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Cioroiu Nou
The dig at Cioroiu Nou
Photo Don Hitchcock, 1st October 2008
Cioroiu Nou - Scrutinising and assessing the site, Easter 2019
Cioroiu Nou was visited by Adrian and Alexandru at Easter, and was carefully checked for any changes that may have occurred.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 22 April 2019
In general, the site was in reasonable condition, although the tower and the bridge need minor repairs.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 22 April 2019
Cioroiu Nou - Proposal for Weather Protection
Cioroiu Nou - overview of weather protection.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 18th February 2015
Cioroiu Nou - this is a study (still in conceptual form, with more upgrades planned) that Alexandru made for an 'Archaeology and Architecture' course at his University, as a proposal for Cioroiu Nou site.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 1st February 2015
It involves a dome, 60 m in diameter and 10 m high, with an 'oculus' in the upper part (the opening - very good for natural ventilation, it ensures the hot and humid air gets out and the rain doesn't get in because of this ascending continuous air current). The structure has a honeycomb shape, made of metal, and glass panels.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 1st February 2015
Also, inside you can see very thin fabric walls, hung from the structure, to give some sense of the dimension and relation of the buildings.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 1st February 2015
Upon further archaeological study, such a model can be replicated (with different sizes) for other points of interest in the huge (over 10 hectares) area of occupation for the Roman site at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 1st February 2015
Cioroiu Nou - Is it Malva?
Cioroiu Nou is still producing important discoveries. There are so many buildings here that it is believed that it is Malva, the capital of the ancient province Dacia Malvenis.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd September 2014
The leader of the campaign, Exp.Arh.Dr Dorel Petrus Bondoc is still searching for a written artefact to prove this connection.
It is, at the very least, a huge Roman town.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd September 2014
Cioroiu Nou - The Romans are coming!
A lot of fun was had dressing up to promote the archaeological site as still being under Roman rule!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th September 2014
Cioroiu Nou - Important Discoveries
At the Cioroiu Nou site, important discoveries have been made by the specialists headed by Exp. Arh. Dr Dorel Petrus Bondoc from Oltenia Museum.
New foundations, ruins and artefacts have shown the huge potential of the site. The team is waiting for the biggest confirmation: that here was the capital Malva of Dacia Malvensis province, under the Roman rule.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st September 2014
Cioroiu Nou - Beginning of the digging campaign for 2014
Now that it is August, archaeological digs are starting again at Cioroiu Nou, under the management of Exp. Arh. Dr Dorel Petrus Bondoc from Oltenia Museum.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th August 2014
There are high hopes for more huge discoveries in this important area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th August 2014
Cioroiu Nou Tourists
Adrian had a long walk, under the hot summer sun, in the southern part of the archaeological site of Cioroiu Nou, across the Baboia River, searching to understand this huge site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th August 2014
Even at a long distance from the site, more than 500 metres to the south, there can still be found artefacts, very rare, on agricultural land, from the Bronze Age, the Daco-Roman period, and the Roman period. At least two tumuls were found there, 500 metres to the south of the site, across the Baboia River.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th August 2014
A few tourists visited the site, so Adrian made a presentation of the site to them. According to the tourists, the site is still poorly advertised, badly presented so far as information boards are concerned, but the site is impressive. The digs will soon start again here, under the management of Exp. Arh. Dr Dorel Petrus Bondoc, from Oltenia Museum, and the tourists will come soon to talk to him about the details of this beautiful site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th August 2014
Cioroiu Nou Visit
Alexandru and Georgia made a quick visit to the Cioroiu Nou archaeological site to see the improvements and the latest discoveries from there.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th February 2014
Cioroiu Nou on Google Earth
Google Earth has updated its imagery for the site of Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Google Earth, June 2013
Plan of the situation at Cioroiu Nou at the start of 2014
On the first day of 2014, Adrian made a plan and record of the situation today at the Cioroiu Nou Archaeological site, in order to form a better understanding of it. It seems to be an important ancient Roman location, well made, following an ancient plan used to make all such encampments.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st January 2014
It seems that not all the foundations uncovered here belong to the same period of time. As well, more surprises no doubt wait in store for us!
The site is under the management of the Oltenia Museum of Craiova, and the research is lead by Exp. Dr Arch. Dorel Petrus Bondoc, one of the most important scientists of Romania in the field of the ancient Roman period.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st January 2014
Diagram of the foundations at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd January 2014
Fireplace at Cioroiu Nou
A fireplace has been found at Cioroiu Nou, on the line between the wooden watch tower and the top of the hill to the south, near its top.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th December 2013
The discovery has an area of about 9 square metres, and is full of crumbling bricks and burnt clay, destroyed by ploughing for crops.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th December 2013
It was a surprise to find it, and it needs to be evaluated by specialists. A cigarette packet has been placed on it to locate it and give a sense of scale.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th December 2013
At the end of the winter of 2013, the archaeological Roman site of Cioroiu Nou is ready for the next stage of its improvements.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 24th February 2013
The site is still not very well protected against the local animals.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 24th February 2013
The Cioroiasi Mayor is ready also to be involved in new EU projects within his community. Perhaps this year will be a better one, who knows?
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 24th February 2013
Adrian and Ionutz went to the Cioroiu Nou archaeological site to improve the roof of the wooden watch tower which is still guarding the ancient Roman ruins there.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st October 2012
It is another good resource for the tourists who come here to see a model of cooperation between the Oltenia Museum (Exp. Arch. Dr Dorel Petrus Bondoc) and NGO Alexis Project, owner of the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st October 2012
Sketch plan of Cioroiu Nou.
Photo and artwork: Adrian Gheorghe 29th June 2011
Completion of the 2012 digs at Cioroiu Nou
Cioroiu Nou at the end of the 2012 archaeological campaign.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 21st September 2012
Start of the 2012 digs at Cioroiu Nou
The new season of digs at Cioroiu Nou is about to start.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th July 2012
Adrian and Alexandru Gheorghe, and Dorel Bondoc inspected the site to plan this summer's campaign.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th July 2012
School Group at Cioroiu Nou
When Adrian was visiting the Cioroiu Nou ancient Roman site to make new plans for the summer campaign, he found a lot of children from schools in the area visiting the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th April 2012
He took the opportunity to walk the students and teachers over the entire site, and to explain to them, step by step, the efforts of the Oltenia Museum to improve more searches in the area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th April 2012
It was a beautiful spring day, and he was very happy to be in the middle of the children, to show them our past, and to tell them tales from the history of their country. Perhaps in the future there will be many such meetings, as the teachers of the children promised.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th April 2012
Adrian and Exp.Dr.Arch. Dorel Petrus Bondoc,from Oltenia Museum went to the huge site of Cioroiu Nou, the most important site in Dolj County, in the middle of winter, at the start of the new year.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd January 2012
They are making plans for the future, hoping to apply for a European Project grant to develop the site, and to increase tourism to the area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd January 2012
They found the area in good condition, still protected, even though there is still a lot to do at the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd January 2012
Cioroiou Nou under 2011 digs..
At the site of Cioroiu Nou, Arch. Exp. Dr Dorel Petrus Bondoc works to bring to light the glory of ancient Roman times.
Step by step, huge 'new' buildings appear in the eastern area of the ancient Romans Thermes/Bath.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 31st August 2011
Step by step, the most important visitable site of Dolj County becomes bigger and more important, ready to apply for an EU project grant to promote it.
The Alexis Project, in cooperation with the Oltenia Museum, and under the management of Prof. Univ. Dr Mihai Viorel Fifor, is ready to organise an EU project for the sites of Cioroiu Nou, in cooperaton with our Bulgarian friends, under the management of Miss Ec. Gabriela Antonova.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 31st August 2011
Adrian writes:
Today, Alexandru and I were at the Cioroiou Nou site to make an evaluation of the site after a hard winter.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th April 2011
There has been no significant damage to the site, all is in good condition ready for future searches soon, under the management of Exp. Arch. Dr Dorel Bondoc, from Oltenia Museum, the most important motivating force for this important discovery.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th April 2011
Adrian writes:
Today we met with the people who work on the Cioroiu Nou site during summer, friends of ours, to talk about the projects which are on the drawing board for the next season of digs.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th February 2011
Adrian and Exp. Arch. Dr. Dorel Bondoc, the specialist from Oltenia Museum went to the Cioroiu Nou site to check on the protection of the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th February 2011
The site is in good condition, and looks very good, even though it is still winter, and spring is still far away.
The Alexis team has a lot of plans for the future, depending on the agreement of the Oltenia Museum.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th February 2011
Adrian writes:
Alexandru was today at the Cioroiu Nou site where the entire site is well and waits for the next year's campaign.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th November 2010
Adrian writes:
Today we start the final step for ending the season of 2010 digs at the Cioroiu Nou site.
Exp. Arch. Dr. Dorel Bondoc is ready to make the final steps to protect the digs against rain and snow, even though the digs area is huge and includes the entire Thermes building plus the new eastern building there.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th September 2010
We started to dig here in June, then through July, August, and now September, four months of hard digs, as well as making the Roman replicas of the clay wall, the palisade, the watch tower, and the bridge.
It was all possible only through the help and guidance of Prof. Dr. Mihai Fifor of the Oltenia Museum, a very good coordinator of the project.
Next year we shall do more, but this year is a victory for Romanian Archaeology here!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th September 2010
This is a very important document drawn with great care by Dr Gheorghe which shows the accurate dimensions of the Roman Thermae at Cioroiu Nou, which includes the vital GPS coordinates.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th August 2010
Three dimensional reconstruction of the building at Cioroiu Nou by Alexis Project Team Member Alexandru Gheorghe, who is doing Architecture at the Universitatea de Arhitectura si Urbanism "Ion Mincu" at Bucharest.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe 26th September 2010
The Roman Thermae are almost ready to be uncovered, the entire building has eight huge rooms. The ancient architect Vistuvius said that, for such a building, the standard number of rooms is six. It seems that to the south there are other buildings and a huge number of artefacts, including coins, pottery and bricks.
This must be the fabled Malva!!
There is too much luxury, too much stone walling, too much pottery, too many important artefacts!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th August 2010
To the east of the Thermae, new buildings are ready to be uncovered.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th August 2010
This is the first document from our National School of Archaeology from Cioroiu Nou, named after the name of our deceased friend, Costi Para - another of Dr Gheorghe's dreams has come to fruition.
It is hoped that this area will be a project for researchers from the University.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th August 2010
This is a general map of the Cioroiu Nou site as at 10.08.2010, with all important data marked as at this time, as well as a List of the GPS points which are of importance at this time.
Here we can see Dr Gheorghe's private property, as well as the Eruga River, the main road to Silistea Crucii from Cioroiu Nou village, the village itself, the clay wall replica, the extent of the ancient clay wall as can be seen on the satellite image, the new digs, and the Thermae building area.
From the excavations so far, it would seem that the Thermae building is under the ancient clay wall of the fortress, so the Thermae building must have been built before the middle of the 3rd Century. In the 3rd Century, there was a war with the Carps warriors (an ancient tribe in Romania) as well as others.
(This would indicate that as conditions deteriorated for the Roman forces, luxuries like Thermae were abandoned in favour of better defences against the local tribes trying to retake the land taken from them by the invading Romans - Don)
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th August 2010
Old Map of Cioroiu Nou, and the result when it is placed over a google earth image of the same area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 30th August 2010
New discoveries have been made at Cioroiu Nou, of two more ancient rooms, linked by the southern part of the Thermae buildings. There are now eight rooms discovered with the Thermae buildings, a huge building, which shows that it was an important location, known as a Colonia.
It is believed it is the area known as Malva, the main city of Dacia Malvensis.
This photograph, taken from the watch tower, gives a very good overview of the Thermae buildings.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th August 2010
At the same time, the digs to the eastern part of the site continue, not far from the Thermae buildings.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th August 2010
Also here today was Cezara Bondoc, age 14, the new hope of our friend Dorel Bondoc, for better times ahead.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th August 2010
The Dream Takes Shape in Reality!
