László János (szerk.): Komárom-Esztergom Megyei Múzeumok közleményei 19. (Tata, 2013)
Polgár Balázs: Beszámoló a HM Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeum 2013 - 2014. évi dunai víz alatti régészeti kutatásairól
POLGÁR BALÁZS REPORT ABOUT THE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES OF DANUBE OF THE MOD MILITARY HISTORY INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM IN 2013-2014 BALÁZS POLGÁR The MoD Military History Institute and Museum started underwater archaeological research with the help of the Argonauta Kutatócsoport (Argonauta Research Group, Hungary) in 2012-2013. The Museum examined two sites from the 19th century: Gönyű (Győr-Moson-Sopron county) and Komárom (Komàrom-Esztergom county). General Artúr Görgey relieved the fortress of Komárom on the 22nd of April in 1849, after the battle ofNagysalló. (The campaign finished with the reoccupation of the Hungarian capital city, Pest-Buda on the 21st of May, 1849.) The actions of Gönyű can be reconstructed with the help of Hungarian and Austrian written sources. Ágoston Tóth, a Hungarian commandant wrote about the combat of Gönyű in his diary: „Ammunition ships floated down the Danube and Querlonde (a French commandant of a brigade in the Hungarian army) was ordered to fire into their sterns. He marched out undetected during the night with four of his cannons and shot successfully into one of the boats. It went up with a terrible explosion, which caused a vast destruction among the other ships swimming next to the right shore.” The archive sources of the Imperial-Royal Army give some more exact information about the occurrences at Gönyű. From Austrian written sources it is known that the barge was blown up at 10 o’clock on 24th April 1849. The cargo of the barge is known by Austrian written sources: it transported 140 quintal gunpowder, 300 mortar bombs and bombs in „general amount”. Complex archaeological methods (sonar survey, field walking, archaeological excavation) were used during the works of 2012-2013. During this work, some parts of horseshoes, nails, potshards, angles (Fig. 2) of the (i8th-)i9‘h century and some more shrapnel of a mortar-bomb were found. The divers of the Argonauta Research Group found another, intact mortar bomb in the river. (Fig. 1) It was possible to organize an underwater archaeological research in 2013 with the research group at the site of the first artifacts. Unfortunately we had negative results. The area of the destroyed Austrian barge is so contaminated and disturbed: we also found medieval pottery and artifacts from the WW II. Our second site is localized near the Csillag erőd (Star fortress) of Komárom. At the river bank István Legát (local historian) found a pile-object (Fig. 6) and some mortar-bomb splinters (Fig. 3) during the last years. In Legát’s opinion this object can be interpreted as the remains of the Hungarian bridgehead (1849). Some important information helped the research about the Hungarian bridgehead and the float bridge: Artúr Görgey and Miklós Puky (commissionership) wrote about the bridge in his memoir. The research of the site was possible with the help of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the Argonauta Research Group, the Klapka György Museum (Komárom) and the Kuny Domokos Museum (Tata) in 2013-2014. András Grynaeus (Hungarian Dendrochronological Laboratory) helped to date the pile-object (Fig. 4-5): the samples came from east Austrian spruce (Picea abies) and the trees were cut in AD 1746-1763. A denier („Krajcár”) of 1800 helped to date also the object. The localized pole-object can not be dated to the age of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence (1848-1849). In our opinion the excavated pole-object can be interpreted as the bridgehead of Danube of 1808. (Fig. 7-8) The barge of Gönyű and the bridgehead of Komárom are good examples for the complexity of archaeological sites from the Modern Age. Historical processes can be tracked by written sources, and the localization of the site was also possible using underwater research, together with a complex archaeological investigation of the banks of the river. This latter could complete even well documented, historical events of the 19th century military history with new, important data. The amount of new data despite the unfortunate finding situation also draws attention to the importance of the protection of underwater archaeological sites. Translated by Balázs Polgár 144
