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Archaeological Excavations of the Church of St. Martin in Prozorje in 2007
Juraj Belaj
orcid.org/0000-0001-8953-3820
; Archaeological Excavations of the Church of St. Martin in Prozorje in 2007
Abstract
In the late autumn of 2007 the Institute of Archaeology conducted the sixth phase of archaeological-conservatory explorations on the St. Martin site in Prozorje near Dugo Selo. It is a continuation of explorations which have taken place continuously since 2002 (Belaj, 2007). The objective of this year's campaign was to fully explore the area of the sanctuary of the church of St. Martin. Unfortunately, due to unfavourable weather conditions this objective could not be realized. Therefore, a greater part of explorations was focused to the area of a side chapel of St. Barbara, built subsequently alongside the northern wall of the nave of the church of St. Martin (Fig. 1).
The chapel of St. Barbara lies perpendicularly to the nave of the church (its orientation is roughly north – south, although it deviates by 22° from the precise axis). On the northern side it ends in a polygonal apse. Only the foundations of the walls are preserved.
Inside the chapel, on the very surface, we discovered the foundations of a building older than the chapel. One foundation lies in the east – west direction roughly along the centre of the chapel and divides the space of the chapel into two areas: the northern one (area of the apse) and the southern one. It was cut through by a trench for the foundations of the chapel. Perpendicularly to its eastern edge, towards the northern wall of the church, there is another foundation.
In the area of the apse of the chapel of St. Barbara, after removing the humus, we discovered a layer of rubble and beneath it a layer of white plaster. It was immediately beside the apse of the chapel and its formation followed the shape of the apse, which leads us to presume that it remained from the time the wall had been plastered. Below this layer of plaster we found the excavation for the foundation of the chapel and the grave G-142 which was cut through by this excavation. In the grave G-142 we found the right side of the skeleton of an adult person. It was positioned east – west, with the head facing west. The arms were placed alongside the body.
Below the rubble, south alongside the plaster, we found a thin layer of loose earth and beneath it a hole for a pillar, a thin layer of black decay and burning, loose and crumbled plaster with stones and bricks and another burial.
In the southern part of the chapel, immediately after the removal of the rubble, we noticed (Fig. 2) three recent burials (G-138, G-140 and G-143) of adult persons placed in the north-south position with heads facing the north. They were buried in caskets which are relatively well preserved. By contrast, the bones were in a very bad condition and were found mostly in traces. Of the skeleton in the grave G-138 only the bones of the lower leg were found and it seems probable that it was exhumated when the church was abandoned.
At the bottom of the grave G-138 we found the bottom of a hole for the pillar dug into sterile soil. In sterile soil at the bottom of this burial site a gray strip approx. 10 cm wide bordered by two thin reddish lines (approx. 1 cm wide) was visible. Its orientation is east – west. It might be an imprint of the wooden plank on which the casket was placed.
Beside the skeleton of the grave G-140 we found bronze buckles for clothes and a button from black glass paste. Beside the skull of the skeleton in the grave G-143 we found strips of fabric (maybe a hair decoration), while above the pelvis we found bronze buckles for the clothes, a bronze button and a piece of green cloth.
In the profiles of these graves we determined several layers which are not yet explored, among them a thin layer of burning (Fig. 3).
Below the rubble partly preserved is the floor of the chapel, built with bricks bound with plaster, and a plaster foundation for the floor. Both the floor and its foundation were cut through by the mentioned graves.
Except in the chapel of St. Barbara, the explorations were continued in the sanctuary of the church of St. Martin. Here we explored several burials and the grave G-141. Of the skeleton in this grave only the bones of the feet are preserved and they belonged to an adult person (mainly bones of the toes). The skeleton was placed in the east – west direction, with the head facing the west. On the northern side it was cut through by the grave G-2, while its top was cut through by the grave G-109 which was superimposed on the grave G-141. In its backfill we found two small coins. They look medieval, but the exact dating must wait for their cleaning and conservation.
East from the sanctuary of the church of St. Martin we explored and removed a control profile which was left between the trial trenches I and III, and which extended from the ending wall of the sanctuary until the baroque stone wall lining around the church (around 1784).
Below the humus there is a layer of compressed yellow-gray clay which probably served to level the terrain around the church at the time the wall lining was built. This clay was also used to fill the trench dug out for the wall cladding. Below the clay layer there was a loose layer of plaster, probably created at the time the church wall was plastered. Below it was a layer of greasy earth and below that two more layers of earth mixed with plaster. At the bottom of the trial trench a barely preserved grave G-139 was found. This is the grave of a small child placed in the east – west direction with the head facing the west. The bones are badly preserved.
At the end of these short explorations, interrupted by bad weather, the site was protected by geotextile and a layer of sand. The collected material is deposited and locked up in the Parish Office, and a smaller part was taken to the Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb, for further scientific examination.
Beside the formerly mentioned coins, most prominent among the finds are recent parts of clothes: bronze buckles, a loess button and a button made of glass paste, several pieces of cloth, several small perforated bronze plates and the like. In the backfill of the grave G-140 we found a saint medal.
Keywords
Church of St. Martin; sacral architecture; Middle Ages; modern age; Prozorje; Dugo Selo
Hrčak ID:
34054
URI
Publication date:
19.3.2009.
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