The Endless Struggle for Dbâca 2015–2016257 Erwin Gáll ARCHAEOLOGY AND NATIONALISM. THE ENDLESS STRUGGLE FOR DBÂCA (G.: DOBESCHDORF; H.: DOBOKA1) THOUGHTS ON RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL REALITIES The excavation of Dbâca castle started in the early 1960s. The contextualization of the results was heavily inluenced by ideological preconceptions since the fortiication was identiied as the political-military centre of legendary “lord Gelou” by archaeologists, based on the material of only three seasons of archaeological research and a written source from a much later period. According to the archaeological and numismatic inds, the fortiication was built in/after the irst third of the 11th century, but the castle system reached the peak of its life in the 12th century. This is clearly demonstrated by the coins those were found in the graves in Castle Area IV, A. Tmaş’s garden and the graveyard of Boldâg/Boldogasszony, just like by the diverse structures of the settlement. The transformation of the castle as a political and administrative center can be dated to the late 13th century. It seems that the changes in Dbâca’s role were not the result of the Mongolian invasion, and can be traced back to other, both administrative and political reasons. A múlt század ’60-as éveiben kezddött dobokai ásatások eredményeinek értékelése prekoncepciókkal súlyo- san terhelt volt, az ásatásvezet régészek három ásatási idény után Doboka várkomplexumából származó régészeti leletanyagot, mint a legendás Gelou dux katonai-politikai központjának hagyatékát értékelték. Az azonosítás alapja egyetlen, sokkal késbbi írott forrás volt. A régészeti és a numizmatikai anyag alapján a 11. század els harmadában vagy kevéssel ezután épült vár, illetve a területén létrejött települési struktúrák fejldésének csúcspontja a 12. század. Ezt a IV. vártérség, illetve az A. Tma kertjében és a Boldogas- szony temetjének sírjaiból elkerült pénzérmék, valamint a település különböz szerkezeti egységei ponto- san azonosíthatóvá teszik. A várközpont, mint politikai-katonai és adminisztrációs centrum átalakulásának kora a 13. század második felére tehet. A dobokai vár szerepének megváltozása nem a tatárjáráshoz köthet, más, adminisztrációs és gazdasági okai lehettek. Keywords: Dbâca, castle, hillfort, fortiication, cremation cemetery, churchyard, settlements, 7th13th centuries Kulcsszavak: Doboka (Dbâca), vár, hamvasztásos temet, templomkörüli temet, telepek, 713. század Introduction cording to their Medieval Latin term civitas (11th12th centuries) or castrum (from the 13th century onward, The topic of the present paper is a speciic and quite MORDOVIN 2010, 78). Therefore in this paper I will complex site at Dbâca (Cluj County, Romania). The use terms castle and stronghold for the whole site. complexity of the site causes some terminological Except for the minor excavation of Károly Cre- problems. The location is a medieval fortiied settle- ttie in 1942, it has been more than ive decades since ment with still surviving spectacular ramparts. Ac- the plan excavations had begun in the valley of Lo- cording to the existing Hungarian terminology such nea (Hungarian: Lóna) creek – which is part of the sites, former royal centres are usually called castle ac- Someşul Mic (Little Someş) Valley – at the Dbâca 258 E. Gáll Fig. 1 The Valleys of Someul Mic and Lonea in the Transylvanian- and in the Carpathian Basin 1. kép Kis-Szamos medencéje és Lóna/Kendilóna az Erdélyi- és a Kárpát-medencében castle, that was deined as such by József Könyöki Transylvanian Basin at an altitude between 232 and already in 1906. 400 meters. The valley is relatively wide, reaching Compared to other Central and Eastern European 4–5 kilometres width in certain points; however it power centres, the state of archaeological research tends to contract very abruptly (Perşoiu 2010, 56). and theoretical processing of Dbâca (along with Its relief is marked by a wide loodplain (known as the other Transylvanian medieval power centres) Lunca Someului) superimposed by six–eight ter- is among the last on a scientiic scale. The present races, thus making it an ideal area for human settle- paper aims to discuss the phases of research history ment (Perşoiu 2010, 56). The Someul Mic Valley of Dbâca. divides multiple geographical units. From the north it is bordered by the southern portions of the Some The topographical characteristics of Dbâca and Plateau (Podişul Someşului) comprising of a sedi- its natural resources mentary structure and by the Hills of Cluj, respec- tively Dej (Dealurile Clujului, Dealurile Dejului). Between Gilu and Dej, the Someul Mic River The latter consists of rounded hills with an aver- carved a valley into the sedimentary layers of the age height of 500–600 meters fragmented by the The Endless Struggle for Dbâca 259 Fig. 2 Dbâca on the First and Second Military Surveys, and the castle from the northwest (1964) 2. kép Doboka az I. és II. katonai