hav... more Industrial and commercial activities in the Roman civil town of Aquincum (Budapest, Hungary) have long been subjects of research, though identification of workshops and other economic activities were mainly based on hypothesis. Between 2004 and 2015, excavations were conducted in a strip building in the north – eastern zone of the settlement, in which building – contradicting earlier ideas of a wine- and oil pressing workshop – glue manufacturing, horn processing and tanning activity could be attested. What were the evidences for such activites and did the topographical location of the building matter, concerning the town –structure and even the customers? The presentation’s main aim is to introduce this first, properly excavated urban workshop and shed some light of its place in the urban enviroment as well as its possible role in the economic life of the tripartite settlement - complex (legionary fortress – canabae legionis – colonia) of Aquincum.
Several old or relatively old (e.g. 19th c. - first half of 20th c.) excavations’ documentations... more Several old or relatively old (e.g. 19th c. - first half of 20th c.) excavations’ documentations and finds from the Aquincum Civil Town have recently been revised, mainly concerning the north – eastern and central zone of the settlement. Are these materials worth to take a fresh look at? Can new informations be gained from them? What methods could be used for this work and what are the results? Do they change anything at all? Could - even in some cases – old theories be disproved concerning for example periodization, function or even more basic statments such as the economic history of the town?
Even though industrial activity is traditionally considered to be something restricted to areas o... more Even though industrial activity is traditionally considered to be something restricted to areas outside the settlements in the Roman period – based on literary sources and earlier excavation results – more and more data refer to the contrary nowadays: several workshops – even those with stinky, incendiary and noisy activities – have been located inside civil settlements, sometimes even close to the centres. This raises several questions about the urban structure, town planning or even the interest of the workshop – owners and merchants in the settlements’ public life. Equally interesting is the identification and/or localization of shops or other commercial premises in both military and civil settlements along the limes. Nevertheless, the archaeological traces of such activities have been often misinterpreted or not recognized, due to lack of evaluation of the excavation documentations and finds. What kind of industrial activities had been practised inside the settlements and what are their archaeological manifestations, what are the criteria? Can definable industrial and/or commercial quartiers be observed in these settlements? Whose need did these workshops serve: the army, the civilians or both? The aim of our paper is to give a brief insight into the economic life of Pannonian settlements and see if there are tendencies regarding the above mentioned activities. Through a couple of Pannonian case studies we shall present the above–mentioned questions, especially investigating the situation of Aquincum (civil town, military town) and the hinterland of the limes section. Our paper will also hopefully serve as a keynote paper: what are the experiences elsewhere along the Roman limes? Is it always easy to locate workshops and identify their functions? What evidences do we have for commercial quarters (or activities at all) in military and civil settlements?
PILLA 2. Múzeumi pillanatok 2013-2014. A Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum, Könyvtár és Levéltár e... more PILLA 2. Múzeumi pillanatok 2013-2014. A Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum, Könyvtár és Levéltár előadássorozata
The Aquincum Civil Town has been the subject of continuous archaeological research for the last 120 years. As a result, the eastern half of the town along with most of its public buildings, the street system and part of the fortifications are also well known. However, archaeological research (including both preventive, rescue and control excavations, as well as revaluation of old excavation materials) carried out in the last 10 years, seem to have changed the picture we have had of this part of town in fundemental ways. The aim of this paper is to present the latest, promising results of the of this work. Identification of features from the earliest settlement phase (a civilian vicus), the discovery of the eastern town fortifications, geophysical surveys and excavations carried out in the western – as yet largely unexplored - part of the town, reinterpretation of building functions in the north–eastern zone of the settlement (for example the so-called basilica or the ”Glue-manufacturing workshop”) and fresh discoveries in the southern parts of town (for example the Painter’s Hhouse) shed new light on the periodization, settlement structure and the abandonment of the town, resulting in the fall of some old research topoi concerning Aquincum.
