Árpád-kori rotunda maradványai Nagygalambfalván / Vestiges of the Arpadian-era rotunda in Nagygalambfalva (Porumbenii Mari, Romania). In: A tudománynak gazdag ágai... Tanulmányok Benkő Elek hetvenedik születésnapjára = Abundant lines of the science itself… Studies in honour of Elek Benkő on His s..., 2024
Extensive archaeological research at the Reformed church in Nagygalambfalva has significantly add... more Extensive archaeological research at the Reformed church in Nagygalambfalva has significantly added and embellished the picture we had earlier of the medieval parish church there, enriching our knowledge of its architectural history with much new information. The first credibly documented Arpadian-era rotunda in Udvarhelyszék (indeed, in the Szekler Land as a whole), this church has become well-known. It had a nave that was circular and a chancel that was shaped like a horseshoe; its foundations were made from beaten clay and its walls built using the curtain-wall technique presumably. The dating of the church archaeologically rests on supports that are rather good: according to radiocarbon dating, the rotunda may have been erected sometime in the first half of the 12th century or the middle part of that century. The first church on the site was knocked down totally in the first half of the 14th century. In its place a church was built that had a long nave and a chancel that featured a semi-circular apse. This new church followed the orientation of the earlier one; and the chancel arch of the new church was constructed along the same line as the chancel arch of the old one.
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Die Identifizierung der mit Holzkonstruktion errichetet Burgen mit den Methoden der Archäologie ist keine einfache Aufgabe. Die Freilegung der innerhalb einundhalb Jahrzehnt vielleicht nur teilweise fertiggebauten und danach mehrmals umgebauten oder vernichteten Steinmauer-Perioden erschweren die Probleme der siebenbürgischen Burgenforschung, so die Zerstörung der wichtigsten Dekmäler und die nicht immer fachgemäße Ausgrabung der noch stehenden Bauten.
Dementsprechend ist es sehr schwer, die in den Urkunden erwähnten fünf burzenländischen und die sechste, über die Bergen errichtete Burg mit Namen zu identifizieren. Der Verfasser analysiert die Schriftquellen und die Ergebnisse der bisherigen archäologischen Forschungen – oft versucht die Neubewertung der letzteren – um zur Bestimmung der Burgen des Deutschen Ordens näher zu kommen. Dem neuesten Forschungstand ensprechend nimmt er an, dass Feldioara/Marienburg, Teliu - Wallburg II, Sânpetru – Lempesch, Brașov/Kronstadt – Gesprengberg , Brașov/Kronstadt-Brasoviaburg und vielleicht ein noch unbekannter Vorfahrer der Burg von Codlea/Zeiden kann in dieser Hinsicht in Burzenland erwähnt werden und dazu kommt die in den Quellen als über die Berge liegend bezeichnete Befestigung die am Ausgang des Törcsburg-Passes in Richtung Walachei befindliche Königstein.
During the Middle Ages, Ocna Sibiului (Hung. Vízakna, Germ. Salzburg) was situated in Fehér County, surrounded by Saxon districts, being the only salt‑mine in Southern Transylvania. Systematic archaeological researches were carried out in the course of the year 2019, on the site around the basilica, which was the medieval parish church of the settlement, converted to Calvinist church at the end of the 16th century.
The relative building history of the basilica built during the 13th century has been determinable on the basis of characteristics of the foundation-walls (stone material and mortar, construction levels) and of the relation between them. The main-chancel and the tower built above it constitute the first phase of the church. This was followed by the foundation walls of the main-nave (second phase); in the third building phase were established the foundation-walls of the auxiliary-naves and the foundation of the west front of the basilica. In the fourth phase were built the elevation walls of the naves.
On the surface of the north side of the main-nave foundation-walls there were discovered burn marks, respectively one soil layer between the foundation and elevation walls of the north auxiliary-nave. Three and
fourth-winged arrowheads were collected from the burnt layer, which are very rare in the context of medieval archaeological findings, being used last by the Mongols. The radiocarbon analysis of the samples coming from burn marks confirm the dating of the event to the time of the Mongol Invasion (1241–1242), and it seems that the basilica in Ocna Sibiului suffered an assault at this period.
