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The Results of Analysis of Finds and Sites of the Early Middle Ages in the Surroundings of Torčec
Tajana Sekelj Ivančan
Tatjana Tkalčec
Bartul Šiljeg
Sažetak
The area of Torčec, in the vicinity of the central course of the Drava River, is an intensively cultivated flatland. Continuous devastation of the surface layers calls for intensified archaeological activity. Therefore within the project Archaeological Overview of Medieval Settlements of Podravina, implemented by the Institute of Archaeology, non-destructive methods are being applied - systematic field surveying and analysis of aerial photographs. This paper is an attempt to create certain models, which would enable remote interpretation of soil and crop marks that were not identified in field surveys. A certain number of buildings registered by recognition was identified in the aerial photos and those buildings served as a model for the assessment and evaluation of other features noticed in the photos and to determine the difference between natural and cultural phenomena. The area is divided into several archaeological microzones: Rudičevo, Prečno Pole, Pod Panje 3, Blaževo Pole. Each of the micro zones was divided into smaller parts according to certain natural and modern regional characteristics to enable easier field orientation and documenting (Map 1). On all described sites the medieval horizon was indicated in surface finds of fragments of ceramic vessels and surface finds of dark soil marks, i.e. remains of houses and waste pits, scattered around by ploughing. The most visible surface traces of houses and pits were noticed on the sites Pod Panje 3 and Blaževo Pole 1 (Fig. 6, Fig. 7). Of interest is also the complex of surface traces on Blaževo Pole 1 (Fig. 6; F), where the contour of a round house 17 m in diameter is clearly visible, on whose western parts smaller dark crop marks are perceptible, suggesting wooden construction elements (possibly larger wooden pillars bearing the entrance construction), whereas the contour of the house from the other sides is equally darkened (suggesting wooden, possibly wickerwork construction, probably connected with clay or mud). On all sides of this round house there are numerous small irregular crop marks (waste pits?), and of interest is the contour of two parallel lines which maybe represent a kind of channel stretching directly from the round house to the southwest, as a continuation of a rather large rectangular house. The ground plan of the rectangular house with dimensions of 6 x 12 m, with darkened edges, also suggests wooden construction. The described remains of the settlement facilities were noticed in aerial photos, whereas in field surveys of this unploughed surface there were no surface finds. On other locations it was exactly the pottery finds that enabled a more accurate dating of sites. Ceramic finds from Blaževo Pole 6, dated to the eighth and ninth centuries, collected from the surface of ploughed remains of the facilities (Fig. 11) enable the dating of the facilities themselves into that same period with high degree of probability (Pl. 5, 1-4). But on the basis of individual surface finds from a broader area an even earlier presence of man in the Middle Ages on the site Blaževo Pole 6 was determined, more precisely in the period of the seventh and eighth centuries, and life continued throughout a longer period, as testified by surface finds from the turn of the tenth to the eleventh century and later. Porous earthenware, ornamented with irregular comb-shaped wavy lines (Pl. 4, 4), that has parallels in early medieval site Nova Tabla near Murska Sobota, testifies to such early settlement of Blaževo Pole 6. Their facture corresponds with the Murska Sobota 1 horizon (dated by the C14 method to the end of the sixth and to the seventh century), and their decorating method with the Murska Sobota 2 horizon (eighth and ninth centuries), so they can be dated to a period between the two horizons. Finds of a large quantity of iron dross and fragments of a ceramic kiln pipe point to specific workshop activity in Blaževo Pole 6. On the Blaževo Pole 1-5 sites, finds from the eighth and ninth centuries were registered (Pl. 4, 1, 4, 5, 6), whereas finds of earthenware with porous facture from the earlier periods stayed away. Therefore Blaževo Pole 6 could be observed as a starting-point of the earliest medieval settlement in this area. The continuity of settlement in Blaževo Pole in later medieval periods connects it with the picture of settlement