It took two days to complete wooden access stairs to climb the clay wall and the wooden watch tower, which is now complete.
Workers under Dr Gheorghe's management built the wooden stairs into the watch tower from the top of the clay wall, but now the stairs to the earth wall had to be built also.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2010
First the stairs had to be designed to careful, accurate and safe dimensions and correct building standards, then began the difficult and time consuming task of cutting out the materials so that the construction could take place quickly and easily.
There were at the Cioroiu Nou site, always two teams: Exp. Dr. Arch. Dorel Bondoc with about 15 workers, just to dig inside the site, and another team made up of Dr Gheorghe and two to five workers to construct Roman Replica Projects such as a watch tower, palisade, and the wooden Rhine Bridge.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2010
Wooden Pallets were used as a support on the surface of the clay wall, and the stairs were built on that as a surface, which worked well.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2010
Dr Gheorghe writes:
"At all times there was cooperation between the two teams. As an example here, in my project, I was glad to cooperate with Dorel Bondoc, who gave invaluable input and encouragement into the design of the project for a Roman Replica Castrum. This is the only such tower in Romania, and is a very good replica of what would have been constructed at the time."
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2010
A general view of the digs at Cioroiu Nou, at the beginning of August 2010, when the General Manager of the Oltenia Museum approved a new period of digs during August, because of the importance of discoveries on the site.
This general image shows the Thermae buildings, not all uncovered, also a new dig area in the eastern part of the site, where there is another building ready to be uncovered.
Out of frame in this image is the newly built wooden watch tower, the wooden palisade, the clay wall replica of the ancient fortress, as well as the wooden bridge which has been built over the river.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
Even though this new period of digs has been proceeding for only a few days, there have been a lot of artefacts discovered in the area, including pottery, iron and bronze pieces, stones and bricks.
Here is a small sample of the discoveries, a small toy from Roman times, a small animal which has lost its head, a beautiful artefact for children's games.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
A piece of Terra Sigillata pottery, but not from Roman times. It was made by the Dacian people and is a very rare piece.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
A huge incomplete iron key, from the eastern part of the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
Pottery pieces for adult games, called in Romanian Tzintar or Moara.
In English it is known as Nine Men's Morris, and it is an old game played since ancient times all over the world.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
A beautiful piece made of bronze, a bracelet for a child, called a Bratzara.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
Samples of artefacts found at the beginning of August at the Cioroiu Nou area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd August 2010
Cioroiu Nou is a small village near a town from the southern part of the Oltenia County, called Bailesti, between Craiova and Calafat, on the left bank of the Danube. Cioroi means "Crow" in Romanian. Originally it would have been Cioroiul Nou, (the new place of the crows) abbreviated to Cioroiu' Nou, and the apostrophe was then abandoned.
Dr Dorel Bondoc from the Oltenia Museum says that the site was discovered in 1930. It is situated at the eastern exit from Cioroiu Nou village, on the right side of the main road, beween the eastern part of the village and the cemetery.
This photograph from Google Earth shows the archaeological site, and the extent of the Cioroiu Nou area used during Roman times.
Photo: Google Earth.
This map concerns the connection between the Cioroiu Nou site and the Rudari vilage area, from which comes the stones to build, in ancient times, the Roman town at Cioroiu Nou.
These stones, known as Siga are not so good for buildings, not strong, but were the only stone available to build the site.
The distance between the two locations is about 15 km, from NW to SE, but still we have no data about an ancient Roman road between the sites.
In the Cioroiu Nou site there are bricks for buildings, as well as two types of stones, those that came from Rudari, as identified by a specialist from Oltenia Museum, Aurelian Popescu.
Today the Rudari stone area is an empty, ghost area, but many years ago there was a lot of stone for buildings, as may still be seen in villages nearby, where those stones are still used in buildings.
Another type of stone, Calcar, or limestone, can also be found on the Cioroiu Nou site, and it would be good to find the source for this stone.
Photo: Google Earth
Final Evaluation before the Summer 2010 Campaign
Dr Gheorghe went to Cioroiu Nou for a final evaluation before the next level of search this year, which will be made soon by Exp. Arch. Dr Dorel Bondoc, with the help of the Oltenia Museum of Craiova.
The result of the assessment is that the site is in good condition, some villagers have made improvements to the site according to the advice of Dr Bondoc, and a small well made stone path has been laid, leading to the memorial at the entrance to the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 12th May 2010
Spring at Cioroiu Nou
At the beginning of May, Adrian and Dorel Bondoc made a new evaluation at the Cioroiu Nou site. Even though it was a very hard winter and a rainy spring, the memorial stone is still in very good condition.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
The site itself is in good condition, even if there is some water inside because of snow and rain. Dorel already has a project for a method to protect the site against water during this summer's digs.
A few holes made by treasure hunters were found, but they seemed old, before winter.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
Around the site, there is still a huge area with artefacts. Dorel said that the entire ancient village spread over more than 17 Hectares.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
New Book on Cioroiu Nou
A new book written by Arch. Exp. Dr Dorel Bondoc, from Oltenia Museum, with the most important 100 artefacts from the Cioroiu Nou site. This is a huge contribution to Romanian culture and history.
Note that the Alexis Project has been mentioned on the front cover as a contributor.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th December 2009
Photo: from the files of D. Bondoc
A Roman sarcophagus of stone, found at Cioroiu Nou in a Roman tomb, the Tumul Number 1. just at the intersection of the Eruga River and the Baboia River. It was destroyed during the earthquake of the 4th of March 1977. Most of the fragments have been lost, with the remainder at the Oltenia Museum.
The lid (operculus) was made of sandy grit stone, with acroteras in the four corners. The box (arca) was made of calcareous stone, without any ornament or inscription. Its dimensions were the following: 1.20 x 0.68 x 0.68m.
Excavations by C.S. Nicolaescu-Plopşor and D. Tudor in 1938, inside a tumulus at the west of the fortification, behind the Eruga stream. The Museum of Oltenia, Craiova, inv. I 1799/ 12538.
References:
D. Bondoc, O contribuţie a lui C.S. Nicolaescu-Plopşor sau despre sarcofagele romane de la Muzeul Olteniei din Craiova, Anuarul Institutului de Cercetări Socio-Umane "C.S. Nicolaescu-Plopşor", 2, Craiova, 2000, p. 75-78.
D. Bondoc, Inscripţii şi piese sculpturale. Muzeul Olteniei Craiova / Roman inscriptions and sculptural pieces. The Museum of Oltenia, Craiova, Craiova 2004, p. 31, no. 39.
D. Bondoc, Cioroiu Nou. 100 descoperiri arheologice / One hundred archaeological discoveries, Craiova 2010, p. 35, no. 24.
Even though it is the middle of winter, the site of Cioroiu Nou has been sleeping for only a few months, but it is ready to go ahead at all times.
Here, Arch. Exp. Dr Dorel Bondoc gives Adrian and Alexis' new president, Alina Neagoe, his new book about the most important one hundred artefacts found at Cioroiu Nou, for a better cooperation in the future.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th December 2009
It is a very interesting book, written by a very good specialist in the field of Archeology.
The book is the result also of the hard work and support by Oltenia Museum and its General Manager, Prof. Dr Mihai Fifor, and to the County authorities, who donated very important help and money to go ahead with the special search at this site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th December 2009
Since the summer of 2009, Arch. Dr Exp. Dorel Bondoc, the manager of the Cioroiu Nou site, has had in hand a project to make a stone marker at Cioroiu Nou, to keep the memory of those who have worked at this site, for ever.
With the contribution of the important newspaper Editie Special and the journalist Carla Dodocioiu, a huge stone was brought from Gorj County mountains, and a local company created the plaque and affixed it to the stone.
The 1st December 2009 was an important day for Romania, marking an important milestone for the researches at the Cioroiu Nou archaeological site.
Standing in the bitter winter wind near evening, looking at Dr Gheorghe's friend Dorel, he could not help thinking of the dreams come to fruition at this moment:
Arch. Dr Exp. Dorel Bondoc, who has worked here for ten years to uncover an ancient and very important Roman Colonia, possibly Malva.
Adrian Gheorghe, with his own dreams and acts to make the idea become reality.
The General Manager of Oltenia Museum, Prof. Dr Mihai Fifor, with his important help for the future of the site.
as well as the many others who have contributed to this important result.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st December 2009
This newspaper article details the contribution of the important newspaper Editie Special and the journalist Carla Dodocioiu, whereby a huge stone was brought from Gorj County mountains, and a local company created the plaque and affixed it to the stone.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st December 2009
Villa Rustica Site at Cioroiu Nou
In the eastern part of the Cioroiu Nou site, about 2-300 metres east from the edge of the village, there is a large area with Roman artefacts, such as bricks, stones and pottery.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th November 2009
Here Adrian indicates the "shadow" of a wall in the field, where pieces of the wall are visible at the surface of the ground after being dug up by agricultural works.
This shadow is from west to east, about 20 metres long and half a metre wide, with GPS points of:
Altitude 73 metres, 44° 03' 38.9" N, 23° 26' 39.1" E
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th November 2009
A number of artefacts were recovered from the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th November 2009
At about 400 metres north-east from the main site of Cioroiu Nou, there is a large area with Roman artefacts, as well as artefacts from the ancient Cotofeni culture.
This is near the presumed Villa Rustica, and together they may have made the same ancient village.
GPS Points: 1: Altitude 73 Metres, 44° 03' 30.9" N, 23° 26' 44.6" E
There is also a clay fire place or brick wall.
Artefacts found in the area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th November 2009
"Shadow" of an ancient wall.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th November 2009
Last search of 2009
Behind Dr Adrian Gheorghe, there is a large Tumul, or raised earth area from a tomb, which would repay excavation by specialists. It may be part of a necropola.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th October 2009
Adrian and Dr Dorel Bondoc, searching the fields on a cold, rainy, windy day, around Cioroiu Nou village.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th October 2009
This stone in the area seems to have been shaped with iron tools, but there are no letters carved on it.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th October 2009
Even with heavy rain, the site is bearing up well, because of the work of Dorel Bondoc during this last summer.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th October 2009
Tumuls at Cioroiu Nou
Together with a young member of the Alexis Project Team, Catain Sarbu, a student in history at Craiova University, the team made a hunt for ancient Roman tombs, or Tumuls, in the area of Cioroiu Nou. Here Catalin marks the point "0" of the search, the datum point, on the huge stone which Dorel Bondoc wants to use to welcome visitors with a message carved on the stone.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2009
Walking to Tumul 5, in the western part of the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2009
For about 2 000 years Tumul 4 has been sleeping in this Oltenian field.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2009
On top of Tumul 3, Catalin marks with his fingers the number three.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2009
Some of the Tumuls had a marker. Tumul 5 also seems to be marked with a special stone on top of it.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2009
This is a draft map and table of data for the Tumuls found around Cioroiu Nou. They were mapped by Dorel Bondoc and Adrian Gheorghe, using a GPS, and the diameter and height are given, as shown in the table. There are three Tumuls here, not very far from the ancient castrum.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2009
Tumul 8, Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Google Earth 16th November 2009
Tumul 8
Diameter about 35 metres, height about 7 metres.
GPS Altitude 80 metres, 44° 03' 19.5" N, 23° 27' 39.5" E
This seems to be an ancient Tumul, or "main hill", with two or three smaller hills nearby, covering it, as though over time other people were put into the tomb, near the ancient one.
Because the distance from the main site of Cioroiu Nou is too large, it seems that this tomb is not a Roman one.
The area around Tumul 8 is covered by ancient Roman artefacts - bricks and pottery.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th November 2009
Rudari - the source of the stones for Cioroiu Nou
A general view of the stone area at Rudari Village. It is a huge hill, full of rocks.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th October 2009
Even though during 2 000 years there were a lot of stones taken from the hill, there are still a lot of them remaining in the area, many of 1 000 or 2 000 kilograms each. But the ones found were not well structured, with cracks and other faults.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th October 2009
Dorel and Adrian, after 2 000 years, back in Roman dress, at the Rudari stones area, ready to defend the site!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th October 2009
We can find, even today, that in a few villages around the area where stones may be found, people still work these stones to make more buildings.