The fortified church of Mărtiniș, which was besides Dârjiu the most important ecclesiastical fortification in the medieval Odorhei district (H. Udvarhelyszék, part of medieval Transilvania), was demolished during the 18-19th centuries.
The archaeological excavations that took place between 2011-2014 have been exploring the quasi half century long construction period, in the course of which the mother church, Mărtiniș and its five curacies (Chinușu, Locodeni, Aldea, Ghipeș, Comănești) transformed after 1613 their former church fence and gate tower to a fortification featuring a protecting wall with loopholes and defence towers. Altogether seven towers were erected in the surroundings of the protecting wall. They were not from the same phase, a part of them were built together with the wall, the later ones enhanced the aim of flanker. All but one of the defence towers had square form and two or three levels.
Contemporaneous written documents attest the fact that the church district’s subordination to strategic aims wasn’t exclusive, other buildings, with different functions were built behind the walls. The stone buildings identified during the archaeological excavations had underground levels, residential and storage functions. Moreover, the school’s wooden building, which was located outside the walls prior to 1625, was moved next to the western side of the gate tower, inside the fortification.
The archaeological excavations made at Mărtiniș gave basic historical building and strategically conclusions to further research and thus represent a significant step in the process of the church fortifications research in Szeklerland.
The fortification’s dimensions are very modest. It has an irregular rhomboidal layout with a semicircular tower on the eastern side and is defended by a ditch on the same side. The entrance of the castle was identified on the southern side; furthermore, two structures dug into the rock were discovered inside the castle.
The castle, was mentioned for the first time at the beginning of the 15th century as a royal fortification, and after several decades it came into the possession of Szekler Count (Comes Siculorum). According to the historical documents it was used until the 16th century, a supposition corroborated by the results of the archaeological investigations carried out between 1968 and 1969 as well as in 1971. The archaeological finds discovered there in secondary position and kept today in the collection of the Argeș County Museum in Pitești are composed of iron objects, with a significant number of weapons (i.e. 40 arrowheads), hinting at the sieges suffered by the castle during the 14–15th centuries.
Based on the analysis of the topographical position of the castle we can put forward the hypothesis whereby King’s Rock castle is the only fortification outside the arch of the Carpathian Mountains known today which corresponds with the contemporary descriptions referring to the fortifications built by the Teutonic Order. This theory isn’t excluded from an archaeological point of view either; as certain early types of arrowheads (rhomboidal, pyramidal as well as some barbed forms) can potentially corroborate this assertion.
The study is a comparative analysis of the medieval castles with a simple layout located in the southern and eastern parts of Transylvania. The common characteristics of this type of stone castles are: they were built outside of settlements on the hilltops having optimal natural defensive facilities; they have several thousand square meter ground plans, defensive walls and in many cases ditches/ramparts; stone buildings (towers) are scarcely represented in the area of these castles, whilst wooden structure buildings were revealed inside of walls. Archaeological researches remarked that these castles were used rarely, probably only in times of defensive campaigns.
In the opinion of the author these castles were established by Saxon and Szekler communities at the end of Arpadian Age, and were used along a few decades (centuries). Considering the special development of these societies, in a certain sense the earlier stones castles could be interpreted as the functional antecedents of fortified churches in Transylvania.
We have only an approximate knowledge of many aspects of the Teutonic Order’s settlement history from the beginning of the 13th century in the southeastern part of Transylvania (called also Barcaság, Burzenland). This statement particularly applies to the knights’ castles, as archaeology also has methodological problems and it has to face certain objective obstacles in identifying and defining these castles – the study analysing the characteristics of this castle building activity and its research situation reflects this.
