The archaeology of medieval buildings in a borderland: a study-case
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-01-12

My paper will explore the region of central-western Romania, commonly known as Transylvania, in the first centuries of the second millenium. This region was part of the kingdom of Hungary, but was in fact located on a confessional and ethnic frontier, between Orthodox and Catholic Europe, and in an area of bewildering ethnic and linguistic variety—both factors responsible for giving the region its distinct character of a borderland. One of its most significant forms of expression of that character was religion: pagans, orthodox and catholics settled this area and found specific ways of living and practising their believes. Archaeology is indispensable for the understanding of the early period (10th-13th c.), for which there are very few, if any written sources. Although the study of built structures is a relative new sub discipline in the field of medieval archaeology, in the last decades has brought important contributions to the better understanding of the history of this area.
In my paper I will provide an accurate overview of this topic and focus on the ruined church uncovered recently in Alba Iulia fortress – the oldest medieval church ever found north of the Lower Danube. The ruins were unexpectedly uncovered during structural works, in a very complicated stratigraphic context, consequence of the use of the area during the last two thousand years. Prehistoric, Roman, post-Roman, Gepid, and 8th-10th centuries’ habitation evidence was found beneath the church, which was in use for about a hundred years, until it was in turn pulled down during the second half of the 11th century, when the first Roman-Catholic Cathedral was being built. Subsequently, the ruins were disturbed and partly destroyed by the 11th-13th centuries’ medieval graveyard and later still by numerous medieval and modern intrusions. The analysis of this discovery (archaeological context, architectural features, building materials) offers a unique opportunity to explore the history of the Carpathian Basin around the year 1000.