Here is a stone foundation for a wooden building, now demolished, which would have had farm animal food kept inside it.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th October 2009
Marks of iron tools on one of the stones, made by a worker many years ago.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th October 2009
It is believed that the stone for Cioroi Nou came from this quarry at Rudari, about 15 km south of Cioroi Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
We have worked out the path the ancient road must have gone between the two locations, so we started from Cioroiu Nou to Rudari, where we searched for the sort of stones which Cioroiu Nou already has inside ancient buildings, called here şagă.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
There are still a lot of stones at the quarry, so, with a great deal of effort, Dorel chose a few of them to take from there and go back to the Cioroiu Nou site, for a reconstruction of ancient times.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
As a vision, during the hard work by Dorel to search and take the heavy stones, I had a dream, in which ancient workers did a lot of hard work in the area of Rudari, but, at the same time, the Roman soldiers stayed on top of the hills around, looking at the workers and ensuring they did their jobs...
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 1st May 2010
Searching in the Cioroiu Nou area
The walking was difficult, and although it was not so cold, the sky was very cloudy, and we had to make our way over rough fields and swollen rivers. We took four hours to walk ten kilometres while searching for anything of interest.
Dorel Bondoc crossing the Baboia River, in the southern part of the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd October 2009
In the centre of this image is a small hill. This is a Tumul, an ancient tomb such as many around the Cioroiu Nou area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd October 2009
Dorel Bondoc will bring to the site this huge stone on which will be written our names and the work carried out here.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd October 2009
We found in Radovan village, about 20 Km from from Cioroiu Nou a place with stones, as Rudari village is, but a very small one.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd October 2009
In a new and exciting development, work is well advanced on the reconstruction of part of the site of Cioroiu Nou, as well as other actions to protect it from the cold and rain of winter. By the end of July, much had been accomplished in the rebuilding of the heated floor.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th July 2009
Adrian Gheorghe and Dorel Bondoc inspect the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th July 2009
Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the pillars of the hypocaust.
Text and photo: Wikipedia
Underfloor heating was first used by the Romans. Initially the preserve of the rich, underfloor heating became increasingly commonplace in public buildings and villas, particularly in the colder regions of the Roman Empire.
The Roman system was based on hypocausts, comprising ducts that underlay the floor (itself built on raised brick piles), and flues that were built into walls. Hot air or steam from fires circulated up through this system, warming the floor and walls, with heat passing into the rooms.
More specifically, the floor was laid out as series of concrete slabs supported by columns of layered tiles, with a furnace at the bottom of one exterior wall. By placing the fire here, the draught would take the heat under the floor, and up through the walls to chimneys located in the corners of the room. The height of the stack of tiles was about 2 feet (61 cm) as this was found to be the most efficient height for the air to travel through.
Once the air had passed under the floor, the air was drawn into the walls and up the flues by the action of the hot air already rising in the flues creating a partial vacuum and so pulling the air below into the walls. The walls were very often made of bricks with two holes horizontally through them. This had the effect of passing the air through the walls and into the flues, thereby warming the walls also.
In the Roman baths, the furnace was placed next to the hottest room (caldarium) in which three walls of this room were heated so that the room reached a temperature of up to 120 °F (49 °C). The warm room (tepidarium) only had one wall heated which made this room cooler than the caldarium.
The furnace was the heating source of the system and this was placed on the outside of the house, below the floor that ran under the room that was to be the hottest room in the house. One room was always hotter than the rest, as the air flowing under the floor would naturally lose some of its heat as it was traveling under the floor.
Text: Wikipedia
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th July 2009
By the end of the first week in August, the original plan of the Hypocaust has been recreated, a huge but rewarding task.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th August 2009
A Roman soldier inspects the foundations of the Hypocaust.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th August 2009
When a child appears, he explains to her some important features of the structure.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th August 2009
The girl is fascinated by the heroic tales of the big brave Legionary!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th August 2009
Later, a cohort of Roman Legionaries visit the ancient site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th September 2009
Extremely Rare Icon Found
Icoană dacică extrem de rară, dezgropată la Cioroiul Nou
Source: Editie Speciala
Reporter: Carla Dodocioiu
English Translation: Don Hitchcock
URL: http://www.editie.ro/new/mod.php?mod=stiri§iune=online&idcat=5&idstire=86687&title=Icoana-dacica-extrem-de-rara--dezgropata-la-Cioroiul-Nou
Archaeologist Dorel Bondoc says that worldwide there are only 40 such representations of the Danube Knights. A new campaign of archaeological excavations carried out at site of Cioroiu Nou has had the most spectacular results so far. In just a few days, archaeologist Dorel Bondoc managed to unearth an item of inestimable value: a picture made of lead, almost 2000 years old, testimony to the mystical cult of the Knights Danube, who worshipped clandestinely a Dacian goddess. While revealing details about the life of aristocratic Romans including their occupations and entertainment, the settlement of Cioroiu Nou seems, moreover, to have been a most important strategic focus of Dacia.
Painted pottery from the earliest period, not widespread in the rest of the Roman Empire until a century later, many coins used in trade, inscriptions and bricks with the stamp Legion VII Claudia has all these new discoveries define Cioroiu Nou as the most important strategic focus area in the north-Danube area.
If the way of life of the Romans quartered in Oltenia Plain information was rich anyway, the recent discovery of archaeologist Dorel Bondoc comes to support an older theory, detailed history research by the famous Dumitru Tudor: namely that, under Roman occupation, the people of southern Dacia did not adopt the formal divinity of the empire, but along with the Roman settlers gave rise to a new religious cult, the Knights of the Danube.
"It is maybe the most important discovery that I have made. In the world there is only a maximum of 40 such icons, all with a mystery regarding the imprinted symbols. These two Knights of the Danube which are on one side of the Great Mother of gods, taking over the moon and the sun and between - a table with three legs, on which is a fish. A spectacular representation, very well preserved, which talks about a Romanian cult."
Dorel Bondoc said.
Light and Civilization
The icon of lead joins other vestiges of life on the surface during the first days of the excavation campaign. A complete set of pots with plates, castroane, aromatic oils for burners, pots, carafe and glass objects are added to writing utensils, coins and remains of game. The inhabitants of the settlement of Cioroiu Nou were not commoners. The large settlement had reserved for relaxing, luxurious pools, filled with water heated by under floor furnaces.
"This was an incredible luxury. The residents came here to daub some special oils and then cleaned with the so-called strigillius. Then into the river with hot water or cold. After bathing outside, standing on the banks, socialize, or playing other games. This speaks about their level of civilization, about the economic situation of the settlement, about their importance and rank." Dorel Bondoc explained.
The Commander of the VII Legion Claudia Legion stayed at Cioroiu Nou
As further evidence of the importance of settlement in Cioroiu Nou lies on an inscription discovered in 1938 by Dumitru Tudor, and recently explained in the most plausible way by Dan Balteanu:
"Goddess Diana, and his genius Mercurius stasiunii, Elius Ghermanus, speculated the Legion of VII Claudia MA, dedication put in the soul."
The inscription was placed in the settlement of Trac Maximin, the first Roman emperor of barbarian origin, which led the empire between 235 and 238.
"This inscription speaks of a speculation, by an important man, charged with espionage and spying information of value of the empire and the province, near a living place of the Legion commander in the region. This may mean that here was stationed the Legion and the commander of the VII Claudia, is extremely important because it makes it an exceptional place, " Dorel Bondoc said.
The thesis, that in summer this year, that it is possible that Cioroiu Nou may be found to be the largest settlement in the Dacia Malvensis seems now to be close to confirmation.
Site ready to receive visitors in the autumn
Encouraged by discoveries made in Cioroiu Nou, over nine years of excavations, archeologist Dorel Bondoc, supported by Alexis Project Foundation, is more close to what seemed until recently only a beautiful dream. "I want to have here in the autumn, the first archeological site tour in Dolj county. I wish to have over these walls a half metre of construction, made especially for these old walls, and to have such an objective tour. Now it may seem a dream, but I say that it is achievable. From what I have calculated I need about 10 000 lei, but I do not have the money. I intend, instead, to get materials needed by asking friends to donate time and materials. I can not promise, but I will fight for it " Bondoc said.
Searchers have taken treasure from the ruins
What is alarming is that at Cioroiu Nou, the fruits of nine years of research and systematic efforts are jeopardized by the treasure hunters, who take advantage of the fact that, currently, there are no reliable protection measures which are required at such an important archeological site. "I immediately recognize the tracks. Metal detectors have been used to find and dig up with a square spade blade objects of value. The treasure hunters hope to bring to the surface something extremely valuable, which can be sold on the antique black market. The worst perpetrators can cause irreparable damage to the profile walls, destroying something that has been kept safe so many hundreds of years, but breaks under their spade. The authorities need to be vigilant and alert"
Arheologul Dorel Bondoc spune că în întreaga lume nu există mai mult de 40 de astfel de reprezentări ale Cavalerilor Danubieni.
A noua campanie de săpături arheologice derulată la situl de la Cioroiul Nou se anunţă a fi cea mai spectaculoasă de până acum. În doar câteva zile, arheologul Dorel Bondoc a reuşit să scoată la suprafaţă un vestigiu de o valoare inestimabilă: o icoană din plumb, veche de aproape 2.000 de ani, mărturie a cultului mistic al Cavalerilor Danubieni, zeităţi venerate în clandestinitate de daci. Dezvăluind detalii despre modul de viaţă aristocratic al romanilor, despre ocupaţiile şi distracţiile acestora, aşezarea de la Cioroiul Nou pare, mai mult, să fi fost cel mai important punct de concentrare strategică din Dacia.
Ceramică pictată din secolul al III-lea, răspândită în restul Imperiului Roman abia din un secol mai târziu, numeroase monede folosite la schimburile comerciale, inscripţii şi cărămizi cu ştampila Legiunii a VII-a Claudia, toate aceste descoperiri definesc Cioroiul Nou drept cel mai important punct de concentrare strategică din zona nord-dunăreană.
În stare perfectă de conservare
Dacă despre modul de viaţă al romanilor cantonaţi în Câmpia Olteniei informaţiile erau oricum bogate, recenta descoperire a arheologului Dorel Bondoc vine să susţină o teorie mai veche, detaliată de cercetările renumitului istoric Dumitru Tudor: anume că, sub ocupaţia romană, locuitorii din sudul Daciei nu au adoptat şi divinităţile oficiale ale imperiului, ci, alături de colonişti, au dat naştere unui nou cult religios, cel al Cavalerilor Danubieni.
„Este poate cea mai importantă descoperire pe care am făcut-o vreodată. În lume nu există decât maxim 40 astfel de icoane, toate rămase un mister în ceea ce priveşte simbolurile întipărite. Este vorba de cei doi Cavaleri Danubieni care stau de-o parte şi de alta a Marii Mame a Zeilor, având deasupra soarele şi luna şi între - o masă cu trei picioare, pe care se află un peşte. O reprezentare spectaculoasă, foarte bine conservată, ce vorbeşte despre un cult care sigur nu era al romanilor”,
a declarat Dorel Bondoc.
Lux şi civilizaţie
Icoanei de plumb i se alătură alte vestigii scoase la suprafaţă în primele zile ale campaniei de săpături. Un set complet de veselă, cu farfurii, castroane, arzătoare pentru uleiurile aromate, oale, carafe şi obiecte din sticlă se adaugă ustensilelor pentru scris, monedelor sau pieselor de joc. Viaţa locuitorilor din aşezarea de la Cioroiul Nou nu era una comună. Mai-marii aşezării aveau rezervate, pentru relaxare, somptuoase bazine, pline cu apă încălzită prin podea.
