W hen archaeological research was con d u cted o n the
tions were located u p riv er at Babócsa, Vízvár, Bélavár, and B erzence, a n d d o w n riv e r at D rávaszen tm árto n Barcs. Two k ilom etres east o f th e settlem ent is locat
ed a Calvinist cemetery, on the lands o f D rávagárdony (to which th e ce m e tery belongs adm inistratively). P ethő d e G erse (c. 1570-1629) entitled Rövid magyar kronica [A B rief C hronicle o f H u ng ary] th a t sheds Slovakia,7 and Miklós Zrínyi the Younger took the two castles at Tamási, which had been built by the Turks on the banks of the Drava at either en d o f the bridge, bu rn in g both, along with the bridge, and slaying the Turks in them , on the twelfth day o f O ctober”.s
A ccording to this descriptio n, th e re was a b rid ge
111. 1. D ráv ag árd o n y . C o n to u r m a p o f T ö rö k d o m b . (Survey Rinya brook flows intő th e Drava at B arcs-K om lósd.
It was probably p u lled o u t o f th e riv erb an k by th e c u r re n t. 17
“Boats” carved from single tree-tru n k s may have been m uldfunctional, based o n eth n o g ra p h ic an alo
A T u r k i s h Gu a r d St a t i o n o n t h e La n d s o f Dr á v a t a m á s i 1 4 7
111. 2. Dr ávagár dony. T ö r ö k d o m b a n d its environs. (Dr awi ng by György Terei, 2000)
111. 3. T u rk is h c o p p e r véssél fo u n d a t D rávatam ási, 16lh- 1 7 lh c e n tu ry
stages an d bridges, as well as the substru ctu res o f floating-m ills. 18 I f such floats w ere used in the con
struction o f th e b rid g e at D rávatam ási, it is quite possible th a t they w ere alsó com po nents o f floating- mills on the Drava. T h e su b stru ctu re o f a floadng- mill generally consisted o f four trunk s, plus one large tru n k fór the p a rt su p p o rtin g the paddlew heel. By dism antling a mill, builders could obtain u p to five ex tre m e ly d u ra b le p o n to o n s. 19 A c co rd in g to th e contour m ap, at the bottom o fth e T örökdom b (“T urk
ish Hill") the riverbed may have been a ro u n d 100 m etres wide; given that the length o f an average beam was 4 -5 m etres, a totál of n in eteen to twenty boats w ould have b een n e e d e d to sp an th e river. T h e dism antling o f four floating-mills would have provid- ed this num ber. It should be stressed, however, that
18 F ó r th e possible fu n c tio n o f ‘tu b b o a ts’ fo u n d in H u n g á riá n riv ers in co n n e c tio n with a T iszabecs fin d , cf. Pál l 1 9 9 3 .
19 F ó r m o re o n th e D rava floating-m ills a n d th e ir s tru c tu re , cf. Kov á c s1989. Alsó cited on several occasions in a historical su rv ey by Ta káts1915.
20 D rava w aterm ills a n d th e d u e s pay ab le o n th e m a re fo u n d in th e six te e n th -c e n tu ry d o c u m e n ts o f th e S zigetvár estate.
M ills in H u n g á r iá n a n d in T u r k is h o w n e r s h ip y ie ld e d significant re v e n u e s, o r th e m illers th em selv es p a id to have th e m le ft u n h a r m e d . Cf. T í m á r 1 989, 2 2 7 - 2 2 9 , 2 4 3 . A p o n to o n b rid g e o v er th e Sava, sim ilar in w id th to th e D rava, was c o n stru c te d in 1521 in th e follow ing m a n n e r ( Bl a z o v ic h
- Sz. Ga lá n ta i 1994, 3 0 8 -3 0 9 ): “ B oats [p o n to o n s] th a t w ere b ro u g h t by th e a u th o ritie s in larg e n u m b e rs fro m n e arb y areas, a n d th o se w hich w ere m a d e fó r u se in th e viliágé, w ere, h av in g b e e n tie d to g eth e r, p lac ed len g th w ay s a t
dis-T h e m id-sixteenth century was the heyday fór the ex
p o rt o f livestock from H ungary, while by the e n d o f the cen tu ry the tra d e along this section o f the river had d ro p p ed off sharply. T h e reason fór this was partly th e O tto m an conquest, a n d partly th e collapse o f the road netw ork and com m erce generally.21 T h ese prob- lems w ere co m p o u n d ed by various m ajor a n d m ino r battles in th e region d u rin g th e Fifteen Years War (1593-1606). O ne such battle on 1 2 0 cto b er 1603 may have caused the d estructio n o f th e short-lived b ridg e an d its abutm ents.
