Bernardinų vienuolynas ir Šv. Jurgio Kankinio bažnyčia Kaune

LT2009 m. birželio–rugpjūčio mėnesiais Kauno senamiesčio Šv. Jurgio Kankinio bažnyčios ir bernardinų vienuolyno komplekso teritorijoje, Papilio gatvėje 7–9, Kaune, atlikti archeologiniai tyrimai. Tyrimai susiję su vienuolyno komplekso restauravimo darbais, tad tyrimų vietas lėmė architekto sprendimas ir komunikacijų tinklai (atstatomos galerijos vieta, istorinių paviršių lygio nustatymas, inžinerinių tinklų vietos). Teritorija priklauso mažesniųjų brolių pranciškonų ordinui [p. 289].

ENIn 2009 85 m2 was excavated in 3–15 m2 trenches in the vicinity of Kaunas’s Church and monastery of St. George. During the investigation, 35 complete graves and the remains of 2 graves (a total of 37 graves) were discovered. The graves were preliminarily dated to the late 16th – first half of the 17th century. The graves were not characterised by grave goods but several graves contained amber (grave 10) and glass (grave 15) beads, medallions with images of saints (graves 13, 14, and 23), small fabric decorative elements of more ornate clothing or hats (graves 6, 19, and 21). Grave 13 contained a wooden rose and grave 14 bronze artefacts and 105 billon shillings from the first half of the 17th century. The individuals had been buried in coffins or wound in a sheet. Some of the graves contained charcoal (graves 11, 17 and 21). On the basis of the cultural layer, which was not very complex and did not yield much information, the historical ground surfaces around the structures managed to be determined. The lower level discovered in trench I was probably formed during the 10th–13th centuries. When the church began to be built, the ground surface was Habs 25.96–26.0 m. After construction was completed, the surface was levelled and raised to Habs 26.35–26.95 m. The sudden change in the initial surface to Habs 25.40 and 24.15 m that is visible in trenches I and IX shows that a terrace was lowered here by about 1.4–2.3 m. This lowering was used in creating the basements in the SW and W parts of the monastery building.