Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)
Oana Toda: Tobacco Clay Pipes from Rupea Castle and their Historical Context
122 О. TODA Fig. 2. Image of the drawbridge pit during excavation. few decades earlier, together with the tower, as their foundations belong to the same construction phase. In 1731 and 1732, the wooden structure was rebuilt and one can assume that the pit was still in use at that time, given that a bridge was still needed to reach the gate.13 Unfortunately, and quite unexplainably, the 1735 veduta by Konrad von Weiss does not show any defensive structures in front of the northern entrance of the castle.14 However, in a late account B. Orbán noted a bridge and a moat that once functioned in front of the northern precinct wall.15 Judging from his choice of words, one can only assume these were no longer in use by the middle of the 19th century. The archaeological finds from the pit range from the 17th until the 18th century, predominantly during the latter, and consist of domestic discarded material. Additionally, 19th century material was identified in the castle ditch, which probably filled up at a slower rate than the pit. Most likely, the two components of the northern defensive structure were filled up with disposed garbage from the castle sometime after the 1730s and before the visit of B. Orbán at the middle of the 19th century. The silver coin issued in 1640 by Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg found in the top layer of the drawbridge pit cannot be used to date the filling and decommissioning of the structure as this clearly predates the archival recordings of a still functional drawbridge. The preponderance of the 18th century tableware is connected to the fact that at least part of the market towns population still lived or took refuge inside the castle and used the small houses located there.16 17 Two smoking pipes come from inside the lower castle, catalogue numbers 1 and 4. These were found in what appeared to be surface deposition layers of earth and household material (tableware, stove tiles) in the courtyard of the fourth precinct, in rather irrelevant archaeological contexts. The same remark is valid for pipe number 5 in the catalogue, as it was retrieved from the topsoil on the western slope of the castle, possibly originating from inside the fortification, but ending up in a completely irrelevant context. The middle castle was the discovery area of four socketed pipes (cat. 7, 11, 12, and 10). Number 10 was recovered from the leveling of the basement of the Ungra tower and was most likely relocated there together with the earth used for the filling, hence in a secondary position. Pipe number 7 was discovered in a demolition layer next to what appears to be a former barbican and the early entrance to the 15th and 16th centuries’ castle, in a context that can only generally be dated to the Modern Period. These two contexts were probably the result of late 18th and early 19th century demolition works. The sources record that in 1809,^following a period of decay and deliberate quarrying, several elements of the castle, including the ones in question, were intentionally demolished to prevent dangerous collapses and accidents. 13 Müller 1900,29. 14 MOL Térképtár, G I h 160, no. 6. 15 Orbán 1868,192. 16 The last episode when the population of the market town took refuge inside the castle was in 1789 (Fabini 2002, 591). 17 Müller 1900, 30.
