This is an overview of the excavations I direct at the site of Porolissum, Romania.

1. The Porolissum Forum Project:The Porolissum Forum Project:
archaeology on the fringes of thearchaeology on the fringes of the
Roman EmpireRoman Empire
Eric C. De SenaEric C. De Sena

2. Rome and Dacia
Rome dominated by Trajanic monuments
commemorating victory over Dacians; despite this,
Dacia is still one of least understood provinces
Overview of Dacia and Porolissum, as well as new
information from the Porolissum Forum Project

3. Dacia
Danube River and Carpathian
Mountains
- protection
- fertile valleys
- very rich in minerals (Ar,
Au, Cu, Fe, Pb, salt)

4. Later Iron Age: By 6th/5th century,
Geto-Dacians achieved a form of culture
akin to some contemporary Italian
cultures, especially Samnites – agriculture,
livestock, crafts, little interest in high level
of art or architecture.
Some influence from Greek colonies on
Black Sea. Fended off Alexander the
Great (who was more interested in East,
anyway…).
Greater sophistication by 2nd century BC
– greater number of hill forts. Correlation
with Rome’s victory in Greece, 146 BC?
Blidaru citidel

5. Burebista – first to unify Dacians – reportedly
200,000 soldiers in mid 1st century BC.
Contended with Romans, Mithradates and
northern tribes. Federation / proto-state?
Amicus et socius of Rome under Pompey
during war vs. Caesar. Julius Caesar planned a
campaign for summer 44 BC and would have
taken Octavian......Caesar and Burebista
assassinated in same year.
Names of successive kings, but deeds
unknown: Koson, Cotiso, Comosicus, Scorylo,
Duras

6. King Decebalus (ca. AD 86-106)
similar aims as Burebista, but reportedly with far
fewer troops – perhaps 40,000. Limited to lower
Dacia with center at Sarmizegethusa.
- Occasional raids into Roman territory south of
Danube; routed Domitian’s troops led by Cornelius
Fuscus
“This man was shrewd in his understanding of
warfare and shrewd also in the waging of war;
he judged well when to attack and chose the
right moment to retreat; he was an expert in
ambushing and a master in pitched battles; and
he knew not only how to follow up victory but
how to manage defeat. Hence he showed himself
a worthy antagonist of the Romans for a long
time.”
(Cassius Dio, Roman History, 67)

7. Trajan’s Dacian Wars (AD 101-102, 105-106)
Military strategy: ca. 100,000 soldiers, fortify position, establish chain of
supplies, warfare and diplomacy, construct new strongholds
Post-war strategy: subdue/seduce local population, colonize, build

8. Building and maintaining Roman Dacia
Fortresses and Cities: Colonia Ulpia Traiana
Sarmizegethusa, Apulum, Tibiscum, Porolissum,
Potaissa
- land repartitioned amongst colonists and
cooperative natives
Infrastructure: roads, bridges, acqueducts, forts
Technology: agriculture, construction,
factory-like manufacture
Culture: language, art (Roman style with provincial
flair), customs (e.g., togas and baths)

9. Historical summary of Dacia
Relatively peaceful existence interrupted by
Marcomannic-Sarmatian Wars (AD 167-180)
Conflict followed by stability – reflected in new
building activities and general prosperity into
Severan period
Negative effects of Gothic Wars and 3rd century
crisis? Coins cease at many centers in 260’s.
Withdrawal of Roman administration AD 271
under Aurelian
Immediate post-Roman period not well-known;
clear links to Roman Empire; social continuity
through 4th century – “Daco-Roman”
Did Constantine re-claim Dacia???
Migration Period (5th-10th centuries)

10. Overview of Porolissum,
including recent work of
Porolissum Forum Project

11. Porolissum: historical facts/framework
• AD 106 founded as primary military base
along northern frontier (Roman military
diploma August 106).
• AD 124 Hadrian repartitioned Dacia with
Porolissum as northern capital
• AD 157 amphitheater built in stone
(inscription).
• AD 193-211 renamed municipium septimium
porolissensis.
• AD 271 Roman withdrawal
• immediate post-Roman phase (ca. AD 271-
375 – Daco-Romans?)
• Migration period, 5th-10th c.
• Rediscovered in mid 19th century with
some archaeological work through 1950’s.
• More significant work since 1977.

12. Porolissum main military center in
hierarchy of fortresses and
watchtowers.
Tihau, Romita, Romanasi, Bucium
Line of vision across 20 miles of the
limes and 16 miles toward Simleu
Silvaniei (largest north Dacian
settlement).