„Aici era un lux incredibil. Locuitorii veneau aici, se ungeau cu nişte uleiuri speciale şi apoi se curăţau cu aşa numitul strigillius. Abia apoi intrau în bazinele cu apă caldă sau rece. După îmbăiere ieşeau afară, stăteau pe bănci, socializau, se jucau ţintar sau alte jocuri. Acest lucru vorbeşte despre nivelul lor de civilizaţie, despre situaţia economică a aşezării, despre rangul şi importanţa ei”,
a explicat arheologul Dorel Bondoc.
Comandantul Legiunii a VII-a Claudia, cantonat la Cioroiu
Ca o dovadă în plus cu privire la importanţa aşezării de la Cioroiul Nou stă şi o inscripţie descoperită în 1938, de Dumitru Tudor, şi explicată de curând în cel mai plauzibil mod de Dan Bălteanu:
„Zeiţei Diana, lui Mercurius şi geniului stasiunii, Elius Ghermanus, speculator al Legiunii a VII-a Claudia MA, a pus dedicaţia din suflet.”
Inscripţia plasează aşezarea în perioada lui Maximin Tracul, primul împărat roman de origine barbară, care a condus imperiul între anii 235 şi 238.
„Această inscripţie vorbeşte despre un speculator, adică un om important, însărcinat cu spionajul şi contraspionajul, cu informaţiile de valoare ale imperiului şi provinciei, un apropiat al comandantului legiunii cantonate într-o regiune. Acest lucru poate însemna că aici a staţionat şi comandantul Legiunii a VII-a Claudia, lucru extrem de important, pentru că face din aşezare una de excepţie”,
a precizat Dorel Bondoc.
Teza sa, pe care o prezenta în vara anului trecut, potrivit căreia nu e exclus ca la Cioroiul Nou să se fi găsit cea mai importantă aşezare din Dacia Malvensis, pare astfel mai aproape de confirmare.
Situl, gata să primească vizitatori din toamnă
Încurajat de descoperirile făcute la Cioroiul Nou, de-a lungul celor nouă ani de săpături, arheologul Dorel Bondoc, sprijinit de fundaţia Alexis Project, este tot mai aproape de ceea ce părea până nu demult doar un vis frumos.
„Vreau să fac aici, în toamnă, primul sit arheologic vizitabil din judeţul Dolj. Am voie să adaug peste aceste ziduri o jumătate de metru de construcţie, făcută special pentru astfel de ziduri vechi, şi să avem astfel un obiectiv turistic. Deocamdată poate părea un vis, dar zic eu că este realizabil. Din ce am calculat eu, este nevoie de vreo 10.000 de lei, însă aceşti bani nu îi am. Am de gând, în schimb, să obţin materialele necesare apelând la prieteni. Nu promit, dar mă lupt pentru asta”,
a mărturisit Bondoc.
Căutătorii de comori au dat iama-n ruine
Alarmant este faptul că, la Cioroiul Nou, roadele a nouă ani de eforturi şi cercetări sistematice sunt periclitate de rapacitatea căutătorilor de comori, care profită de faptul că, în prezent, nu sunt asigurate măsurile de protecţie pe care le cere un sit arheologic de o asemenea importanţă.
„Eu le recunosc imediat urmele. Vin cu hârleţe cu lama pătrată, cu detectoare de metale, şi scot din pământ ce găsesc. Pot scoate un obiect comun, pot scoate ceva extrem de valoros, care se vinde pe piaţa neagră a antichităţilor. Cel mai grav este că pot produce stricăciuni iremediabile la profilul zidurilor. Pot distruge ceva ce s-a păstrat atâtea sute de ani, dar se sparge sub hârleţul lor. Trebuie să se facă şi în acest sens ceva, să fie autorităţile mai vigilente, mai alerte”,
a mărturisit Bondoc.
Even though it has been a rainy winter, the site of Cioroiu Nou is still well protected, although a few clay walls are broken and have collapsed because of the rain. The entire ancient construction at this point is good, but this year measures must be taken in order to protect the site in a better way.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th January 2009
On the 21st December, the Alexis Project team including Catalin Sarbu, from Radovan, went to the Cioroiu Nou site to see how well the temporary protection had stood up to the weather.
As can be seen, the protection is still good, only a few parts were taken by the wind.
Also, a few locals have taken part of the clay storage, at digs 02 and 05, near the northern corner of the ancient Roman building.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 21st December 2008
Adrian and Sirbu Catalin searching the site from Cioroiu Nou looking for problems with the protection of the site. All seems to be well, but, from time to time, it is necessary to verify that the site is in good condition.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th November 2008
Visit from the Australian members of the Alexis Phoenix Team
October 2008
The Eruga River, which passes close by the site, would have been the source of fresh water for the encampment, either directly, or from wells sunk in the fortress which tapped into the ground water supplied by the river.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
Maria Hitchcock and Adrian Gheorghe inspecting the site.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
Inspecting the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe October 1st 2008
These are some of the many pieces of pottery found at the Roman Fortress.
Photo: Maria Hitchcock October 1st 2008
As well as the many flat Roman bricks and tiles, there were occasional pieces which had designs impressed on them, or as here were handles or parts of jugs.
Photo: Maria Hitchcock October 1st 2008
The Hypocaust.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
The Hypocaust.
Photo: Don Hitchcock, Maria Hitchcock October 1st 2008
Occasionally the walls of the dig intersected old structures such as this, the piers of the Hypocaust still in position, and were left to preserve the exact method of construction.
Maria Hitchcock October 1st 2008
These tiles or bricks for the piers sometimes had designs engraved on them.
Maria Hitchcock October 1st 2008
Part of the Roman building on the site.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
The dig has been well surveyed and dug, with adequate walls for inspection and preservation of the site.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
It is obvious that many holes have been dug and filled in with different material during the course of the original building of the fortress, and its later destruction. The circular hole was a test dig by archeologists to determine the sterile base.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
These are the original photos which I have turned into the panorama at the top of this page.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
A frog had taken up residence in the dig, and was hunting for insects in the warm sunshine.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
Close by the dig, a farmer and his wife were making hay, turning it in the late autumn sunshine to get it dry enough to store for the winter.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 1st 2008
The area is used intensively for farming, and ploughing often turns up Roman artefacts.
Photo: Maria Hitchcock October 1st 2008
Final Step 2008 Cioroiu Nou
A general view in the last day of the 2008 search at Cioroiu Nou, this is only part of the huge site discovered this year, about 25 x 25 metres in area, formed by 16 dig-holes with an area of 4 x 4 metres each, separated by clay walls 0.6 metres wide.
The workers have dug about 400 tones of clay - part of it is already deposited in the place for the future clay-wall replica of the fortress.
A large number of great discoveries were made, not just inside the site, such as the huge stone building, but also a lot of stamped bricks, pottery, glass, coins, pieces of iron and stone sculptures.
For the first time, the General Manager of the Oltenia Museum. Prof. Dr. Mihai Fifor has given important funds for this search, five more than last year, and has approved two searches in the same year.
There have also been a lot of newspaper and TV stations talking about the great discovery of the century, the legendary town of Malva, the ancient "Colonia", main city, of Dacia Malvensis, an important area of the Roman domination of Dacia, about half of the present day Romania, in the southern part of the country.
Still to come is a huge wooden roof here, to protect the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th September 2008
Last digs in the last dig-holes, C15 and C16,, under the management of Exp. Dr. Arch. Dorel Bondoc, a hero of archaeology, with four searches in the one year: two at Cioroiu Nou, and one each at Racari and Slavani-Olt county.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th September 2008
Even though everyone is tired and it is cold and windy weather, Dorel Bondoc searches every corner of the dig, with the same attention - this is the mark of a real specialist, always on duty, everywhere, anytime.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th September 2008
And now the last great discovery at Cioroiu Nou this year:
On the left is the image of the older hypocaust, found in July. Yet on the right is yet another hypocaust!
This second hypocaust has no connection with the first, so, as Dorel Bondoc says, it must be a huge building, with two hypocausts, (so far!) and the huge stone building is going towards the south - but to where?
Perhaps it is a huge Thermae building, or perhaps it is the ancient house of a very important Roman, but there are many pieces of evidence to show that the ancient town of Malva has been finally found by the specialists here at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th September 2008
It was a very cold and a windy day.
Only a few people are digging now, it is very hard to work, but most of them are ready to finish the project
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th September 2008
At the hole, dig no.15 a new piece of a huge stone wall is discovered.
There seems to be only one huge stone building here,but,as Exp.Dr.Arch. Dorel Bondoc said, there is much evidence to show other buildings just near by.
Even though it is very cold, and he is very tired, after a long hot summer of search digs at Cioroiu Nou, then Racarii de Jos, now Cioroiu Nou, and - in October - Slaveni must be done, Dorel Bondoc is always present on the site, managing the digs and taking care of the discovered artefacts
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th September 2008
This hole, No. 16, is being dug, but it must be finished in two days, when the search for this year at Cioroiu Nou will end!
The General Manager of Oltenia Museum , Prof.Dr. Mihai Fifor is prepared, as soon as the specialists will finish the digs here, to have other workers build a huge wooden roof, to protect the site, over 900 square metres, for the search next year.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th September 2008
At about 11 am it is time for lunch, in the middle of the site. It is the last photo of meals in the open this year, because starting next year, Oltenia Museum and the Alexis Project want to create proper European conditions for the workers at the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th September 2008
It was very cold at Cioroiu Nou on the fifth day of looking for the Big Stone. It was raining, the water in the river was cold, and there was an icy wind blowing. No good results, but tomorrow is another day.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th September 2008
Adrian and other enthusiasts searching in the river for artefacts at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
This is part of a statue of a roman god, Thanatos, God of Death, found by Adrian at Cioroiu Nou in 2008.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
The specialist archaeologist, Dorel Bondoc, examines the finds.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
Adrian and Dorel Bondoc near hole 14 where another part of the stone-wall of the main ancient building from Cioroiu Nou was discovered. The main building is huge and, behind hole 14 you can see the holes 15 and 16 where we hope to find more about it!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
Another hard day searching for the Big Stone in the Eruga river, covered by forest, a project conceived by the Alexis Project team. Even if today we can not find it, tomorrow we want to make a great effort to search for it!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
Adrian followed information from the people from the village of Cioroiu Nou and searched with his team just at the point where the Eruga river meets another river, the Baboia. There are a lot of broken stones here and very much mud and very cold water. A lot of money was spent by the Alexis Project team to search for the Big Stone.
This action was made with the special agreement of the manager of the digs, Dr Dorel Bondoc, who is very interested in this search, but is very busy with the main search in the site, for the remains of the ancient huge stone building from there.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
This is another great moment for the Alexis Project team. After the Alexis Project team found a lot of artefacts at Ostrovu mare, a necropola at "Malva", a bronze village at Racarii de Sus, a lot of natural fossiliferous sites and many, many others, now, today, Adrian found at Cioroiu Nou, in the Eruga river, at the point where the Eruga river meets the biggest river Baboia, an ancient piece of a statue, which represents the ancient God of Death, Tanatos.
You can see one leg of the God, also his right hand over the left shoulder, also the left hand down - where he keeps the torch of death !!!
Looking like a father with his baby, Adrian loves this piece of stone: now, after 2000 years, Tanatos is coming back to life, as many other artefacts were brought back to a new life by the Alexis Project team. This image, as many others, was made by Alina, who was near Adrian all the time, in a lot of sites,shared with him the same love for history and ancient culture and civilisation from this ground: Oltenia!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
Finally, very tired but very happy, Adrian and Dorel arrive at the Oltenia Museum to protect the God - Tanatos in security, in a new home. Alina is near them and Tanatos is sleeping inside-for ever!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th September 2008
Nearly finished hole number 13, Dorel Bondoc makes some investigations of the floor of the dig.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th September 2008
Number 14 is now begun, and so far we have found only a few pieces of an ancient roof up till this point.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th September 2008
Dorel Bondoc registering artefacts, painstakingly, piece by piece.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th September 2008
For the third day, the Alexis Project tries to find the Big Stone, no matter how much it costs nor how much time we will lose in the quest!
