Worked bone and antler from Halmyris: An insight on everyday life of a frontier post of Scythia

摘要

Halmyris is one of the most important Roman settlements from the Danube Delta, in the easternmost part of Scythia province during the late Antiquity. Its remains are located 2.5 km east from the present-day Murighiol village and 2 km south from the Saint George distributary of the Danube (in Antiquity named Peuce). The fort (2nd - 4th century AD) and early Byzantine city (5th-early 7th century AD) experienced a long existence benefiting of strategic position. Archaeological research on-going from 1981 led to the discovery of the three gates, the thermae, the praetorium, the Basilica with crypt, the barracks on the western side and of the military complex near the north Gate. Additionally, a large number of epigraphic fragments documents the existence of a unique (throughout the Roman Empire) 'sailor's village' - vicus classicorum and we may suppose that workshops for processing bone and antler were based there. In autumn 2014, research in the extramural area of the fort started due to necessity of building a new site-museum and tourist's information point. In this paper bone and antler finds found as a result of the excavation are presented. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.