térképen, illetve a vár északnyugatról (1964) numerous northwest–southeast oriented valleys of position of the mountain called Nagyhegy (Great the main tributaries (e.g. Ndaş, Prâul Chintenilor, Mountain/Hill), situated southwest of the village Feiurdeni, Bora, Lonea, Lujerdiu) from the left with an altitude of 529 m.a.s.l., the valley of the side of Someul Mic (Perşoiu 2010, 56). Lonea is extremely narrow; thus it forms this part The Someul Mic Valley is approximately of the valley an excellent vantage point over the 150 kilometres long starting at the spring of the pass. The road in the narrow valley, squeezed be- Someşul Cald (Warm Someş). The river springs tween two hills, takes a sharp turn in the middle of from two separate locations in the Bihar Moun- the village. The old castle district was situated in tains. The larger of the two is the Someşul Cald, the area of this curvature.2 The two hills gradually the smaller is called Someşul Rece. These two riv- decrease in altitude towards the northwest. The ers converge at the lake of Gilu, where from the shape of the castle resembles a pie with a sharp an- river continues its path as the Someşul Mic. Start- gle with an arc at the end, pointing towards to the ing from Gilu, the river continues its way east- north-northeast. Both sides are well defendable, ward in a larger valley. It crosses Cluj-Napoca and sloping at 25°–45° degrees. The early medieval turns north at Apahida, and after leaving behind castle district was built in this place with a number Bonida and Gherla, it runs into the Someşul Mare. of villages and churches around it. Altogether ifteen streams of various sizes run into The castle was built at approximately the mid- the Someşul Mic along its path; Dbâca is located dle of the 20 kilometres long, narrow valley of the in the valley of one of these streams called Lonea Lonea River (Fig. 1–2). It can be argued that the (Fig. 1). site selection was connected to the fact that admit- The village is located 30 kilometres northwest tedly the Lonea valley was covered by dense beech of Cluj-Napoca. The Lonea lows into the Someş forest during the Early Middle Ages, which in con- River 10 kilometres from this point. Owing to the junction with the high discharge of the stream, re- 260 E. Gáll sults in an ideal place for human settlement. Due to A Magyar Nemzet Története az Árpád házi királyok the absence of excavations and ield survey, hith- alatt (The History of the Hungarian Nation in the erto there is no reliable information regarding the time of the Árpádian kings), Gyula Pauler traces demography of this area in the Early Middle Ages.3 back the name Doboka, as well as the names of The location of the castle must have a direct Kolozs and Torda, to personal names (Pauler 1893, connection with its strategic geographical loca- I. k., 71); although – unlike Gyarmathi – Pauler did tion. The Lonea River is almost perpendicular on not provide any linguistic explanations, since this the Mese mountain range that is situated between was not the goal of his work. According to Dezs the Some and the Crasna rivers. Following a Pais Doboka as a personal name could have been westward direction towards the Mese Mountains, widely spread in the Middle Ages, because it oc- the terrain gradually rises from 316 meters at the curs several times in the written sources, and also in foot of the stronghold to 330 meters at the castle’s the settlement names of the Carpathian Basin (PAIS level, further on at the nearby valley road (some 1926, 112). Following the work of Gyarmathi the 700 meters away towards the southeast) and at the irst truly linguistic analysis can be linked to János end of the village. It rises further to 335 meters and Melich, published in 1816. Melich originates the eventually to 343 meters some 1200 meters away name Doboka from the ancient Hungarian given from the castle (Fig. 2). name “Dob”, applying the diminutive sufix ‘-ika’ to it (Gombóczmelich 1916, 13731374; MELICH Interpretations concerning the name “Dbâca” in 1927, 245). Moreover, he also gathered all of the the Romanian and Hungarian historical literature Doboka settlement names of the Carpathian Basin in his study in 1927 (he mentions ive of them) and The link between the fortiication of Dbâca4 and also looked up all the sources that are in connec- the activity of King Stephen I is almost generally tion with Doboka as a given name (MELICH 1927, accepted in the Hungarian historiography of the 244). Based on the research of Melich, in the overall last decades and, therefore the date of the forti- historical synthesis published in the volume writ- ication’s construction is dated around 1000 AD. ten by Bálint Hóman and Gyula Szekf in the inter- Furthermore, based on a single written source, the war period, the Dbâca (Doboka) settlement name name (Benk 1994, 169) of both the fortiication was evaluated similarly (MELICH 1927, 240–245; and the county derives from the name of a com- hóman–Szekf 1935, Vol.