Graphisoft Park South Phase 2/II
Site IDs: 33262, 72911
Keywords: Prehistory, Neolithic, Late Bronze Age, stray finds, Roman Period, settlement, suburb, cemetery, road, bridge, Migration Period, Avar Period, settlement, Middle Ages, Árpádian Age, Late Middle Ages, Early Modern Age, road, bridge, coin hoard
Between 12 September 2019 and 11 August 2020, full-scale excavations were conducted in two distinct areas on the site (Phases I and II). Archaeological fieldwork in Phase I was completed between 1 September and 19 December 2019, and the results were presented in several publications (Hajdu–Tóth 2020; Hajdu et al. 2022; Tóth–Hajdu in press).
The preventive excavation in the area of Phase II was carried out in two courses between 25 March and 29 June and again from 22 July to 11 August 2020. During this time, 5,027 m² were investigated and 306 stratigraphic units were excavated.
Previous archaeological investigations in the area led by Gábor Lassányi yielded Copper Age and Late Bronze Age settlement features, as well as Early Bronze Age and Roman burials (Lassányi 2011; Lassányi–Szeredi 2017, 2020).
The site is situated on the right bank of the Danube, opposite Óbuda Island, southwest of the housing estate built in 1914 for gasworks officials. It stretches NNW–SSE along the filled-up bed of a former Holocene branch of the Danube, running between a narrow river ridge and a broader prominence in the southwest. This ancient, flood-prone area once formed part of a water system connecting the Csillaghegy ditch, Mocsárosdűlő, and Óbuda Island (Hajdu et al. in press).
The site is characterised by a complex stratigraphic, geomorphological, and archaeological topographic setting. While prehistoric occupation is only represented by some scattered Neolithic and Late Bronze Age potsherds, mechanical soil removal in the northwestern zone revealed grey, silty sediment layers at a depth of 4–4.5 meters (99.20 a.B.S.l.), which contained numerous metal stray finds from the Roman, medieval, and early modern periods, as well as a Roman ditch and medieval or early modern animal remains.
Two Roman-age graves, some ditches, and pits were discovered in the southern part of the excavation area on an elevated, clayey terrace partly covered by a thick humus layer.
A previously unknown section of a limes road has been discovered at the eastern edge of the excavation area, on top of a river terrace accumulated of yellow sediment. The 64-meter-long road section was 5–6 meters wide on average, up to 10 meters at points. Its surface was found at 100.00 to 100.80 a.B.s.l., rising southward. Another road section, of a multilayer structure lined with large stones, was discovered in the northern part of the excavation area. The exceptionally robust, up to 0.7 meters thick construction comprised reused carved stones and other architectural elements (e.g., tegulae and imbrices), suggesting its significance as a key route leading from the southeastern outskirts of the Roman civilian town of Aquincum.
Wheel tracks, patchwork repairs, and pothole fillings observed on the road surface suggest long-term, intensive use, which finds such as a heavily worn Roman bronze coin dating from the 3rd century AD, carriage parts, horse track, and medieval and early modern horseshoes corroborate.
South of a modern sewer trench cutting across the paved road surface, a bridge structure was revealed with a 1.5 m wide opening. Its northern part was paved with smaller stones and the southern one with larger ones. Its edges were lined with flat, square carved stones. After the bridge had been abandoned, the arched carved stones of its vault were reused in an 18th–19th-century brick-covered culvert built atop its ruins.
The excavation of the bridge abutments revealed well-preserved oak beam foundations with mortise-and-tenon joints and rows of posts reinforcing the structure, preserved due to the anaerobic environment created by the alluvial sediment.
The layer containing building waste (carved stone blocks, roof tile fragments, and plastered wall parts) found south of the arched bridge structure may be the remains of a collapsed Roman building or possibly the poorly preserved continuation of the road’s foundation.
Radiocarbon samples were taken from two beams and a post supporting one of them. The results dated the timber below the northern bridge abutment to the Roman Age (3rd–4th century AD), while the post and the southern beam to the 15th–17th and 15th centuries, respectively. These findings confirm that the bridge, constructed as part of the Roman limes road, was partially rebuilt or reinforced in late medieval to early modern times.
It is believed that originally (in the 1st–2nd centuries AD), the line of the limes road aligned with today’s Szentendrei Road, and its path was likely moved to the one documented here in the 3rd century AD as part of a major Roman frontier defence and infrastructure development programme. The river terrace, accumulated in this period, provided a natural embankment, which necessitated the construction of a bridge to ensure water flow.
