Tyrimai Švenčionių miesto centriniame parke

LT2021 m. Švenčionių centriniame miesto parke – Laisvės aikštėje vykdyti žvalgomieji tyrimai. Darbai savanoriškai inicijuoti Švenčionių miesto 535 metų jubiliejaus proga. Teritorija nėra saugoma kaip nekilnojamoji kultūros vertybė. Žvalgomieji tyrimai, suderinus su rajono meru R. Klipčiumi ir savivaldybės administracija, įtraukti į miesto jubiliejaus renginių programą. Žvalgomųjų tyrimų tikslas – Švenčionių senojo miesto archeologinių vertingųjų savybių paieška mokslinio pažinimo tikslais. Nors Švenčionys yra vienas seniausių Lietuvos valstybės administracinių centrų, jie sulaukė labai mažai tyrėjų bei paminklosaugininkų dėmesio. Iki šiol archeologiniai tyrimai vykdyti vos tris kartus. 1991–1992 m. E. Vailionis žvalgė šiluminės trasos vietoje Lentupio gatvėje. Ištirta maždaug 75 m ilgio, 2 m pločio, 2,5 m gylio tranšėja, iš viso 150 m2 dydžio plotas. Tyrimų metu atidengti 5 akmeninių pamatų, rištų kalkių skiediniu, fragmentai, 2 mūrinės sienelės tinkuotomis vidinėmis pusėmis, 1 plati tinkuota apdegusi siena. Taip pat aptikta koklių, stiklo, buitinės keramikos ir plytų fragmentų, kuriuos autorius datuoja XIX a. Peržvelgus radinių aprašus, jų datavimą reiktų koreguoti į XVII–XIX a. [...]. [Iš teksto, p. 395]

ENIn 2021, on the occasion of the 535 jubilee of the city of Švenčionys, a field evaluation (20 test pits totalling 80 m2) was conducted in the city’s central park, Laisvės Square, which is not a protected area, in a search for archaeologically valuable features from Švenčionys Old Town that can be recognised scientifically. Švenčionys was founded in a bend of the old bed of a former glacial river on the Švenčionys (North Nalšia) highland, now the source of the Mera – Kūna stream (a tributary of the Žeimena). This is a unique natural environment, the watershed between the Nemunas and Daugava River drainage basins. The 20 test pits were excavated down to sterile soil or the level of the discovered structures. Their locations were based on the park’s layout, the existing paths, trees, and other objects. An effort was also made to locate them in accordance with an objective 1848 city plan so that they would reflect the various stages in the city’s development. The earliest cultural layer, which dates to the 15th century or the late 14th – early 15th century, 14C dated to 1294–1397 or 1393– 1435, was discovered around a sunken hearth in Test Pit 5, in the E part of the park near the intersection of Laisvės Square and Vilniaus Street. The hearth pit’s centre yielded small charred stones, sherds of black household pottery vessels decorated with a wavy line and a herringbone design. 16th–17th-century, 2–31 cm thick, brownish cultural layers were recorded in Test Pits 2, 5, 8–9, and 14 and 17th–18th-century, 8–47 cm thick, dark grey cultural layers in Test Pits 1–9, 11, 13–15, 17, and 20, either directly above the former or above and in the vicinity of 17th– 18th-century structures. The investigation yielded various archaeological structures: storage pits, rammed earth floors, paving, and fragments of foundations and cellars.Storage pits and pit fragments, which had been dug into sterile soil from the 17th–18th-century cultural layers, were recorded in Test Pits 13, 6, 9, and 13; reddish, burnt clay rammed earth floors reinforced with stones that date to the 17th century in Test Pits 2, 7, and 14, to the 18th century in Test Pit 3; late 19th – first half of the 20th-century market square paving in good condition in Test Pit 12; modern paving in Test Pits 15 and 20; fragments of earlier paving, likely dating to the 18th century, in Test Pits 6 and 13; fragments of 19th-century stone wall foundations in Test Pits 12 and 17; contemporary burnt wooden flooring in Test Pit 19; and a foundation fragment, possibly from the 19th-century Švenčionys Old (Craftsmen) Synagogue in Test Pit 16. The investigation catalogued 1200 finds, 101 special finds dating to the 15th–20th centuries, and 683 items of osteological material, i.e., animal bone fragments. The finds include 21 17th–18th-century coins; unglazed and green glazed panel (Blattkacheln) and cornice (Gesimskacheln) stove tiles with a repeating design, the North Star that date to the 17th century, and with dots, a fish, and geometric and floral compositions that date to the 17th–18th centuries; very abundant sherds of unglazed black household pottery vessels, and in the 16th–17th-century cultural layers, pots and jars decorated with a wavy line, bowls, and small pitchers. Earthenware pipe bowls, lead musket balls, commercial seals, buttons, and fittings were also found. [From the publication]