Original scientific paper
An Early Roman Grave from Ilok as a Contribution to Understanding a Process of the Romanization of Western Syrmia
Marko Dizdar
Renata Šoštarić
Kristina Jelinčić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1236-734X
Abstract
The high Danube bank near Ilok, which is situated on the western slopes of Fruška gora, was continuously settled in all prehistoric periods, and after that - as the finds analyzed herein indicate - in the Roman time, but Ilok experienced its peak in the Late Middle Ages, in the period of Nikola and his son Lovro. The beginning of excavations in Ilok’s upper town is particularly significant for reveal of the topography of Roman Ilok, which remained almost completely unknown due to a small number of finds. Data about the Roman settlement of Ilok (Cuccium) are preserved in several Itineraries, with different forms for the settlement’s name. Thus Notitia Dignitatum mentions two cavalry units, Cuneus equitum Promotorum and Equites Sagittarii, in Cuccium of the 4th century. The excavations of the Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb began in 2001 in the extension of the eastern wing of Odescalchi Castle, to be continued in 2002 towards the west to encompass the lawn in front of the castle (Fig. 1). In preloess layer SJ 224 (10YR 4/3) in the southern part of the excavated area, filling SJ 229 was isolated. This filling is the first in a number of preserved fillings of the larger prehistoric pit SJ 306 which by finds was dated to the beginning of the Early Iron Age. In prehistoric filling SJ 229 another younger rectangular filling SJ 230 (5Y 4/3) was identified, whose western edge was damaged by recent burial in lime pit SJ 216, whereas the southern part lies outside the margin of the excavated area. Filling SJ 230 is part of the Early Roman grave SJ 273. Along the southern profile of the dig in filling SJ 230 a smaller burial SJ 270 and filling SJ 269, which caused no major damage to the grave (Fig. 5), were identified. The bottom of the grave with finds remained preserved, and the lack of incinerated human remains is possibly due to the fact that they are situated in the southern part of the grave, which has not yet been excavated, even though it is highly possible that they were destroyed in an earlier intervention in the grave filling. All grave goods were found in the eastern part of the grave (Fig. 2, Fig. 4).
In the middle of the grave, close to the top of SJ 230, a hollow shafted iron axe (Pl. 2, 7) was found, which on account of its position compared to other finds is supposed to have entered the grave by digging through the older prehistoric strata, thus not belonging to the grave goods. On the bottom of the grave, filling SJ 268 (2.5Y 5/6) was isolated which belongs to the thin layer of preserved wooden architecture (Fig. 2-3), on whose remains in the north-eastern corner of the grave two hand-made pots with a rounded body and a flat rim and bottom (Pl. 1, 1-2) were found, as well as fragments of a wheel-made bowl with an S profile (Pl. 2, 1). In the corner of the grave, fragments of a dark-grey bowl with thin walls (Pl. 2, 6) and a play-token of dark blue glass paste (Pl. 2, 1) were found. A part of the bowl was also in a pot laid slightly more to the south (Pl. 1, 2). Around both pots numerous seeds were identified, which is why the complete content of the filling around the vessels and their filling is flotated. In the eastern part of the grave there were fragments of a glass vessel, probably a funnel or a glass (Pl. 2, 4). Fragments of a ceramic lamp (Pl. 2, 5), a bronze earring (Pl. 1, 3), a fragment of a bronze needle (Pl. 1, 5) and an iron rivet (Pl. 2, 8) were found in the south-eastern excavated part of the grave. Also in that part of the grave a bronze artefact, which probably represents a vessel’s handle fastening system (Pl. 1, 4), and Claudius coin (Pl. 1, 6) were found. Beneath the remains of planks, filling SJ 272 (5Y 5/4) was isolated, which contained no grave goods.
The excavated part of grave SJ 273 is rectangular-shaped with rounded corners with dimensions of 2.12 m (W-E) and 1.88 m (N-S up to the dig profile). The results of research indicate that all the grave goods were lain on the bottom of a wooden case, the existence of which is proved not only by SJ 268, but also by four uncovered post holes, one in each corner (SJ 277 and SJ 295), and two more in the middle of the western and eastern side of the grave respectively (SJ 275 and SJ 293). Although the southern part of the grave was not excavated, it can be assumed that post holes were in the south-eastern and southwestern corner of the grave. All the holes are quadrangular, and in the bottom part they become octagonal to make post driving easier. The results of floatation of part of the filling around the ceramic vessels laying in the north-eastern part of the grave and the filling of pots indicated the existence of a complex funeral custom which is reflected in the presence of a relatively large number of isolated cultivated plants.