"Az aquincumi polgárváros területén immár több, mint 120 éve folynak szisztematikus régészeti kut... more "Az aquincumi polgárváros területén immár több, mint 120 éve folynak szisztematikus régészeti kutatások, amelynek
során a település keleti fele vált ismerté, a fontosabb középületekkel, utcahálózattal és a védművek egy részével együtt.
Ugyanakkor azonban az elmúlt tíz év feltárásainak és kutatásainak eredményei (beleértve a megelőző-, leletmentő-,
hitelesítő és tervásatásokat, illetve a régi ásatási dokumentációk és leletanyagok kiértékelését is) úgy tűnik alapvetően
változtathatják meg a településről alkotott képet.
Az előadás célja, ezen munka első eredményeinek ismertetése, amelyek már most ígéretesek: sikerült azonosítani a
település legkorábbi fázisához tartozó objektumokat (civil vicus), előkerült az évtizedek óta keresett keleti városfal, a
város nyugati – eddig még kevéssé kutatott – részén több régészeti feltárás és geofizikai felmérés is zajlott, a város ún.
észak – keleti negyedében több épület funkcióját sikerült újraértelmezni (pl. a Basilica, vagy az ún. Enyvfőző műhely
kérdése) és új felfedezéseket tettünk a város déli régiójában is (pl. ún. Festőház).
Ezek az új eredmények remélhetőleg más megvilágításba helyezik a polgárváros településszerkezetéről, periodizációjáról, illetve a város létrejöttéről és felhagyásáról alkotott korábbi képet, megdöntve néhány aquincumi
„toposzt”.
"
The earliest settlement phases and/or a possible indigenous predecessor of the Aquincum Civil Tow... more The earliest settlement phases and/or a possible indigenous predecessor of the Aquincum Civil Town has been long debated among scholars. Over the past 120 years, there have been theories promulgated that the town was preceded by a military fort or a vicus (?) that developed along the main north-south road of the settlement, i.e. what was later to become the limes road. However, these theories and references concerning the early phases of town development were based either on old theories, or “excavation results” that have never been published or have appeared only partially in preliminary reports. Thus, locating these early features or identifying the finds that came from them remained an impossible task.
Revaluating old excavation-documentations and find materials from the north-eastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town surprisingly revealed some still unknown, “early” archaeological features and finds. This work enabled us to create a periodization for this part of the town. Based on this recent revision of old data, the earliest features in this zone belonged to two construction phases containing semi-subterranean, rectangular pit houses, as well as other features, displaying a certain degree of regularity. The aim of this paper is to examine these phases, features and finds and decide whether - for the first time in the research history of Aquincum - it is possible to delineate an outline for the ground plan for the earliest settlement phase and speak about some kind of structured settlement- concept in the area of what was later to be the Aquincum Civil Town.
Even though the more than 120 years of archaeological excavations at the Aquincum Civil Town have... more Even though the more than 120 years of archaeological excavations at the Aquincum Civil Town have brought to light nearly half of the ancient town, thorough publishing of the excavated remains and finds have rarely been done, thus theories concerning the functions of buildings and building history were created without them.
Different standards of evaluation were used to document the excavations from the 19th c. onwards ranging from short reports and traditional layer-description methods to objectively numbered archaeological features and proper stratigraphy. More recently, an attempt has been made to re-valuate these old data in case of the so-called North – East quarter of the town in order to gain more information about the building history of the Civil Town.
During the work it was necessary to deal with all site observation data and finds from the differently documented excavations within a single integrated system. Thus, it seemed most appropriate to use the Harris matrix system. In most cases all archaeological features described in the diaries were numbered, employing all handwritten and typed documentation. These features were placed afterwards into a matrix based on the site drawings and photos.
The method described above permitted the creation of an “internal”, relative chronology for each excavation so they could be compared to each other and finally set up in a kind of “concordance table”, i.e. the relative chronological sequence of the North-East quarter itself. The find material could afterwards be connected to the identified building phases to help create absolute dates for the phases.
Inspite of the problems that arose during the work, converting the various excavation-documentations into an integrated system proved successful in the case of the North-East zone of the Civil Town: based on the identified building phases and the finds connected to them the building history of this quarter could be reconstructed and provided new data on the activities that took place in this zone in the settlement.
