SYSTEMATIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH CAMPAIGN FROM ULPIA TRAIANA SARMIZEGETUSA
3-21 July 2023
Between July 3-21, the first systematic archaeological research campaign took place at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, for the year 2023. Under the coordination of Felix Marcu, the site's scientific manager, together with George Cupcea and the MNIT team of specialists, carried out their specialized practice 12 students from the Faculty of History of Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj.
Investigations continued at the Domus Procuratoris objective, the prosecutor's residence financial support of Dacia Superior, and the sustained efforts of the entire team of specialists and students have yielded spectacular results.
Thank you all for your dedication and effort!
MNIT Cluj team






- Published in ARCHEOLOGY
ARCHEOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Systematic archeology involves extensive and long-term research, carried out according to a multi-year research project. Among the most well-known systematic construction sites carried out by MNIT are the construction site at Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana and Sarmizegetusa Regia, but the museum is also involved in other construction sites such as the one at Apulum (Alba Iulia Municipality, Alba County. Palace of the consular governor of the three Dacians), Cetatea Zânelor (Covasna county, where one of the largest and best-preserved Dacian fortresses outside the Orăștiei Mountains is preserved), or the Luna - Nod Rutier archaeological site (Cluj county, a site that includes two settlements and three necropolises, which belong to the miserly era).
Preventive or rescue sites, whether they are large-scale or smaller-scale works, are a current practice and particularly important in terms of the archaeological research of MNIT.
- Published in Uncategorized
LIMES
The LIMES National Program, established in 2014 by order of the Minister of Culture, is part of an international effort to register archaeological sites along the route of the old border of the Roman Empire (known as "limes") in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
9 countries are involved in the fulfillment of this wish, Romania playing an essential role as the longest sector of the Romanian limes is located on the territory of the country (over 1000 km). The three institutions directly involved in the field research and documentation necessary for the entire project are the National Museum of Transylvanian History (MNIT) in Cluj-Napoca, the National Museum of Romanian History (MNIR) in Bucharest and the National Museum of the Eastern Carpathians (MNCR) in St. George.
The activity carried out in 2017 consisted in the continuation of the identification of relevant older documents and the continuation of field research. Documents such as the excavation reports of the archaeologist Dumitru Protase found in the MNIT archive, were scanned to be added to the file for the inclusion of sites belonging to the Romanian border located on the current territory of Romania.
The archaeometric field research (non-invasive methods such as archaeological topography, geophysics, LIDAR and aerial photography) carried out during the past year contributed decisively to the delineation with greater precision of the western Roman border south of Bologa and up to the area of Văia Ierii and Văia Ariesăului. In the area of 400 km2 researched for the first time, 28 monuments of Roman origin were found, most of them in the territory of Cluj county, and some in the territory of Sălaj county. Likewise, similar researches took place in the South-East of Transylvania, in the area of the Râșnov-Cumidava, Hoghiz and Brețcu castles, but also in the area of the Roman borders of the South-East of Dacia and Dobrogea.
The program's activity has been appreciated by international partners since the beginning, thanks to the progress made by all parties involved in the research and documentation work, given the complexity of the researched sector of the Romanian border.
"We have identified more than 300 sites along the entire length of this border in Romania, candidates to enter the World Heritage List. Among these sites are legionary barracks, auxiliary barracks, towers and other military installations related to this border." – Dr. George Cupcea, Deputy Director of MNIT.
The activity of the three responsible institutions has been carried out without interruption during the last years, even if the budget allocations have been delayed, and most of the time they have been insufficient.

