A new gate-tower type in Pannonia Inferior. The northern gate of Annamatia

Abstract

Roman forts can several times be dated only on the basis of the ground-plans of their gate-towers.1 This observation is true in the case of the forts in the Pannonian provinces as well. Here the earlier hypothesis that most of the Pannonian earth-timber castella were built into stone only after the Marcomannic wars on the basis of the gate-towers (projecting in the ratio 1/3:2/3 from the face of the fort wall) was confirmed by archaeological evidence in several places.2 In this paper we publish an earlier unknown gate type from Annamatia (Pannonia Inferior, Baracs) which was uncovered in the years 2000–2001. The antique Annamatia lies on the Eastern Pannonian limes, south of Intercisa (Fig. 1). The first archaeological investigation of the area was begun only in 1999 with the support of the Pazmany Peter Catholic University and the Intercisa Museum.3 The antique literary sources only mention the fort (It. Ant. 245, 2, Tab. Peut. Seg. IV, Not. Dig. occ. XXXIII, 95, Geogr. Rav. 220, 2). The praetoria side of the fort is almost completely missing because the Danube has eroded its eastern part. During the excavations between 1999–2004 we uncovered the SW and the NW angle towers and the northern gate (Fig. 1–2), as well as a short section of the western and southern fort wall. The excavation of the principia has also begun in 2002.4 Garrisons: 1st c. ? 106–118/119 cohort I Lusitanorum (L 2001, 38, No.30) 118/119–180 cohort I Alpinorum eq. (L 2001, 27, No.1) 180–260 cohort milliaria Maurorum (L 2001, 38, No.33) equites promoti (Not. Dig. occ. XXXIII, 36)