Kauno piliavietė XIV a. antroje pusėje – XV a. pradžioje

Abstract

In 1989–2000 archeological investigations in the courtyard of the castle revealed a level of cultural layers that formed after the destruction of the first castle in 1362 up to the construction of the second - the stone - castle. This period should be ascribed to the third stage of the site of Kaunas castle, during which wooden-clay fortifications were built (pic. 1). The fortifications were situated within the perimeter of the southern walls that surrounded the courtyard of the castle destroyed in 1362. After the destruction of the first castle, within the limits of the former wall perimeter the debris mound formed covering the remains of the walls. These mounds were later used in the construction of the woodenclay fortifications (Pic. 2). Most probably, the mould was used as a base for wooden fortification walls covered with clay. The discovered remains of the fortifications show that there used to be three parallel fosses dug in the north-south direction with a row of stakes between the second and the third fosse (Pic. 2). In the southwest corner of the castle site a rectangular wooden building was constructed measuring 9.5–10 meters in width. Its walls could have been constructed of vertically positioned balks covered with a thick layer of clay. If the building performed any defensive functions, it most probably also had the second story. The building was positioned in the north-south direction and stood ca. 5 meters to the south of edge of the slope descending to the Neris river. The length of the building is impossible to determine, since the Neris most probably washed its northern end away, and the remains of the southern end were destroyed during the construction of the southwest tower of the stone castle. The building was divided into two main internal chambers: the western room was ca. 3.6 meters wide, and the eastern one – ca. 5.3 meters wide. There also could have been a wooden defensive wall standing on the western debris mound between the western wall of the building and the slope of the Neris river. […]