Website: www.limesromania.ro
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THE KITE
Gods and Mortals of Ancient Egypt
Project financed from the EEA Grants 2014-2021, through the RO-CULTURE Program
Contract no. RO-CULTURE-A1-2/2020/31.01.2020
Project period: February 2020 – June 2022
Contract value: 615.547,61 LEI (128.719,10 EURO)
Team:
Management: Felix Marcu, George Cupcea, Victoria Barabas
Implementation: Eugenia Beu-Dachin, Irina Nemeti, Diana Bindea, Ioana Cova, Sabin Grapini, Monica Bodea, Sanda Man.
The general objective: the promotion of the Egyptian collection by creating an innovative exhibition, with preserved and restored objects
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Transylvanian Museum in Cluj was the beneficiary of donations that contributed to the creation of a valuable Egyptian collection. Later, they came under the management of the National History Museum of Transylvania.
The Egyptian collection consists mainly of votive and funerary objects, the most important piece being a human mummy placed in a painted wooden sarcophagus from Gamhud (Egypt). The collection also includes some mummified organs or parts of the human body (hand, phalluses, lung), but also some animal mummies – falcons, birds, crocodiles; ushebti statuettes, made of glazed earthenware or painted wood, also belong to the category of funerary pieces. The gallery of votive objects is completed by statuettes of divinities such as Isis, Osiris, Harpokrates.
The ZMEA project is an interdisciplinary one and has several specific objectives, among which: the preservation and restoration of the Egyptian collection, as well as its enhancement by creating a modern exhibition, integrated both visually and informationally in the gallery of international exhibitions dedicated to this theme ; the improvement of museographers, restorers, conservators by collaborating with specialists from the Museum of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Budapest; the use of modern investigative methods (special photos with UV and infrared filters, CT and X-rays of the mummies, 3D scans of some parts); making a documentary film, but also a specialized catalog.
The collaboration with institutions such as the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca for medical imaging investigations, but also with the Technical University for 3D scans of some pieces from the collection led to an increase in knowledge about the artefacts and facilitated their interpretation, but also the appreciation internal degradations.
The specialty catalog and informative materials in the form of printable stickers on the walls, the documentary film, but also recordings of CT and X-ray investigations, of 3D scans will complete the showcase show.




- Published in project
PHARMATRANS
Exploratory research project
All Things Apothecary in 16th-20th-century Transylvania. The History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca. Pharmacies of the XVI-XX centuries in Transylvania. The Pharmacy History Collection from Cluj-Napoca
code PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1562
Financed from the state budget, through UEFISCDI
Total amount of the contract: 1.192.842 lei
Running: 2021-2023
project director Dr. Gruia Ana-Maria
team: Dr. Maria Pakucs-Willcocks, Dr. Ioana Gruiță, Dr. Ioana Cova, Dr. Alexandru Rădulescu
collaborators: Dr. Márta Guttmann, Dr. Kovács Zsolt, Dr. Magó Andrea Beatrix, Cornelia Rotariu, Radu Cordoș, Tudor Tomescu
The general goal of the project is to create the first exhaustive catalog of the Pharmacy History Collection from Cluj-Napoca and distribute it to a wide range of specialists and the general public, internationally. The team is considering a catalog in six volumes, in English, published by an accredited publishing house in Romania. The catalog will also be available online, in pdf format, on the project website (in progress).
The project also aims at a number of intermediate/secondary objectives:
O1. Visiting representative European museums of the history of pharmacy to allow team members comparative documentation of current conservation, restoration and display strategies for such heritage assets, acquisition of other relevant collection catalogs and bibliographic works, and networking by specialists in the field.
O2. Cleaning, consolidation and restoration of artefacts in the collection that require such specialized interventions (approx. 500 heritage goods of various types).
O3. Obtaining new knowledge related to the artefacts in the collection, through the latest methods: microscopic investigations, micro-photographs and specialized chemical analyzes of samples of materia medica kept in some of the old containers.
O4. Transcription, translation and analysis of all the manuscripts in the collection, most of them unique.
O5. Research and presentation of the most important new discoveries regarding the history of Transylvanian pharmacy from the 3th century obtained on the basis of the research of the collection at international conferences and through at least XNUMX articles in prestigious journals (ISI/ErihPlus).
O6. Promotion of the project, its activities and results, through: an own website (Romanian-English), posts on social networks, book launch in 2023.
For more information, we invite you to the project page see the project website:
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