Even Dorel Bondoc takes part in the search.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th September 2008
The first 13 dig holes are almost finished, and we started another 3 digs (14-15-16) at the southern part of main ancient building discovered here.
From time to time, when an interesting item appears, Dorel Bondoc digs himself, beside the workers.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th September 2008
Beautiful yellow glazed Roman pottery found at Cioroiu Nou. Many important artefacts were found here.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th September 2008
This is an interesting artefact - a piece for games!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th September 2008
The Alexis Project made another search in the Eruga River for the Big Stone.
The team searched step by step in the mud of the river, using crow bars, and there is a distance of 50 metres still to search.
Adrian believes with all his heart the Big Stone will be a wonderful discovery, to find the sleeping ancient Malva, the main city of Dacia Malvenis county!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th September 2008
In the mud of the river, many stones from ancient buildings were found, as well as bricks from the walls and tiles from the roofs, but so far there has been no sign of the Big Stone.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th September 2008
This is an altar to the gods, found by Adrian at Cioroiu Nou in 2008.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th September 2008
The expert Dr Arch. Dorel Bondoc works here assiduously every day, searching in the dig area, over five hundred square metres now, for new discoveries, such as a large set of ancient stone buildings and artefacts.
It is a very hot autumn here, like a real sumer, but Dorel Bondoc and his team are still working here, because like all of us we have a dream: to bring back to life the ancient roman city once in place here!
The Alexis Team supports him, we have a contract with the Oltenia Museum for dig-workers here, as well as other important historical sites in Oltenia such as Desa, Slaveni, Racari, and of course Cioroiu Nou. We do a lot of work to help the search here, such as to improve working conditions and to promote the search in many other ways.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th September 2008
A very important discovery was made here by Dorel Bondoc, an iron hammer used by stone masons. It is a very important piece. However Dr Bondoc was puzzled by the presence of the tool here, because usually the work shops for masons are far away, in the city, not at the actual site, so the question remains as to why the tool was needed on the actual construction site.
This is the second search here this year, instigated because of the important results of the first search in July, and also because the General Manager of the Oltenia Museum, Prof. Dr Mihai Fifor, understands very well the importance of the discoveries here.
As well, over the years many texts carved in stone have been discovered at Cioroiu Nou, as well as many important artefacts, so today there are a lot of reasons to believe, still with prudence, that this was the main Roman City of Dacia Malvensis, the ancient town or Colonia, known as Malva.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th September 2008
Because of the conundrum of the presence of the iron hammer, and because of information from the village about a huge ancient stone covered by the waters of the Eruga River, which passes by the site, the Alexis Project Team, with the agreement of the Manager of the site, Dorel Bondoc, formed a team of workers to search for this missing stone, deep in the Eruga River. In this photograph, workers are constructing a dam across the river, to keep back the water from the area of search, which is an area of deep clay, cold water and a lot of vegetation, all of which makes the search difficult and arduous.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th September 2008
For many hours today, a team of workers from the village, together with Adrian and Alina, searched in the deep river for the stone. Many bricks, stones from ancient walls, as well as pieces of ancient pottery were found, but the huge stone was not yet found.
Adrian put a price on this stone of about 500 Euros, so that the workers continued to search, again and again in cold mud and water, in the Eruga River, in a 100 metre section of the river.
At last they found a very large stone, deep in the mud and muck in the middle of the river, but not the legendary huge stone mentioned in the tales of the area.
At this moment, they were making a lot of effort to get the stone up out of the river.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th September 2008
This is the great discovery, an inscribed stone to the ancient gods, found by the Alexis Project team in the Eruga River. Adrian paid about 60 Euros to the workers, about 250 Euros in all, as a prize. It is a great and important artefact, and is evidence that the stone was shaped with tools like the iron hammer found previously.
Overall, the list of artefacts from this site is a very long and interesting one, and we can prove that there was an important city here, we hope Malva, but there are many things still to do in the immediate future.
On Monday, we will restart the search for the huge stone, and the Alexis Project team will pay a prize of 300 Euros for this, in order that this dream might come true, that this site in Oltenia will become known around the world.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th September 2008
Around the main site of Cioroiu Nou there are a lot of artefacts, at the surface or beneath the ground, as these artefacts were, found in the hole made for the WC. This was far away from the main site, in a place chosen specifically because it was thought to be outside the area of the historical site.
But even here, we can find pieces of ancient pottery and romans bricks, so it is necessary to protect the entire area for many years to come, until the search here is ended.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th September 2008
With the important help of the General Manager of the Oltenia Museum, Professor Dr Mihai Fifor, a huge machine was used to help transport the clay from the digs, over twenty tons, to a place fixed for the future clay wall replica of the ancient fortress. Now it is possible to dig freely in the main site, and also the future clay wall of the fortress has begun to take shape.
When finished, it will be more than three metres high, with a length of nine metres, and be three metres across, with a road on top, stairs on the inside face, and a wooden protection on top, as it was originally.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th September 2008
Today, Adrian found in the cemetery, about 200 metres from the main site, many pieces of pottery and water pipe, as can be seen here.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th September 2008
The imprint of a foot on an ancient brick, possibly a woman's left foot, found at the main site at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th September 2008
Dr Bondoc, working in the dig number 12 of the main site at Cioroiu Nou, in the second search for this year.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 4th September 2008
Dr Gheorghe's car, full of equipment for the Archeology expert, Dr Dorel Bondoc, arrives at Cioroiu Nou, to prepare for the start of digging the next day.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd September 2008
Inspecting the digs, the evidence of treasure hunters was found, even though police are protecting the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd September 2008
Dr Dorel Bondoc inspecting the site, and organising the project for future digs here. Hopes were high for important results from the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2nd September 2008
In September, the Oltenia Museum will be ready to start new digs at Cioroiu Nou, to search for the rest of the ancient Roman building discovered here this summer.
So, today, Alina, Andrei, Adrian and Ionutz are ready to make a Water Closet here for the workers who will dig here soon. And they named this wooden box as a Closet, since it is a real closet for workers, also we named it as a Water Closet, because the Eruga river is just near it, so we have running water for it…
The photo shows that the floor of the WC is ready and must be tested very careful for all…sizes !!!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 30th August 2008
The walls of the WC were very hard to make, but, step by step, the entire "building" is being erected, a not-so-easy task.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 30th August 2008
The roof was particularly difficult, and Adrian had to pretend to be a mountain climber, held by Andrei, in order to complete the task.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 30th August 2008
At last the big moment arrives, the job is finished, and the happy workers shake hands inside the new "building"!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 30th August 2008
At last the big moment arrives, the job is finished, and the happy workers shake hands inside the new "building"!
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 30th August 2008
The site of Cioroiu Nou is sleeping in the hot summer sun. Due to protection of the site,there is no trespass on it, even though we have information from the villagers that a few treasure hunters are still in the area, from time to time.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd August 2008
The old digs from 2007 are covered with vegetation, so they must be cleared twice each summer.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd August 2008
This is the future clay wall reconstruction of the fortification, to be made with clay excavated from the digs, over 16 tons just this year.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd August 2008
The water table is only two metres below ground level. Because the digs are below the level of the Eruga River nearby, it is easy to see the dampness evident in the digs, even in the heat of summer. It will be necessary to consult the specialists about this problem, because the ancient buildings must be protected against water.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd August 2008
Special attention must be paid to all those artefacts without archeological value, because they can be used as part of the reconstruction, in the future, of the area. In addition, the open-air museum to be built here will be based on interactivity, and will be a project of the Alexis team, along the lines of "Touch me - smell me - taste me!", so it will be part of the experience of the tourists. Soon, in September, Oltenia Museum and the Alexis Project will make another step in the progression of digs here, at Cioroiu Nou, to continue the search for ancient buildings.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd August 2008
The Alexis Project Castrum replica project - a drawing of the proposed finished castrum.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th August 2008
The Alexis Project Team was again at Cioroiu Nou in August 2008 to take new measurements at the ancient Roman building discovered by the expert Dr Dorel Bondoc, and, under his advice, try to make a replica, a reconstruction of it. Step by step, Adrian and Alina measured every one of the 13 digs there, and made a good map of the floor of the ancient building uncovered there.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2008
The next step was to make a good map of the ancient building, and adjust it after the advice of Dr Dorel Bondoc. This expert knows more about what the ancient building would have looked like.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2008
Back at home, Adrian and Alina worked hard to make a replica of the ancient building from Cioroiu Nou. It is a very large replica, measuring 600 x 500 x 500 mm, painstakingly recreating what the building must have originally looked like.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2008
After 2000 years underground, Cioroiu Nou becomes a reality, a recreated dream, built by history lovers including the Alexis Team, Oltenia Museum in the personage of the General Manager, Prof. Dr. Mihai Fifor, and Dr. Dorel Bondoc.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th August 2008
The 31st July was the last day of the 2008 campaign for search digs at Cioroiu Nou. In July, 17 workers, under the management of Dr Dorel Bondoc, from the Oltenia Museum, made 13 special digs at Cioroiu Nou, each being 4 x 4 metres, by 1.5 metres deep. A huge stone building has been found there from ancient Roman times, perhaps from the first half of the Third Century AD
Final map of the digs this year until this date at Cioroiu Nou, showing the huge ancient building there, with Absyda (sections 3 and 4) and a hypocaust (section 6) and a stone wall recently discovered (section 11). We have a lot of work to do.
Photo and art work: Adrian Gheorghe 31st July 2008
A wonderful sprigged piece of pottery found at Cioroiu Nou, terra sigilata, as many other pottery artefacts from here are.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 31st July 2008
A new part of the stone wall was found just today in Section 10 shown on the map. The whole building seems to be huge, and is very interesting for the specialists.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 31st July 2008
Another piece of good news from Cioroiu Nou is that finally the site is marked as required by law, and the police are ready to protect the area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 31st July 2008
The digs were marked by Adrian and the workers, as a sign that the search is finished here for this year. It is also necessary to make a wooden roof, more than 20 x 20 metres, to protect the site until the next season. €10 000 was spent by the Oltenia Museum and over €1 000 by the Alexis Project to do the best thing for this part of the culture and history of our people.
Each day, a worker is paid €10, so the cost of the next small step is €1 000. Donations are willingly accepted.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 31st July 2008
Section 11 of the digs, where a stone wall has just been discovered. It appears to be connected to the main building.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th July 2008
Adrian considering the project to make a huge wooden roof, to protect the digs. There is a real team this year, including the General Manager of the Oltenia Museum, Prof. Dr. Mihai Fifor, deeply involved in the project, and with a great contribution to it, as well as the expert Dr Dorel Bondoc who made the discoveries here, and the Alexis Project Team, all for a single dream: to make here, for the first time, a model of scientific cooperation between the specialists and a wonderful project about our culture and history.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th July 2008
Dorel Bondoc worked for a month here, a quiet man, a serious man, but one of the best specialists in the country.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th July 2008
At the western side of this area a clay wall begins to take shape, a replica of the ancient wall of the fortress, and looking from here to the east, it can be seen how large the digs from this year have been.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th July 2008
The very important site has been declared a Historical Monument of Romania, and there will be many projects to study it, from now on.
Here there was a clay fortress, built after the 2nd Century AD, and the Porta Praetoria and towers are not yet discovered, so it is not yet described as a castrum. It is even bigger than the Malva castrum, being 150 m x 100 m in area. The fortress is placed with its eastern wall at the western border of the present cemetery, the western wall near the eastern edge of Cioroiu Nou, its northern wall along the main road, starting from the exit to the village to the east, and the southern wall is located somewhere in the middle of an agricultural field.
Photo and art work: Adrian Gheorghe 29th September 2007
This carefully drawn map was created from the careful measurements made above, as well as three maps, one from 1930 with many errors, and two aerial views, one from the year 2000 and one from 2005. It was a lot of work reconciling the scales of these different sources.
