Locating the timacum maius station on the roman road lissus-naissus-ratiaria: New archaeological research

As the exact location of two Timacum stations remains an open issue, the results of the latest archaeological investigations in the environs of Svrljig, southeast Serbia, seem to offer some corroborative evidence for the hypothesis proposed in our previous contribution that this might be the location of Roman Timacum Maius. A small-scale trial excavation was undertaken on the Roman site at Kalnica in the Niševac village area in July 2008. A trench 4 by 2m was opened in the zone of the site that had yielded plentiful fragments of building debris as well as small finds. A massive wall over 1m thick was found immediately beneath the surface. Built of bro­ken limestone and pebbles bound with lime mortar, it obviously was part of a larger structure. To the northeast of the wall was an area covered with fragmented roof tiles. The discovery of two ceramic tumuli embedded in the wall, indicating a wall-heating system so far unregistered on the representative Roman urban and settlement sites in Serbia, gives additional grounds to presume that this was a larger Roman settlement extending over an area of more than 5ha, possibly Timacum Maius, a station on the Roman road Lissus-Ratiaria-Naissus

Epigraphic and Archaeological Evidence Contributing to Identifying the Location and Character of Timacum Maius

Systematic archaeological excavation in the area of the village of Niševac near Svrljig, southeast Serbia, of a Roman settlement site, possibly Timacum Maius station on the main Roman road Lissus-Naissus-Ratiaria connecting the Adriatic and the Danube, has been going on for five years. Epigraphic and etymological analysis of an inscription dedicated to Hera Sonketene (dat. Hρα Σονκητηνη) provides evidence for the possible balneological character of the entire area of Timacum Maius, which was geomorphologically similar to and connected by a road network with the Thracian region of Denteletika centred on Pautalia, where the dedicant, Tiberius Claudius Theopompus served as strategos. The archaeological evidence complements the conclusions suggested by the epigraphic material. The recently discovered secondcentury Roman structure furnished with a hypocaust system using perforated circular- sectioned pebble-filled ceramic tubuli for heating the floors and outer walls of the building may have served a balneal purpose. A sizeable Roman bathhouse, with remains of two pools and two rooms with a hypocaust and ceramic tubuli, has also been partially explored. In the broader area of Svrljig Valley (near the village of Prekonoga), a luxurious Roman villa with a marble hexagon, numerous rooms and a bath, recently subjected to a rescue excavation, has been completely cleared and recorded. The first geophysical survey on the Timacum Maius site has also been undertaken

Newly-discovered traces of the Roman Naissus-Ratiaria road and the problem of locating two Timacum stations

The goal of this paper is to reopen the question of and propose a solution to the as yet unresolved problem of the exact location of the Timacum stations on the Naissus-Ratiaria itinerary road. Based on plentiful material evidence it seeks to draw a more reliable picture of the Roman itinerary road and its newly-discovered traces. Also, it points to the possibility of a completely new interpretation of the itinerary sources relating to this issue. The method adopted here relies on the data contained in the Roman itineraries as well as on the archaeological and epigraphic evidence

The Roman Station Timacum Maius (?): Evidence of Urbanization and Communications

The 2009 archaeological campaign at Niševac, eastern Serbia, has provided important evidence for the urban growth of a Roman settlement, such as drains and a section of the Roman road traversing the settlement. Along with a sumptuous structure furnished with a wall heating system discovered in 2008, the latest excavation results provide clues as to the importance of the settlement which, containing all elements of Roman urban architecture, offers further corroboration to its presumed identification as the Roman station of Timacum Maius on the Lissus-Naissus-Ratiaria road

The First Cohort of Cretans, a Roman Military Unit at Timacum Maius

Archaeological investigations on the site of Niševac (Timacum Maius) have been conducted over a period of eight successive years by the Institute for Balkan Studies in collaboration with the Centre for Tourism, Culture and Sports of Svrljig and the French Bordeaux-based Ausonius Institute. The 2014 campaign came up with nine Roman bricks stamped with inscriptions of the First Cohort of Cretans (Cohors I Cretum) built into the walls of a Roman bath. The inscriptions provide evi­dence for the character, chronology and history of the Roman settlement

Archaeological site of Bolnica in Paraćin and its importance for the prehistory of the Central Morava Region: A contribution in chronology and horizontal and vertical stratigraphy

