The discovery of a Roman marching camp in Coștiui, Maramureș County, Romania. Identification and archaeological excavations 2019

Abstract

This article presents the results of investigations of an earthen structure on Imaș Hill in Coștiui village conducted in the autumn of 2019. The encampment closely resembles a medium-size Roman marching camp, a temporary base built by the Roman army on the move during campaigns. It is located 70 km north from the Roman Frontier area (the line of the Roman auxiliary camps from Cășeiu/Samum and Ilișua/Arcobadara). It is the farthest known Roman military point discovered beyond Dacia Porolissensis. The fortification has a distorted rectangular shape, adapted to the hill’s outline, and covers the area of 3.59 ha. Its defensive elements comprise a single line of ramparts and an external ditch. The ditch is of the truncated “V-shaped” type with a straight bottom. The heavily eroded rampart is not continuous and has 43 openings along all sides at relatively equal distances from each other. The presence of a Roman camp in the area of one of the richest salt deposits in Maramureș cannot be a coincidence. Discoveries of Roman military sites are known on the former Roman Empire’s territory in areas of useful natural resources such as mineral outcrops. The fact that it was built near one of the biggest salt deposits known in the Maramureș Depression is a strong suggestion that Romans could be interested in controlling the salt extraction and perhaps its distribution/trade in the Upper Tisza region.