Construction of a four-unit residential building
Site IDs: 66476, 66800
Keywords: Roman Age, layer finds, Early Modern Period, cistern
The Budapest History Museum conducted an archaeological observation on February 11, 2020, in Budapest’s District XI, on Plot No. 1684/8 on Rozsdafarkú Street, in connection with the construction of a four-unit residential building.
Following a phone consultation with the developer/contractor, I was informed that the foundation trench for the building had already been excavated the previous year, and a site visit was requested as soon as possible. I was at the location on the indicated day and made the following observations: The plot lies on a slope descending southeast. At the northern edge, the excavation had reached a depth of 1.8 meters below the surface, forming a stepped working surface with strip and column foundations visible. The stratigraphy in the pit walls revealed a top layer of humus over yellow clay subsoil. Selected sections were cleaned for interpretation. Conditions were challenging due to months of exposure to the elements, which had washed the layer boundaries and subsequently left the soil extremely dry and cracked, with some vegetation present. The narrow strip between the tall pit wall and the foundation trench was unstable and unsupported, posing a risk of slipping or collapse. This limited the cleaning process, hindered photographic documentation, and made drawn documentation impossible.
In the middle of the western pit wall, a bluish-green (possibly Roman?) glass fragment was found during cleaning of the 25–45 cm thick humus layer, which also contained a modern utility line.
In the southern part, two circular cisterns lined with stone were visible in the walls of the strip foundation. One of these, located at the southwestern corner, contained Early Modern brick fragments in its wall, suggesting it may have functioned as a storage pit from the Early Modern period. The more easterly cistern’s humus-filled interior yielded animal bone fragments and a Roman pottery shard during wall cleaning. (Fig. 1)
Along a 2-meter section of the southeastern wall, a 65 cm thick humus layer was observed, but it was not possible to determine whether this belonged to another intrusion.
In the middle of the northern pit wall, over a length of approximately 2.3 meters and at a depth of 1.2 meters, a half-oval shaped feature with alternating layers of yellow clay and dark brown humus was documented. It could not be determined whether this was part of a pit or trench, or of natural origin; its date also remains unknown, as no archaeological or datable finds were recovered. (Fig. 2) Due to prior excavation without archaeological supervision, the full extent, nature, and chronology of the feature could not be assessed.
Contributors: Mónika Kurunczi (archaeologist)
Mónika Kurunczi