Budapest Régiségei 32. (1998)

TANULMÁNYOK - Végh András: Előzetes jelentés a budai Szentpétermártír külváros területén 1991-1995 között folytatott régészeti kutatásokról 329-340

trenches of the new buildings. The reorganization of the area was resumed in the 60's. Thus in most cases experts of the museums did not even learn of the destruction of certain mediaeval or Roman finds, or even if heard of it was too late to counteract. Pulling down old buildings was finished in the 70's but construction was not everywhere completed then. A new wave of building was begun in the end oh the 80

's, and on the local council's initiative Budapest Historical Museum was involved in the project. In 1991 we had the opportunity to conduct a full excavation session at 26 Gyorskocsi Street where the ministry of Foreign Affairs had planned to enlarge its building. The finds coming from this site made it necessary to involve an expert of the Roman period, Katalin H. Kérdő with whom we have been doing further research and supervising over the area since then. On the basis of the results of Gyorskocsi Street in 1991 we have initiated to rate the whole area archaeologically protected by law which was performed in 1994. 26. GYORSKOCSI STREET Preceeding the construction work a mediaeval house and its surroundings were excavated in 1991-92 on the site of the planned enlargement of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The excavations found the cellars of a house built at right angles to the street. The cellar found consisted of two parts. The back part had been built earlier, in the Middle Ages, whereas the front part coming down to the street line was added during the Turkish period. The mediaeval cellar was at the back of the plot. It should have further rooms on the surface level, extending to the street. These supposed wooden parts had been completely destroyed by the Turkish cellar. The cellar and the late stone building above it must have been used as a safe storage. Unfortunately a proper dating of our building was impossible. The external wall wall of the cellar was connected with the stoned surface of the yard, but unfortunately the dating was not facilitated by other finds. Below the stone pavement a pebble surface was found hiding a layer of humus covering the earlier ruins of Roman walls. According to the finds from the pebble surface, this very first level dates back to the second half of 13th century. In this occupation level there were only some baking ovens and hearths at the back of the plot, which, however prove that the plot had been inhabited those days. The remains of other buildings from that period must have been destroyed by the later cellar buildings. At the edge of today's Gyorskocsi Street several layers of the mediaeval street could be observed. Thus it has been proved that the street has been following the same route from the second half of the 13th century on. The Turkish cellar had a long rectangular shape. The walls were made of random coursed stones of mixed types, mainly sandstone. The entrance was on the northern side of the house. The walls of the entrance was built on the top of a Turkish cess pit. A special attention has to be given to the two fireplaces that have fallen into the cellar due to the destruction. Many oven tiles and plaster pieces were found which make the reconstruction of them possible. The reconstruction - made by Tibor Sabján - resulted an oven type, wich originates from the Balkan. Wittnessed by a denar of King Leopold I from 1676 the destruction of the house took place during the siege of 1684 or 1686. 8-14. MEDVE STREET A two-month salvage work was done under extremely bad conditions in winter in 1994 parallel with the construction work of the building of CIB bank. The enormous building site was taking a crucial part of the mediaeval suburb right opposite the mediaeval parish church. A full controlled excavation would have contributed much to the general knowledge of Szentpétermártír. However, the given circumstances offered very limited observations. 8 and 10 Medve Street had the most interesting findings. At the inner part of the plot thick walls of a three-part stone house were found. The house had been built parallel with Medve Street. The walls were built of random coarsed limestone and at the deep foundation level they were one meter wide. There was no cellar to the house. The entrance could have been facing the street, though it was not found, because the wall here had undergone several modern reconstructions. About 13 meters from the eastern facade of the above mentioned building a pit with special deposit was found. The pit was round and contained the remains of an oven destructed during the reign of king Sigismund. As it can be concluded from the coats of arms on them they were all made between 1370 and 1382, under the reign of King Louis the Great. This find has raised the question, whose could this plot have been on which there used to stand such a significant house, and in the yard of which such a unique oven used to be thrown. Apart from the objects mentioned above there were only some scattered mediaeval remains. Behind the house a woodden well was found and next to it there was a pit with wattle and and daumb structure. As for 12-14 Medve Street, the wall fragments there did not make up a whole structure. Some other pits were also found that prove that the plot used to be inhabited continuously. The archaeological objects found here were completely destroyed by the construction. 9-11. MEDVE STREET In 1994 enlargement of the schoolbuilding of Medve Street was planned. This brought along archaeological observation of the plot. The site can be found in the same street as the mediaeval parish church, to the north of it. 9 and 11 Medve Street were built in differently in modern times which made archaeologists' opportunities different too. At 9 Medve Street a moderncellar destroyed the mediaeval contexts, thus there were only Roman finds there. However in the small yards two large Turkish cesspits and a Turkish drain were excavated. At 11 Medve Street there was only one modem cellar at the back of the plot, nevertheless archaeological observation was hard because the original mediaeval context laid just below the recent surface disturbed many times by later objects. At the southern part of the site a mediaeval house, built of wood, renewed several times was found. The house used to stand at right angles with the street. Only the long northern wall and some other smaller wall fragments between the rooms wer discovered. The facade could not have been excavated either as it extended under the modern street line. In the north east corner of the first room from the street a square brick foundation of an oven was found. The greyish square oven tile pieces found near it could have come from this oven. The position of the oven shows that the 334