The Reșca-Romula archaeological site in the town of Dobrosloveni in Olt County, which has been scientifically coordinated since 2013 by the University of Bucharest, has been proposed for the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.
The largest Roman city in the south of the Carpathians
The Reșca-Romula archaeological site, with its more than 306 hectares, was the largest Roman city south of the Carpathians, where the governor of the province of Dacia Inferior (Malvensis) was also located. The city was also an important economic and commercial center for the Lower Danube region in the Roman era, being located along a Roman road that connected Greece with Thrace, Moesia Inferior and Dacia.
Located on the western terrace of the Olt River, Romula was for a time also a city on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Its strategic importance emerged during the first war between the Dacians and the Romans in the years 101-102, when a Roman fort was built in the locality, in the region occupied by them. On the territory of the city there would be two more Castries identified by Fernando de Marsigli, an Austrian captain, at the end of the 17th century. To these is added the surrounding of the city, in the year 248, by Emperor Fili the Arab with a defensive wall, which currently bears his name, in the year when Rome celebrated 1000 years since its foundation, the emperor being at Romula.
The University of Bucharest, involved in the project for almost six decades
Since 1965, when the first large-scale systematic research was started, the University of Bucharest was involved, due to prof. Dumitru Tudor, PhD, the dean of the Faculty of History of the University of Bucharest at that time.Currently, the University of Bucharest ensures the scientific leadership through Mircea Negru, PhD, collaborates with the Olt County Museum and the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archeology in Bucharest for research and the scientific exploitation of the results, also having the support of the Local Council of Dobrosloveni commune in Olt county and of the Olt County Council in the financing and tourist exploitation of the archaeological site.Moreover, the archaeological site at Romula-Reșca has been an important research topic for UB professors in recent years. For example, in 2017, UB coordinated the research project entitled “Romula – Capital of the Roman province Dacia Inferior (Malvensis)”.
The project took place because of the identification of a building from the Roman era, located in the Central Fortification area of the archaeological site, which preserves an impressive number of fragments from the Roman province of Dacia (over 1400 fragments). The archaeological site could be visited by the participants during the Open Doors Days.The University of Bucharest organized a series of research activities that included, among other things, the collection of a series of samples for biological investigations, an activity coordinated by prof. Carmen Chifiriuc, PhD, vice-rector for Research of the University of Bucharest and teaching staff at the Faculty of Biology, taking photographs and video recordings in the area of the archaeological site by assoc. prof. Ionuț Şandric, PhD, from the Faculty of Geography for gathering topographical information in support of the identification of possible archaeological structures that will be verified and researched in the future.
For this purpose, prof. Florica Mihuț, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of History and director of the Center for Comparative History of Ancient Societies (CICSA), studied a series of bricks with impressions of Roman sandals, manufacturers’ stamps and graffiti.
In the same period, pedological surveys were carried out by assoc. prof. Ionuț Săvulescu, PhD, vice-dean of the Faculty of Geography of the University of Bucharest, in order to identify the areas from where the raw material was extracted for the production of Roman bricks from Romula.
New perspectives in the research and valorization of this archaeological site
Starting from July 3, 2023, systematic research was resumed on the Romula-Reșca archaeological site, the area to be scanned and investigated with the help of modern, drone-type equipment.
The research will last about a month and will be completed on September 3, 2023, after which the results of the discoveries will be analyzed by specialists in the field and disseminated in publications of scientific impact.
The integration of the Roman fortification from Romula on the UNESCO List of Monuments will be a recognition of the strategic importance of this city, located on the border of the Roman Empire, thus opening new perspectives in the research and valorization of this archaeological site, depending on its importance in history of the Roman civilization in the Lower Danube.
Romula-Reșca is the largest Roman urban center in Oltenia and an archeological site of reference for the knowledge of the Roman era in the Lower Danube region, which is under the attention of institutions qualified to be included in the list of UNESCO historical monuments.
More information on the Romula-Reșca archaeological site in Dobrosloveni in Olt County, coordinated by UB, can be consulted here.
SECŢIUNE ACCESIBILIZATĂ PENTRU PERSOANELE CU DIZABILITĂŢI DE VEDERE
Postări asemănătoare:
The “Cultural Heritage and Identities” Conference, at the University of Bucharest
Cultural Heritage and Digital Humanities Summer School: Current Research and Dissemination Methodologies, organized at the University of Bucharest under the Auspices of CIVIS
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