Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 32/2. (2012)
Articles
198 Z. Soós-R. Bakonyi northern side but in both cases they resulted from the construction of the crypt and only in the vicinity of the eastern ending of the altar was identified undisturbed soil. The sterile, geological layer consisted of yellow clay and it was identified at the depth of 1.1 m on the northern profile and at the depth of 1.3 m on the southern profile. The depth of the layer is similar the difference comes from the changing ground level. It is also noticeable the difference between the two undisturbed area on the northern and southern profile. On the northern profile there is no trace of the foundation ditch because the wall filled the whole ditch. Therefore here there is another layer fragment above the sterile yellow clay a 0.4 m wide brown clay with rounded river stones that is the original ground layer. Above this we already have an 18th century layer without traces of the medieval construction layer. On the southern profile the 0.2 m wide foundation ditch was preserved at the bottom while on the construction level the ditch is already 0.5 m wide. This is caused by the narrowing wall which is wider at the lower side. It is very important that the wall did not fill completely the foundation trench and that the 18th century transformations did not affected the medieval layers because here we identified the only medieval construction layer at the depth of 0.55 m and it is composed of a 2 cm wide plaster spread on the soil. Above this there is a 0.2 m wide clayish filling layer which very probably was bellow the floor level. The floor bed was not preserved as it was destroyed by the 18th century transformations (Pi. 2/3). Outside the altar three layers were identified, the upper layer is composed of the same 0.25 m wide brown ground layer. Bellow there is a 0.3 m thick layer with mortar, stream stones and debris, which can be interpreted as the demolition layer of the altar. The lowermost layer is yellow clay containing lime stone fragments and mortar in the upper part and very probably it is the construction layer of the medieval church (Pi. 2/4). In trench SI two structures were identified: one is the above described 18thcentury crypt while the second structure is the foundation of the former altar. The masonry of the former altar foundation was made by river stone. The mortar used in the underground level is of poor quality, it contains small quantity of lime. There were identified two large cracks in the structure of the foundation, one of them is 5-10 cm wide, that is probably the reason why the altar was demolished (PI. 2/5). The structure could be damaged by earthquakes or by the instability of the clay. The present day church also has structural problems because of the soil properties but there could be a problem with the foundations as well. The foundation of the medieval church is at the depth of 1.1 m providing a good enough stability. The instability of the clay caused structural damage in the medieval walls and probably as the community needed a larger structure they decided to enlarge the church towards south and north and they demolished also the altar. We suppose that because of the poor condition of the foundation the demolition occurred during the first extension works of the church in 1833. Trench S2 (4 x 2.5 m) was opened north of trench SI in 2007 in order to identify the traces of the sacristy. The trench surrounded one of the buttresses of the present day church suspected to be the remnant of the former altar. Bellow the buttress the medieval foundation was indeed identified but the buttress is not connected to it, it was built later. The northern wall of the altar was 1 m wide and 1.6 m deep. This trench was not enlarged to identify the remnants of the former sacristy. Inside the altar a smaller, 0.4 m wide brick wall was identified 2 m from the eastern wall of the actual church, which probably belongs to the baroque crypt. North of the sanctuary, at the northern end of the trench in the construction layer we found the remnants of a grave Ml with a skull, a few bones in bad condition, nails of a coffin and traces of wood. The grave was dug