On this map one cm (one of the small blue squares) = 4 metres.
The map helps to show the position and dates of the various digs at Aquae, especially for the area owned by Dr Gheorghe, bought to protect it for future generations.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th December 2007
Echipa Alexis Project face la Cioroiu Nou o noua verificare GPS a sit-ului, precum si a raului Eruga, care il inconjura in partea de nord si vest.
The Alexis Project Team is making a new check at the site at Cioroiu Nou, also at the river Eruga, that surrounds it in the north and west side, using GPS devices.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 22nd June 2008
Alina si Alexandru fac puncte GPS in sit-ul arheologic Cioroiu Nou, folosind 2 aparate simultan.
Alina and Alexandru are taking GPS points at the archeological sit at Cioroiu Nou, using two GPS devices simultaneously.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 22nd June 2008
La intoarcerea din cercetarea GPS a sit-ului Cioroiu Nou, Alina calculeaza datele obtinute, iar Alexandru deseneaza harta GPS a acestui important sit.
Back from the GPS research at the site at Cioroiu Nou, Alina is calculating the numbers obtained, while Alexandru draws the GPS map of this important site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 22nd June 2008
These images show how, for the first time, the site is marked and protected according to the law.
Dorel Bondoc, Alexandru Gheorghe, Alina Neagoe and Adrian Gheorghe - the team from Oltenia Museum and the Alexis Project with a new hope of progress for this site and for the good of Romania...
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th July 2008
The expert Dorel Bondoc, from Oltenia Museum and Adrian from Alexis Project in the middle of the new digs at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th July 2008
Alexandru, working at the greatest discovery at Ciroiu Nou, an ancient structure ("absida"), an apse, which seems to be part of a huge building, from the first part of the 3rd century.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th July 2008
A new bronze age site was discovered about 300 m north-east of the main site. Dorel and Adrian searched for artefacts from this area, and found pieces of ancient pottery.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th July 2008
Beautiful pottery pieces found at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th July 2008
Working hard on the digs at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 5th July 2008
Another view of the absida, or apse.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th July 2008
Alexandru compara datele anterioare despre ruinele gasite la Cioroiu Nou cu zidurile pe care echipa condusa de expertul Dorel Bondoc le-a descoperit.
Alexandru compares previous data about the ruins found at Cioroiu Nou with the walls that the team led by expert Dorel Bondoc has discovered.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th July 2008
Munca este foarte grea, din cauza caldurii extreme pe care aceasta perioada a anului o aduce in Oltenia. Sapatorii lucreaza in soare si pun mult efort in a descoperi artefactele, dar noi incercam in permanenta sa le imbunatatim situatia aprovizionandu-i cu apa minerala proaspata si suc.
The work is very hard, because of the extreme heat that this time of the year brings to Oltenia county. The diggers work in the sun and put a lot of effort into revealing the artifacts, but we are constantly trying to improve their situation by supplying them with fresh mineral water and juice.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th July 2008
Alexandru sapa la Cioroiu Nou, sub stricta supraveghere a arheologului Dorel Bondoc, care ii spune cum sa lucreze intr-un sit arheologic. A fost o experienta interesanta, pentru ca asa a inteles dificultatea de a lucra din greu sub caldura soarelui.
Alexandru digs at Cioroiu Nou, under the strict supervision of the archeologist Dorel Bondoc, who tells him how to work in an archeological site. It was an interesting experience, since he now understands the difficulty of working hard in the heat of the sun.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th July 2008
Aceasta imagine arata noile sapaturi de la Cioroiu Nou, inca 3 patrate de 4x4 m, ajungand la un total de 7 patrate si dezvoltandu-se mai mult pentru a descoperi intreaga cladire din regiunea respectiva.
This image shows the new digs at Cioroiu Nou, another 3 squares of 4x4 m, reaching a total of 7 squares and developing greater discoveries concerning the whole building in that area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th July 2008
Arheologul expert Dorel Bondoc, Alina si Alexandru la sapaturile de la Cioroiu Nou.
Archeologist expert Dorel Bondoc, Alina and Alexandru at the Cioroiu Nou digs.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th July 2008
This shows a newspaper report about the activities of the Alexis Project in cooperation and partnership with authorities such the Oltenia Museum. It is further evidence of the importance of this organisation in furthering the aims of the preservation of Romanian Culture and History.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 14th July 2008
A general view of the site on the 17th July 2008, showing the huge area which has been uncovered, more than 20 x 20 metres, and more than 1.5 metres deep, more than 600 m3 volume of earth removed. This represents more than 1500 tonnes of dirt to be shifted, a huge undertaking.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 17th July 2008
A new building was discovered by the expert Dorel Bondoc, and it seems there are many others underground, still.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 17th July 2008
A part of the ancient building with a hypocaust was discovered. It seems to be an important ancient building, with a floor area of 10 x 5 metres, and possibly two stories high.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 17th July 2008
Text from Wikipedia:
A hypocaust is an ancient Roman system of central heating. The word literally means "heat from below", from the Greek hypo meaning below or underneath, and kaiein, to burn or light a fire. They are traditionally considered to have been invented by Sergius Orata, though this is not fully confirmed.
Hypocausts were used for heating public baths and private houses. The floor was raised off the ground by pillars, called pilae stacks, and spaces were left inside the walls so that the hot air and smoke from the furnace (praefurnium) would pass through these enclosed areas and out of flues in the roof, thereby heating but not polluting the interior of the room. Rooms requiring the most heat were placed closest to the furnace, whose heat could be increased by adding more wood. It was labour-intensive to run a hypocaust as it required constant attention to tend the fire, and expensive in fuel, so it was a feature of the villa and public baths.
Adrian consults with the General Manager of the Oltenia Museam, Professor Dr Mihai Fifor about the entire site, and they make decisions together concerning the near future of this very important discovery.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 17th July 2008
Adrian, as well as the expert Dr Dorel Bondoc and the General Manager of the Oltenia Museam, Professor Dr Mihai Fifor, answered questions from television and newspaper reporters about their dream: to make the Cioroiu Nou site an important part of the time-line of the cultural history of the Romanian People.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 17th July 2008
GPS maps of the site of Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th July 2008
There are now nine huge digs at Cioroiu Nou, each 4 x 4 x 1.4 metres spread over an area of over 20 x 20 metres, and there is another week of digs until the 2008 campaign is finished.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th July 2008
The dig of the Hypocaust is now complete, with the entire area uncovered. It seems to be a very important ancient building, over ten metres by five metres in floor area, two stories high, as well as an absida or apse, and the hypocaust. The future will show how large the entire area of buildings here was.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th July 2008
The first bronze coins found this year at Cioroiu Nou. There have also been some iron pieces found as well.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 18th July 2008
Because of rain and water coming from the Eruga River, the Cioroiu Nou site is in real danger of being covered in clay.
It is necessary as soon as possible to make a roof to protect one of the most important sites in Oltenia, which may b e the ancient city of Dacia Malvensis, known as Malva.
In the area of the Hypocaust, in hole number five, a part of the clay wall was brought down by rain, and a few of the Pilae are in danger because of this.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2008
With the permission of the general manager of the site, the expert archaeologist Dr Dorel Bondoc, Adrian Gheorghe went into the site to try to protect the Pilae from being broken.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2008
Adrian was finally able to remove the clay, and for the moment, the hypocaust is out of danger. But there must be a wooden roof to protect the site as soon as possible.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2008
There are 16 holes dug at Cioroiu Nou. In six of them, there is a danger of clay covering the artifacts.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2008
This young man, Catalin, is a future member of the Alexis Project Team. Today, Adrian and Alina showed Catalin part of the Cioroiu Nou site.
Catalin is 18 years old, living in Radovan village, and just yesterday, sent us a story about the Midnight Bride from Radovan, from Radovan Cemetery, and perhaps soon he will cooperate with us on future projects.
Adrian remembered that, at the beginning of the Alexis Project time line, brother Don from Australia gave us a digital camera, as a help in our scientific trips. Today, that same camera was given by Adrian and Alina to Catalin as a gift, to help him in the same way.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2008
A new evaluation by the Alexis Project Team was made, because soon, Oltenia Museum will protect the site with a huge wooden roof.
The site is still in good repair, but winter is coming, so every effort must be made for the protection of the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 26th October 2008
On the 16th of November, the Alexis team together with the General Manager of the Oltenia Museum, Prof. Dr. Mihai Fifor, did their best to protect the site with at least wood and plastic sheeting to protect the site to some extent from the ravages of rain and winter. It was foggy and cold, but it was a necessary thing to do.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th November 2008
Photo of Alina at the site during winter 2007/8.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th February 2008
Aquae map with GPS positions marked.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th February 2008
This important historical site has been selected by Dr Gheorghe for a very important Aquae Rediviva Project.
Text below adapted from:
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~aprakash/dacia/about.html
Dacia is the ancient name of the European region corresponding roughly to modern Romania. It was inhabited before the Christian era by a people who were called Getae by the Greeks and were called Daci by the Romans.Text below adapted from:
Geto-Dacian society flourished under king Burebista (ca 82-44 B.C.), a contemporary and opponent of Caesar, and a friend of Pompey. Burebista's country, rooted in the former social and political tradition, was strengthened by the king's conquest of Greek cities, like Tomis, Histria and Callatis on the Black Sea shore, and by eliminating the threat of Celtic invasion. In this way, Burebista came to rule over the whole Thracian-Geto-Dacian world, from the Haemus Mountains (the Balkans) to the Wooded Carpathians, from Tyras (the Dnestr) to the Tisza.
The Geto-Dacians were to witness a new period of cultural and political prosperity when Decebal (87-106 A.D.) acceded to the throne. Geto-Dacian civilization was by then at its climax. In the 1st century B.C., as the Roman Empire was expanding, the Danube became the border between the Roman Empire and the Geto-Dacians.
Eventually, the Romans did declare war on the Dacians, after a first confrontation (87-89 A.D.), and they waged two bloody wars (101-102 and 105-106 A.D.). The Geto-Dacians were defeated, the Empire led by Trajan extended its bounds over the Danube and turned part of Dacia into a Roman imperial province.
After the conquest of Dacia by the Romans and its turning into an imperial province, the Geto-Dacians continued to live and work side by side with the Roman colonists and veterans, who had been brought into the new Imperial province of Dacia from everywhere in the Roman World. When the Roman administration withdrew from Dacia (270-275), most of the population, made up of Roman colonists and romanized Dacians, stayed. Thus, the Romanian people was born. The intense process of romanization stamped a lasting mark on the language of the Romanian people, on their name, conscience and culture.
The Defensive System of Roman Dacia by Nicolae Gudea
Britannia, Vol. 10, 1979 (1979), pp. 63-87 doi:10.2307/526045
from the JSTOR Archive.
The causes of the conquest of Dacia by the Romans were numerous, among which the strategic position and importance of that country were the most important. The military conquest of the empire was also closely linked with its economic advantage. Dacia was extremely rich in metals (gold, silver, copper), minerals (especially salt), and possessed fertile lands, forests and extensive pastures. This land was the cradle of coherent and lasting civilisations from the Bronze Age onwards. The emergence of the Geto - Dacian civilisation and the Dacian state can be considered the climax. The Romans quickly appreciated its military and economic potential; after the conquest they ensured its security by a strong defensive system based on a large army. The aim was clearly the installation of a strong 'Romanitas'. The Roman conquest did not interrupt the material development of Dacian native civilisation, but on the contrary contributed to its integration in new and more advanced forms.
The role of the defensive system of Dacia is revealed by the military history of the two centuries following the conquest, which showed clearly the value of the decisions made by the Emperor Trajan and the important place Dacia held within the overall Roman strategy. Through the creation of the province of Dacia, an advanced bastion was installed in the barbaric world, the potential unity of the enemy front was broken, and the security of all the Roman provinces along the Danube was strengthened.
