Budapest Régiségei 37. (2003)
Irásné Melis Katalin: Karcolással jelölt középkori cserepek a margitszigeti domonkos apácakolostor területéről 79-90
IRÁSNÉ MELIS KATALIN MEDIAEVAL POTTERY FRAGMENTS SIGNED WITH SCRATCHES FROM THE DOMINICAN NUNNERY ON MARGARET ISLAND The archaeological finds of the Dominican Nunnery on Margaret Island come from infillment layers made for rising the ground level. The solid material of the infillments consisted of household waste, mainly animal bones, pottery, oven tiles, pieces of iron objects that in some cases was mixed with debris. There are differences among the layers according to the finds coming from them. The majority of them come from the reconstruction periods affecting the whole area of the nunnnery, whereas another group of them refers to smaller transformations that nevertheless resulted in significant changes. The last infillment layers - even 70 cms thick sometimes - were made around the turn of the 15 th and 16th centuries. It measured up to 6000 cubic meters as archaeological research wittnessed. The pottery fragments date back to a wide time-span, they come from between the 13 th and the turn of the 15 th-16 th centuries, but some of them were Roman, from the 1st to 5th centuries. This group of finds did not belong to the nunnery, it was part of the debris bought by the nuns together with other building materials. At some parts of the nunnery, especially in the western corner of the southern yard and in the rooms around the south-eastern corner of the cloister of the nunnery the infillment layer contained pottery fragments characteristic of a shorter period. (Figure 1). The material and the shape of the pots were identical with that of the pottery finds of the same period from Buda, Pest, or Óbuda. The 57 piece collection of signed pottery find on Margaret Island consists of tableware, mainly jars and pot-shaped mugs dating back to the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 16 th centuries. They show that all along the existence of the nunnery a group of the pottery was separated from the rest by signs scratched, chiseled or cut in them. The main bulk of signed pottery was found in the southern yard of the nunnery around the gate-tower standing in the south-western corner. On the eastern side of the tower right up at the southern wall of the nunnery there were two buildings rebuilt several times and pulled down at the end of the 14 th century Between them there were traces of fireplaces and ovens. These were the kitchens where the meal for the ill, the secular inhabitants and the guests of the nunnery was cooked or baked. At the end of the 13 th century this area underwent significant reconstructions. The earliest signed pottery finds - characteristic of the 13 th-14 th centuries - were found in the debris between the floor levels of the kitchen and in the infillment between the walls. In the 14 th century, probably due to a flood, there was a large puddle in the yard in front of the gate-tower. To nivellate the surface level it was filled up with household waste mixed with litter. Some of the pottery finds were signed. The kitchen of the nuns was in the south-eastern corner of the quadrangle of the building complex. Archaeological investigation discovered that the layout of the house that can be seen today was only formed around the turn of the 15 th and 16 th or at the beginning of the 16 th centuries. From among the floors of the earlier kitchen and the infillment between the walls of the earlier oven in the layers of the 13 th and 14 th centuries scratched, signed pottery pieces came to light. From the cross sign - being the most characteristic - we first concluded that they marked the tableware of the nuns. However, the knowledge of the whole material lead us to new approach. The repetitive use of the almost identical signs probably does not refer to personal use, probably the tableware used in the infirmary was differentiated this way The nature of the different contagious diseases were not unknown for them. The rims of the larger pots and jars are marked with a saw. 84
