Cercetări arheologice la biserica mare din cetatea Aiudului. II: exteriorul bisericii
Archaeological excavations at the big church from the fortress of Aiud. II: the exterior of the church

Summary/Abstract: This paper has been composed as the second in a series on the archaeological research undertaken in 2008 and 2018–2020 at the large (Reformed) church of Aiud Fortress. The first study of the series has consisted of a brief presentation of the main data collected inside the monument. This second study presents even more briefly the main data collected outside the monument, as they appeared in more convoluted and fragmentary contexts. These excavations have established the main stratigraphic sequence of this area of Aiud Fortress as consisting of Roman age habitation in mortarless structures, followed by a hiatus, then by an early second millennium settlement, with at least two phases, which similarly made use only of mortarless structures. Despite its long existence, and even though sources infer the existence of local priests in the 13th century, there is no solid ground to contest, based on archaeological data, the traditional ascription of the small church (erected 1333–1334, demolished and rebuilt 1865–1866) as the beginning of religious masonry building at Aiud – and likely of the present day religious site. Nevertheless, the development of the large church of the fortress remains uncertain. Research conducted inside the current building has revealed that it was preceded by a smaller, yet still Gothic, church. Research conducted outside the building helped establish that the eastern part of the church was build first, in several phases, and only afterward was the body of the church also expanded. However, the western parts of the current structure show obvious signs of rebuilding, and dismantled structures indicate that the tower was not initially part of the extended planimetry. Due to the partial nature of the investigation, archaeology cannot yet establish the succession of the construction phases involved, or what they exactly involved, nor can it help in solving the questions raised by the varied modifications noticeable in the aboveground structure. While most late and post medieval results presented below relate to the large church, they also include data about the small one, about a series of built structures identified in the area between the two churches and west of the large one, and about the overall development of the site, severely marked by arson and destruction in the early 18th century. The graveyard and materials are only mentioned, and not discussed, as they’ll be the subject of following paper

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