Before renovating Kranj market, an archaeological insight into the past first
Before the planned arrangement of the Glavni trg 5 area, archaeological research will more precisely define the preservation, distribution and depth of the remains in one of the most important archaeological sites of old Kranj.
The market area is located in two archaeological sites: Kranj – the Ancient Slavonic Necropolis and Kranj – the Archaeological Site of the City Core.
Kranj was settled from the Neolithic period (around 4500 BC) onwards, until today. The density of settlement varied, but we know of two peaks of settlement: in the Iron Age (4th century BC – 1st century BC) and in late antiquity or the migration of peoples and early Middle Ages (from the 4th century to the 9th/10th centuries). From both periods we know both settlement remains and burial sites. The Late Antiquity burial site lies on a terrace where today is the Prešern Square; the Late Antiquity and migration of peoples burial site is known from Lajh, where one of the major European burial sites from this period is located, at the intersection of the railway station and several smaller burial sites in the vicinity of Kranj. In the early Middle Ages (the time of the Slavs, around the middle of the 8th century), around the present church of St. The church of Kancijan, which was smaller at that time but had a baptistery (already built in the 6th century), was connected to this church (which attests to the fact that there was already a church center here at that time), resulting in a large cemetery that in its largest extent extended all the way to the Town Hall. Until the end of the 18th century, burials took place on this site. It is also worth mentioning the Eghkov chapel, built around the 15th century, east of the baptistery, which was later converted into (another) church.
Red markings indicate the parts of Kranj where research has already been carried out. The market is therefore one of the few large courtyards where research has not yet been carried out.
Many archaeological excavations have been carried out in the area of the old town center of Kranj, which have yielded extremely interesting data about the settlement of the Middle Ages. Excavations were carried out in several stages between 1953 and 2013 around the parish church, and the main part of the burial site or cemetery was discovered, with a total of 2,943 graves. This makes this burial site one of the largest in the Eastern Alps and among the largest in Central Europe. Due to a lack of space, the graves are sometimes very densely packed; the density is particularly high on the northern side of the church, where there was very little space, also due to the construction of the aristocratic Eghkov family castle in the second half of the 15th century (today's Petrčkova house building, Glavni trg 5).
Tombs
The additions in the graves are modest; early medieval graves often have ornamental rings, earrings, and, less commonly, rings and belt buckles; the later ones are even more modest, often having attached flower wreaths and rosaries.
In the area of the market square, we can expect settlement remnants from the prehistoric era, the Roman period and the late antiquity, a burial ground from the early Middle Ages to the Middle Ages (we do not expect graves from the new era here, as the Egkhov manor was already built there and therefore no more burials took place in the courtyard), medieval and modern buildings, and modern infrastructure and facilities, since the area of the market square was built on the eastern side.
Considering the findings of previous research, we can expect up to 400 tombs here, if there are no major damage to the layers with subsequent interventions. If the courtyard was not built, we believe that the archaeological remains are well preserved; they could have been damaged only by modern interventions (planting trees and digging the sewer). Therefore, archaeological excavations will be necessary for all interventions.
In May, an archaeological survey in the form of machine-based test probes is planned; with these probes, we will be able to determine more precisely what the preservation status of archaeological remains is, at what depth graves appear, and thus we will be able to more precisely define the scope and methodology of archaeological research, since archaeology is a science in which, until we dig and explore the area, we cannot know exactly what is hidden underground.