T h e sites definable as g u a rd stations in th e re gion are situated in the swampy floodplains an d along th e ir p erim eter. T h e ir fo u n d a tio n was an artificial m o u n d o r a p p ro p ria te ly m odifled n a tu ra l hillock.
T h e artificial m o u n d s w ere usually in th e sh ap e o f a tru n c a te d p y ram id ; occasionally a ditch was d u g th ro u g h a n a tu ra l geological o u tc ro p p in g to isolate such a m o u n d . A com m on fe atu re fór b o th is careful choice o f location, as well as th e fact th at n e ith e r signs o f solid con stru ctio n , n o r surface finds have been discovered on th em . Artificial m o u n d s o f this type in th e Barcs reg ion have b ee n id en tified at D ráva- szentes, Komlósd, P éterhida, H árom fa, Babócsa, an d Kálm áncsa.22
T h ere are no archaeological sites on these m ounds, bú t th ere is always one nearby. T h e surface finds rangé from N eolithic to fifteenth- to sev e n te en th -ce n tu ry material, bú t with very litde from the sixteenth century and an almost negligible am ount from the seventeenth.
It is possible th a t w h en th e g u a rd station s w ere
tan ces o f tw elve feet fro m e ach o th e r across th e w id th o f th e river, w hich was n ő t m o re th a n th re e h u n d r e d paces, a n d b eam s passe d fro m o n e b o á t to a n o th e r w ere fasten e d to th e m w ith in ch -th ick iro n n ails.” I t is w o rth m e n tio n in g th a t u n til th e m id -n in e te e n th c e n tu ry th e “b o a ts” w ere c arv ed fro m single tre e -tru n k s since th e u se o f b a rg e s b u ilt o f p la n k s a n d rib b in g d id n ő t b e co m e w id e s p re a d u n til th e la tte r h a lf o f th e cen tu ry . T h u s , in th e p assage q u o te d , bo ats c arv ed fro m single tru n k s h e ld u p th e b rid g e . Evliya (Jelebi w itnessed th e m a k in g o f a larg e “b o á t” o f this so rt in th e M u rak ö z (Ka r á c so n 1985, 67).
21 Fór m o re o n th e c attle ro a d a n d its traffic cf. Szakály 1973.
22 F ó r m o re o n th e m a n -m a d e o r m an -m o d ifie d hills in the B a rc s -B a b ó c s a re g io n , in c lu d in g g e o lo g ic al s u rv e y s, cf.
Magyar 1990, 5 0 -5 5 , 1 02-105.
A Tu r k i s h Gu a r d St a t i o n o nt h e La n d so f Dr á v a t a m á s i 1 4 9
c reated , use was occasionally m ad e o f th e sm all fordfications in n earby m edieval settlem ents. T h e re is considerable evidence from the sixteenth ce n tu ry re g a rd in g this p ra ctice.23 over swam pland in the im m ediate proxim ity o f Barcs.