Dorel Bondoc at the site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th September 2007
The fortress was destroyed by agriculture over the intervening years, so today there remains only the north-west part of the fortress, with a clay mound running for about 50 metres near the river, from the edge between the village and the field. There are many artefacts at the surface of the ground and beneath it.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th September 2007
Dr Bondoc says that the fortress was built by a huge military unit of the Roman Empire, called 'Legiunea a VII - a Claudia' and with the help of specialist digs in the area, where Dr Mondoc is the general manager of the search, many facts about the fortress were discovered, and a few buildings, one of which is called 'Statio' which shows that there was a Roman presence here for possibly 200 years, with many administrative buildings and houses, a very important place.
Dr Bondoc has kindly made available this scientific paper about Cioroiu Nou in Word Format, by:
Colectiv: Liviu Petculescu, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu (MNIR), Dorel Bondoc (MO Craiova)
 | Cioroiu Nou Artefacts These images of artefacts found in previous digs at Cioroiu Nou have been kindly made available by Dr Dorel Bondoc. |
However, the site is private property, and this creates many problems to solve, with digs and agriculture being carried on at the same time. The Museum has not enough money for the moment to buy the land from the owner, so Dr Gheorghe has bought the site, 10 000 square metres, one hectare, or two and a half acres, in order to facilitate the work of the Museum in discovering more about this very important work.
Dr Gheorghe is to be congratulated for his public spirit in ensuring that this monument is not lost to the world and to the Romanian people. As well as buying the land from his own pocket, he has paid the owner to clear the land and prepare it for the work of the specialists, and continues to pay taxes and costs on the land.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe
A general view of the north-west corner of the fortress. Today, the digs from last year are covered for protection,but in the future Dr Gheorghe as the new owner will permit them to leave the digs uncovered, in order to complete step-by step a huge reconstruction of this site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th September 2007
Dr Bondoc has big plans for the site, leading a study of the area for many years to come. Dr Gheorghe's ownership will facilitate these plans, making it possible for a camp for specialists to be built on the land, and with the long term aim of completing a reconstruction, as has been done at Arutel.
A few samples of the artefacts saved by Dr Gheorghe from the area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 29th September 2007
On the 6th of October 2007 Dr Gheorghe (shown here at the land he is buying at Cioroiu Nou) went with Alina to finish negotiations with the owner of the land.
As can be seen here, the present owner has, at Dr Gheorghe's request and expense, cleared the land preparatory to exploration.
On Monday, 8.10.2007 the expert archaeologist Dorel Bondoc from Oltenia Museum will start work on digs to try to discover the ancient fortress believed to be buried there.
Perhaps one day there will be a recreation here, like the one at Arutela.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 6th October 2007
This year the dig starts in October. As can be seen here, Dorel Bondoc, the expert from Oltenia Museum is the leader of the dig. This dig starts with the eastern part of the site, with a search area about 4 x 4 metres.
Because Dr Gheorghe is now the owner of the site, with all documentation complete, Dr Bondoc can be free to dig anywhere on the site, and to leave the digs uncovered where appropriate, as is the case with Malva. It will never be used for agriculture.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th October 2007
Here is the first artefact found at the new dig, a piece of pottery.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th October 2007
Walking over the field, Alina and Adrian found a large number of artefacts, evenly distributed over an area of 200 x 200 metres, which gives an indication of the scale of this large ancient fortress, possibly as big as Malva Castrum.
Here is an ancient stone for grinding cereals, as was found several times at Cerat.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th October 2007
A few samples found at Cioroiu Nou on this day.
There are grand plans for the site, including making a wooden fence around the entire site, marking it with a sign, to protect it with police help. It is hoped to establish here a camp for specialists, and also to reconstruct the entire fortress, or at least part of the north west corner, as has been done at Arutela. This would transform the area into an important historical and tourist centre.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th October 2007
The digs in the eastern part of the area are now more than 80 cm deep, but only stones and bricks were found until today. Dr Bondoc believes that this is a part of the roof of the buildings in the middle of the area. There are six to eight men working here all day.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
The stones and bricks found in the digs are kept separate, not covered with the clay also dug up, and kept for future reconstruction of the fortress, after four to five years of digs here. Until that time, the artefacts are inspected by Dr Bondoc and sorted into stones, bricks and pottery, and kept in a safe place for future reconstruction.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
Another area of the dig starts in the northern part of the area, near the left bank of the river which passes along the west and north of the land. This dig is showing a white area about 25 cm deep, which seems to be a wall, but more will be known in a few days. The digging is slow but very carefully done, in order to keep a high standard of excavation.
In addition, the general manager of the Oltenia Museum has promised Dr Gheorghe to make this dig a model for archaeology students, a central point of such studies of the area.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
All day Adrian and Alina searched the entire area to get an idea of how large this area is, over 60 000 square metres, more than six hectares, or 15 acres.
It was a very wet and windy day, with gusts of more than 80 km/h, cold but sunny at times, and the pair searched the entire field, which is covered with artefacts, as can be seen here.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
The dig is progressing well, overseen at all times by Dr Bondoc, because at any moment an important artefact could be discovered.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2007
In the eastern part of the land, the dig is quite deep, at about 150 cm below ground, and this will continue until "yellow clay" is found, which will indicate that there are no more artefacts to be found, possibly at 200 cm depth.
As can be seen here, artefacts which may be used in the reconstruction of the building are stockpiled under the instructions of Dr Bondoc after Dr Gheorghe's request.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2007
These are two pages from the newspaper, "Gazeta de Sud" (or "Southern Newspaper"), from Craiova, the main town of the Oltenia district. This is the first time that such data has appeared in popular newspapers, and this bodes well for the project. It helps for better understanding of the site by the people of Romania.
It should be noted that the Roman artefacts date only to 2 000 years ago, not 4 000 years as stated in the article. However the entire history of the site does span 4 000 years.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 8th November 2007
Although progress is being made, we are still at the beginning of the dig, which is a slow process, since every artefact must be diligently searched for. The colour and the structure of the clay can also show important data for a specialist such as Dorel Bondoc, shown here inspecting the dig.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2007
This wonderful piece has already been found, made of bronze with a silver link, part of what is called a "Weapon of Hercules", a charm made in the shape of a wooden weapon attributed to the ancient Hercules, called in Romanian, a Maciuca, a cudgel or club. It was made for the good luck of the person who owned it, to make them as strong as Hercules.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 16th October 2007
Dr Gheorghe is considering buying another 10 000 m2 of land to the north of the area already purchased, over the river and between the road, the village, and the river, where it seems there are many artefacts from ancient times.
Adrian, Andrei (Adrian's first son) and Ana, friend of Andrei, saving a few Roman bricks from the area of the Bronze-Age village, to the north of the site, to use them for reconstruction of the site, later.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2007
Andrei looking at the digs on the eastern part of the site. This dig seems to be finished, only artefacts from broken walls and roofs has been found here. A problem must be solved with the clay excavated from the digs, because in the future there needs to be a project to reconstruct the site for visitors from the general public.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2007
This dig is at the northern part of the site, where there is more to be done. It would seem that a wall has been found, but more excavation is required.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 20th October 2007
On the 23rd October, Adrian and Alina went to Cioroiu Nou to look at the progress made. The weather was cold and rainy, which made working conditions difficult for everyone.
The digs at the eastern part of the area are finished. The remains of a wall may be seen on the right of this dig, in the middle of the wall of the dig, as a few white stones in the clay.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd October 2007
At the dig on the northern part of the site the remains of a wall have been found, but the dig must be deepened to complete the excavation of the wall, on the northern side of this pit.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd October 2007
In this same pit was found on the eastern side a possible fire place, with some burnt clay and a few pieces of burnt wood and other charcoal. The entire pit, from the wall on the north to the fireplace on the east, seems to have been a large room, but more digging must be done to make a better picture of how everything fits together.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd October 2007
A pottery pipe, possibly a small Aqueduct or water pipe, (in Romanian an Apeduct), a tube for taking water into or out of a house.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd October 2007
Each piece of pottery is well washed and examined later to discover as much as possible from each discovery. This would have been a very trying and difficult job under the field conditions of rain and cold.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 23rd October 2007
Artefacts with bricks and walls of an ancient room, found at Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe October 2007
A Roman building, possibly for soldiers, found on the site. The black squares show the small brick piers, made with bricks for a heating system beneath the floor (in winter time) similar to that at Sucidava.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe October 2007
Part of a stone wall from the northern part of the northern digs of Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
A rare piece of slip-decorated pottery from ancient Roman times, found in the northern digs.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
Pieces of glass, the first time in the last five years that Dr Gheorghe has found glass at a site, found in the eastern digs of Cioroiu Nou. It has been christened the Lady's Room, because found in the one area was glass for a cosmetics container as shown here, a small cup of clay pottery, and a silver coin.
Notice the opalescent sheen on some of the glass. This may be deliberate, or it may be the effect of being buried in the ground for nearly two thousand years.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
A silver coin from the Lady's Room, dated by Dorel Bondoc as Hadrianus, Emperor, son of Traian, 117 AD, some years after Traian came to Dacia.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
In the eastern part of the area, a second hole was dug beside the one shown here in the foreground in order to gain more information about the stone wall visible in the first hole.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
Trying to shelter from the rain, cold and wind, Dorel Bondoc draws a profile of the clay wall of the dig as his secretary calls out the measurements.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
These two holes were dug in the northern part of the area, in order to search for walls.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
Dorel Bondoc dictates a report for the Oltenia Museum to his secretary from the first hole in the northern part of the area, under difficult conditions of rain, cold and wind.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
Dorel Bondoc making a report on the discoveries in a hole in the east part of the dig, the finish of his work in the field for this year.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
Now that the 2007 season is over, the pottery from this dig was put into a plastic bag, and then put into the hole it came from to be covered with clay until next year.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
In addition, the stairs carved from the clay of the sides of the dig were destroyed in order to stop easy access by treasure hunters.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
With the pottery pieces in the bottom of the dig, vegetable matter and clay is shovelled into the pit to cover everything until 2008.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
All the holes were filled in at least partially in order to protect the pottery and bricks until the next season.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th October 2007
Text below from Wikipedia:
Marcus Julius Philippus or Philippus I Arabs (c. 204 - 249), known in English as Philip the Arab (after the origin of his family), was a Roman emperor from 244 to 249. Little is known about Philip's early life and political career. He was born in Shahba, about 55 miles south-southeast of Damascus, in the Roman province of Syria. He was the son of a Julius Marinus, a local Roman citizen, possibly of some importance. Many historians agree that he was of Arab descent who gained Roman citizenship through his father, a man of considerable influence. Many citizens from the provinces took Roman names upon acquiring citizenship. This makes tracing his Arabic blood line difficult. However, it is documented that Rome used the Ghassan tribe from the Azd of Yemen as vassals to keep the neighboring northern Arabs in check. Arabic Oracles speak of a local Sheikh, Uthaina, who was reported to have risen from the ranks to command the Eastern armies of the Roman Empire. This strengthens the possibility of Philip's Arab descent to some degree. The name of Philip's mother is unknown, but sources refer to a brother, Gaius Julius Priscus, a member of the Praetorian guard under Gordian III (238–244). In 234, Philip married Marcia Otacilia Severa, daughter of a Roman Governor. They had two children: a son named Marcus Julius Philippus Severus (Philippus II) in 238 and according to numismatic evidence they had a daughter called Julia Severa or Severina, whom the ancient Roman sources don't mention.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 3rd November 2007
In 243, during Gordian III's campaign against Shapur I of Persia, the Praetorian prefect Timesitheus died under unclear circumstances. At the suggestion of his brother Priscus, Philip became the new Praetorian prefect, with the intention that the two brothers would control the young Emperor and rule the Roman world as unofficial regents. Following a military defeat, Gordian III died in 244 under circumstances that are still debated. While some claim that Philip conspired in his murder, other accounts (including one coming from the Persian point of view) state that Gordian died in battle. Whatever the case, Philip assumed the purple following Gordian's death. Philip was not willing to repeat the mistakes of previous claimants, and was aware that he had to return to Rome in order to secure his position with the senate. He thus travelled west, after concluding a peace treaty with Shapur I, and left his brother Priscus as extraordinary ruler of the Eastern provinces. In Rome he was confirmed Augustus, and nominated his young son Caesar and heir.