The earliest settlement phases and possible indigenous predecessor of the Aquincum Civil Town has... more The earliest settlement phases and possible indigenous predecessor of the Aquincum Civil Town has long been a question under debate. According to the accepted views, these „pits” and „pit-houses” were mainly located by the main NS road of the settlement, i.e. the later limes road and can be dated to the last third of the 1st c. AD. However these theories and references concerning the early period of the town were based on „excavation results” that have never been published thus locating these early features or determining the finds coming out from them remained impossible. Nor was any groundplan drew of the earliest phases of the town. Revaluating old excavation-documentations and find materials from the north-eastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town surprisingly revealed some yet unknown, „early” arcaheological features and finds. Finally, this revaluating enabled us to create a periodization for this part of the town.. According to this work the earliest features in this zone belonged to two construction phases each containing semi-sunken, rectangular pit houses, as well as other features, sometimes showing some regularity. The aim of this paper is to examine these phases, features and finds and decide whether - for the first time in the research history of Aquincum - we can outline the earliest groundplan of this settlement-part and speak about some settlement - concept in the area of the later Civil Town.
Over more than 100 years, a number of excavations have been carried out on the banks of the Danub... more Over more than 100 years, a number of excavations have been carried out on the banks of the Danube in the territory of Budapest. Most excavations revealed watch-towers although none were either fully researched and sometimes even localizing them presents problems. Preventive excavations carried out northeast of the Aquincum Civil Town on the present river shore and at the junction of the suspected limes-road and the northwest-southeast running diagonal road brought to light a Roman building with rich interior decoration and possibly floor-heating, a few inhumation graves, lime-kilns and a ditch (with a stamped brick of FRIGERIDUS DUX in the fill) in 2005. Not only were the building and its surroundings reconstructed several times but they also changed function between AD 2nd and 4th c. With the help of archaeological data, geophysical survey and laser scanning of the remains, this paper aims to identify the function of the original building built on the bank with its hypocaustum and rich wall-decoration, so close to the Civil Town. The intention is also to fit the AD 4th c. phase of the complex into the history and topography of the Aquincum limes-segment.
The western part (the eastern wing of the Basilica and building nr. XXVI.) of the northeastern zo... more The western part (the eastern wing of the Basilica and building nr. XXVI.) of the northeastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town was excavated several times between 1966 and 1993. Apart from multi-phase strip-buildings, these excavations also revealed the presence of an ‘indigenous sanctuary’ probably constructed from wood and a ‘Sanctuary of Diana’ built in stone masonry. The earlier structure was identified based on its stratigraphic context (earliest layer) while the latter building was identified on the basis of an inscribed altar stone dedicated to Dianae et Silvanus Silvestris found nearby. Neither the results of these excavations or the finds have been studied or published in detail. Thus, this is the way these two structures have been described in the literature ever since their discovery. The aim of this paper is to examine and re-evaluate these old excavation results related to these so-called “sanctuaries”. All available documentation and finds will be used to understand the phasing and dating of these features. An attempt will be made to decide on how they functioned and place them within the topographical framework of the northeastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town.
The growing number of building investments on archaeologically protected territories, represents ... more The growing number of building investments on archaeologically protected territories, represents an ever increasing challenge for archaeologists throughout Hungary. The situation is especially critical in Budapest, where building activities bring to light the ruins of Óbuda, Buda and Pest. The primary intention of investors, even if they are interested in archaeology, is to have the excavation carried out by the Museum as soon and as cheaply as possible. The demand is similar when public utilities are being constructed or in the case of public transport. Relatively new technologies such as geophysical survey and laser-scanning have been used by the Budapest Historical Museum, mainly as complements to traditional documentation. A few case studies will be presented here to show how useful these technologies really are. Further, it will be shown that through these new technologies, we have been able to fulfill those expectations and conditions developed earlier (“New technologies and their application to Cultural Heritage preservation and enhancement” conference held in 2005, Budapest). This type of very accurate and precise documentation that can be carried out in a few hours, is not only of help to the archaeological research, but may also yield new information helping to explain excavation data from previous years which hitherto could not be understood.