Archaeobotanical analysis showed that among grave goods there were cereals (barley, millet, and different types of wheat), leguminous plants (lentil and vetch) as well as a large number of “fruit” objects (melon/cucumber, fig, apple/pear cherry/sour cherry/sloe, plum, elder and vine grape). The fig and probably the melon were imported to the Ilok since they are cultivated in warmer (sub)Mediterranean areas, whereas the other sorts were probably cultivated in the surroundings of Ilok. All of the cereals and vetch are carbonized, i.e. they were intentionally or unintentionally burned. Apparently they were laid onto a funeral pile. The remaining “fruit” finds were calcified, i.e. they were laid into the grave fresh or dried, probably when laying the human remains and other grave goods. With the exception of the fig, which had to be dried due to long transport from the Mediterranean region, the remaining fruits could have been laid fresh. Apples, pears, plums, sour berries and elder berries as well as vine grapes and melons ripen at the same time of the year, i.e. in the early autumn, which suggests that the burial took place in that season. Still one has to keep in mind that “fruit” objects could have been kept in dried state for a relatively long time. The remains of a Roman grave were found in the excavations of 2002, indicating the existence of a cemetery, which had been unknown until now. The grave contained a cremation burial, with grave goods that were laid on the bottom in the north-eastern corner and along the eastern side of the wooden case, rectangular in shape, which was probably made of oak wood (Fig. 4). The answers to questions on the chronological position, ethnic determination and the origin of the finds shall be given after an analysis of the grave goods, which can be divided in two groups, the first represented by three ceramic vessels made following the tradition of the La Tène culture, and the other group of finds which are northern Italic imports and which, along with the coin, make dating of the grave possible. These finds consist of a ceramic bowl with thin walls, a glass vessel, a ceramic lamp, a bronze earring and a glass paste play-token. The same origin can be assumed concerning the finds that were preserved only in fragments such as a bronze handle fastening system of a vessel and a needle. On the basis of their shape and technological characteristics, the two hand-made pots with rounded bodies and the wheel-made, S-profiled bowl are connected with the tradition of the La Tène culture. The dark grey to dark brown pots with an admixture of quartz and chuff in abundance, have a rounded body, a flat rim beneath which there is a horizontal groove and a flat bottom (Pl. 1, 1-2). These are situla form pots, for which there are numerous parallels in the Late La Tène Scordiscs settlements in eastern Slavonia and Syrmia, found also in Early Roman strata and graves. Of similar origin is also the S-profiled, wheel-made bowl with a rich admixture of quartz (Pl. 2, 1) that was also found in the north-eastern corner of the grave. The hand-made pots with rounded bodies and the S-profiled bowl represent the Late La Tène heritage of the Scordiscs and testify to the presence of an autochthonous population in the Early Roman sites of the 1st century, whose traditions are the strongest in the shapes, techniques and methods of decorating coarse pottery. As indicated by the finds from the settlement layers in Vinkovci, Osijek and Srijemska Mitrovica, the local craftsmen continued the production of recognizable shapes, thus satisfying the needs of the indigenous population. Those forms were decorated by familiar motifs by applying combed or broom-shaped ornaments and by polishing. Ceramic ware with autochthonous features was preserved until the period of the Flavians, suggesting the existence of indigenous peregrine communities which preserved the achievements of their own material culture up until the end of the 1st century, but due to intensified romanization in the 2nd century this autochthonous trait The second and larger group of finds from the grave testifying to the romanization of the indigenous population of Cuccium. This group consists of Early Roman import artefacts, which arrived at Limes by the well-known Sava valley trade route from the northern Italic region.
The dark grey bowl with thin walls and two horizontal ribs (Pl. 2, 6), the ceramic lamp with a voluted nose and a rosette ornament (Pl. 2, 5), and a glass vessel, most probably a funnel or a glass (Pl. 2, 4) represent imported grave goods which are not only chronologically sensitive but also point to the direction of the cultural and economic effects of the Roman conquest of the Drava, Sava and Danube interfluve. Ceramic ware with thin walls appeared in the eastern Alps and the middle Danube in the Tiberian period along with Padanian sigillata at the time of the first military conquests. Different shapes and ornamentation methods were identified, of which bowls decorated in barbotine technique are the largest in number. Typical of southern Pannonia is intensive import in the Claudius-Flavius period, when the peak of production was achieved. With the Flavian period, the production in the local workshops of Sirmium, Emona and on Gomolava began, in which shapes, ornaments and facture of the imported specimens were imitated. At the end of the 1st century the quality and the number of vessels with thin walls declined, but their production continued until the middle of the 2nd century.
