Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 30/1. (2010)
Articles
206 Ü. Bencze was being done by that time already in Austria, but later also in Slovakia, Czech Republic and Serbia.4 The publications that deal with the question of graphite ware provide a strong basis for drawing analogies and dating forms, and thus represent indispensable material for analyzing the Transylvanian finds. The earliest literature about Austrian graphite tempered pottery from the nineteenth century, which is still used today, highlighted the role of Vienna as the sole major production and exporter centre while neglected the research of other production places. Parallel with this opinion an opposite view emerged, which argued that Vienna was considered an important late medieval pottery production centre due to a misinterpretation of the Council’s decision from 1431. Both opinions lead to perceive the other existent Austrian production sites less important than Vienna and to the detriment of smaller places like Obernzell (next to Passau) up to their apparent disappearance in the absence of identifiable products.5 Sites One of the sites where graphite ware was identified is the Franciscan friary of Tärgu Mure§ (Marosvásárhely). The friary lies on the south-western edge of a terrace of the Mure§ River. Due to the small number of excavations the urban topography of the town is still unclear, but it is likely that the friary stood on the northern part of the town. From the building of the friary, the church, tower, sacristy and a part of the chapter house have been preserved. The church was located on the southern part of the friary. In 1999 with the start of archaeological excavations the western wall of the chapter house was revealed as an extension of the western wall of the eastern wing of the friary buildings.6 Also two other parallel walls (with the western wall) were found which represent the walls of a central corridor in the building with cells that lay on both sides. This kind of display reflects a specific arrangement to the Observant branch of the Franciscans. The historical and archaeological research indicates four construction phases. The first is displayed with the use of the chapter house as a church, in the beginning of the fourteenth century. This was the only stone building identified from this period. Several wooden remains discovered during the excavations in 2006 indicate that other buildings of the friary were made of wood. The second phase was dated to the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century. In this period the church was built along with the eastern and northern wings of the friary. The third phase is connected with transferring the friary to the Observant branch of the Franciscan order and it can be dated to the 1440’s, then in 1442 the tower was built with the support of John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania. The last construction phase is represented by the fortification of the friary. Two towers remained from the 1480 construction. Five out of six fragments of graphite ware were found in the fill of L2 context of the trench C25 excavated in the year 2008. Only one shred was found in the year 2004 in the spoil heap of the canalization works in front of the gate tower. Therefore this piece can be dated only by its form based on analogies without knowing its archaeological context. The above mentioned five fragments were identified during the selection of the pottery and their context is known and dated.7 Trench C25 was opened on the outer part of the southern wall of the refectory, more 4 Conference about early medieval graphite ware, see: Polácek 1998. Publications: Walcher v. Molthein 1910, Birtasevic 1970, Nekuda-Reichertová 1968, Nekuda 1975, Mittelstraß 2007, Scharrer-Liska, 2007. 5 Mittelstraß 2007, 268. 6 Sods 2003, 259. 7 The fragments are stored in the deposit of the County Museum of Tärgu Mure?.
