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Discovery of Roman Sanctuary in the quarter of St. Theodore in Pula, Archaeological Campaign of 2008
Alka Starac
; Arheološki muzej Istre, Carrarina 3, 52100 Pula, HR
Sažetak
Rescue archaeological excavation at the site in the quarter of St. Theodore in Pula
was carried out in 2008, over an area of ca. 130 sq. m. Average depth of excavation was 1
m. A total of 6.042 archaeological finds were recovered, washed and labelled. Registered
are 27 main archaeological layers documenting a time span of the site of a thousand
years. The finds are grouped and listed according to layers and type (Graph 1, Graph
2). The most numerous are coarse kitchenware finds from the Iron Age layer and food
remains - animal bones and sea shells. Three layers are considered to be representative,
each of which represents one stage in the city’s foundation and growth: 1-08 layer dating
from 45 to 30 years BC (Graph 3), Floor 1-08 layer which is immediately aforegoing,
corresponding to the period of the erection of the temple and the temenos (Graph 5),
and 8-08 layer corresponding to the long period from 10th century BC to the erection
of the temple in the middle of the 1st century BC (Graph 4). Significant factors for
dating of the buildings are epigraphic inscriptions on tegulae built into drainage
channels (CINNIANA IVL PRI, SOLONAS, C·PASI·A·NA) and on amphorae from
filling layers originating from the foundation of the sacral complex (ANIB[..], BARC,
CASTIR FAB, C·HE[R], LICIN, LICINI (reversely), MAN[I], MENA·CRASS, P.EPI,
PHIL[I]PVS, SABDA, SABDI, [..]DOB, [..]RT). Of special importance is the hypothesis
on the triumvir M. Licinius Crassus’s economic activity in the building of the temple,
corroborated by the MENA·CRASS stamp on an amphora.
The foundations of the temple were dug through the Iron Age cultural layer and rested
solidly on rock, while the walls of the temenos were constructed with no foundations
on the slope of the hill and then filled up. This difference shows that the walls of the
enclosing area were constructed only to carry the self-weight and the dike on both sides,
while the foundation walls of the temple were constructed to carry the vertical loads
and the weight of the stone building. The structure built up of the drainage layers of
the lime f loor, rough cut stone and amphorae placed upside down played a significant
role in the drainage of rain waters to Well 2, as well as decreasing the water pressure on
the walls of the temenos (Wall 38-O4 and Wall 2-O4), preventing their collapse. In this
way, the temenos of the temple served as a cistern containing multiple layers of filtration
materials, draining rain waters to the well. The hypothesis of the existence of Hercules’
temple was testified by the found of limestone block bearing a club in relief (Fig. 20,
21). The stratigraphic relations on the site show that the building complex in which the relief of the club was found had been burnt and partially demolished immediately before
placing the deposit of amphorae in the third quarter of the 1st century BC (Fig. 18). The
demolishing of the object might have occurred before the foundation of the Roman
colony Pola in 46 or 45 BC, or at the latest, in the first years of the colony’s existence,
during the Civil War after Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC. The deposit of amphorae
represents, in this case, an element of restoration of the demolished sanctuary.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
47199
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2009.
Posjeta: 2.720 *