Excavations from Medieval City of Caransebeș

Abstract

Systematic archaeological research in the fortified medieval city of Caransebeș/ Sebeș began in 2017. The fortified medieval city, attested for the first time in historical records in 1290 during the reign of Ladislaus IV of Hungary, belonged to an area of Byzantine influence in the 12th century, and later (most probably between 1186 and 1231–1232) fell under the influence of the second Vlach-Bulgarian Tsardom. Around 1231–1232 the discussed region (together with Caransebeș) became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Both the city and the surrounding region had a predominantly Vlach population. For archaeological research we had at our disposal several plans of the city dated to the 17th–18th centuries. Some time after the 1718 peace treaty signed in Požarevac (Passarowitz) between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy, the Caransebeș fortress was destroyed. Currently, only a few fragments of the fortifications are preserved in its northern area, but further archaeological excavations are needed to establish their precise dating and context. In the context of tensions between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy, the border city underwent rapid transformations over short periods of time during the 17th–18th centuries. After 1551–1552, the region and implicitly the city of Caransebeș came under the authority of the Transylvanian princes. It was conquered by the Turks in 1658 and occupied by the Austrians in 1688, who proceeded to rearrange the Italian-style fortifications. The works were not completed, however, because the Ottoman Empire regained possession of the fortress in 1696 and held it until 1718.