Reconstruction of the archaeological grid layout in the area of the forum of Municipium DD

Abstract

Many years of neglect of certain antique sites in our region can often cause not only their deterioration in the field, but also the misplacing of important parts of documentation linked to their archaeological research. Due to already familiar historical, war-related and political circumstances in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, studies of results of previously conducted archaeological research activities on certain sites are often limited due to the absence or incompleteness of parts of the documentation. Such is the case with the antique site of Municipium DD in the area of today’s Sočanica. On the basis of the preserved part of the documentation (mainly, archaeological journals), we had the possibility of forming a better interpretation of the circumstances in which certain find were discovered. However, the absence of a part of the technical documentation (plans and drawings) prevented us from gaining, in a well-founded manner, an understanding of the archaeological context as a whole from the very start. One of the largest problems was the lack of a grid layout, according to which the research was organised, and which obviously existed, as can be seen from the archaeological journals. In order to gain a better understanding of the archaeological context, it was necessary to reconstructs its position in the area of the forum of Municipium DD.

Poznate istorijske, ratne i političke okolnosti doprinele su da ostaci Municipijuma DD, jednog od antičkih naselja na prostoru severa Kosova i Metohije, budu zanemareni duže vremena, što je praćeno i nedostatkom određenog dela dokumentacije sa istraživanja. Ovakav problem vodi ka neminovnom nerazumevanju arheološkog konteksta u kome se došlo do pronalaska određenih arheoloških nalaza. Najveći problem po pitanju ovog lokaliteta odnosio se na nedostatak kvadratne mreže, prema kojoj su arheološka istraživanja bila organizovana, a koja je prema sačuvanim arheološkim dnevnicima očigledno postojala. Kako bi se mnogo bolje razumeo arheološki kontekst, neophodno je bilo restituisati njene pravce na prostoru foruma Municipijuma DD. Našom analizom razjašnjeno je i u kom vremenskom periodu su izvedene pojedine sonde. Tumačenje hronologije iskopavanja doprineće i preciznijem tumačenju mesta na kome su pronađeni pojedini arheološki nalazi i arhitektonski ostaci, kako u toku celog procesa istraživanja, tako i tokom samo jedne kampanje u kalendarskoj godini.