Introduction

The archaeological site of Viminacium is located on the right bank of the river Mlava, about 3 km south of the Danube, in arable fields of the Stari Kostolac and Drmno villages, near the “Kostolac B” thermal power plant and the strip coal mine “Drmno” (Fig. 1). It is within the administrative borders of the City of Požarevac, the economic, cultural, administrative and political centre of the Braničevo district in Serbia. Viminacium was founded in the first century AD as an important legionary fortress of Legio VII Claudia, situated on the Danube limes, and quickly developed into a city and the capital of the Moesia Superior province—its administrative, religious, military and trade centre (Mirković 1968; Vasić 1895; Spasić-Đurić 2015). The first excavations of Viminacium were carried out in 1882 (Valtrović 1884). In 1949, the explored Viminacium sites were protected by law, and in 1979 they were defined as immovable cultural property of exceptional importance. However, only in 2009 were the entire area of the Roman city and the legionary fortress and its immediate surroundings determined a unique archaeological site, and its boundaries and protection regimes defined (Odluka 2009). The archaeological park with its presented buildings was opened for visitors in 2006 (Anđelković Grašar et al. 2013; Golubović and Korać 2013). Today, it is the most developed archaeological site in Serbia. Since 2015, Viminacium has been on the UNESCO Tentative List as a part of an international monument under the name “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” (UNESCO 2015; Golubović and Mrđić 2014; Korać et al. 2014).

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Position of The Mammoth Park. a Position of Serbia in Europe. Tags: Emilija Nikolić on © Orion 8 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_political_chart_blank.svg; b position of Viminacium in Serbia. Tags: Emilija Nikolić on © Geologicharka / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_map_of_Serbia.png; c position of Viminacium Archaeological Park and the “Drmno” strip coal mine in the area along the Danube. Tags: Emilija Nikolić on Google Earth Pro photo printed on December 5, 2018 (historical image from October 5, 2018)

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In the summer of 2009, during one of the usual excavations of the geological layers within the process of the exploitation of coal in the mine, beside the edge of the Viminacium Archaeological Park (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3), a skeleton of a “steppe” mammoth of the species Mammuthus trogontherii (Pohlig), preserved almost in its entirety, was found (Lister et al. 2012; Muttoni et al. 2015) (Fig. 4). The discovery drew the attention of Serbian and international scientists and the public. The mammoth was popularly named “Vika” and soon became the biggest attraction of Viminacium, immediately protected in situ by a temporary wooden structure (Fig. 4).Footnote 1 The original idea of all participants in this process was to leave this extremely valuable natural find protected and on view in situ, together with its geological setting, replacing the temporary protective structure with a permanent one in due course. However, after considering all the possibilities for the skeleton to remain in the strip mine, and the various aspects of its presentation, where visitors would be able to visit the skeleton in an industrial environment using special transport, without interrupting the coal mining process, in 2012, it was decided to move the skeleton to a secure location within the Viminacium Archaeological Park (Fig. 5). The discovery and excavation of more (fragmented) Mammuthus trogontherii fossils in the strip mine during 2012 at the Nosak site, in a paleontological layer about 20 m above the one containing Vika (Marković et al. 2014; Dimitrijević et al. 2014; Dimitrijević et al. 2015), opinions within the project turned towards the creation of a completely new exhibition and educational space in the archaeological park under the name of The Mammoth Park (Nikolić 2017). The project was carried out in the fields within the protected area of Viminacium, along the final edge of the development of the strip coal mine “Drmno” (Odluka 2009) (Fig. 3), and The Mammoth Park was officially opened for visitors on June 30th, 2014.

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Viminacium Archaeological Park. Photo: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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Fig. 3
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Aerial views of The Mammoth Park and the edge of the strip mine immediately after the construction of the protective structure in 2014; close view to the Park from 2018. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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Fig. 4
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“Drmno” strip coal mine, in situ location of skeleton found in 2009 and temporary protective structure. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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Fig. 5
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Viminacium Archaeological Park and “Drmno” strip coal mine, in situ location of skeleton found in 2009, and position of The Mammoth Park. Tags by Emilija Nikolić on Google Earth Pro photo printed on December 5, 2018 (historical image from October 24, 2013)

