Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
302 I. Botár Fig. 2. Reliquary cross from Cotorman. probable that this is not an original cross, but a later copy cast. Such deviations are the two bulges near Christ, which can be seen also inside, remains of a casting defect.4 Therefore, despite its analogies, we presume that the reliquary cross from Cotorman is not dating from the 1 l-12th century, but more probably belongs to those similar crosses which appear in the treasures hidden during the Mongol invasion in 1241-1242. Even so, the cross confirms the existence of the settlement in the Árpádian period, and it is also a clear proof that the inhabitants of the Csík Basin were not living in an ‘isolated reservation’ somewhere on the periphery of the Hungarian Kingdom. They took part in commercial or military relations during which such pieces could reach even in a small village. There were persons among them who had the exigency to wear and also the possibility to acquire such crosses. This hypothesis needed a control; therefore in 2007 we started a small verifying excavation on the plot where the cross was found (Fig. 3). In the section 1 a large oven was found (length 180 cm, width 120 cm), mounted on the surface (Fig. 4). The baking surface of the oven had three layers, each containing within the clay fragments from ceramic pots. The wood remains and the yellow clay pigmentation around the oven suggest a square-shaped building above the oven. Based on the orientation of the wood remains a plan of a building with three rooms can be reconstructed. However, the slight wood remains (sleepers, beams?) were not put on stones, not even on the corners, and the sloping level of the clay pigmentation did not formed a solid, continuous layer, so it is questionable to interpret as a step level. Therefore, even if the reconstruction of a wood house built on the surface is very attempting, further research - north to the oven - has to decide if we have to deal with such, heavily disturbed house, or the oven was build in a temporary building. If the existence of such a construction is proven, this could be the missing link in the typology of medieval houses from Székely Land. Until the present day there is no published plan of a surface-built house with three rooms in Székely Land. 4 We would like to thank the friendly help of Zs. Lovag, E. Kis, E. Benkő and M. Mordovin.
