Analele ܇tiințifice ale Universității „Al. I. Cuza” Ia܈i, s. Biologie animală, Tom LV, 2009 ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF A SAMPLE OF ROMAN PERIOD IN THE ISACCEA SITE Simina STANC and Luminița BEJENARU “Al. I. Cuza” University Iași, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I 20A, 700505 Iași, Romania, siminams@yahoo.com; lumib@uaic.ro Abstract. The faunal material analysed was gathered from a Roman level, during an archaeological research, which took place in Isaccea fortress in the year 2005. The sample consists of 372 faunal remains, of garbage origin, of fish (2.7%), bird (3.2%) and mammals (94.1%). Of the total identified mammal remains 97.8% belong to domestic species and only 2.2% to wild species. The identified domestic mammals are: cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus), pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), and dog (Canis familiaris). The highest percentage represented by the number of remains is that of cattle, followed by sheep-goat. The identified wild mammal species are: red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa ferus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), and hare (Lepus europaeus). Keywords: Roman period, faunal remain quantification, osteometrical data, archaeozoology. Rezumat. Analiza arheozoologică a unui e܈antion de perioadă romană aparținând sitului de la Isaccea. Materialul faunistic analizat a fost adunat dintr-un nivel roman, în campania arheologică derulată în anul 2005, în cetatea de la Isaccea. Eșantionul este constituit din 372 resturi faunistice, de origine menajeră, care provin de la pești (2,7%), păsări (3,2%) și mamifere (94,1%). Din totalul resturilor de mamifere identificate, 97,8% aparțin celor domestice și numai 2,2% celor sălbatice. Mamiferele domestice identificate sunt bovina domestică (Bos taurus), oaia (Ovis aries), capra (Capra hircus), porcul (Sus scrofa domesticus), câinele (Canis familiaris). Ponderea cea mai ridicată, ca număr de resturi identificate o are bovina domestică, urmată de ovicaprine. Speciile de mamifere sălbatice identificate sunt: cerbul (Cervus elaphus), mistrețul (Sus scrofa ferus), căpriorul (Capreolus capreolus) și iepurele (Lepus europaeus). Cuvinte cheie: perioada romană, cuantificare resturi faunistice, date osteometrice, arheozoologie. Introduction The present town of Isaccea is situated in the north-east side of Tulcea County, on the river Danube, at 37 km north of the Tulcea municipality. The ruins of the Noviodunum fortress are at about 2 km on the eastern part of the modern Isaccea town. Situated on one of the most important ford of the Danube River, on a promontory 20 m high, the fortress had, at different historical periods, a distinguished military and trade role. Built in the first years of the Principality epoch on an older Getic settlement, the fortress was mainly a basis of the Roman fleet at the Lower Danube territory Classis Flavia Moesica, then the headquarters of some detachments of Legio V Macedonica and Legio I Italica and also the end point of intersection of the trade and army road crossing the Central Dobrudja, from Marcianopolis and the Danube lime. The early Roman fortress (II-III centuries), raised to the rank of municipium during the Severs` period, was a cosmopolitan centre, with a population formed of military, Roman or Greek and Oriental civilians and veterans. Some important structures of it are still extant on the banks of the Danube (thermae, lodgings, fragments of the inner walls). The fortress itself was surrounded on the southern and eastern parts by extended civilian settlements, fortified by a defensive system of three earthen walls and moats. The fortress was destroyed during the attack of the Goths and the Herules at about the year 267, but was rebuilt during the reigns of emperors Aurelian and Probus, at a smaller scale than the earlier fortress (Protase, Suceveanu, 2001). -229-