The „Strip-house with an oil-press” in the north-eastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town has rece... more The „Strip-house with an oil-press” in the north-eastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town has recently been re-excavated (2004-2006). As preliminary results already show, the southern part of the building functioned as a workshop, while its northern part was used as a residence. For the first time in the history of excavated strip-buildings in Aquincum, several building phases could be distinguished and dated. In spite of the previous research (identifcation of the area as an oil press) new finds and archaeozoological data rather suggest glue-making and tanning were carried out in the workshop. In this paper there will be a discussion of analogies to these kind of „unpleasant” activities taking place so close to the town center and, at the same time, I will investigate the function of the strip-houses in the north-eastern zone of the town or even the whole town quarter which may even be connected to a certain community of people.
Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortres... more Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortress, Military and Civil Towns, villa estates) have so far revealed more than 200 complete or fragmentary hand querns and millstones of different types. Most of them were discovered reused in secondary contexts, but some were found in their original position (i.e. courtyards of town houses or villas).The cataloguing of this group of finds has just been completed (although new ones keep coming in from ongoing excavations), and therefore detailed research on the types, material and economic significance has only just begun (in a cooperation between the University of Oxford and the BHM Aquincum Museum). This paper present the preliminary results of this work on the find location and dating of these stones, as well as distinguishing between hand querns and water mills. This paper explores the potential of this neglected group of Aquincum finds , and especially what it might suggest about the extent of the use of water-powered milling on the Roman frontier in Pannonia.
Excavations have been going on in The Aquincum Civil Town for more than 120 years, many of which ... more Excavations have been going on in The Aquincum Civil Town for more than 120 years, many of which still await processing and publication. These researches – mainly from the 19th or first half of 20th century – were carried out according to different standards: in some cases detailed excavation diaries, numbered layers on section drawings can be discovered, while in other cases only a page long description, a few lines on find bags or a few photos remain. How can these old documentations of rather different levels be used/valuated today? Are these materials worth to take a fresh look at? Can new information be gained from them? What methods could be used for this work and what are the results? Do they change anything at all? Could - even in some cases – old theories be disproved concerning for example periodization or function? In this paper, several case studies from the Aquincum Civil Town will be presented, based on these old and recently revaluated excavation materials to see if it works…
Uploads
Books by Orsolya Láng
Papers by Orsolya Láng
This section is rather planned to be a methodological one (with case studies), but extremely important, as large amount of data and finds from age-old excavations of Limes settlements still await processing.
of different types. Most were discovered reused in secondary contexts, but some were found in their original position (i.e. in the courtyards of town houses or villas).The cataloguing of this group of finds has just been
completed (although new ones continue to be found in ongoing excavations), and therefore detailed research on the types, material, and economic significance has only just begun (in a cooperation between the University of Oxford and the BHM Aquincum Museum). This paper presents the preliminary results of this work on the find location and dating of these stones, as well as distinguishing between hand querns and water-mills. It explores the potential of this neglected group of Aquincum finds, and especially what they might suggest about the extent
of the use of water-powered milling on the Roman frontier in Pannonia.
This section is rather planned to be a methodological one (with case studies), but extremely important, as large amount of data and finds from age-old excavations of Limes settlements still await processing.
of different types. Most were discovered reused in secondary contexts, but some were found in their original position (i.e. in the courtyards of town houses or villas).The cataloguing of this group of finds has just been
completed (although new ones continue to be found in ongoing excavations), and therefore detailed research on the types, material, and economic significance has only just begun (in a cooperation between the University of Oxford and the BHM Aquincum Museum). This paper presents the preliminary results of this work on the find location and dating of these stones, as well as distinguishing between hand querns and water-mills. It explores the potential of this neglected group of Aquincum finds, and especially what they might suggest about the extent
of the use of water-powered milling on the Roman frontier in Pannonia.