13. General plan
Pomet Hill

14. Castrum – wooden phase; inscription
mentions repairs in Severan period, but
likely constructed in stone prior to
building of amphitheater in AD 157

15. Castrum - Not a legionary fortress
(apprx. half the size), but some legionary
troops stationed here at times; primarily
Auxiliary troops: Thrace, Hispania, Gaul,
and Syria.
Estimated 5000 soldiers – including those
posted along limes.

17. Sanctuary Terrace
Customs house – based upon location
at beginning of road which meets
defensive wall and a pair of inscriptions
mentioning publici portorii.

18. Sanctuary Terrace
Temple to Liber Pater (mid 2nd c.)
 then Bel (late 2nd c.) 
then Christian church
(Constantinian or Migration
period?)

19. Sanctuary Terrace
Commercial facilities – large public
space that does not conform to
religious, military or political
building types. Presumed for
Roman-native transactions.

20. Temple of Jupiter Dolichenus
(syncretism of Jupiter and Syrian god)

21. Houses, presumably of officers and
veterans – about a dozen excavated.

22. Amphitheater – built in stone AD 157
Shrine to Nemesis

23. Still used…

24. Aqueduct
Fed a series of public fountains
and cisterns.
Spring at 530 m.; max elevation
of Pomet Hill 502 m.
One or two cisterns in castrum;
one known near forum.
At least two bath complexes –
one on west side of castrum and
one (at least) on forum.

25. Vicus developed on east slope of Pomet Hill, facing Agrij Valley
Municipium Septimius Porolissensis – Colonia or municipia prior to this
time?
Investigated by Alexandru Matei since 1990’s  current collaboration.

26. Magnetometry by J.K. Haalebos and
A.V. Matei, 1996-98
• Conducted in an area of the city to the
southeast of the Castrum – broad,
relatively even tract of terrain
• Defined a large central area with
structures on all four sides – consistent
with a forum
• Presumably variety of civilian features
in immediate environs – houses,
workshops, shrines
• Matei excavated several trenches 2001-
2003 before proposing collaboration.

27. Porolissum Forum Project
(De Sena and Matei 2004, 2006-2010)
Objectives:
• Urban Topography: study the development and function of
spaces in Forum
• Elucidate aspects of daily life in Porolissum during Roman
and post-Roman times – farming, community relations, trade
• Relationship with Barbaricum
• Study Porolissum in context of environment and other
nearby cities.
• Cultural/educational exchange between East and West – we
host about 15 students each summer and work with an equal
number of Romanians; field trips.

28. Urbanistic questions
 how/when was area first used?
 when was “mature” forum established?
 ad hoc development?
 coordinated construction?
 function of spaces?
 changes over time?
 post-Roman usage?
Colonia Ulpia Traiana

29. Excavation strategy – combination of long exploratory
trenches and smaller control trenches to verify features
suggested by geophysics
• both kinds of trenches excavated stratigraphically
• near complete recovery of archaeological materials –
sorting and quantification of materials
• documentation: plans and sections, photography, Total
Station

30. Trenches and features through 2009

31. Preliminary results
• in 6 summer field seasons, we have ascertained the basic parameters of the forum’s
courtyard and have identified at least five broad phases of construction and usage:
• early Roman wooden fortress, ca. AD 106-140s/50s
• early forum phase, ca. AD 140’s-150’s (Antonine)
• mature forum phase, ca. AD 193-217 (Severan)
• Late Roman and immediate post-Roman usage – dwellings, fortification,
ca. AD 260-375
• Migration period activity (5th-10th c.)

32. Phase 1: wooden fortress
• Evidence of extensive wooden
structures surrounded by
agger/vallum defence
• Abandoned during Antonine period

33. Phase 2: major campaign in stone. Early forum or other function? At
least two major public buildings; time of Antoninus Pius, mid 2nd century
AD, based upon pottery and coins.

34. Phase 2: Antonine stone phase
Such walls revealed extensively on west and north sides of courtyard
Functions not determined – but substantial architecture – walls 90 cm wide.
Temple? Basilica? Bath?

35. Phase 2: Antonine stone phase
Appears to have been systematically dismantled and building material recycled.
No paving tiles below mortar and rubble; large stones removed from rubble;
thick layer of clay placed over rubble to level surface and some new areas paved
with tile.