The difficulties in determining the remains of wooden-structure castles of the period with archaeological methods and in exploring the stone-wall castle-periods which were only partly built during the one and a half decade and were changed or demolished by later constructions – are multiplied by the mistakes of castle research in Transylvania: destruction of important historical monuments and the often amateurish research of the still existing castle remnants.
As a result, it is quite difficult to name the five equestrian castles of Barcaság and the sixth one built beyond the mountains, all mentioned in the written documents of that time. The author of this study makes an attempt to identify the Teutonic Order’s castles by analysing the testimony of written sources, using and in some cases reinterpreting the results of archaeological excavations. At the current stage of researches the most probable locations/buildings in Barcaság are the following: Keresztvár/Kreuzburg/Teliu – Kis-Várhegy/Wallburg II, Barcaszentpéter/Petersberg/Sânpetru – Lempes/Lempesch, Brassó/Kronstadt/Brașov – Gesprengberg, Brassó – Cenk/Brasoviaburg and maybe the still unknown antecedent of Feketehalom/Zeiden/Codlea – Schwarzburg castle. The castle built beyond the mountains which appears in written sources might have been the castle of Királykő/Königstein/Oratea standing at the entrance of Törcsvár/Türzdorf/Bran Pass.
Die Identifizierung der mit Holzkonstruktion errichetet Burgen mit den Methoden der Archäologie ist keine einfache Aufgabe. Die Freilegung der innerhalb einundhalb Jahrzehnt vielleicht nur teilweise fertiggebauten und danach mehrmals umgebauten oder vernichteten Steinmauer-Perioden erschweren die Probleme der siebenbürgischen Burgenforschung, so die Zerstörung der wichtigsten Dekmäler und die nicht immer fachgemäße Ausgrabung der noch stehenden Bauten.
Dementsprechend ist es sehr schwer, die in den Urkunden erwähnten fünf burzenländischen und die sechste, über die Bergen errichtete Burg mit Namen zu identifizieren. Der Verfasser analysiert die Schriftquellen und die Ergebnisse der bisherigen archäologischen Forschungen – oft versucht die Neubewertung der letzteren – um zur Bestimmung der Burgen des Deutschen Ordens näher zu kommen. Dem neuesten Forschungstand ensprechend nimmt er an, dass Feldioara/Marienburg, Teliu - Wallburg II, Sânpetru – Lempesch, Brașov/Kronstadt – Gesprengberg , Brașov/Kronstadt-Brasoviaburg und vielleicht ein noch unbekannter Vorfahrer der Burg von Codlea/Zeiden kann in dieser Hinsicht in Burzenland erwähnt werden und dazu kommt die in den Quellen als über die Berge liegend bezeichnete Befestigung die am Ausgang des Törcsburg-Passes in Richtung Walachei befindliche Königstein.
During the Middle Ages, Ocna Sibiului (Hung. Vízakna, Germ. Salzburg) was situated in Fehér County, surrounded by Saxon districts, being the only salt‑mine in Southern Transylvania. Systematic archaeological researches were carried out in the course of the year 2019, on the site around the basilica, which was the medieval parish church of the settlement, converted to Calvinist church at the end of the 16th century.
The relative building history of the basilica built during the 13th century has been determinable on the basis of characteristics of the foundation-walls (stone material and mortar, construction levels) and of the relation between them. The main-chancel and the tower built above it constitute the first phase of the church. This was followed by the foundation walls of the main-nave (second phase); in the third building phase were established the foundation-walls of the auxiliary-naves and the foundation of the west front of the basilica. In the fourth phase were built the elevation walls of the naves.
On the surface of the north side of the main-nave foundation-walls there were discovered burn marks, respectively one soil layer between the foundation and elevation walls of the north auxiliary-nave. Three and
fourth-winged arrowheads were collected from the burnt layer, which are very rare in the context of medieval archaeological findings, being used last by the Mongols. The radiocarbon analysis of the samples coming from burn marks confirm the dating of the event to the time of the Mongol Invasion (1241–1242), and it seems that the basilica in Ocna Sibiului suffered an assault at this period.