more and more data refer to the contrary nowadays: several workshops – even those with stinky, incendiary and noisy activities – have been located inside civil settlements, sometimes even close to the centres. This raises several questions about the urban structure, town planning or even the interest of the workshop – owners and merchants in the settlements’ public life. Equally interesting is the identification and/or localization of shops or other commercial premises in both military and civil settlements along the limes. Nevertheless, the archaeological traces of such activities have been often misinterpreted or not recognized, due to lack of evaluation of the excavation documentations and finds. What kind of industrial activities had been practised inside the settlements and what are their archaeological manifestations, what are the criteria? Can definable industrial and/or commercial quartiers be observed in these settlements? Whose need did these workshops serve: the army, the civilians or both? The aim of our paper is to give a brief insight into the economic life of Pannonian settlements and see if there are tendencies regarding the above mentioned activities. Through a couple of Pannonian case studies we shall present the above–mentioned questions, especially investigating the situation of Aquincum (civil town, military town) and the hinterland of the limes section. Our paper will also hopefully serve as a keynote paper: what are the experiences elsewhere along the Roman limes? Is it always easy to locate workshops and identify their functions? What evidences do we have for commercial quarters (or activities at all) in military and civil settlements?
The Aquincum Civil Town has been the subject of continuous archaeological research for the last 120 years. As a result, the eastern half of the town along with most of its public buildings, the street system and part of the fortifications are also well known. However, archaeological research (including both preventive, rescue and control excavations, as well as revaluation of old excavation materials) carried out in the last 10 years, seem to have changed the picture we have had of this part of town in fundemental ways.
The aim of this paper is to present the latest, promising results of the of this work. Identification of features from the earliest settlement phase (a civilian vicus), the discovery of the eastern town fortifications, geophysical surveys and excavations carried out in the western – as yet largely unexplored - part of the town, reinterpretation of building functions in the north–eastern zone of the settlement (for example the so-called basilica or the ”Glue-manufacturing workshop”) and fresh discoveries in the southern parts of town (for example the Painter’s Hhouse) shed new light on the periodization, settlement structure and the abandonment of the town, resulting in the fall of some old research topoi concerning Aquincum.
során a település keleti fele vált ismerté, a fontosabb középületekkel, utcahálózattal és a védművek egy részével együtt.
Ugyanakkor azonban az elmúlt tíz év feltárásainak és kutatásainak eredményei (beleértve a megelőző-, leletmentő-,
hitelesítő és tervásatásokat, illetve a régi ásatási dokumentációk és leletanyagok kiértékelését is) úgy tűnik alapvetően
változtathatják meg a településről alkotott képet.
Az előadás célja, ezen munka első eredményeinek ismertetése, amelyek már most ígéretesek: sikerült azonosítani a
település legkorábbi fázisához tartozó objektumokat (civil vicus), előkerült az évtizedek óta keresett keleti városfal, a
város nyugati – eddig még kevéssé kutatott – részén több régészeti feltárás és geofizikai felmérés is zajlott, a város ún.
észak – keleti negyedében több épület funkcióját sikerült újraértelmezni (pl. a Basilica, vagy az ún. Enyvfőző műhely
kérdése) és új felfedezéseket tettünk a város déli régiójában is (pl. ún. Festőház).
Ezek az új eredmények remélhetőleg más megvilágításba helyezik a polgárváros településszerkezetéről, periodizációjáról, illetve a város létrejöttéről és felhagyásáról alkotott korábbi képet, megdöntve néhány aquincumi
„toposzt”.
"
Revaluating old excavation-documentations and find materials from the north-eastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town surprisingly revealed some still unknown, “early” archaeological features and finds. This work enabled us to create a periodization for this part of the town. Based on this recent revision of old data, the earliest features in this zone belonged to two construction phases containing semi-subterranean, rectangular pit houses, as well as other features, displaying a certain degree of regularity. The aim of this paper is to examine these phases, features and finds and decide whether - for the first time in the research history of Aquincum - it is possible to delineate an outline for the ground plan for the earliest settlement phase and speak about some kind of structured settlement- concept in the area of what was later to be the Aquincum Civil Town.