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The aim of this paper is to show the processes that the Viminacium research team went through while trying to find the best possible solution for the salvage, preservation and presentation of the mammoth skeletons found in the vicinity of the Viminacium Archaeological Park in 2009 and 2012, but also those connected with the realisation of the final project. However, the main goal of the paper is to advocate the carefully reasoned design of the presentation of natural and cultural heritage in those places where they form unique landscapes, as is the case with the area of Viminacium. Based on this goal, the natural (geological) features of the landscape around the archaeological park should be included in the future presentation of Roman Viminacium, whose position was conditioned by the river Danube as a strategic line, but also by the available natural resources its founders later used to build their homes and develop agriculture. Cultural tourism, geotourism, rural tourism, as well as ecotourism, should all have equally important roles in the preservation of this valuable place by the Danube. This paper deals with the connections between cultural and natural heritage, the relationship between architectural design and heritage conservation, but also with the problems archaeological and geological sites face when they share territory with contemporary industry.

Concept of the Project

Authenticity has been the most debated topic in the field of heritage preservation. As a feature of a cultural property, it can have many forms. Accordingly, during the preservation processes, the authenticity of the creator, material, function, concept, history, ensemble and context of a cultural property can be maintained (Ashworth and Howard 1999). In the case of a natural property, such as a mammoth skeleton, which becomes part of the exhibition space, and consequently, in some way acquires the features of a cultural property, the authenticity of the material, the ensemble, the history and the context are forms that can be discussed during its preservation. In the process of the creation of The Mammoth Park in Viminacium, the main aim of the participants was to preserve all four forms of authenticity as much as was possible. However, the first step in the establishment of the Park was the process of the skeleton’s relocation, which led to the inevitable loss of part of the authenticity of the spatial context and, in the case of an accident or the loss of attention of any of the participants, the other forms of authenticity could have been lost (Nikolić 2017). Also, preserving the entire authenticity of the context when dealing with natural properties, such as the skeleton of an animal that lived in a space much different from today, in a completely different context than the one in which it was found after many millennia, was actually impossible, even if the skeleton remained in situ. The protection and presentation of the mammoth skeleton in the strip coal mine “Drmno” could have preserved the context of the skeleton in a geological sense. However, the preserved context would be “settled” within the frame of today’s environment. In an attempt to preserve all forms of the skeleton’s authenticity, to the extent that was possible, given the necessity of the relocation, it was decided to lift the skeleton with the layers of the earth beneath it, keeping a part of the authentic spatial context, while with the relocation of the skeleton as an entity and the care of all elements of the skeleton during the process, the authenticity of the ensemble, history and the material were protected.

The creation of a project to lift and relocate all the mammoth skeletons found in the strip mine was a specific procedure. It was applied in its simpler form to the fragmented mammoth skeletons, which were, soon after their discovery in 2012, safely transferred to the area of the Viminacium Archaeological Park in metal coffins with the layers of the earth in which they were found, to await the construction of a permanent protective structure in which they would finally be displayed.Footnote 2 The more difficult undertaking was the relocation of the Vika skeleton, considering the fact that it was preserved almost completely and that it was decided to transfer it as a single block, ensuring the preservation of the original positions of all the bones and preventing their movement (Nikolić 2017). A rigid platform composed of steel tubes located below the layer of the soil on which the skeleton lay became a secure base that, together with the skeleton and the earth, and using a crane and an appropriate trailer was loaded, transported and unloaded to a new location allocated for the construction of a permanent protective structure in the spring of 2014. The Vika skeleton was successfully placed in the new position and, in order to revoke the original context as much as was possible, the position was identical to the one it had at the original site, in terms of its spatial orientation. The coffins with skeletons found in 2012 were brought to the same space soon after, and the construction of a wooden protective structure above them commenced (Fig. 6). The conservation processes on the exposed skeletons were carried out in the final stage of the construction and the interior design arrangement. The bones of other prehistoric animals found during excavations in 2009 and 2012 are still stored in depots at the Viminacium Archaeological Park, with their presentation within the exhibition space planned for the future.