The fortified church of Mărtiniș, which was besides Dârjiu the most important ecclesiastical fortification in the medieval Odorhei district (H. Udvarhelyszék, part of medieval Transilvania), was demolished during the 18-19th centuries.
The archaeological excavations that took place between 2011-2014 have been exploring the quasi half century long construction period, in the course of which the mother church, Mărtiniș and its five curacies (Chinușu, Locodeni, Aldea, Ghipeș, Comănești) transformed after 1613 their former church fence and gate tower to a fortification featuring a protecting wall with loopholes and defence towers. Altogether seven towers were erected in the surroundings of the protecting wall. They were not from the same phase, a part of them were built together with the wall, the later ones enhanced the aim of flanker. All but one of the defence towers had square form and two or three levels.
Contemporaneous written documents attest the fact that the church district’s subordination to strategic aims wasn’t exclusive, other buildings, with different functions were built behind the walls. The stone buildings identified during the archaeological excavations had underground levels, residential and storage functions. Moreover, the school’s wooden building, which was located outside the walls prior to 1625, was moved next to the western side of the gate tower, inside the fortification.
The archaeological excavations made at Mărtiniș gave basic historical building and strategically conclusions to further research and thus represent a significant step in the process of the church fortifications research in Szeklerland.
The fortification’s dimensions are very modest. It has an irregular rhomboidal layout with a semicircular tower on the eastern side and is defended by a ditch on the same side. The entrance of the castle was identified on the southern side; furthermore, two structures dug into the rock were discovered inside the castle.
The castle, was mentioned for the first time at the beginning of the 15th century as a royal fortification, and after several decades it came into the possession of Szekler Count (Comes Siculorum). According to the historical documents it was used until the 16th century, a supposition corroborated by the results of the archaeological investigations carried out between 1968 and 1969 as well as in 1971. The archaeological finds discovered there in secondary position and kept today in the collection of the Argeș County Museum in Pitești are composed of iron objects, with a significant number of weapons (i.e. 40 arrowheads), hinting at the sieges suffered by the castle during the 14–15th centuries.
Based on the analysis of the topographical position of the castle we can put forward the hypothesis whereby King’s Rock castle is the only fortification outside the arch of the Carpathian Mountains known today which corresponds with the contemporary descriptions referring to the fortifications built by the Teutonic Order. This theory isn’t excluded from an archaeological point of view either; as certain early types of arrowheads (rhomboidal, pyramidal as well as some barbed forms) can potentially corroborate this assertion.
The study is a comparative analysis of the medieval castles with a simple layout located in the southern and eastern parts of Transylvania. The common characteristics of this type of stone castles are: they were built outside of settlements on the hilltops having optimal natural defensive facilities; they have several thousand square meter ground plans, defensive walls and in many cases ditches/ramparts; stone buildings (towers) are scarcely represented in the area of these castles, whilst wooden structure buildings were revealed inside of walls. Archaeological researches remarked that these castles were used rarely, probably only in times of defensive campaigns.
In the opinion of the author these castles were established by Saxon and Szekler communities at the end of Arpadian Age, and were used along a few decades (centuries). Considering the special development of these societies, in a certain sense the earlier stones castles could be interpreted as the functional antecedents of fortified churches in Transylvania.
We have only an approximate knowledge of many aspects of the Teutonic Order’s settlement history from the beginning of the 13th century in the southeastern part of Transylvania (called also Barcaság, Burzenland). This statement particularly applies to the knights’ castles, as archaeology also has methodological problems and it has to face certain objective obstacles in identifying and defining these castles – the study analysing the characteristics of this castle building activity and its research situation reflects this.
The difficulties in determining the remains of wooden-structure castles of the period with archaeological methods and in exploring the stone-wall castle-periods which were only partly built during the one and a half decade and were changed or demolished by later constructions – are multiplied by the mistakes of castle research in Transylvania: destruction of important historical monuments and the often amateurish research of the still existing castle remnants.
