Results of integrated archaeological-environment historical research of Szigetvár – Turbék Vineyard Hill

Abstract

Suleiman I died during the Ottoman siege of Szigetvár on 6th September 1566 in the vineyard hill of Szigetvár–Turbék, Hungary. At the location of his death and temporary burial site, a memorial place (türbe) was established in the 16th century. According to written sources it was built in the 1570s, and the tomb complex was protected by a fortification (palisade) and a moat system from the north in the 17th century. The 250 cm deep moat was revealed by geological boreholes, and excavated by archaeologists for, among others, archaeobotanical, anthracological, malacological, pollen analytical and archaeozoological analysis. During the formation of the archaeological profile, Ottoman and Habsburg coins having dating importance and archaeological findings were found from the filling of the moat. 30 litres of sediment samples were taken at 5 cm intervals for archaeobotanical analysis, and four radiocarbon (AMS) dating were carried out on Hordeum seeds. The cleaned surface of the profile was sampled at 10 cm intervals for sedimentological, geochemical and archaeozoological analysis. Based on some tens of thousands plant and some hundreds of animal, mainly domestic animal, remains we were able to reconstruct ploughed lands, orchards, kitchen gardens and vineyards, pasture lands, forest patches, gallery forest, as well as settlements. We were able to detect the land-economic zones (horticulture, forestry, cropfield, grazing zones) that closely followed the Thünen circles. Based on the malacological remains, the climate deterioration of the Little Ice Age (LIA) could also be demonstrated in the first two thirds of the 17th century. At the same time, it was clearly established that the extreme effects of climate change on agriculture was not so drastic in the vineyards hill site due to its exposure situation, exogenous geological and geological conditions. Thus, the negative effects of the Little Ice Age were modified on the dry south facing, lower altitude slopes, covered with loess and human-influenced soil (anthrasol). At least, extremes like those detected in the North Atlantic did not occur here. So, we can conclude that the mosaic nature of the Carpathian Basin could buffer the negative effects of the Little Ice Age through the microregions characterized by a milder and drier microclimate. The memorial place and the destroyed town (Ottoman name: Türbe kasabası) may have become depopulated between 1692 and 1693, when the area was divided into agricultural zones and new gardens, arable and pasturelands were established. The memorial place and the town were covered by the demolished material and soil. The site was re-identified and excavated as a part of an archaeological, historical and geoarcheological research work that started in 2015.