The importance of the structure—particularly in defence—during the waning days of Roman rule is underscored by finds such as a gilded Zwiebelknopffibel, associated with military attire. The road and its bridge remained significant throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, serving as part of the route between Buda and Visegrád.
Their long-term use is supported by coins issued by Géza II (1130–1162), Louis I (1342–1382), and Ferdinand I (1526–1564), as well as iron horseshoes and lead musket balls found nearby. A shallow, north–south oriented ditch containing Avar Period ceramic fragments also confirms post-Roman presence in the area.
Due to the outstanding archaeological value of the limes road and the associated bridge, these elements of our built heritage were documented and subsequently reburied and covered for protection.
Contributors: Farkas Márton Tóth (lead archaeologist), Barbara Hajdu (archaeologist), Gábor Lassányi (Várkapitányság Nonprofit cPlc., consultant), Paula Zsidi (consultant), Zsófia Kelemen (archaeological field technician), Levente Virágh (archaeological field technician), István Fábián (surveyor), Tibor Kovács (surveyor), Sándor Imre-Horváth (surveyor), Tamás Lajtos (archaeological illustrator), Gergő Juhász (Lowpoly 360 Ltd, surveyor), aerial photography: László Rupnik (ELTE FH IA), Henrik Ritz (Lowpoly 360 Ltd.); laser scanning: Zoltán Kibédy (CÉH Tervező, Beruházó és Fejlesztő cPlc), radiocarbon and OSL dating: György Sipos (University of Szeged, OSL Hungary Ltd), dendrochronology and xylotomy: András Grynaeus (Cincér Lp.), geomorphological and geological consultation, soil sampling: István Viczián (Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Geographical Institute), Lajos Sándor (metal detector survey, Sandax Ltd.)
Farkas Márton Tóth – Barbara Hajdu
References:
Hajdu–Tóth 2020 • Hajdu, Barbara – Tóth, Farkas Márton: A bridge over the past: prehistoric settlement traces, a Roman cemetery, and a structure connecting the periods by the Danube in Óbuda. New results of the archaeological excavation connected with the Graphisoft Park extension project. Magyar Régészet/Hungarian Archaeology. Tél/Winter 2020, 13–21. http://files.archaeolingua. hu/2020T/Upload/Hajdu_H20T.pdf
Hajdu et al. 2022 • Hajdu, Barbara–Tóth, Farkas Márton–Imre-Horváth, Sándor: Methodological questions and issues related to the dating and interpretation of some structures unearthed at Graphisoft Park South. In: Aquincum Æternum: Studia in honorem Paula Zsidi. Szerk.: Budai Balogh, Tibor – Láng, Orsolya – Vámos, Péter. (Aquincum Nostrum II. 9.) Budapest, 2022, 165–178.
Hajdu, Barbara et al. In press. • Hajdu, Barbara – Juhász, Lajos – Libor, Csilla – Viczián, István: A Graphisoft Park területén 2019–2020 között folytatott feltárások újabb kutatási eredményei. (III. ker. Ángel Sanz Briz út 5–7.–Schön Győző utca, hrsz.: 19333/55, 19333/57, 19333/59). [New research findings from the excavations conducted in the area of Graphisoft Park between 2019 and 2020 (District III, Ángel Sanz Briz Road 5–7 – Schön Győző Street, lot numbers: 19333/55, 19333/57, 19333/59).] Aquincumi Füzetek 27 In press
Lassányi 2011 • Lassányi, Gábor: Excavation of parts of Early Bronze Age and Roman cemeteries in the southern part of the former Óbuda Gas Factory. Aquincumi Füzetek 17 (2011) 36–51.
Lassányi–Szeredi 2017 • Lassányi, Gábor–Szeredi, Anna: Excavations in the Southern Part of the Graphisoft Park. Aquincumi Füzetek 23 (2017) 81–88.
Lassányi–Szeredi 2020 • Lassányi, Gábor–Szeredi, Anna: Excavations in the Northern Part of the Gas Factory in Óbuda. Aquincumi Füzetek 24 (2020) 112–120.
Tóth–Hajdu In press. • Tóth, Farkas Márton – Hajdu, Barbara: Budapest III. ker. Ángel Sanz Briz út 5–7.–Schön Győző utca–Hamvas Béla sétány (Hrsz.: 19333/55, 19333/57). [Budapest, District III, Ángel Sanz Briz Road 5–7 – Schön Győző Street – Hamvas Béla Promenade (lot numbers: 19333/55, 19333/57).] Aquincumi Füzetek 26 In press.