Arrabona - Múzeumi közlemények 40/1-2. (Győr, 2002)

Tanulmányok - Szőnyi Eszter: Mursella municipium 15 éves régészeti feltárásának eredményei

ARRABONA40.2002. TANULMÁNYOK Eszter Szőnyi: Mursella municipium (A summary of the excavations between 1975 and 1989) This paper details the excavations of Mursella municipium (Figure 1) in the southern part of the county between 1975 and 1989. Mursella is mentioned by the datum in Itin. Ant. 262,9-263,2, its rank of a municipium is known from the tomb-stones referred to as CIL HT 4490 (Figure 2) and CIL III 4267 (Figure 3). The approximate outlines of its area are shown in Figure 7 on the basis of data from excavations and field tours. The identification of the area was supported by the probable localisation of the Marcal (Mursol) river-mouth in the Roman period, and the appropriate ford, respectively. The settlement is situated along the road between Brigetio and Savaria at approximately the same distance from its both ends. Its rank of a municipium could be given during Hadrian's rule. Its site has been known since the second half of the 19* century. Excavations of minor importance took place in the area from the end of the 1870s on. E. Biró excavated a part of a cemetery of 150 graves and another one of 11 graves in the middle of the 20

l century. A selection of this material is shown in Tables 4-6. Between 1975 and 1989, in the north-western part of the town an area of 3,000 square meters was excavated, at the same time the road leading through the settlement was also excavated at many places. The pavement of the road is of rubble embedded in lime-mortar, and it was restored many times. The road followed the same track during the whole period of the Roman Empire. As a result of the excavations, 4 great periods of construction can be separated, however, conversions, restorations and demolitions could also be observed within these periods. The period of wooden construction (Figure 8) Traces of constructions made of timber and pile-works could only identified in the southern part of the are. In buildings of 1 or 2 rooms timber and pile foundations were frequently mixed. Owing to the lack of characteristic findings, their age can be related to the first half of the I

s century in a relative way only. The period of pottery (Figure 9) Concerning the period between the middle of the I

s century and the turn of the l

st-2

n centuries, the results of the excavations of pottery workshops are as follows: 12 kilns, drying rooms, wells, clay-pits filled with waste material. The kilns are usually of round ground plan, they are built with locally plastered fire-grates and with firing areas of 1-2 mouths opening from the working pit, but there were also versions of firing areas with arch bridges and fire-grate bricks. The types of the produced pottery included forms and decoration of Celtic character (Figure 12) and those of classical Roman style (Figure 13), one can appreciate the skill of potters embodied in the pots of the so called thin-wall pottery with various forms (cups) and decoration (barbotine, indented scar); spoiled and half-completed specimens were also found. (Figures 14-15) Hut period (Figure 16) From the 2

n century up to the middle of the 3

r century few constructions are known (huts deepened into the ground, rows of piles, pits). The findings from this period are also poor. It is plausible that after demolishing pottery workshops, the soil is cultivated in the area. Stone period (Figure 18) In the area of Mursella stone buildings were possibly built even in the 2

n century, however, in the excavated area buildings of stone can be dated from the 3

r century only. The excavated area is divided into 2 building sites in the 3

r century. In the southern part there was a large (43 by 43 ms) atrium type house (stone building II) whose time of construction can be dated by the middle of the 3

r century mainly because of the yard with pebbles and the coins found under the pavement of the corridor. According to the remains of the preserved parts, the foundation of the building and its erected walls were identically made of stone, some of its rooms were decorated with frescoes of geometric shape in green-red-white. The quality of this house is proved by plate-glass fragments. There were no traces of central heating or water system, water supply was provided from wells. (Figure 19) The building was 70