36. Phase 3: the mature Forum
There are still far more questions than
answers…
The courtyards measures ca. 40 x 26 m.
with colonnades verified on north, south
and west sides.
Large public buildings north, east and
west. Functions of most structures remain
undetermined.
This phase dates to the Severan period,
AD 193-217 based upon an analysis of
artifacts, corresponds to renaming of city
municipium Septimium Porolissensis.
Basilica ?
Bath complex
Porticus and shops

37. Porolissum: the mature Forum
• The northernmost structure possibly a
basilica (law court); ca. 26 x 17 m.
• The innermost element is the edge of a
porticus with a drain and column bases; to the
north is a solid wall;
• Trenches 2, 5 and 10 indicate that it extends
along the entire northern side of the forum;
• Constructed at the same time as colonnades
on south and west sides.

38. Porolissum: the mature Forum
The east side of the forum hosts a public
building with an extensive hypocaust (heating)
system consistent with a bath complex.
Discovery of a large cistern 50 m. to the south.
Trench 1 revealed a solid stone wall facing
onto the courtyard; inside the wall, to the east,
an incompletely excavated area of 7 x 2 m.
hosted the hypocaust system.
Trench 3, 10 m. to the east, revealed more
hypocaust pillars as well as evidence for the
praefurnium; in the same trench was an apsidal
wall (incompletely excavated in 2004).
Trench 27 (2009) revealed the apsidal wall -
small heated basin (caldarium).
Trenches 25 and 26 helped identify the
dimensions, ca. 100 x 60 Roman feet.

40. Porolissum: the mature Forum
• West side investigated in 2009 and 2010.
Severan phase involved major reconstruction
– walls often erected on top of the dismantled
Antoninie walls, but not always.
• Function of Severan structures unclear –
series of apsidal walls and extensive
cocciopesto floor. A(nother) bath. Market /
macellum?

41. Post-Roman Porolissum
Aurelian withdrew Roman administration AD
271, but dramatic decline in numismatic record of
the site beginning 10 years earlier.
- no signs of immediate withdrawal or destruction
- small number of 4th century Roman coins at
Porolissum (i.e. some communication/trade);
Roman style pottery also through 4th c. AD
- “Roman” structures used for secondary
purposes (e.g. paleo-Christian church over
Temple of Liber Pater); domestic/industrial
activity in Forum
- Gepids and other cultures would occupy site
until ca. AD 1000.

42. Phases 4 and 5: post-Roman
evidence from Forum excavations
Crude walls within Forum structures and
dark, packed earth, presumably dwellings
or work spaces; also hearths and post
holes within the Roman spaces.
Extensive spoliation – no/few furnishings
discovered (columns, floors, wall
revetment, etc.).

43. Post-Roman evidence from Forum excavations
Trench 24 – narrowing of Roman threshold and late hearth

44. Post-Roman evidence from Forum excavations
Area 22 revealed three post-Roman hearths

45. Post-Roman evidence from Forum excavations
Evidence of post-Roman usage, but no clear chronology. Two broad post-Roman phases,
immediate post-Roman (AD 271-375) and Migration period (5th-10th c. AD).

46. Widespread post-Roman destruction – single
phase or gradual deterioration?
Most structures encountered to date with
reverse sequence: rubble layer immediately above
“tile layer”; frequent amounts of charcoal within
tile layer; both layers with mix of post-Roman and
Roman material
Probably gradual deterioration. Very little
pavement preserved (only the mortar base); few
column drums, many column bases, one capital;
several post-Roman features within the “Roman”
structures; also many roof tiles taken prior to
collapse of walls.
Useful materials stripped away  fire/collapse 
some “quarrying” of building material.

47. Daily life in Porolissum
Archaeological materials as indicators of lifeways –
range of food, craft, building supplies
• local production vs. importation
• catchment area of imports
• changes in supply patterns over time

48. • To date, about 1.5 tons of pottery, glass, metals,
animal bone, worked bone have been recovered and
about half has been studied.
• Pottery: regional economy within Roman “global”
system – less than 5% from other Roman provinces
(Italy, Gaul, Spain, Greece, North Africa).
• continuity of Roman styles in immediate post-
Roman period
• Domesticated animals: pigs, cattle, sheep/goats,
horses, dogs, deer – no meaningful diachronic
patterns.
• Much iron, some slag - smithing
• Worked bone implements, but few indications of
production – a single sawn deer antler (also used in
tanneries)
• Domestic glass and window glass, but no
indication of production

