The opening of the 2024 Apulum Roman Villa Project campaign has been a success. Both the Canadian and Romanian students arrived by Sunday 16^th June, and we assembled the following day at the Muzeul Naţional al Unirii Alba Iulia, where the excavation tools were gathered and prepared for transportation to the site.

A small team of six made their way to the site to begin prepping one trench and were able to make good progress in removing the first layer of topsoil from this trench. The field in which the trenches are located is currently being used to grow alfalfa, but there was little growing at the site of trench A after the 2023 campaign, making it much easier to begin digging at this location.

The following day, with teams having been allocated to the three locations being explored during this year’s campaign (trenches A, C, and D), excavations could begin in earnest.

In trench A, we are excavating a part of the living quarters for the villa as an extension of the work done here during last year’s campaign, and this team more interesting layers quickly.

In trench C, we are continuing what we left unfinished during the digging season last summer. This location originally was thought to be a granary, but the first week of excavations this year have complicated this view, so it’s especially important that we continue work in this area during this year’s campaign in order to clarify the picture.

Trench D is hitherto unexplored, and so there is naturally a lot of excitement as to what might be found here. Since this is the first excavation of this building, the first week saw much topsoil being moved. By the end of the week, the team working in this trench had uncovered the foundations of a wall from the Roman period.

It has been a hot and humid week, and the local pharmacist has done a booming trade in electrolyte tablets. All in all, though, spirits are as high as the mercury. Some highlights from the week include:

Matt, dig director: “The highlight of the first week for me has been watching all of the unique people taking part in this year’s campaign come together and work as a team.”

Lisa, trench A: “My highlight was having ice cream after a long day of digging.” (holding an ice cream)

David, trench A: “Aside from learning the ropes at a site I am unfamiliar with, the music in our trench has been great!”

Brendan, trench C: “Whilst I was cleaning the profile, I found a giant cow’s bone sticking out. It was my first find and was really exciting!”

Alex, trench C: “We found lots of bone fragments in our trench, including an antler, which was exciting. I’ve also enjoyed watching the Euro football matches.”

Caroline, trench D: “A highlight for me was finding an animal mandible with teeth still intact in our trench – and getting to know the team, of course!”

Amber, trench D supervisor: “The most exciting thing about the first week for me was seeing the wall of a completely new building which has never been excavated before.”

This week marks the end of the AVRP 2023 field season. Our final week was cut short by rain, so half of the crew went to the museum to begin washing all the bones and pottery we found this season; a monumental task! Those that finished up the work at the museum on Saturday got front row seats to a gladiator fight at the Bătălia pentru Dacia festival. The other half of the crew braved the rain and cold to finish up the rest of the field work. They completed the remainder of the excavation, took photos for photogrammetry, hand drew profiles, and prepared the trenches to be backfilled — and with that, our work here is done!

It’s a bittersweet time for all of us as we say goodbye to Alba Iulia and Oarda-Bulza, the places we’ve called our home and workplace for nearly a month. Despite all the challenges that Mother Nature had thrown at us, from heat waves to thunderstorms, we made great progress at the site and unearthed a myriad of interesting finds and features. We can’t wait to see what next year brings!

Week 4, our last week and the mad dash to the finish line! The week started strong, and with the cooler temperatures and breeze the teamwork worked hard to finish their areas. Area C were on their A-game, keeping all their open contexts in order. Area A-East dug out their huge “crack” and pit. And Area-West screened and screened and screened until they hit sterile. However the cool break became a little too cold, and rain and thunder put a wrench in the original plans. As a result, half the team ended up the museum to wash bones and pottery during the last few days of the week, while the other half of the team braved the rain and continued to dig.

The afternoons of our last week were filled with laughter and yummy food. We had a surprise birthday party for Bogri, our last dinner at Steakhouse, and our last dinner together as a group at the fancy Preciosa. These last few evenings of fun together as a group made us all cherish the new friendships and memories we had made. The last days on site consisted of recording all the trenches, and saying our goodbyes as we started to slowly make our way- some stayed in Alba Iulia a little longer, some went home, and some went on to explore new cities. For some, this was not a goodbye, but a “see you later” to the project. And on this bittersweet note, while we are sad to see this season end, we are excited to see what will be in store next year!

This weekend we visited not one, not two, but three sites on our excursion! We began our day at Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa, the capital of Roman Dacia. It was raining in the morning so we visited the site museum. We were able to see sculptures, floor mosaics, and other artifacts. When the rain finally stopped we went into the excavated ruins of the city. Here students were able to visit multiple Roman temples, the city forum, and city walls.

To get to our second location we hopped into the bus and drove through the Romanian countryside to Romania’s oldest stone church. The Densuș Church is an amazing hodgepodge of Roman materials looted from Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa reconfigured into a church. Students had fun searching the building for Roman materials and attempting to identify them. Some popular finds were lion statues from Roman funerary monuments on the church roof, and a horse relief carving right in front of the altar.

Our third and final stop was an impromptu addition to our excursion, Hunyadi Castle! We toured the halls and exhibitions, climbed an extensive amount of stairs to reach the tops of the castle’s multiple towers, and imagined what it would be like to be living in a castle in the Medieval period. We ended our visit to the castle by browsing the many vendors set up outside the castle before we all climbed back into the bus exhausted from our busy day.

Our third week here was full of activity as we fell into an already-established rhythm, finally feeling like we really understood why we were digging through dirt at 7:15 in the morning. All three trenches (A-East, A-West, and C) worked to establish a chronology of the structures found in our areas, from their construction to their eventual collapse. On a practical level, this meant that we spent most of this week cleaning, documenting, and removing large tile falls. In trench A-West we managed to remove over 100 kg of roof tiles and other CBM (ceramic building material) in one day alone! We also excavated right next to the intersection of the two walls in our trench, allowing us to see how they connect with each other.