As a result, it is quite difficult to name the five equestrian castles of Barcaság and the sixth one built beyond the mountains, all mentioned in the written documents of that time. The author of this study makes an attempt to identify the Teutonic Order’s castles by analysing the testimony of written sources, using and in some cases reinterpreting the results of archaeological excavations. At the current stage of researches the most probable locations/buildings in Barcaság are the following: Keresztvár/Kreuzburg/Teliu – Kis-Várhegy/Wallburg II, Barcaszentpéter/Petersberg/Sânpetru – Lempes/Lempesch, Brassó/Kronstadt/Brașov – Gesprengberg, Brassó – Cenk/Brasoviaburg and maybe the still unknown antecedent of Feketehalom/Zeiden/Codlea – Schwarzburg castle. The castle built beyond the mountains which appears in written sources might have been the castle of Királykő/Königstein/Oratea standing at the entrance of Törcsvár/Türzdorf/Bran Pass.
(Marosszentanna/Sântana de Mureş, Maros megye) 1903-ban Erdélyben tárták fel, az itteni népvándorláskori
kutatás nemhogy kiteljesedett volna az azóta eltelt több mint egy évszázad alatt, hanem inkább megtorpant.
Az elkövetkező évtizedekben a dákoromán kontinuitás jegyében zajló romániai kutatások elsősorban
a római, dák és szláv kori emlékeket célozták, a kora népvándorláskori, középkori lelőhelyek tervásatására
pedig ritkán került sor. Amikor véletlenszerűen, vagy leletmentéssel népvándorláskori lelőhelyek kerültek
napvilágra, gyakran értelmezték azokat a továbbélő dákok, vagy a helyben maradt, római lakosság régészeti
hagyatékának. Az aktuálpolitika nyomására a régészet egyik fő feladata a román nép etnogenezisének bizonyítása
lett. Így jöttek létre a népvándorlás korát túlélő dákoromán népesség régészeti kultúrái, mint Erdélyben
a 4. századra keltezett Szentgyörgy- (cultura Sfântu-Gheorghe), a Baráthely- (cultura Bratei, Kr.u. 4-6.
század), a Fiatfalva- (cultura Filiaşi), Baráthely–Fiatfalva-kultúrák (cultura Bratei-Filiaşi), valamint ezek
Kárpátokon kívüli megfelelői, az Ipoteşti-Gândeşti (Kr.u. 6-7. század) és a Dridu-kultúrák (Kr.u. 9. század).
1989 óta a romániai régészeti kutatás kezdi elvetni az említett, prekoncepciókra felépített régészeti
kultúrák létezését, vagy legalábbis nem említi. A népvándorláskori lelőhelyek feltárásának legfőbb akadályát
az elmúlt évtizedekben az erdélyi múzeumok akkut pénzhiánya képezi. Úgy tűnik azonban, hogy az utóbbi
pár évben a meginduló építkezések és a műemléki előírások következetesebb ellenőrzésének köszönhetően
a régészeti kutatásokban pozitív elmozdulás történt. Ezzel egy időben több erdélyi múzeumba fiatal, szakmailag
jól felkészült régész került, akik a megelőző feltárások, leletmentések mellett folyamatosan terepbejárásokat
is végeznek.
Az erdélyi népvándorláskori lelőhelyek kutatásáról kevés összefoglaló munka vagy tanulmánykötet létezik,
éppen ezért ezt a kötetet a szükség hozta létre. Az itt szereplő tanulmányok témájuk alapján változatosak,
ugyanakkor egymáshoz is kapcsolódnak. A történelmi-földrajzi értelemben vett Erdélyben (nem a mai
használatban lévő Nyugat-Romániát) és Partium-ban (jelenleg Romániai nyugati határsávja) feltárt újabb/
régebbi lelőhelyek közlése mellett, kisebb régiók (Felső-Tisza vidéke, Nagy-Küküllő mente, Csíki-medence)
régészeti kutatásainak összegzése is bekerült kötetünkbe. Bizonyos részproblémák régészeti módszerrel
végzett elemzésével (a Marosszentanna–Csernyahov kultúra és a hun kori szarmata kerámia közti kapcsolat,
a dunántúli karpok kérdése) két tanulmány is, Erdély, szomszédos területekkel való kapcsolatára reflektál.
