Introduction

The present-day territories of the villages of Stari Kostolac and Drmno, situated about 95km south-east of Belgrade, lie within the limits of the urban territory of the ancient city of Viminacium, the capital of the Roman province Moesia superior, named Moesia Prima in the late Empire. The ancient roman city and military fort (covering an area of over 450ha of the wider city region and 220ha of the inner city) are now located under cultivated fields, across which artefacts and fragments of objects from roman times are scattered. exploration of the Viminacium cemeteries was undertaken during construction of the Kostolac thermal power plant and operation of the Drmno opencast mine.

The necropolis of Viminacium was explored during the last three decades of the 20th century and over 13,500 graves discovered, along with more than 30,000 archaeological artefacts. excavation of the southern part of the Viminacium cemetery offered valuable data about burial rites from the fourth century BC (Jovanovic 1984; 1985), over the whole roman period, through the first to the fourth centuries AD (Zotović and Jordović 1990; Korać et al 2009) to the period of the Great Migration (Zotović 1980; Ivanišević et al 2006). The finds were displayed at the national museum in Požarevac, a town situated 12km from the site itself. With nothing visible at the site, visitors were unable to obtain a real impression of the necropolis, the city or the military fort.