on the somewhat southwestern site, Pod Panje 3, indicating possible moves or expansion of the settlement to the south, or to two separate settlements that existed simultaneously for a certain time on those sites. The ploughed remains of the facilities from Blaževo Pole were of smaller dimensions and irregularly scattered around by ploughing, so that it was not possible to determine with certainty whether they belonged to the remains of the waste pits or to round or oval sunken settlement facilities as those found on sites from the sixth up to the middle of the ninth century. On the other hand, the dimensions of the find of the mark noticed on Pod Panje 3 (Fig. 9) correspond with the type of house with a ground plan in the shape of a prolonged rectangle, dated from the tenth to the thirteenth century, as confirmed also by surface pottery finds (Pl. 3, 7-14). The find of a pillar mark points to the existence of constructional elements of above-ground wooden facilities (Fig. 8). The facture, shapes and star-shaped sign on the bottom of ceramic finds from Pod Panje 3 (Pl. 3, 7-14) have parallels in earthenware from the Ledine site (Prečno Pole 4). Ledine gave a C14 dating with the calibration range from the beginning of the ninth to the middle of the twelfth century, and the values of analysed samples overlap for the period from the end of the tenth to the end of the eleventh century. Although they have many elements in common, it has to be stressed that, as opposed to Ledine, in the finds from Pod Panje 3 there have been no ornaments with a comb-shaped wavy line, thus suggesting the dating of Pod Panje 3 to a somewhat later period, i.e. from the second half of the eleventh century, when such ornaments stopped occurring. Observing Prečno Pole as a separate unit, a concentration of the earliest medieval finds from the ninth and tenth centuries can be identified in the western part of Prečno Pole 1 (Pl. 2, 1-9), whereas towards the East somewhat younger pottery is disseminated (Pl. 2, 10-15). Precisely in Prečno Pole 1 a large number of soil marks was registered, indicating more intensive settlement in this area (Fig. 3, Fig. 4). In Prečno Pole 2 and 3 finds from 125 the Later Middle Ages prevail, and early medieval finds are sporadic. In Prečno Pole 4 (Ledine) and 5 early medieval pottery fragments occur again (Pl. 3, 1-6).
In Rudičevo two extraordinary black soil marks were found with a large amount of burned earth and fired stone, which leaves the possibility open that medieval hearths were affected by a plow (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). Finds of pottery from those marks originate from the Early Middle Ages (Pl. 1, 1-6), and the remaining surface finds suggest that the site had a continuity up until the Later Middle Ages.
To recapitulate, on all sites with the exception of Prečno Pole 4 an analysis of surface pottery finds enabled registration of the continuity of settlement in a longer medieval period. In most sites, life throughout a longer period of the Early Middle Ages was determined, and in some continuity from prehistoric periods up until the Later Middle Ages. On all sites there are elements suggesting settlement characteristics such as waste pits, sunken oval buildings, houses and house construction elements, whereas on some sites workshop activities were documented, indicating a certain social structure of the population. The earliest medieval material remains originate from the seventh and eighth centuries, and more intensive settlement of the region in the period from the tenth to the thirteenth century has been noted.
It can also be concluded that in the area of Torčec and its surroundings in the period of the Early Middle Ages several settlements existed simultaneously, and that some of them spread, such as Prečno Pole 1-3 and Blaževo Pole 2-6. On the other hand, the possibility of leaving the settlements in a certain period remains open, as is the case in Prečno Pole 4 (Ledine), surrounded by the even at present visible old Drava meander, where the settlement was probably abandoned due to flooding, as confirmed also by archaeological excavations. In the light of the dense population of the Torčec area in the Early Middle Ages, further development and demographic prosperity of the region, which at a certain point of time resulted also in the founding of the parish of Saint Stephen the King, was not surprising.
Ključne riječi
pottery; field survey; surface find; aerial photo; Early Middle Ages; Torčec
Hrčak ID:
796
URI
Datum izdavanja:
16.6.2003.
Posjeta: 2.949 *