The ceramic lamp with reddish-brown coating and volute nose, two grooves on its shoulder and a rosette ornament (Pl. 2, 5) is also of northern Italic origin; its fragments were found at the eastern margin of the grave. The lamp find, along with other imports, suggests the acceptance of Roman lifestyle traditions and funeral customs. The described lamp belongs to the Iványi I type, which encompasses specimens with volute triangle-shaped nose, a relief figure in the middle concentric grooves on the rim. According to D. Iványi’s classification, the lamp from Ilok belongs to the third type, its basic feature being a broader voluted nose dated to about the middle and the last quarter of the 1st century or to the 2nd century. According to Loeschcke’s classification of ceramic lamps with an angular nose and volutes, the Ilok find corresponds to type I, variation b, characterized by a somewhat narrower top of the nose than with lamps having volutes, whereas the shoulder profile with two grooves is of type IIb. The angular ceramic lamps with volutes of the Iványi I, or Loeschcke I type, from Pannonian sites, represent a northern Italic import from the beginning of the 1st century, when they arrived along with the Arentino and northern Italic sigillata of the Augustan and Tiberian periods. The finds of voluted lamps, as well as of ceramic ware with thin walls, in military camps on the Danube (Zemun, Novi Banovci, Surduk) prove that they were imported to satisfied the needs of the army, but also for the higher social class of the autochthonous population, as indicated by the richly cremation grave from Ilok. Production in local Pannonian workshops began in the second half of the 1st century, as finds of moulds in Sirmium, Mursa and Poetovio suggest. Their occurrence in south Pannonian sites can be followed also in the 2nd century, up to the beginning of the 3rd. The smaller vessel, probably a funnel or a glass, made of greenish glass with a horizontally inverted rim (Pl. 2, 4), the fragments of which were found along the eastern margin of the grave, also suggests northern Italic origin. Just like the voluted lamp and the bowl with thin walls, the vessel came to the Danube limes through Aquileia, which in the 1st-2nd centuries was an important production center, but at the same time it was a commercial port for goods coming from other production centers, from where it was imported into the eastern Alpine and Danube regions.
In the north-eastern corner of the grave there was also a play-token made of dark blue glass paste (Pl. 2, 1), which is supposed to have served for playing and which was dated to the 1st century. In the grave, a greenish glass bead was found as well (Pl. 2, 3). Metal grave goods and coin were preserved (Fig. 4) in the south-eastern excavated part of the grave, on the remains of poorly preserved wooden planks. The little bronze74 ring with an irregular rectangular cross-section has its one terminal looped, whereas its other terminal is missing (Pl. 1, 3). Its description corresponds with the type of Roman bronze earrings in the shape of wired annulets with different cross sections, with looped or clipped terminals. Simple earrings in the form of a wired ring that used to close by inserting the small hook through the loop were documented in a longer period, and they differ according to the shape of the pendant hanging from the ring, whose shape remained almost unchanged. The fragment of a bronze needle (Pl. 1, 5) was probably part of a bronze fibula. In the immediate vicinity of the earring there was another object, the function of which is not sufficiently clear. It might have been a handle fastening system of a bronze vessel (Pl. 1, 4) consisting of a leaned ring with an oval outline and a round cross-section, beneath which there is trifoliate sheet metal with rectangular terminals and a rivet hole in the upper part. The ring is separated from the bottom part by a rib, on which there are two horizontal grooves. In the immediate vicinity, a smaller iron rivet (Pl. 2, 8) was found with a short spike with a rectangular cross-section that might have served for fastening a handle.