Philip's rule started with yet another Germanic incursion on the provinces of Pannonia and the Goths invaded Moesia (modern-day Serbia and Bulgaria) in the Danube frontier. They were finally defeated in the year 248, but the legions were not satisfied with the result, probably due to a low share of the plunder, if any. Rebellion soon arose and Tiberius Claudius Pacatianus was proclaimed emperor by the troops. The uprising was crushed and Philip nominated Gaius Messius Quintus Decius as governor of the province. Future events would prove this to be a mistake. Pacatianus' revolt was not the only threat to his rule: in the East, Marcus Iotapianus led another uprising in response to the oppressive rule of Priscus and the excessive taxation of the Eastern provinces. Two other usurpers, Marcus Silbannacus and Sponsianus, are reported to have started rebellions without much success.
Dr Gheorghe writes:
During the time of the Roman Emperor Filip Arabul (Philip of Arabia) Dacia was attacked by the ancient people called the Carp, coming from the eastern part of present day Romania. Philip of Arabia had to come here to Dacia to help the Roman army fight the Carp. There is some information which says that Philip of Arabia actually came to Aquae, one of the names of Cioroiul Nou today.
There are many specialists who argue against the use of the name Aquae for Cioroiul Nou, by saying that this is the name of another ancient place, Calan, and that Aquae means water, which is not important at Cioroiul Nou but is much in evidence at Calan. Another name for Cioroiul Nou may be Malva, but in reality, no one knows the true name of this location. So, I had the idea to buy a few silver coins depicting Philip of Arabia, in preparation for a display at the time when Cioroiul Nou may become an important tourist attraction, which I will call Aquae Rediviva.
This may be only a dream of mine, but dreams are important.
One researcher at least regards Cioroiul Nou as Aquae.
From: Eduard Nemeth: Armata În Sud-Vestul Daciei Romane / Die Armee Im Südwesten Des Römischen Dakien
Website: http://www.muzeulbanatului.ro/istorie/publicatii/armata/capitolul4d.htm
Philip of the Arabs (244-249) apparently had a little to do with this part of Dacia, because he had already in the autumn of the year 245 gone to Aquae (today Cioroiul Nou).
This bronze arrow was found in the east of Romania, in Moldova, and is dated to the third century, and may have been made by the Carp people.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
The river around the Aquae site is called the Eruga or Apa Cioroiului, or "Cioroi's Water". The Eruga comes from the north, near the Cioroiase village area, where there is a good flow of water, and goes to the south, until it meets another small river. The river is not large, it is about three metres across, and is about 30 cm deep.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
There are a couple of considerations:
- When the Romans started to build the fortress in the 3rd century, they had to choose a good place for it. Aquae was the best place for it, because the Eruga protects the fortress to some extent towards the north and west, and follows the clay walls and ditches around it. The walls to the east and south needed to be well made to defend attackers, who may well have come from the Danube to the south, and the Carps from the east.
- As well, the fortress was built to follow the bank of the Eruga. Normally Roman fortresses are built as a square, but here the fortress has many sides, in order to follow the path of the Eruga.
In the villages around the fortress there are many important artefacts, placed in random locations, without any care being taken of them, they are exposed to passers-by and the elements.
The artefact here is a stone coffin from the middle ages at a bus station in the village of Cioroiasi. It is about 200 x 50 x 40 cm, and characters are engraved in the stone, possibly from the 19th century or perhaps earlier.
In these photos Alina and Amelia measure the dimensions of the coffin, and one of the images shows a hollow carved from it, perhaps as a receptacle for the body.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
Part of the Alexis team, Dr Gheorghe, Alina and Amelia, both vice presidents of the team, and young Maria-Amelia went to Aquae on 11th November 2007 to work on the site. It was cold, about 6° Celsius, with a strong cold wind blowing at 50 Km/h from the south.
Despite these conditions, careful measurements were made in order to work on an accurate map of the Aquae site.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
Working in the dig at the northern part of the site, in Section CIIB.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
Amelia and Maria-Amelia passing over the wall between the two digs in the northern part of the site, CIIA and CIIB, to make careful measurements of this section of the dig.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
Examining the dig in the northern part of the site, in section CIIB.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
In very cold and blustery conditions, Alina and the other members of the team looked for artefacts in the area in order to preserve them.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th November 2007
Hercules
Photo: unknown origin, via Adrian Gheorghe
This is a small stone monument, discovered in 1964 at Cioroiu Nou. It is dedicated to Hercules. One can see the leg of Hercules on the right part of image and also to the left a bull-head, the bull from the island of Crete, killed by Hercules according to legend.
Dimensions of this stone are 0.30 x 0.11 x 0.08 metres and it was classified by Daicoviciu, a wellknown Romanian specialist in history, as made at the beginning of the second century, and by another specialist Tudor, as made in the third century.
One of the most important things to be discovered about an archaeological site is its ancient name.
For example, we have an ancient Aquae in the Romanian city Caln (Aquae means in Romanian "hot-waters"), also we can have this Aquae at Ciroroiu Nou (you will see why), also we have an Aquae in Bulgaria, south of the Danube, and another Aquae in Serbia, in the southern part of the Danube river on the right bank.
This last name seems to be a good one, because on the left bank, in Romania, we have a village named Izvoare (which means in english "springs"), just at a short distance from the Basilica, discovered in the area of Ostrovu Mare island (see our site www.alexisphoenix.org at the file "Ostrovu Mare").
If Ciroroiu Nou was the true Aquae, it means that the roman emperor Philip the Arabian was here during the third century when the war with the Carps had just begun, because there is in existence another engraved stone with the text "...Philip at Aquae..."
There is a similar problem with the ancient name of Cioroiu Nou, where the piece of stone above was found. As can be seen, the text is:
M. Opellius MaximusUnfortunately in the lower part of the text on the stone, the name of the ancient village is missing, only "ensium" can be read, so the first part of the name might be "Aqu" or "Malv" or even something else.
[dec(urio) Mo]ntanensium Herculi
[pro sal(ute) AQU?/MALV?]ensium, ex voto posuit
However it is unlikely that the ancient roman name of Cioroiu Nou is Aquae, since there are already so many of them in the region, in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia (though these were under Roman control at the time), and also because Aquae means "hot water" or Thermals, which are not at Cioroiu Nou, and also it is unlikely that a roman emperor would come to Dacia (ancient Romania) during a dangerous war with the Carps.
For these reasons, many specialists such as Dorel Bondoc believe that the ancient Oltenia was called Dacia Malvensis, as a country or region, with the main cities of Malva (located by specialists at Racarii de Jos/Bradesti-Dolj County, also the city of Romula/Resca, near Caracal, Olt County, and so on.
Dr Gheorghe writes:
In the language of the Romans, Latin, names such as Aquae and Malva may have different endings. I appeal to anyone with a knowledge of Latin who may be able to help, if in Latin whether Aquae and Malva would necessarily have the same ending, of "...ensium". For example, if the only form for Aquae is Aquensis, then the place is not Aquae.
At the start of the new digging season, Dorel Bondoc discusses with Adrian Gheorghe the projects for future searches with the aid of maps and diagrams of the site.
Inainte de toate, Dorel Bondoc ne arata citeva proiecte/harti ale vechiului cimp, pentru a face un bun proiect in vederea cercetarii viitoare.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th May 2008
Then they go to the middle of the field, to make the connection between their paper project and the reality in the field. As Dorel Bondoc said, this year is a special one, because we have a great project for a Cioroiu Nou dig, and we look forward to excellent results from it.
Apoi, am fost chiar in mijlocul cimpului, sa facem o conexiune intre proiectul din documente si realitatea de pe teren. Cum spunea Dorel Bondoc,anul acesta trebuie sa fie cu totul special, deoarece noi avem un mare proiect pentru cercetarea Cioroiului Nou si asteptam cele mai bune rezultate de la acesta.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th May 2008
Looking at the first digs from 2007 (the Part I digs), we want to put all necessary signs up in the area, as is required by law, and are at the moment missing.
Privind la sapaturile de anul trecut (partea I a sapaturilor) noi vrem sa punem toate semnele de protectie ale locului, dupa cum spune legea si care lipsesc acum.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th May 2008
Looking at the digs from last year, Part II, it was decided to provide protection for all digs in the future, by constructing roofs against rain and snow, to preserve the area of the search, because the law says that all results of archaeological search must be protected if they contain walls, buildings, and similar finds. It is desired to make a real model of search here, to show every one the best way to make a search, to show every one that here is a real treasure of the County, a treasure of culture, history and civilisation.
La sapaturile de anul trecut, partea II-a, am decis sa facem protectii pentru fiecare sapatura in viitor (ca: acoperisuri impotriva ploii si zapezii), pentru a conserva zona, deoarece legea spune ca toate rezultatele cercetarii trebuie potejate,daca contin ziduri, cladiri si altele, ca acestea. Noi dorim sa facem un model real de cercetare aici, sa aratam oricui cea mai buna cale de a face cercetare, sa aratam oricui ca avem un adevarat tezaur in judetul nostru,un tezaur de cultura, istorie si civilizatie.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th May 2008
A lot of measurements of the road were taken, in order to provide a base marker for the map, and the width of the road, seven metres, is an important measurement to act as a marker.
Am efectuat o multime de masuratori ale drumului, pentru a face un marker al hartii, sa consideram largimea drumului (7 metri) ca un martor pentru aceasta.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 11th May 2008
Holes dug in abandoned land
Starting from the Roman fortress of Cioroiu Nou and going to the east, one arrives at the cemetery. At that point there is a cross roads, with one road to the right, to the south, going to Bailesti. Just ahead to the east is another road to Silestea Crucii, another village in the area, and to the left is an agricultural road, to the north.
Following this agricultural road to the north, at about 200 metres to the north from the cross roads, and about 400 metres from the Roman Fortress, there is at right angles to this point, to the east, a small area of abandoned land in which people dig for clay, so there are many holes dug in the ground. In most of these pits, one can find many artefacts from Bronze Age times, and also from Roman Times. It would seem that a huge area of land, including even the village of Cioroiu Nou were covered with ancient buildings, starting with the stone age, and well into Roman times.
However Dr Gheorghe and Dr Bondoc both believe that this was not one huge village, but many villages, linked in time, but spread over a huge area of as much as 60 000 square metres, or six hectares.
GPS coordinates of the find.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 9th February 2008
These photographs show Alina searching the holes which have been dug in this abandoned land. Behind Alina in the left hand photo can be seen a part of the eastern side of the village of Cioroiu Nou, not very far from this area, with the river in between.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
Artefacts from the bronze age village, found in the abandoned area of pits, about two to three hundred metres to the east of Cioroiu Nou.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
A Roman artefact, pottery found in the area, with the ornaments on the pottery made with a rolling stamp.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
Samples of pottery found on the new site from Cioroiu Nou, from the Bronze Age, the area of abandoned land with pits dug for clay.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 13th October 2007
A sword from the Middle Ages, found in Romania.
The hilt of the sword is of bronze, the blade is of iron.
This sword which had been thought to be of Roman origin, has been identified by the Museum of Oltenia as being from the Middle Ages. Dr Gheorghe has purchased it to add to his collection of historic items.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 21st November 2007
The top two blades are copies of the ancient sword below. It is only a start, but it is progress towards making a school, Aquae Rediviva project, of archaeology and ancient hand made objects such as these swords, as well as arrows, sandals, shields etc.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 15th December 2007
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Alexis Project Filiasi/Romania
RC J/263/230/2007 CIF 21464151
Email: [email protected]