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XI/1/2020
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
3D Reconstruction as a Form of Interpretation: Example of Excavation
of the Medieval Peťuša Castle (Central Slovakia)
Matej Styk
a*
, Noémi Beljak Pažinová
a
a
Department of Archaeology, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 1, Nitra, Slovakia.
1. Introduction
In Slovakia in recent years there has been a great number
of excavations of castles from the Middle Ages or Modern
Era. The main priority of these excavations has been the
restoration and reconstruction of the preserved architecture;
in other words, the conservation of the torsional parts of
structures (for details, see Herceg and Mazúr, 2018). Only
a very small number of castles are being solely excavated for
scientifc and documentation purposes, for example, with its
primary focus being the revealing of our forgotten history.
The ruins of the Peťuša Castle (cadastre of Ostrá Lúka)
near Zvolen in Central Slovakia can serve as an illustrative
example (Figure 1). During eight excavational seasons
(2011–2018) the castle has undergone an interdisciplinary
research under the leadership of the Department of
Archaeology, Constantine the Philosopher University in
Nitra. No written or iconographic sources are known for
this site (Beljak Pažinová and Ragač, 2018). Therefore, the
period name of the castle or who built the castle, in other
words its owner, is unknown. The castle was discovered
by terrain reconnaissance (the visible massive destruction
mound of the stone curtain wall in forest vegetation) and
by the initial feld survey (Figure 2) on the site (Hanuliak,
2006, p.265). The current name of the castle ruins originates
from the name of the nearby location of Peťusa (a meadow
situated northwest of the castle), which is marked on all
basic topographic maps.
The castle is situated on the top of a small hill over the left
riverbank of the Gran (Hron) River and approximately 6 km
away from the city of Zvolen. It is 2 km distant in visual
contact with the well-known, medieval, royal Pustý (Deserted)
Castle (Beljak,
et al.
, 2014; Beljak, Beljak Pažinová and
Šimkovič, 2018, pp.5–62), towering over the city of Zvolen.
Peťuša Castle has an oval shape with maximum dimensions
of 44×22 m and it is situated in a north-south direction with
an altitude of its interior space of 368–372.7 m asl. From the
north, east and west side, the castle is protected by steep clifs.
The south to southeast side of the castle had been protected by
a massive defensive ditch carved into the bedrock, which even
today is still nearly 14 metres deep. Two terraces are situated
over the ditch from the south side. The distance between these
Volume XI ● Issue 1/2020 ● Pages 73–87
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mstyk@ukf.sk
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 2
nd
March 2020
Accepted: 7
th
July 2020
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2020.1.6
Key words:
3D technology
visualization
archaeological excavation
High Middle Ages
Peťuša Castle
Central Slovakia
ABSTRACT
The paper presents a case study from the research of the High Medieval Peťuša Castle (Zvolen District)
in Central Slovakia. Its aim is to present documentation and analytical procedures based on the
application of 3D techniques in archaeology. During the archaeological excavation of the Peťuša Castle,
several methods were used to document the castle hill, archaeological contexts and artefacts. The aim
of the paper is to reference the possibilities of 3D visualization, which serves not only as an interesting
presentation of archaeological results to the general public, but also for the work of the archaeologists
themselves. The primary goal is to use 3D technology in the analysis and subsequent interpretation in a
way that is not common in archaeological procedures. These methods are applied in the interpretation
of the architecture of the castle, walking ground level and the surrounding environment. The main
contribution is the clarifcation of spatial relations, visualization of the examined structures, and the
opening of polemics within the interpretation levels.
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IANSA 2020 ● XI/1 ● 73–87
Matej Styk, Noémi Beljak Pažinová: 3D Reconstruction as a Form of Interpretation: Example of Excavation of the Medieval Peťuša Castle (Central Slovakia)
74
terraces and the south side of the castle is ca. 40 metres (in
shortest direct line).
The location of the Peťuša Castle – on a ridge in a narrow
valley above the fow of the Gran River with a good view
over the southern part of the Pliešovská basin (and thus
the northwest part of the historical Zvolen county) – leads
us to the logical assumption that this castle served as a
guard post with its main task to control the local roads and
waterways. This assumption is supported by its location
in the near vicinity of a medieval ford on the Gran River,
called Szellősrév (Maliniak, 2009, pp.216–218), closely
beyond the edge of the medieval Zvolen land area, whose
citizens had been freed from paying tolls throughout the
Kingdom of Hungary (Ragač, 1998, pp.13–14). The castle
is also located near old pathways (and former stopping
points) used as trade roads (represented by visible carriage
marks) leading from the south (from Pliešovská basin) to the
town of Zvolen (Pažinová,
et al.
2013, p.160, pic. 4 and 8;
Slamová,
et al.
, 2014; 2016). From the crossroads of trade
roads located 450 m away from Peťuša Castle, a possible
access path leads to the southern terrace above the castle
ditch, the path being identifed with the use of datasets from
a point cloud obtained from the scanning technology LiDAR
(light detection and ranging; source: National Forest Centre
Zvolen, average height 700 m).
The main goal of the Peťuša Castle excavation is to
uncover the process of its construction and the subsequent
use of the area, including the functional division of interior
space. Among the main research questions belong the fnding
of its functionality, the duration and usage of the castle, and
its involvement in an historical context. This article aims to
point out the possibilities of using 3D technology for the
analysis and subsequent interpretation of the Peťuša Castle
disposition. The main focus of attention is the castle complex
itself and the surrounding contemporary environment. The
intention is one of greater understanding, clarifcation of
spatial relations and a visualization of the studied structures
by means of 3D documentation, and the reconstruction of