Recent archaeological research on defensive architecture in the Ojców Jura

Artykuł zawiera informacje o wynikach badań archeologicznych zrealizowanych w latach 2015-2017 na czterech obiektach obronnych położonych na terenie Jury Ojcowskiej. Zaprezentowano rezultaty prac przeprowadzonych w Grodzisku koło Skały, w którym część badaczy lokalizuje warowny klasztor klarysek z 2. połowy XIII wieku, a także na zamku w Ojcowie (w rejonie wieży ośmiobocznej). Przedstawiono też wyniki badań dwóch małych założeń obronnych - w Jerzmanowicach i Dubiu

The article presents the results of excavations carried out in 2015–2017 on four defensive structures located in the area of the Ojców Jura (southern Poland). The first of the complexes is Grodzisko koło Skały, a place known primarily for late Baroque sacred construction, however its origins date back to the Middle Ages. According to some researchers, Grodzisko conceals the remains of the castle Scala of the Silesian Duke Henry the Bearded, mentioned in written sources from 1228 to the turn of the 13th and the 14th centuries. According to another, more widespread concept, this building housed a fortified St Clare’s convent of the Duchess of Salomea, built under the privilege issued by Duke Bolesław the Chaste in 1257. The Poor Clares were to stay there until the beginning of the 14th century, when the monastery was destroyed. Archaeological research concentrated in the central part of the complex, between the church wall and the so-called chaplain’s house. The most important findings include the discovery of the destruction level of medieval buildings from the second half of the 13th century or from the turn of the 13th and the 14th centuries, the determination of an artificial enlargement of the usable area of the complex by supplying large masses of soil and unearthing the walls of medieval cellars under the building of the chaplain’s house. In the newly discovered, located on the limestone outcrop, stronghold in Jerzmanowice, three small test trenches were dug. During the excavations, the remains of a wooden building with wattle construction of walls were found, which was destroyed by fire. Two arrowheads with steppe provenance, found in the destruction layer of the structure, indicate that the object could have been destroyed as a result of the invasion. It cannot be ruled out that it was the third Mongol invasion of Poland (1287/1288). The assemblage of pottery vessels from Jerzmanowice should be dated from the second half of the 13th century to the beginning or the mid-14th century. The works in Dubie consisted in cleaning the relics of the quadrilateral dwelling tower and digging a small test trench inside it. They did not bring about chronological findings, but they allowed to verify the previously published plan of the structure. The tower in Dubie must generally be dated to the late Middle Ages. The research in Ojców castle was concentrated in the area of the octagonal tower, located in the highest part of the castle hill. This structure is considered one of the oldest elements of this royal fortress. During the works, a post-medieval wall was unearthed of the northern tower as well as relic of a building with stone foundations on its west side dated to the end of the Middle Ages or the early Post-medieval period. Many fragments of architectural details were also acquired: among other things. Gothic frames of windows and/or portals, perhaps from the earliest phase of the castle’s use, which was built between 1354 and 1370. In the light of the above finds, it should be assumed that the tower originally had a dwelling function.