If I am correctly informed, in In 2021, the largest area-wide research in the core of historical urban development took place in the inner city of Stropkov, in the area of the so-called “Stropkov Castle”.
The investigated object was the NW bastion of the fortification, the primary goal was an architectural-historical study with a proposal for the bastion’s reconstruction possibilities; the secondary goal was standard archaeological research by field excavation. The enlightened investor of the event was the city of Stropkov, the event was supervised and methodically by the PU SR in Prešov (P. Harčár).
Field research took place in 2021, gross documentation processing in 2022. The city itself (historian Ľ. Šmajda), the architectural office Krcho/Kladiva/Gomboš/Oľhava (PAHV) participated in the research, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (pedology, geoarchaeology), Dušan Thurzo (zoology), Maroš Čurný (finds) and others. Thank You all.
The extensive research was approached with high-quality prediction data about the nature and location of the assumed architecture – both on the basis of historical and archive documents, as well as because of the exploratory trenches from 2019. In that sense, then the extensive research did not bring surprising and unexpected results, it verified the assumption of uncovering the bastion of the Stropkov fortification, its topology and technical composition. Bastion was completely excavated, in plan and at the walking level of the bottom of its cellar.
An unexpected, although quite logical outcome of the research in the W part of the polygon is the discovery of the fortification ditch and its filling. For this reason, the excavation field research was supplemented with pedological drilling, which define the probable course of the fortification trench.
The documentation is standardized in a field database (PostgreSQL), the graphic docu consists of photogrammetry and of interpretation drawings (CAD). The innovation and methodological improvement of the research, unlike standard research in Slovakia, consists in the fact that only photogrammetric documentation and a digital data recording process were used.
The research provided 3765 individuals of movable artifacts, with a significant predominance of ceramics, antiquarians among archaeologists will first to notice that there were 6 coins.