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Construction process of the protective structure in The Mammoth Park. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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The final idea of creating a structure with a roof that follows the slope of the surrounding terrain and an underground exhibition space was created after the development of a series of architectural solutions that emphasised the role of this construction and placed it in a dominant spatial position in relation to all other contents of the archaeological park (Fig. 7). Although the presentation of a grandiose finding such as a mammoth skeleton preserved in its entirety represented a tempting architectural task and led to monumentality, during the process, the idea that eventually became the only acceptable solution for all the participants was the creation of an underground space beneath a protective structure, within a hole in the groundFootnote 3 (Nikolić 2017) (Figs. 6 and 7). Its placement underground avoided any spatial competition with what basically the Viminacium Archaeological Park should be, the presentation of the Roman city and military camp (Nikolić 2017). At the beginning of 2014, work on the construction of The Mammoth Park within the Viminacium Archaeological Park began, comprising an area with a central protective and exhibition structure realised with a system of glued laminated timber with an intensive, passable, green roof, and surrounding free green areas (Nikolić 2018) (Fig. 6).

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Architectural solutions for the permanent protective structure. Sketches, models and technical drawings of the construction: Emilija Nikolić and Krstan Laketić

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Presentation Methods in the Mammoth Park

The placement of the mammoths into a space resembling an underground chamber and the position of the skeleton below the present-day ground has placed them, in some way, in a time context far from the present. An attempt to partially renew the authenticity of a spatial context in which an animal once lived also included the creation of an environment similar to the natural one, using traditional materials, soil, sand and wood. The space with “walls” of earth, “floors” of sand brought from the strip mine, dendrological remains found in the mine, with and the exposed skeletons, with an approximate surface area of 1200 m2, has created an attractive ambience with elements of the authentic geological context (Fig. 8). The Viminacium mammoths were found thanks to the industry and exploitation of coal. This is why the architecture of the exhibition space carries an association with the traditional underground exploitation of coal, whose beginnings on the territory of Kostolac date back to 1870 (Simić 1971), a year also determined as the beginning of the industrialisation of Serbia (Vučetić 2010). The old mine railway thresholds were inserted into the layers of the soil inside the space with the role of supporting walls and the entrance to the exhibition space is solved using a wooden portal similar to the entrance to the underground mine (Fig. 9). From the roof, natural light reaches a level that adequately illuminates the space but also lends an air of mystery throughout the day, while artificial reflector lighting located on the main supports of the structure emphasises the elements of the space during the evening (Fig. 10).

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Arrangement of the space under the protective structure and the geological layers and dendrological remains in the “Drmno” strip coal mine—later brought to the exhibition space. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade. Model: Željko Jovanović

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Fig. 9
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Entrance to the exhibition space. Models and technical drawing of the construction: Emilija Nikolić and Krstan Laketić. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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Exhibition space of The Mammoth Park. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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The outer area of The Mammoth Park is completely green, with trees and earth elevations. A stone path cuts through the green area accessing the exhibition space, with a permanent quickset formed along its edges—like a road through a canyon, with untreated earthy slopes and stone floor coverings (Nikolić 2017; Nikolić 2018) (Figs. 3, 6 and 9). A formation of educational content is realised in the outer space, with enclosed sand trenches where children can learn the methods of excavation (Fig. 11). The newly formed dendrological collection of the Park also carries an educational role, with a large number of different planted species, among which is the Ginkgo biloba,Footnote 4 that came down to us almost unchanged over 200 million years (Crane 2013). In the future, The Mammoth Park should become a green oasis, with an underground exhibition space and a total surface area of about 10,000 m2.

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The Mammoth Park—free playing areas for children and the wooden mammoth. Photos: Institute of Archaeology Belgrade

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Natural history museums often have some type of icon, such as a large exhibit of a “preferably dangerous” animal that welcomes visitors (MacMahon 2013). In the case of The Mammoth Park, a wooden mammothFootnote 5 located in the children’s playground in the outer green space (Fig. 11) can represent its icon. However, contrary to most cases where such an icon stands at the entrance halls of the museums, the wooden mammoth is placed in an open space, away from the entrance. Set in the same spatial orientation as the exposed Vika skeleton in the space below, it is not an entry mark, nor an entrance icon, but marks the entire area of the Park. It is not dangerous at all, and although it represents a mammoth in natural size, it is unobtrusive and acts as a child’s friend. As Darcie MacMahon suggests, the entrance halls in museums “create powerful first impressions” and for this reason they should be designed as “ideal locations for conceptual orientation”, different from the logistical orientation which includes signage, facilities or guides. This orientation, achieved with the different content in the halls, helps visitors organise their knowledge, understand the major messages of the exhibitions and gain a richer experience (MacMahon 2013). The entrance hall to The Mammoth Park of Viminacium does not exist as an individual interior space, but a conceptual orientation is there, given to visitors while they pass by the area with the dendrological collection and the wooden mammoth and through the man-made canyon that leads them slowly to the exhibition space with the central skeleton. On opening the door to the space, the visitor is given an immediate view of the underground cave with the Vika skeleton, which is, at the same time, the icon of the space and its main exhibit.

