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Archaeological Excavations of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ivanec in 2008

Juraj Belaj orcid id orcid.org/0000-0001-8953-3820 ; Institut za arheologiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska


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In spring 2008, the Institute of Archaeolog y conducted the seventh stage of archaeological rescue excavations at the Stari grad site in Ivanec. This year’s quarterly excavations were also conducted at the initiative of the City of Ivanec. During the 2008 excavations, the church nave (Fig. 1) was completely excavated to the level of sterile soil. At the beginning of the excavations, a thick layer of yellow clay was distributed over almost the entire surface of the nave, on which a covering of unpolished stone tiles was laid. The threshold at the entrance to the church was excavated as well – the oldest part of the threshold and the door-post bases were made of a single piece of stone. The earliest burials were laid in the yellow clay layer. Two various bases of a yet unknown purpose were sunken into it along with the earliest excavated graves. The deceased found in them had their arms crossed over their chests or stomachs. All excavated graves were oriented in the east-west direction, and the deceased were laid on their backs with their heads turned westwards. The entire area under the yellow clay layer contained exceptionally mixed earth fillings. A group of younger graves, buried before the clay was laid, consists primarily of graves in which belt buckles were found, followed by those which damaged other younger graves when they were dug, and graves with traces of coffins. At this stage, the deceased were buried with their arms crossed over their chests or stomachs. In the middle phase, the deceased were buried with arms laid to their sides. In the graves of the middle group, there are no more coffin remains. Graves that had a stone covering on the burial rims are from the oldest stage. In the 2008 excavations, eight graves were found that were cut by the foundations of the church nave. It is important to point out that – similar to the previous year – the area of the sanctuary suggests the regular rows of burials of a row cemetery. In this oldest stage, the deceased were also laid with their arms parallel to their bodies. Where the new graves did not dig into the older layers, a layer of dark brown, exceptionally rich, hard and packed soil was identified first, with some charcoal and an admixture of crumbled mortar and little stones. Below it mostly a thin layer of mortar was found that is older than the excavated church. Under the mortar layer, a dark, almost black cultural layer remained partly preserved as well (SU 1000). In it, individual burials were found, along with smaller and larger pieces of house daub and fragments of pottery decorated by wavy lines. Out of the burials from SU 1000, the long and narrow imprints need to be pointed out, probably from beams. Below SU 1000, there was an equally compact and rich cultural layer, but brown (SU 1001). In it, plenty of daub fragments, some pottery fragments, and a fragment of blue glass, probably from a drinking glass, perhaps dating to Classical Antiquity – were found. Several smaller burials were identified as well. In the area north of the nave, six younger graves were excavated, as well. In some graves, belt pulleys were found. Child’s grave 177 (Fig. 3) was placed on a stone slab with a shallowly incised cross; the slab was damaged by the burial. This year, it was necessary to excavate the northern part of the sacristy, in which the sterile earth was somewhat deeper. Nine graves were excavated. In single graves, probably the remains of stone coverings were found. The burial of grave 105 merits special attention. The way, in which the bones from older graves are carefully arranged along its margins, and the fact that because of them the burial for this grave was obviously expanded, seem to speak in favour of greater care for the corporeal remains of deceased ancestors. In the fill of grave 105, a rather sufficient amount of medieval, but also of La Tène pottery was found. During the 2008 excavations, 399 sacks with finds were collected. They consisted mostly of ceramic vessel fragments, nails, parts of daub and glass. Another 808 sacks from various test digs were collected too. A total of 140 special finds was separated. Most of the metal artefacts originate from graves: several dozen belt buckles, various appliqués, clasps, pins and bronze rings. Extraordinary grave artefacts include an example of headgear, an armband made of woven bronze wire, and several animal teeth, probably from an amulet. Exceptional fragments of ceramic vessels, moulded stones, glass, stove tiles and similar pieces were selected as well. Also interesting is the find of Roman bricks with animal footprints. Apart from that, 13 samples of coins were found. Among those that were identified, the most notable are a silver Aquileia denarius of Patriarch Antonio II Panciere (1402–1411), a silver Vienna Pfennig of Albert V (probably from 1427), a find of the so-called Vierer of Maximilian I, minted in Hall, Tyrol (1490–1519), and a silver Hungarian denar of Ferdinand I from 1544. Still, the most attractive finds are two fragments originating from the Romanesque period at least. These are fragments of Ionian-style capitals (Fig. 2), of which one – found as a spolium in the north foundation of the church nave – had an incised spiral. At the conclusion of the excavations, draft documentation of all excavated nave foundations was made: ground-plans, views and cross-sections. All excavated foundations of the church nave were consolidated and conserved. After detailed cleansing, the walls were tuckpointed. The layers north of the nave that were not examined were covered by geotextile and then filled with a layer of fine sand. The collected material was stored in locked rooms belonging to the City, and a smaller part was stored in the facilities of the Institute of Archaeolog y (IARH) in Zagreb to be further analyzed. The selected metal artefacts will undergo cleaning and conservation. There are plans to conduct a C-14 analysis of the bones from single selected graves, as well as of test digs of cultural layers.

Ključne riječi

Ivanec; Church of St. John the Baptist; Middle Ages; architecture; graves

Hrčak ID:

50447

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/50447

Datum izdavanja:

21.12.2009.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

Posjeta: 1.968 *