Apart from the described finds, another import in the grave are also the remains of the fig and the melon, found along with other archaeobotanical samples in the north-eastern part of the grave and in the fillings of both pots. The figs could not be cultivated in the southern Pannonian area due to inclement climatic conditions. Since figs could not have been kept fresh for a long time, it was not possible to transport the fruits across larger distances, therefore probably the figs arrived to Cuccium dried. The figs, along with the remaining ceramic and glass finds, were imported for the needs of the settled Italic, but also indigenous population, who were not unfamiliar with Italic goods. The largest part of archaeobotanical artefacts accounts for wine grape seeds. The question of the origin and cultivation of wine among the Illyrians with the mentioned antique sources was thoroughly analysed by M. Zaninović. The Pannonian production of small quantities of wine and the bad quality of its production is mentioned by Dion Cassius (49.36.2), which is also confirmed by Strabo’s quote (VII.5.10) that the regions above Dalmatia are mountainous and cold and that vineyards can seldom be found there. The finds of amphorae dated in the beginning of the 1st century, which came along with the wine across Aquileia, testify to imports of wine to Sirmium, which was supported by settled Italics and by the indigenous population. Wine cultivation in Pannonia was intensified in the second half of the 3rd century, in the period of Probus, when soldiers planted selected grapes on the slopes of Fruška gora (Almus Mons). The discovery of grape seeds in pots in the grave in Ilok prove the earlier existence of vineyards on the western slopes of Fruška gora already in the 1st century, although it is possible that the tradition of wine cultivation in the Ilok region is considerably older. The laying of different kinds of cereals and fruits combined with ceramic and glass vessels of twofold origin into the grave suggests the existence of a complex funeral rite, which is still inadequately understood in the southern Pannonian territory in the Early Roman period.
Numerous parallels to all described finds from the grave in Ilok were documented in the Danube region, which enable the dating of the grave in the middle of the 1st century. This is also confirmed by the find of Claudius coin (Pl. 1, 6). Although the grave has not been completely excavated, the grave goods and remains of grave architecture enriched the existing understanding of the process of romanization of the Croatian Danube region, testifying to the relation of the indigenous population towards the newly arrived achievements of the Roman culture. Of particular importance for the ethnic determination of the burial are three ceramic vessels from the northeastern corner of the grave, two hand-made pots with a rounded body (Pl. 1, 1-2) and the S-profiled, wheel-made bowl (Pl. 2, 1). The described vessels can be compared with the material heritage of the La Tène culture, which in the middle Danube is connected with the Scordiscs. In the described shapes, the continuation of pottery traditions of the indigenous mixed Celtic-Pannonian population is visible, which in the 1st century formed an important ethnic component of the southern part of Roman Pannonia. The second group of finds that suggests northern Italic origin points to the direction of the new ethnic, cultural and economic influences on the eastern part of the Sava-Drava-Danube interfluve in the process of early romanization.
Numerous parallels with Early Roman cremation burials from Syrmia, in which ceramic finds produced following La Tène traditions were found, indicate a strong tradition of the autochthonous population up until the end of the 1st century. This means that the mixed Celtic-Pannonian population living in the territory of the middle Danube played an important role in the process of early romanization and formed a constituent part of the ethnic corps of the newly conquered part of southern Pannonia. The indigenous population in larger centers that emerged from Late La Tène protourbane centers, was exposed to more intensive and rapid romanization by the settling Italic population and veterans and common imports, which was accompanied by the achievements of the Roman way of life.
Rural Late La Tène communities long held the features of their own material culture, accepting only some of the achievements of the newly founded Roman provincial culture. In the grave in Ilok, imported objects suggesting northern Italic origin were found as well, and they came to the middle Danube by a trade route that was in function earlier – along the Sava River, where in the 1st century BC certain goods were transported for the Scordiscs. This is shown by numerous finds of bronze vessels of northern Italic origin, which in the sites of La Tène culture in eastern Slavonia occur in graves and in the most important fortified settlements such as Dalj, Sotin, Vinkovci and Orolik. The import of bronze vessels took place from Aquileia through Nauportus and Emona, from where along the Sava over Segestica it came to the middle Danube. Strabo (4.6.10; 5.1.8; 7.5.2) described this important prehistoric communication, and the described trade route is also supported by finds of coins from Appolonia and Dyrrhachion, as well as of Roman Republican coins. The use of the well-known trade route, along the Sava towards the East, continued also in the Early Roman period, when Aquileia was the most significant center of the export of pottery with thin walls, terra sigillatae and glass vessels on the markets of Pannonia and Noricum. It can be claimed with certainty that Tiberius’ conquest of the eastern part of the Interfluve came running across the Sava valley.