T h e Péterhida p o in t is even m arked on the m ap, with guessed at. Even m aps rarely d esignate them clearly, b ú t fór the a re a ex a m in e d h e re som é d ata is, fortu- refer to the viliágé itself, since even m uch larger an d m ore im p o rta n t villages a re n ő t show n. It ap p e a rs in d isp u ta b le th a t w hat is show n h e re is a g u a rd station and Crossing p o in t belonging to Babócsa, one whose site which can very p robably be identified as P éterhida. In the ce n tre o f a clearing, 500 m etres
mási, w here local m em ory has preserved the possible orig in o fth e n am e over m any g eneradons. tected th e larg er fortresses. Fór exam ple, according to a re p o rt by A rch d u k e E rnest, in 1574, so m any sm aller castles an d surveillance stru ctu res protected the nearby fortress o f Kanizsa th at m ore th an h alf o f stations an d outposts. O utposts along the River M ura a re m en tio n ed m any dm es in György Zrínyi’s letters in th e laté sixteenth century, while a re p o rt from the laté seventeenth century lists them by n am e.28 A m ap by M ontecuccoli m ad e in connection with th e siege o f Zrínyi-Ú jvár in 1664 designates g u a rd stations assisting Com m unications betw een L ég rád an d Zrí
nyi-Ú jvár.29 Evliya Gelebi, who visited this region in 1660, notes that at the b o rd ér o f Miklós Zrínyi’s estates
“th ere a re surveillance o r Communications towers in a row on the hills, a g u n sh o t’s distance from one a n o th e r” .30
Géza Pálffy has recently pub lish ed an extrem ely in teresdn g m ap that is a copy o f a Turkish m ap m ade in 1580. O n it are show n the chain o f fordfications in th e Kanizsa re g io n. 31 D epicting alsó the forts a n d castles o f Somogy C ounty an d the ones along the Drava, the m ap m arks fordfications with a circle (111.
4). Along with th e larg er circles with a n am e th at
111. 4 . M ap m a n u s c rip t fro m 1580 (a fte r Pá l ffy 2000a)
m ark forts a n d castles, th e re a re sm aller u n n a m e d circles th a t m ay d esig n ate g u a rd stations. In the im m e d ia te vicinity o f Barcs th e re are signal lines in two direcdons. O n e lies betw een Barcs a n d Babócsa, w h ere th e m ap shows two g u a rd stations alon g a fifteen-kilom etre section, at approxim ately equal dis- tances íro m each other. T h is c o rre s p o n d s to the B a rc s-K o m ló s d -P é te rh id a -B a b ó c s a line. Sites at Kom lósd a n d P éterh id a can alsó be re g a rd e d as n ea r certainties. P éterh id a has alread y b een discussed, while at K om lósd local tra d itio n speaks o f a “castle”
th a to n c e stood on B áthory-dom b (“B áthory Hill” ) . 32
T h e ir p redo m inantly w ooden structures p erish ed by fire, while th e ir ditches have d isa p p e a re d ow ing to lan d cultivation an d th eir fo u n d ad o n walls as a result o f s c a v e n g in g fó r c o n s tr u c tio n m a te ria ls . T h e D rávatam ási g u ard station - which very probably was alsó a b r id g e h e a d - fo r tu ito u s ly e m b o d ie s th e ch aracteristic featu res o f th ese stru ctu re s, while its m o d ern use as a cem etery p rev en ted its final destruc- don. T h e rem ains o f the fordficadon show th at fu rth e r investigation o f th e historical sources a n d a m ore th o ro u g h k now ledge o f th e re g io n , g eo g raph ical nam es a n d local tra d itio n s m ay shed light on m any m ilitary sites c o n s titu tin g im p o rta n t p a rts o f th e fortificadon netw ork in th e O ttom an éra b ú t h ith erto a ttra c tin g little archaeological a tten tio n . Since th e D rava m arks a section o f H u n g a ry ’s b o rd é r, th e re have b ee n few o p p o rtu n itie s th u s far to research g u a rd stations o n o r n e a r th e old riv erb an k . T h e hills have b ee n s p a re d m ajo r e a rth m o v in g projects and have therefore survived; the chances fór profitable fu tu re exploradon th ere are b etter th an in the interior p a rts o f th e country.
32 M e n tio n e d in Cs á n k i 1 91 4 , 98; g e o lo g ic a l s u rv e y a n d d e sc rip tio n in Magyar 1990, 51, 103.
33 T h is m o u n d h as h ith e rto esc ap e d th e a tte n tio n o f re se a rc h - e rs. A c c o rd in g to local tr a d itio n it was a “g u a r d to w e r”
( Rózsás 1987, 3 2 ).
34 P a p p - V é g h 1974, 788; su rv ey in M a g y a r 1990, 55.
G Á B O R TO M K A