Different standards of evaluation were used to document the excavations from the 19th c. onwards ranging from short reports and traditional layer-description methods to objectively numbered archaeological features and proper stratigraphy. More recently, an attempt has been made to re-valuate these old data in case of the so-called North – East quarter of the town in order to gain more information about the building history of the Civil Town.
During the work it was necessary to deal with all site observation data and finds from the differently documented excavations within a single integrated system. Thus, it seemed most appropriate to use the Harris matrix system. In most cases all archaeological features described in the diaries were numbered, employing all handwritten and typed documentation. These features were placed afterwards into a matrix based on the site drawings and photos.
The method described above permitted the creation of an “internal”, relative chronology for each excavation so they could be compared to each other and finally set up in a kind of “concordance table”, i.e. the relative chronological sequence of the North-East quarter itself. The find material could afterwards be connected to the identified building phases to help create absolute dates for the phases.
Inspite of the problems that arose during the work, converting the various excavation-documentations into an integrated system proved successful in the case of the North-East zone of the Civil Town: based on the identified building phases and the finds connected to them the building history of this quarter could be reconstructed and provided new data on the activities that took place in this zone in the settlement.
Revaluating old excavation-documentations and find materials from the north-eastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town surprisingly revealed some yet unknown, „early” arcaheological features and finds. Finally, this revaluating enabled us to create a periodization for this part of the town.. According to this work the earliest features in this zone belonged to two construction phases each containing semi-sunken, rectangular pit houses, as well as other features, sometimes showing some regularity. The aim of this paper is to examine these phases, features and finds and decide whether - for the first time in the research history of Aquincum - we can outline the earliest groundplan of this settlement-part and speak about some settlement - concept in the area of the later Civil Town.
Preventive excavations carried out northeast of the Aquincum Civil Town on the present river shore and at the junction of the suspected limes-road and the northwest-southeast running diagonal road brought to light a Roman building with rich interior decoration and possibly floor-heating, a few inhumation graves, lime-kilns and a ditch (with a stamped brick of FRIGERIDUS DUX in the fill) in 2005. Not only were the building and its surroundings reconstructed several times but they also changed function between AD 2nd and 4th c.
With the help of archaeological data, geophysical survey and laser scanning of the remains, this paper aims to identify the function of the original building built on the bank with its hypocaustum and rich wall-decoration, so close to the Civil Town. The intention is also to fit the AD 4th c. phase of the complex into the history and topography of the Aquincum limes-segment.
The aim of this paper is to examine and re-evaluate these old excavation results related to these so-called “sanctuaries”. All available documentation and finds will be used to understand the phasing and dating of these features. An attempt will be made to decide on how they functioned and place them within the topographical framework of the northeastern zone of the Aquincum Civil Town.
The situation is especially critical in Budapest, where building activities bring to light the ruins of Óbuda, Buda and Pest. The primary intention of investors, even if they are interested in archaeology, is to have the excavation carried out by the Museum as soon and as cheaply as possible. The demand is similar when public utilities are being constructed or in the case of public transport.
Relatively new technologies such as geophysical survey and laser-scanning have been used by the Budapest Historical Museum, mainly as complements to traditional documentation. A few case studies will be presented here to show how useful these technologies really are. Further, it will be shown that through these new technologies, we have been able to fulfill those expectations and conditions developed earlier (“New technologies and their application to Cultural Heritage preservation and enhancement” conference held in 2005, Budapest).
This type of very accurate and precise documentation that can be carried out in a few hours, is not only of help to the archaeological research, but may also yield new information helping to explain excavation data from previous years which hitherto could not be understood.
In this paper there will be a discussion of analogies to these kind of „unpleasant” activities taking place so close to the town center and, at the same time, I will investigate the function of the strip-houses in the north-eastern zone of the town or even the whole town quarter which may even be connected to a certain community of people.