49. Total
no (47) Total wt ()
EVC
min (2)
EVC
max (5)
EVE
(1.26)
Amphora, Spanish 93.7 97.5 100 40.0 100
Amphora, Spello-Forli 2.1 1.2 – 20.0 –
Amphora, local 4.2 1.3 – 40.0 –
Total no
(496) Total wt ()
EVC min
(113)
EVC max
(126)
EVE
(11.45)
Cookware, local 99.8 99.6 99.1 99.2 99.1
Cookware, IRSC 0.2 0.4 0.9 0.8 0.9
Total no
(1521) Total wt ()
EVC min
(144)
EVC max
(239)
EVE
(15.31)
Porolissum Tableware 73.0 72.6 60.4 58.1 67.6
Gray ware 19.3 20.5 20.1 25.5 17.2
Dacian hand-built 0.8 2.4 1.4 1.3 0.9
Overpainted 0.1 0.1 – – –
Black Slipped 4.3 2.4 9.0 6.7 8.3
Sig. Porolissensis 2.0 1.5 6.9 6.7 3.6
Sig. Gallic 0.3 0.2 0.7 0.4 0.5
Sig. Italian 0.2 0.1 0.7 0.8 0.5
Early glazed ware 0.1 0.1 – – –
Unclassified 0.2 0.2 0.7 0.4 1.4
Porolissum , percentages of pottery from mid second century
deposits in Trench 14 (PFP 2008).

50. Porolissum, PFP 2006. Percentage of pottery types from Trench 7,
ca. AD 200. Essentially all regional production.
Total no.
(413)
Total wt.
(11242 g.)
EVC min
(75)
EVC max
(121)
Amphora - regional 0.2 0.7 -- 0.8
Coarse 1 11.1 17.0 17.3 14.9
Coarse 1 slipped 0.2 0.6 1.3 0.8
Coarse 2 40.7 35.2 33.3 31.4
Coarse 2 slipped 0.2 1.3 1.3 0.8
Cookware 17.2 20.2 18.7 22.3
Fineware 1 22.0 17.9 20.0 20.7
Fineware 2 2.7 3.3 -- --
Gray coarse 1 0.2 0.1 -- --
Gray coarse 2 3.4 3.5 2.7 2.5
Gray fineware 1.0 0.3 1.3 2.5
Sigillata – other 0.1 0.1 1.3 0.8
Sigillata Porolissensis 0.8 0.5 2.7 2.4

51. The Porolissum Forum Project (2011-2014)
Enter phase two of the Project in 2011 – continued excavation
and analysis of artifacts BUT…
Publications – articles on urban and social aspects of the city
and prepartion of monograph.
Architectural preservation – currently features reburied for
conservation; if we find funding, we will begin proper
preservation of architecture – consolidation of walls and
permanent rooving system. Would add about 10% to visitable
area of the archaeological site – Porolissum most important
tourist attraction in this part of Romania.

52. Thanks for friendship and support: Drs. Dan and Sanda Bacueţ-Crişan (Salaj County
Museum of History and Art, Zalau), Drs. Ioan and Corina Bejinariu (SCMHA), Peter Cooper
and Corina Stirb (Wriers, Zalau), Zsolt Csok (SCMHA), Patrick and Sandra De Sena
(Somers, N.Y.) Prof. Patricia Fleming (Saint Mary’s College), Dr. Joseph Hagen (John Cabot
University), Prof. Susan Kane (Oberlin College), Prof. Michael MacKinnon (University of
Winnipeg), Elisabeta Marianciuc (SCMHA), Prof. Archer Martin (American Academy in
Rome), Neville McFerrin (University of Michigan), Prof. Mary Merva (JCU), Dott. Maurizio
Miranda (Indo-Italian Institute for Trade and Technology), Prof. Carol Ann Mooney (SMC),
Prof. Franco Pavoncello (JCU), Dr. Horea Pop (SCMHA), Prof. Portia Prebys (SMC and
JCU), Daniel Sana (Salaj County Commission for Cultural and Natural Patrimony), Christian
Spinu (SCMHA), Edit Ujfalvi (Salaj County Dept. of Land and Housing Registry), Dr. Robert
Wanner (University of Leicester) and Daniel Weiss (University of Virginia), the Romanian
Ministry of Culture, John Cabot University, Saint Mary’s College, and especially...the 2004,
2006-2010 Field School Students!
www.porolissum.org