Throughout the week we learned more about some of the more technical aspects of a dig. Everyone has now had a chance to take photos for documentation and photogrammetry, and we each helped fill out context sheets. Off site, Matt held a mini-workshop on ArcGIS, the visualisation software that we use, and went over Harris matrices with us. We all started the month with differing amounts of experience, so getting to rotate through tasks has been a valuable opportunity that means we get to learn both from our supervisors and each other.

We got rained out on Wednesday, but to make up for it Thursday was more than 30℃! A group of us hit up the local pool for some much needed relaxation after we got back from the site. As the week wound to an end we took some time to reflect on how much we’d accomplished, and to celebrate with a party at Vlad’s (a story which will be tragically lost to time, or at least not relayed to the internet). There’s still much left to do, but as we piece together how the villa changed over time a feeling of connection with the site and its former inhabitants emerges.

Climbing hills was the name of the game on our week two excursion to the Dacian hillforts of Costeşti and Sarmizegetusa Regia. Located in the Orăștie Mountains about an hour’s drive away from our site, we stopped first at Costeşti, a Dacian hillfort built around the first century BCE. After a two kilometre hike up to the site (shepherded by two very cute dogs), we were greeted by magnificent views and remains. As one of a series of Dacian fortresses in these mountains, Costeşti served as a crucial piece in the defensive line against the Roman conquest. We saw multiple tower houses and temples, highlighting the duality of the site as a defensive structure and a living community during its period of occupation. We even stood in as columns at one of the temples and had to scramble our way back up to the gates!

After hiking back down from the fortress, we stopped for a well-earned lunch in a nearby pensiune where we sampled the local cuisine, including goat sausage, and continued onwards to Sarmizegetusa Regia. Winding through the mountains, we arrived to a much shorter hike (only 0.8 km!) up to the fortress. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital of the Dacian Kingdom until the Roman conquest of the area under Emperor Trajan in the 2nd century CE. With thunderstorms threatening the site, our visit was not drawn out, but we were able to explore the sacred area of the site. Beyond the wonderful views of the mountains surrounding Sarmizegetusa, the remains of a large circular temple (now resembling a circle of standing stones) and a massive stone disk were both highlights of the site, as well as the free-flowing “sacred water” on site which promises all sorts of health benefits.

Although our visit was cut short by thunderstorms, one could not help but walk away from these fortresses in awe of their sheer scale and the perseverance and determination of both the people who built these sites and the archaeologists who excavated them!

Continuing the work, we have delved into actual archaeology this week. Students are now interpreting, understanding, and handling the archaeological materials. Despite the sun constantly scorching us and attempting to dampen our passion, the findings have been  fueling up our enthusiasm. We have discovered traces of little animals left on the tiles; their paw prints!

We have endured constant baking by the sun and battled with the winds almost everyday. Moreover, there were also new challenges that added to our field experiences. An unexpected thunderstorm hit our working area during anticipated time. Consequently, we had to swiftly grab all the documents and pack ourselves into the cars (PLUS squeezing into the back of the van). Nevertheless, this did not stop us from having a great party under the tunnel.

Importantly, this Tuesday,  we had a special dinner and gathered at the Steak House to celebrate the birthday of our Romanian Project director, Dr. Mariana Egri! It was a great celebration and a wonderful night.

And here’s a great photo to conclude the week:

Once again, the first weekend of our field season included a tour of the citadel at the heart of Alba Iulia. Each year there is more to see and revisit in the museums, churches, and archaeological ruins and reconstructions.

Aurel Rustoiu (Institute of Archaeology and Art History, Cluj-Napoca) led our tour and explained the history of the star-shaped fortress that is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Romania. Alba Iulia was not only an administrative and military center of the Roman province of Dacia (then known as Apulum) but also has great significance for modern Romania, as the place where the treaty was signed to unite Transylvania and Romania on the 1^st of December, 1918.

We walked through the citadel admiring the Roman remains alongside the street, and the helpful displays showing reconstructions of the architecture and roads. Historical eras combined near the east entrance of the citadel, where we saw the elaborate Baroque gates and the obelisk erected to Horea, Closca, and Crisan (revolutionary heroes of the 18^th century), and we searched for stamped Roman bricks which were re-used in the walls.

Tourists then lined the main street to watch historical reenactors and their horses carry out a military procession and salute, dressed and equipped as the 18^th century occupants of the fortress during Habsburg rule in Transylvania.

Coffee, lemonade, and ice cream was acquired before touring the Muzeul Naţional al Unirii, Alba-Iulia, with Aurel and Matt’s commentary on displays from the Paleolithic through the Roman eras. We then dove into the depths of the Sala Unirii to explore their exhibit about the Roman army. In fact, a fully-dressed Roman soldier took our group photo outside!            

The first week of the ARVP 2023 season has just concluded and it was a journey to get here! Many of the students travelled far and wide to uncover what was left by the people living at this villa in Oarda-Bulza and we were met with the extreme heat that has been plaguing Europe. While the sun baked the ploughed soil like concrete, we forged along in great spirits to expose some interesting archaeology. The wind, too, tried several times to blow us off the site and it was a constant battle for whose shade tent would remain standing the longest. Nevertheless, the Canadian students are excited to be working at a Roman site, gaining great experience from their Romanian colleagues, and are enthusiastic about the weeks to come!

The beginning of the week at the Oarda-Bulza archaeological site was cloudy and rain circled around us three days in a row. In the end, the sun showed its face, which allowed us to take some cool pics. Finally, I wish everyone a beautiful vacation and I hope to see you soon for a new campaign.