The understanding of events after the Roman conquest of eastern Slavonia and western Syrmia is weak due to a lack of site excavations, on which the process of romanization that had started could be followed. Although there were significant military bases of the Danube Limes in the described territory, as well as larger civic settlements in its hinterland, such as Mursa and Cibalae, the material heritage of the first decades of the 1st century is little known. What all the Roman centers in the territory of eastern Slavonia and western Syrmia have in common is that they were erected either in the most significant Late La Tène centers, or in their vicinity. In all mentioned sites, on the Limes as well as in its hinterland, in the Early Roman layers dated to the 1st century, shapes that suggest the continuity of the Late La Tène material heritage prevail. In the first line, the early Roman import was directed to significant Late La Tène Scordisc settlements, where along with ceramic forms made in autochthonous traditions a northern Italic import of the Late Augustan and Tiberian periods occurred. Within the study of imported ceramic vessels, the presence of auxiliary military units, the arrival of merchants and settlements of Italics already in the early 1st century were identified. On the sites along the Limes, northern Italic imports from the Late Augustan and Tiberian periods was not rich in numbers. In the Julian-Claudian period, only auxiliary military units controlling the border existed along the Danube in mobile camps. Imports became more intense only in the Flavian period, when the military units came to the Danube and erected permanent fortresses. This also intensified the romanization of the indigenous population, which was also advanced by the recruitment of the autochthonous population to auxiliary units. Military units were always followed by merchants who satisfied their needs, but also the needs of settled Italics, as well as the upper class of the indigenous population, to whom those goods were not unknown, with imported goods. The Roman merchants were familiar with the circumstances on the market of the Drava-Sava-Danube interfluve and they were the advance contingent of the Roman conquest. The quote of Velleius Paterculus (II.110) that at the beginning of the rebellion in Pannonia and Dalmatia many merchants were killed testifies to the early presence of Roman merchants in this interfluve zone. If one would try to closer determine the ethnicity of the grave found in Ilok, one should look for the answer in Roman antiquity sources dealing with the ethnic structure of the eastern part of the Sava-Drava-Danube interfluve in the pre-Roman period and immediately after the conquest. The middle Danube in the Late Iron Age was populated by the Scordiscs, and after the conquest Roman sources mention some new communities. Thus, in the territory of the Croatian Danube area the Cornacates are mentioned, which Pliny the Elder mentions in his alphabetic index of the communities settled in Pannonia (N.H. III. 148). Since on that occasion communities from the territory of Transdanubia are mentioned as well, which were definitely conquered as late as in the Claudius period, the information on the Cornacates, to whom Cuccium is assigned, corresponds with the time to which the grave from Ilok is dated. The Cornacates as a peregrine community of Celtic-Pannonian origin were settled in the territory along the Danube in the surroundings of Vukovar up to Ilok. The western border towards neighbors - the Breuci - must have been around Vukovar and Negoslavci, where two military diplomas were found, issued to veterans of Breuci origin. The second possibility is that the Cornacates were only the citizens of the settlement Cornacum. Evidence supporting this statement is also found in Pliny’s statement (N.H. III. 148) that Sirmium was an oppidum and a community of the Sirmienses and Amantinis, where under the Sirmienses exclusively the citizens of the settlement, which was the center of the Amantinian community, are meant. The final answer to the question whether the Cornacates lived in the territory of Ilok will be found only by an epigraphic find.
The results of excavations of the castle of the Ilok in 2001 and 2002 extended the present-day understanding of the topography of Cuccium, and the discovery of the Early Roman cremation grave gave an insight into the process of early romanization of the Limes in the territory of the Croatian Danube region. The Roman settlement laid more to the west than the late medieval palace of the Ilok princes, whereas graves were situated along the roads that led from the settlement, grave sites being indicated by finds of Late Antiquity sarcophagi and brick tombs to the south of today’s Ilok. A grave was found to the west of the settlement, on the site of the present Ilok fortress, suggesting the existence of an Early Roman cemetery, where the indigenous population was buried.
The finds of two hand-made pots with a rounded body and the wheel-made S-profiled bowl testify to this, indicating a strong tradition of the La Tène culture. The shape of the grave with the remains of a wooden cast has up to the present not been identified at the known Late La Tène Scordisc graves, therefore the question of its origin remains open. The second group of grave goods of northern Italic origin, represented by the bowl with thin walls, the lamp with the volute nose, the glass vessel and other metal and glass finds, points to the romanization of the encountered indigenous population, at the same time, based on the coin finds, dating the grave in the time of Claudius, in the middle of the 1st century. The discovery of the remains of different cultivated plants, out of which some show traces of incineration in and around both pots, testifies to the existence of a complex funeral rite in which, same as in the finds, the traditions of the newly arrived Roman culture intermingle with the material heritage of the autochthonous mixed Celtic-Pannonian population. It is highly conceivable that future research in Ilok shall expand the scarce understanding of the process of romanization and life along the limes in the territory of the Croatian Danube region.
Keywords
cremation grave; Ilok; western Syrmia; Limes; indigenous; romanization; northern Italic import; Claudius; archaeobotany
Hrčak ID:
792
URI
Publication date:
16.6.2003.
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