Lokalitet Bolnica u Paraćinu nalazi se u severoistočnom delu današnjeg grada, na prvoj rečnoj terasi Crnice, čija nadmorska visina varira između 130 m i 140 m, a koja zapravo predstavlja južne obronke Karađorđevog brda. Čitav lokalitet danas je prekriven modernim naseljem, koje je u velikoj meri oštetilo njegovu stratigrafiju, zbog čega nisu moguća istraživanja šireg obima. Poslednja arheološka istraživanja, preventivnog karaktera, realizovana su krajem 2018. godine u samom bolničkom krugu. Prikazan odabir arheološkog materijala potiče sa ukupno 11 tačaka iz kruga današnje Opšte bolnice u Paraćinu i njegove neposredne okoline, a prikupljan je sukcesivno još od 80-ih godina prošlog veka. Ulomci posuda što su u prethodne tri decenije dospeli u Zavičajni Muzej u Paraćinu ukazuju na postojanje najmanje četiri kulturno-hronološka horizonta na ovom lokalitetu - ranoneolitski, bronzanodopski, horizont starijeg gvozdenog doba i horizont mlađeg gvozdenog doba. Najveća pažnja posvećena je pre svega nalazima iz mlađeg gvozdenog doba, čiji oblici i karakter upućuju na poreklo sa teritorije današnje Rumunije, odnosno na materijal dačke provenijencije. Upravo su na tom prostoru pronađene brojne analogije materijalu koji potiče sa više lokaliteta na teritoriji grada Paraćina (Bolnica, Gloždak, Gloždak-Lidl) i njegove neposredne okoline. Poređenjem teritorijalno-stratigrafskih odnosa lokaliteta Bolnica sa njemu teritorijalno bliskim lokalitetom Motel Slatina došlo se do određenih zaključaka koji govore u prilog tome da se radi o jedinstvenom lokalitetu što je još početkom XX veka veštački podeljen izgradnjom Srpske fabrike stakla i auto-puta E-75. Tako posmatrano, lokalitet Bolnica, odnosno Bolnica / Motel Slatina predstavlja u stratigrafskom pogledu jedan od najbogatijih lokaliteta na prostoru centralnog Pomoravlja. Posebno je razmatran i položaj lokaliteta Bolnica u odnosu na glavne komunikacione pravce u praistorijskom i ranorimskom periodu, pa je zaključeno da je ova oblast predstavljala važnu raskrsnicu na kojoj su se susretali putevi koji su vodili sa severa na jug, ali i prema istoku, prema prostorima koji su gravitirali teritoriji naseljavanja dačkih populacija. Uporedna analiza keramičkog inventara sa lokaliteta Bolnica, rezultata starijih istraživanja u Paraćinu i postojećih istorijskih izvora ukazala je na mogućnost da postojanje materijalne kulture Dačana na ovom prostoru može biti posledica prisilnog premeštanja stanovništva tokom I veka naše ere. Naime, epigrafski izvori govore o tome da je tokom I veka naše ere, a verovatno između 61. i 64. godine, izvesni Silvan Elije, legat sa propretorskim ovlašćenjima, nasilno preselio 100.000 "prekodunavaca" na teritoriju tadašnje Mezije, današnje Srbije.The paper presents the horizontal and vertical stratigraphy of the site of Bolnica in Paraćin, based on both earlier and the latest archaeological excavations and the material which had been collected for decades by the Hometown Museum in Paraćin, as a result of the construction works connected with the constant urbanisation of the area. The presented archaeological material is attributed to a period from the Early Neolithic to the so-called Dacian La Tène, meaning the 2nd century AD. One of the subjects discussed in this paper is the possibility that the sites of Bolnica and Motel Slatina, in fact, represent one large site, which was artificially divided by the E 75 highway and the Serbian Glass Factory. The comparative analysis, which encompassed the sites positioned on the right bank of the Velika Morava River, showed that this is one of the sites with the most independent chronological sequences in the Central Morava Region. Likewise, the importance of this site as a strategic point and an important intersection on the route from the Danube River to the Central Balkans, and further towards the south and East is underlined. Finally, we analysed the appearance of Dacian material culture during the 1st and the 2nd century AD and compared the occurrence of certain forms and decorations with relevant sites in present-day Romania. The paper cautiously suggests that the Dacian material culture represents traces of the deportation of 100,000 Transdanubians to the territory of Moesia by the legate Silvanus Aelianus, possibly between 61 AD and 64 AD, during the reign of Emperor Nero, which has been partially confirmed by new archaeological excavations at the site of Gloždak-Lidl during 2018

