Skarszewy – Rynek, gm. Skarszewy, woj. pomorskie. Badania w 2015 roku

Abstrakt

In 2015, an archaeological field survey was conducted in the southern part of the market square in Skarszewy. A single trench measuring 4 by 13 m was performed (Fig. 3). The works were supposed to enable gathering data on the state of preservation of historical housing in the middle of the square, dating cultural layers, and planning future revitalisation of the Generała Józefa Hallera square (Fig. 1–2). After the contemporary topsoil had been mostly removed from the surface of the trench a layer of loamy undisturbed soil was revealed (Fig. 4–5). foundations of brick houses from the 18th or 19th century were also unearthed within the housing block in the middle of the market square. Modern era digs – negatives of foundations of older buildings – were discovered as well (Fig. 6). The central part of the trench contained an oval pit with a diameter ofcirca 4 m (Fig. 4–5, 7–8). It was latercovered with two levels of stone cobbled pavements, between and above which lain backfill layers from the second half of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century (Fig. 9). Exploration of thelower levels resulted in discovering relics of a small brick foundation, which was surrounded by arte facts dated to between the 14th and the early 15th century. The ceiling of the undisturbed soil was reached at the depth of circa 3.5 or 4 m (Fig. 9). Archaeologicalexploration of the market squarein Skarszewy revealed also significant transformation of the investigated area by levelling and removal of older layers. No data enabling reconstruction of settlement either predating or postdating the charter has been obtained. The older spatial organisation of thesquare, post-charter, is perhaps witnessed by remains of a pit of unspecified function dug in the 14th century. Perhaps it is a backfill of a hollow left after an ultimately incomplete attempt at digging a well, ora part ofa greater structure,e.g.acellar ofa building. The pit was not filled until between the mid-15th and mid-16th century. Its backfill yielded several thousand finds dated to the late Middle Ages. The remaining unearthed relics enable reconstructing the housing in the middle of the market square, although it was preserved only as 18th and 19th-century foundationsat best. These buildings were ultimately destroyed in 1945.