Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 33/4. (2013)
Articles
Data concerning changes in a cemetery surrounding a medieval church 255 plans of the architects, the first step aimed to clear rain water near the walls. In order to achieve this, a system of trenches had to be created all around the church, except its western side. Landscaping, which included a lowering of the ground level, was done in order to reduce the humidity of the walls. The archaeological excavations, lasting from May until October, considerably enriched our knowledge about the church in Bögöz and its surrounding cemetery. During the excavation we documented the traces of 225 graves so this cemetery has become one of the best researched cemeteries in the area. The research of cemeteries surrounding a church in Udvarhely County The beginning of the excavations is linked to the restoration of the historical monument. During the beginning of the investigation, researchers did not really attribute any special significance to the burials and they rather saw them as obstacles instead of integral complementary parts of the research of the church. The restorations initiated in the 1960’s were not even subjected to archaeological supervision. This is probably why the observations made during the restoration of the church in Bögöz in 1966 were preserved thanks to László Vetési. The renovation involving the replacement of the floor did not reach the level at which the graves can be found.19 The graves were also left undisturbed at the church in Felsőboldogfalva (Romanian: Feliceni) during the renovation of the historical monument, between 1974 andl975.20 During the renovation of the church in Rugonfalva (Romanian: Rugane§ti) in 1971-1972, István Molnár and Zoltán Székely already did some trial excavations. They mentioned several burials, but did not document all the graves, which they had found, so we don’t even know their exact number.21 Burials were also identified during the renovation of the medieval church in Székelykeresztúr (Romanian: Cristurul Secuiesc) in 1968. The northern, southern and western sides of the church were inspected through research trenches under the supervision of István Molnár, the director of the town’s museum, and Alexandru Bogdan, an employee of the historical Monuments directorate in Bucharest. An ossuary was then detected on 19 Sófalvi 2010, 34-35. 20Demjén - Nyárádi - Sófalvi 2008, 82. 21 Benkő 1992, 132-136. the northern side, graves dating back to the age of the Árpád dynasty were also excavated on the northern side, which included hair rings with ‘S’ shaped endings as inventory.22 During the 1976 renovation of the church in Énlaka (Romanian: Inläceni), much valuable data was uncovered regarding the history of its construction, but only one single burial was mentioned in the renovation’s reports.23 An unprofessional excavation, not respecting the methodology of church and cemetery excavation, was also done in 1993 in Vargyas, where plans were made to build a new church in the location of a medieval church, which had been demolished in 1841. The entire surface of the old demolished church was slashed across with narrow research trenches and a significant surface was also excavated outside the church, on the northern and western sides. During the excavation, some skulls were recorded with green pigmentation traces .2'1 The research of the area, near the monastery found in the center of Székelyudvarhely (Romanian: Odorheiu Secuiesc), in 1981, also showed signs of lack of a proper methodology since, István Ferenci excavated 14 graves in a multilayered cemetery surrounding the church and regarded these to be victims of a plague.25 An excavation corresponding to the demands of a professional research was done in Székelydálya (Romanian: Daia) between 1992 and 1997, during which the construction history was revealed and 27 graves were excavated.26 In 1999, in Felsősófalva (Romanian: Оспа de Sus) the church’s floor was replaced and during this the walls were inspected. No burials were found at that time.27 In 2001, the replacement of the floor leads to a short inspection of the church interior in Farcád (Romanian: For(eni). The main objective of this inspection was to determine the chronology of the building’s interior. During the excavation few graves were found, which had been disturbed during the construction of the nave.28 A small excavation was done in 2006 in Bágy (Romanian: Bädeni), which can also be attributed to the replacement of the floor. This shed some light on the existence of an earlier church dating back to the Árpád dynasty. 22 Benkő 1992, 153-154. 23 Molnár 1977,31-39. 24 Bartók 1995, 145-146. 25 Ferenczi 2002, 60-61; Sófalvi 2007, 66; Benkő 2012, 257. 26 Marcu 1998, 157-180. 27 Sófalvi 2005, 99-100. 28 Demjén - Nyárádi - Sófalvi 2008, 87.