One Review on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications

The fuel cell is a highly efficient electrochemical clean energy conversion device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy by reacting gaseous fuel (H+) with oxidizing gas (O2-) though a solid ion conducting electrolyte with reduced greenhouse gas emission and reduced oil consumption. FC generates high alteration efficiencies as compared to the other available conventional combustion engine mechanical approaches. The working principle of batteries and fuel cell are analogues to each other for the production of electricity. Oxygen pass through the cathode and hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuels supply through the anode, and then the electrochemical reaction takes place at the electrode/electrolyte interface due to the active charge carrier passing through the electrolyte, thereby releasing the electrons into external circuit to generate electricity without pollution. There is no need to store energy as it is a continuous reforming process as long as both fuel and oxidant are provided in the fuel cell continuously. Thus, the main characteristic of a fuel cell is the production of highly efficient energy with negligible pollution. Thus, in the 21st century, energy technology such as fuel cell becomes a key determinant factor of economic development and is essential to raising the living standards in the form of the most influencing and challenging alternating source of generation of electricity

Paleolinguistics brings more light on the earliest history of the traditional Eurasian pulse crops

Traditional pulse crops such as pea, lentil, field bean, bitter vetch, chickpea and common vetch originate from Middle East, Mediterranean and Central Asia^1^. They were a part of human diets in hunter-gatherers communities^2^ and are one of the most ancient cultivated crops^3,4^. Europe has always been rich in languages^5^, with individual families still preserving common vocabularies related to agriculture^6,7^. The evidence on the early pulse history witnessed by the attested roots in diverse Eurasian proto-languages remains insufficiently clarified and its potential for supporting archaeobotanical findings is still non-assessed. Here we show that the paleolinguistic research may contribute to archaeobotany in understanding the role traditional Eurasian pulse crops had in the everyday life of ancient Europeans. It was found that the Proto-Indo-European language^8,9^ had the largest number of roots directly related to pulses, such as *arnk(')- (a leguminous plant), *bhabh- (field bean), *erəgw[h]- (a kernel of leguminous plant; pea), *ghArs- (a leguminous plant), *kek-, *k'ik'- (pea) and *lent- (lentil)^10,11,12^, numerous words subsequently related to pulses^13,14^ and borrowings from one branch to another^15^, confirming their essential place in the nutrition of Proto-Indo-Europeans^16,17,18^. It was also determined that pea was the most important among Proto-Uralic people^19,20,21^, while pea and lentil were the most significant in the agriculture of Proto-Altaic people^22,23,24^. Pea and bean were most common among Caucasians^25,26^, Basques^27,28^ and their hypothetical common forefathers^29^ and bean and lentil among the Afro-Asiatic ancestors of modern Maltese^30^. Our results demonstrate that pulses were common among the ancestors of present European nations and that paleolinguistics and its lexicological and etymological analysis may be useful in better understanding the earliest days of traditional Eurasian crops. We believe our results could be a basis for advanced multidisciplinary approach to the pulse crop domestication, involving plant scientists, archaeobotanists and linguists, and for reconstructing even earlier periods of pulse history

Diameter-controlled solid-phase seeding of germanium nanowires: structural characterization and electrical transport properties

Despite the huge progress recently made in understanding the phenomena of metal-promoted growth of one-dimensional (1D) semiconductors, the controlled formation of small diameter semiconductor nanowires is still challenging. Liquid growth promoters, such as the low melting Au/Ge eutectic, allow control of the aspect ratio, diameter, and structure of 1D crystals via external parameters, such as precursor feedstock, temperature, and operating pressure. However, the incorporation of metal atoms during the growth process, size variations of the nanowires due to agglomeration of the nucleating metal seeds, and surface diffusion of Au via the vapor–liquid–solid route have been reported. Here, we detail the influence of solid growth seeds, such as NiGe2 formed from Ni nanoparticles, on the lateral dimensions of Ge nanowires grown using a supercritical fluid growth process. Beneficial control over the mean nanowire diameter, in the sub-20 nm regime, with a predominantly ⟨110⟩ growth direction and low structural defect concentration was obtained using Ni seeds. In addition, the effect of prealloying of Ni–Fe films for the growth of Ge nanowires was investigated, which leads to a bimodal nanowire distribution. Electrical characterization performed on single nanowire devices showed p-type behavior for Ge nanowires grown from Ni and Ni/Fe seeds. Determination of resistivities, majority carrier concentrations, and mobilities suggest significant doping of the Ge nanowires by Ni when grown via a supercritical fluid–solid–solid (SFSS) mechanism