A large number of mammoth skeletons found in the world are exhibited in natural history museums, as sets of individual bones in a showcase, or as reconstructed entities placed in an upright position. Among the largest museums of this type are the Museum of Natural History in London, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, and the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris, which were founded and built during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, upgraded in the following decades, and which constantly undergo modernisation processes. Designers and exhibition authors of these museums are daily trying to improve the visitor experience and enable their education through various types of presentations. (Chen et al. 2006). In Serbia, several institutions have natural collections that offer various types of presentation, but different from the one given by The Mammoth Park in Viminacium. These include The Natural History Museum in Belgrade, The Institute for Nature Conservation of Vojvodina Province in Novi Sad, The National Museum of Kikinda and The Natural History Centre of Serbia, in Svilajnac. With the National Museum dedicated to science, conservation and research with temporary thematic settings, the National Institute connected to nature protection with permanent and temporary settings, the general regional museum with a central exhibit of the “Kika” mammoth displayed in the museum’s showcase, and the National Educational Centre with replicas of different animals and accents on dinosaurs, all of them offer exhibitions in the equipped ambiences of an urban environment. The classic museological exposure of the mammoth skeleton in Viminacium, within a museum building of any type, would be another in a series of these museological settings, made with the help of modern technologies. The presentation of paleontological remains in a natural ambience in situ is a different and specific kind of experience that reduces the need for additional content and an artificial creation of an experience. Such a site is the “The Hot Springs Mammoth Site” in South Dakota, USA that has become one of the most well-known world centres for palaeontology research. After the discovery of the first skeleton in 1974 during a house construction (Agenbroad 1978), a private non-profit organisation has taken care of this place, with donations and help from the local community, through the excavations of amateurs and professional palaeontologists. The site was awarded the “National Natural Landmark” in 1980. In addition to the visitors’ presentations, excavations are being conducted at this site, where scientists from all over the world participate, along with volunteering students, as well as the participation of other interested visitors who are willing to pay for this research experience and, in this way, support future research and the expansion of the site (Thompson 2004; The Mammoth Site 2018). Although the mammoth skeletons from “Drmno” were relocated from an in situ position, and all skeletons found in 2009 and 2012 in different paleontological layers are exhibited together in one space, the presentation offered by The Mammoth Park in Viminacium is similar to the one in Hot Springs, considering its exhibition environment made from authentic elements brought from the strip mine which resembles the natural one and the skeleton of Vika, whose own authenticity was maintained.

The Mammoth Park as the Guardian of Valuable Natural Heritage

In the area of Požarevac, there are four protected national natural properties, that is, three natural monuments—groups of oaks, ashes, elms and linden trees, as well as a landscape of exceptional characteristics represented by a group of oaks. All natural properties of international importance in the territory of the city are located near the Viminacium Archaeological Park, along the Danube (Fig. 12). “Labudovo okno” is located downstream from the mouth of the river Mlava into the Danube, and it represents the “Ramsar” area to which the nearby southern edge of the Special Nature Reserve “Deliblatska peščara” belongs. The Kostolac bank of the Danube, from the island of Dubovačka Ada to the village of Ram, belongs to an international important bird area (IBA—Important Bird Area) where, in the winter period, from 60,000 to 100,000 specimens gather. The island of Ada Žilava, an area defined in the “Emerald Network”, and a part of “Deliblatska peščara”, includes Prime Butterfly Areas (PBAs), but also many bird breeding grounds (Grozdanović 2014). The Ada Čibuklija island belongs to the same network and reserve.