A kötetbe egyaránt kerültek fél évszázada feltárt, de még közöletlen vagy csak részben közölt (Fiatfalva/
Filiaşi–Disznóhizlaldó/Felhágó, Gyergyószárhegy/Lăzarea–Lázár-kastély, Székelykeresztúr/Cristuru-
Secuiesc–Felsőlok), illetve kisebb, újabban kutatott lelőhelyek (Csikszentimre/Sântimbru, Fiatfalva/Filiaş–
Nagyerdő-földje, Telekfalva/Teleac), amelyek csak rövid ásatási beszámoló formájában jelentek meg ez idáig.
A kötet valósághű bepillantást nyújt az erdélyi népvándorláskori kutatások jelenlegi állapotába, módszereibe
és eredményeibe.
Fontosnak tartok még egy dolgot megemlíteni, éspedig azt, hogy a tanulmányok magyarul jelennek
meg egy olyan témában, amelynek Erdély tekintetében jelenleg a román és a német a hagyományosan használt
szakmai nyelve. Annak érdekében, hogy a más nyelven értő kollégák is forgathassák a kötetet, bővebb,
idegen nyelvű kivonatok kerültek a tanulmányok végére. A táblák kétnyelvűek, a fontosabb lelőhelyek gyorsabb megtalálása érdekében helységnév-azonosítót és hozzá kapcsolódó térképmellékletet is szerkesztettünk.
Ahogy lenni szokott, egy ilyen nagyméretű munka mögött több ember háttérmunkájára, közreműködésére
is szükség volt. Jelen kiadvány egy kis székelyföldi múzeum két évvel ezelőtt létrehozott kiadványsorozatának
harmadik száma. A kötet kiadását a Nemzeti Kulturális Alapprogram, Hargita Megye Régészeti
Programja és Székelykeresztúr Város támogatásával sikerült megvalósítani. A kötet szerkesztésében, ahogyan
a korábbi kiadványok esetében is nagy érdemei Sándor-Zsigmond Ibolyának és Sándor-Zsigmond Dénesnek
vannak.
A kötet tanulmányait szakmailag dr. Istvánovits Eszter (Nyíregyháza) és dr. Vida Tivadar (Budapest)
véleményezte.
Köszönettel tartozom Székely Attilának, Székelykeresztúr és környéke lelőhelyeinek kiváló ismerőjének,
aki az elmúlt négy évtizedben több Nagy-Küküllő-menti népvándorlás kori lelőhely feltárásában
is részt vett, s az azokból előkerült leletanyag feldolgozásában komoly segítséget nyújtott. Az elmúlt öt év
közös munkájáért rendkívül hálás vagyok, önzetlen, soha nem lankadó régészeti munkásságának pedig
csodálója.
Köszönöm Kosza Antalnak, Hargita megye régészfelügyelőjének (Csíkszereda) a segítségét, aki a
térképmellékletek nagy részét készítette. Hálával tartozom még Orbán Lívia (Székelykeresztúr), Szinyéri
Péterné restaurátoroknak és Beleznai Gabriella rajzolónak (Nyíregyháza), akik önzetlen és szép kivitelezésű
munkáikkal járultak a kötethez.
Legutoljára Szász Viktor (Székelyudvarhely) és Burszán Károly (Fiatfalva) neveit szeretném megemlíteni,
akiknek bejelentése nyomán igen fontos népvándorlás kori lelőhelyek felfedezését köszönhetjük.
Kérem, forgassák érdeklődéssel a kötetet.