Ratownicze badania wykopaliskowe w rejonie bazyliki Św. Trójcy na terenie południowej części placu Dominikańskiego w Krakowie

RESCUE EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE BASILICA OF THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE SOUTH PART OF DOMINICAN SQUARE IN KRAKÓW Rescue excavations in Dominican Square (Plac Dominikański) in front of the south aisle of the Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity and in front of the west façade of the Chapel of St Rose of Lima (the Lubomirski Chapel) were carried out in the summer of 2011 due to road surface repair and redevelopment works. The result of the research was the uncovering of relics of a 14th-century, polygonal chapel (aka the Royal Chapel) whose foundation is tentatively linked with the family of Otto of Pilcza (Pilecki). Architectural analysis of the discovered relics also enabled theoretical localization of the corner buttress of the original Dominican hall church. Moreover, further exploration revealed the remnants of a 12th-century Romanesque structure which was identified as the original parish church of the Holy Trinity. The recently uncovered walls were partly used as the foundations of both the Dominican church, and the 14th-century Pilecki Chapel. So far, only a fragment of the foundations of the church’s west wall and of the south-west corner tower have been revealed. Another research result was the corroboration of the existence of a churchyard which, until now, has only been known from historical sources. On the basis of stratigraphic and ceramological analyses, it was determined that the necropolis was used from the 12th century at the latest, until the 18th century. All of the discovered burials followed a similar burial rite: no coffins were used (the bodies were probably buried in shrouds), and there was almost no tomb equipment. The only antiquity that was found in one of the graves was a rosary made of glass beads with a badly damaged Caravaca cross. In the course of the said research, an accumulative, pre-settlement, early mediaeval layer was also distinguished, which is connected with the rather intense settlement activity that existed at this site. This is corroborated both by the thickness of the layer (60–70 cm), and by the presence of archaeological features of purely farming character, such as the pit (probably a storage pit, only a fragment of which has been uncovered), and a dome kiln used for lime burning. Preliminary conjectures based on the results of ceramological analysis say that the settlement was used from the 9th to the 12th century.