CERCETĂRI ARHEOLOGICE ŞI PROSPECŢII ARHEOGEOFIZICE ÎN MUNICIPIUM SEPTIMIUM APULENSE – SECTORUL ESTIC

The authors discuss archaeological research conducted in the eastern area of the canabae legionis settlement from Apulum, in winter 2006-2007, which received the municipal status during the reign of Septimius Severus, at the end of the second century A.D. The presence of many of the tegular stamps with the nomen Aurelius date the building somewhere earlier in the reign of M. Aurelius and Commodus. If we make a connection with the baths of Potaissa camp, where construction of the vault system was done by African soldiers arriving during the reign of Septimius Severus, then certainly our building existed during the reign of this emperor. This important buiding continued to be used in the third century A.D., probably until the leaving of the Roman army and administration from the Dacia province. A large Roman building with at least three rooms, whose character could not be established, was identified in the archaeological research. We suppose it was not a private building, because the heating system is lacking, but the massive walls and the presence of bricks or tiles with six different anthroponyms show us probably a public one. Building walls (width-1.05-1.48 m, max. height-2.5 m) are made of sandstone in opus incertum technique up to 1.8 m height and over them three brick levels (opus latericium) were arranged. During the rescue excavations performed on 18 Decebal Street a series of three electrical tomography profiles have been conducted in the area next to the excavations to aid the archaeological interpretation. The Roman walls found in the archaeological excavation were confirmed to continue underneath the property and the identified geophysical anomalies allowed a more complete plan of the building to be drawn as a result. The results of the geophysical investigations show us the existence of at least six rooms of this building.