Archaeological excavations at Gamzigrad - Romuliana in 2007-2008

Systematical archaeological excavations at the site Gamzigrad - Felix Romuliana continued in 2007-2008 in the south-eastern part of the fortified imperial palace, in the section of the thermae according to the plan of archaeological research for this site (2005-2009). In 2007, squares L'XXIV, M'XXIV, M'XXIH and M'XXII, which were investigated in 2005 to the horizon c, dated to the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 6th centuries, were completely excavated to the level of the porch of the earlier fortification of Romuliana (Plan 1). The stratigraphy of the cultural layers in these squares is as follows (Fig. 1): Below horizon c there is a layer of construction rubble mixed with brownish-yellow, clay like, sandy soil, 50-75 cm thick, comprising the finds dated in the last quarter of the 4th-5th centuries, layer D; The level of layer D is horizon d, where a structure destroyed in a conflagration, house 1/07, was discovered in squares M'XXII and M'XXIII. It could be dated, on the basis of the preserved household (pottery, metal and antler items, coins, etc.), from the last quarter of the 4th to the middle of the 5th century; Horizon d 1 is a mortar floor discovered beneath horizon d, which presents the earlier phase of house 1/07; Horizon d 2 is the earliest mortar floor inside the house 1/07, covered with a later mortar floor (horizon d 1) and a levelling layer of yellow sand and gravel, which comprises the finds dating also to the last quarter of the 4th to the middle of the 5th centuries; Layer E, 15-40 cm thick, is below horizon d, comprising dark brown soil with rubble and lenses of soot at the bottom, together with finds dated to the second half of the 4th century; Horizon e is covered with layer E, and spread across all the squares which were investigated to the south and to the east of Galerius' bath, where 8 large postholes, which outlined a space 7 x 3 m large and probably some kind of porch, were found along with two furnaces and two pits; Layer F, about 30 cm thick, is the substructure of horizon e and it comprises crushed stone and pebbles mixed with lime mortar, and in places has a levelling of reddish-brown sand. Finds here were dated to the end of the 3rd and the first half of the 4th centuries; Horizon f is a mortar floor of the later fortification of Felix Romuliana at a level of 184.75 m in the west and 184.55 m in the east (an average level of 184.64 m), which was interrupted by a trench running in an east-west direction along the sout