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The area of the Kostolac coast of the Danube, with its recognised natural values. Tags: Emilija Nikolić on Google Earth Pro photo printed on October 18, 2017 (historical image from August 24, 2017)

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The paleontological site within the “Drmno” strip coal mine was identified in 2009 (Институт за архитектуру и урбанизам Србије 2012), when the first mammoth skeleton was found. The stratigraphy of the Kostolac coal basin is presented with Pontian lacustrine deposits and deltaic sands, covered by Pleistocene deposits. The paleontological layer in which the mammoth was found in 2009 is located at the base of the Pleistocene complex of fluvial sediments, at an elevation of about 58 m above standard sea level. The discovered skeleton is the first largely complete (only the left part of the skull and left front leg were damaged) and anatomically articulated skeleton of this species found in the Balkan Peninsula and the Mediterranean area. An exceptional situation is also its preserved death position. The estimated age of the skeleton is ~ 0.8 Ma and it represents one of the oldest fossils of M. trogontherii in Europe. In contrast, the skeletons found in 2012 were determined to be of an estimated age of 0.19 Ma, and are among the youngest of this taxon in Europe (Muttoni et al. 2015).

Modern mining is one of the human activities that can destroy much of the natural environment. However, at the same time, it can bring essential information about the history of our planet. Many mining sites are potential sites of geoheritage and palaeontology that deserve protection during and after exploitation of the resources (Tomić et al. 2015). The strip coal mine “Drmno” is such a space. Considering finds, it represents an exceptional paleontological site with M. trogontherii preserved at the limits of its temporal range (Muttoni et al. 2015) and needs to be recognised as an internationally important geosite, already proposed as such by scientists from the Natural History Museum in Belgrade (Maran 2010). However, the national priority activity in this area is still the exploitation of coal and the production of electricity and, unfortunately, the preservation of the mammoth skeletons in situ was unsustainable, just as it is still unsustainable to present the geoheritage in this strip mine with the preservation of the paleontological layers where the skeletons were found. After the exploitation of this part of the mine is completed, and during the extensive process of continuous space renewal that it will undergo, with land recultivation and afforestation (IAUS 2012), it will be possible to focus on the protection and presentation of the geological layers that became visible during the exploitation of coal as valuable geoheritage. The Mammoth park in Viminacium today is a place for the preservation and presentation of all found mammoths, but also all other future paleontological remains which will surely again surprise the members of the research team of Viminacium and the miners in the “Drmno” surface mine with their grandeur.

Conclusions

A good example of the guardianship of a natural property is the struggle of “The Waco Mammoth Site” management in Waco, Texas, USA, to obtain the status of a national monument and special state aid and protection regimes, with the goal of further research and presentation which, after 5 years of persistent administrative procedure, resulted in success. In 2015, an announcement by the US President was made, according to which this important site of mammoths was proclaimed as the “Waco Mammoth National Monument” (Establishment 2015). The processes of determining public interest in cultural and natural properties last very long anywhere in the world. The first mammoth skeleton in the Waco territory was found in 1978, and after decades of excavations and research of the skeletons at different universities, the site was opened to the public only in 2009 (Nordt et al. 2015). Knowing this, it is an even more significant contribution that the Viminacium researchers gave in the preservation of the found mammoth skeletons, within their daily work of exploring the Roman city, considering their determination to save the skeletons, the fight for financial resources, managing the relocation process and completing the final presentation of the skeletons in such a short period of time (Nikolić 2017). A large number of scientific papers published by the researchers of the Institute of Archaeology together with other researchers from Serbia, but also with the world’s leading mammoth researchers, on the subject of the mammoths found in Viminacium during 2009 and 2012, talk about their utmost importance for science, which further gives us a commitment to protect, present and, thus, preserve them for future generations.

The goal of creating The Mammoth Park in Viminacium, as a place directly related to the site of the exposed skeletons, is not the establishment of a museum building, but its integration into the surrounding rural area without dominating its other values. The future of the Viminacium archaeological site also implies an effort for its entry into the UNESCO World Heritage List, and with the successful outcome of this process, the entire area can gain even greater significance. Considering the fact that the Viminacium Archaeological park is on the international waterway E 80-Danube (Pan-European Corridor VII) (Uredba 2015), the Euro Velo bicycle route no. 6 (Atlantic-Black Sea) (EuroVelo 6 2017) and the European walking corridor E4 (Traildino 2017), The Mammoth Park has already become an important attraction for visitors of all ages. Together with the presented archaeological remains of Viminacium, other extremely important cultural and historical units in the vicinity, the industrial mining heritage, the Danube River and significant natural resources, and the re-cultivated “Drmno” surface mine with the preserved and presented elements of the geoheritage, it could form one unique cultural landscape in the future (Nikolić et al. 2013; Anđelković et al. 2014; Tomić et al. 2015; Nikolić and Roter-Blagojević 2018), that is, a place of a clear, unbreakable connection between natural and cultural heritage.