Contribuţii la cunoaşterea obiectelor de os şi corn de cerb din Municipium Septimium Apulense. Descoperiri recente / Contributions to the study of bone and deer antler artefacts from Municipium Septimium Apulense. Recent discoveries

Abstract

The authors present a batch of 81 items made of bone and antler found in 2016 and 2017 in Alba Iulia, in the southern sector of Municipium Septimium Apulense, with the occasion of preventive archaeological researches. Based on the discovered fibula, the bone and antler pieces were chronologically dated to the 3rd century, more precisely, from the beginning of the century to the Aurelian withdrawal. The vast majority of items were discovered in 2017. Among them two unfinished pieces were identified. In our opinion this speaks for the existence in the researched area or in its proximity of a small workshop for bone and antler processing. The discovered items belong to the following categories : toiletries and adorments (bone hair pins, a deer antler pendant), household items (needles, needle boxes, perforators), gaming pieces (tokens), a musical instrument (whistle), a medical instrument (spatula), and some fragile pieces with uncertain attribution. Significant quantities of objects made of bone and red deer antler have been discovered in the Roman canabae / municipium Septimium Apulense during the archaeological excavations, both preventive and systematic, undertaken so far. Most of them are already assesed in the scientific literature. This recently discovered artefacts are useful to complete our information about this category of items from Dacia in general and from Apulum in particular.