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    • Ancient golden plaque could point to abundance of Roman-era finds
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    Ancient golden plaque could point to abundance of Roman-era finds

    Umito Posted on

    • Continued excavations of a Roman fort in Adjara, Georgia, have yielded new artifacts and, more importantly, clues to additional finds.
    • The latest discovery, a gold religious plaque, alludes to a lost Roman temple located near the site.
    • Archaeologists are now eager to research the temple, believing it will lead to a host of important discoveries.

    The search for a lost Roman temple is on. As archaeologists continued their excavations a Roman fort As far back as the first century AD, in what is now Adjara, Georgia, the team discovered a gold votive plaque inscribed in Greek honoring a deity worshiped by Roman soldiers. Experts believe this is a strong clue to another nearby discovery waiting to happen.

    “The discovery reinforces the hypotheses that a sanctuary dedicated to Dolichenus existed near the Apsaros fort,” according to a translated text. statement » by Radoslaw Karasiewicz-Szyzypiorski of the Center for Mediterranean Archeology at the University of Warsaw, “and the search for this sanctuary will be the focus of future excavation seasons”.

    The plate itself is a thin gold plate with a Greek inscription dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus, a god worshiped by Roman soldiers. It was common for worshipers to leave these plaques at places of worship, but few survive around 2,000 years like the one found in Adjara. Karasiewicz-Szyzypiorski said at a university statement that this discovery, along with other small finds made at the fort over the years, indicate a temple dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus which must once have stood nearby.

    “Vestiges of temples and other traces of the worship of this deity have been found in many garrisons,” he said. “We hope that further research will not only uncover the temple of Jupiter of Dolichea at Apsaros, but also confirm that eastern influence extended west and north to many garrisons, including through soldiers stationed periodically at Apsaros.”

    The 2024 excavation campaign on the site also provided a new perspective on wine in the region. Archaeologists discovered fire ovens amphorae-the unique two-handled jugs used by the Romans to transport wine. One kiln even still contained an amphora, confirming that colchicum amphorae (popular in the Black Sea region) were produced at the fort.

    “The number and size of the amphora kilns indicate that Apsaros must have been a regionally important center of production and expertise,” Karasiewicz-Szyzypiorski said. “It is unlikely that local wines have gone beyond the Black Sea basin. They were probably produced mainly for the needs of the Roman garrisons deployed on the coasts of this basin.

    The fort of the town of Gonio yielded a multitude of interesting finds in later years, comprising a granary used by the garrison, latrines, a wine press behind the fortress walls (soldiers had to fill the amphorae with something), several ovens and the garrison commander’s house, with mosaics on the floor. Earlier this year, the team discovered a third mosaic in the commander’s house.

    “The mosaic found is a series of fragments that were moved from their original location as a result of the earthquake,” Karasiewicz-Szyzypiorski said. “We can’t yet reconstruct its appearance, but we know so far that there was a single red stripe on a light background, which most likely formed a meandering pattern.”

    Portrait of Tim Newcomb

    Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, equipment, infrastructure and more for various publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews include interviews with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.

    Umito
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