Abstract in English

Károly Takács
Artificial canals, fishponds and water regulation in Rábaköz during the Árpád-era
Results of research on ditch and road systems from the 10th to the 14th centuries

During the archaeological field investigations carried out in the Rábaköz area in recent decades, I noticed ditches with a peculiar structure that were in the process of decay. A striking characteristic of the ditches was that they consisted of two or more parallel beds and the excavated earth was clearly thrown between the beds and formed smaller or larger earthen ramparts or embankments there. The objects showed different levels of decay, and usually only short, apparently unconnected sections could be observed. As research deepened and a growing number of new observations were mapped, it became apparent that these were the remaining parts of originally connected ditch networks. Over the years, a ditch system developed in the north-eastern part of Rábaköz, called Tóköz, covering almost the entire region and dividing the area into territorial units (fields, plots) of a certain size. The majority of the ditch remains are located in a deep-lying, marshy area, which suggests that they also had a water-related, canal-like function. It was also revealed that a contemporaneous, well-planned road network is organically connected to the ditch system.

Between 2000 and 2019, we conducted exploratory excavations at certain points of the ditch networks, with a total of 97 exploratory trenches excavated. During the exploratory excavations, we mostly cut through ditches at different levels of destruction with narrow (50-200 cm wide) exploratory trenches. In some cases, we completely cut through the objects with the exploratory trenches, but since most information comes from the excavation of the beds, we usually limited ourselves to the excavation of the latter.

The exploratory excavations confirmed the surface observations: the ditches almost without exception consist of two or more parallel beds, with an earthen rampart or embankment formed between the beds. A special type of object is one where ditches are connected to roads. Based on the research so far, we have been able to distinguish five main types of objects: double-structured ditches (2), triple-structured ditches (3), ditched roads (ÚÁ), road-canal combinations (ÚCs), multi-bed objects (S).

The width of the objects ranges from 3-4 meters to 25-30 meters, and their depth fluctuates between 0.5 meters and 4 meters. The objects show great variability in shape and size, and this variability can sometimes be observed even within a single channel.

The excavations revealed that the ditch beds were carefully shaped to a specific shape. The bed bottom can be rounded like a turtle, have a V-shaped cross-section or have a straight bottom. It happens that the bottom of the beds was divided into several smaller bed parts by parallel ridges. In many cases, benches or steps carved into the sides of the canal beds could be seen, which obviously facilitated the work in the bed, especially the maintenance and cleaning of the canals. Complex studies carried out on sediment samples revealed that the ditch beds were regularly cleaned and maintained.

Partly independently of the archaeological excavations, complex geoarchaeological research was also carried out. The radiocarbon studies carried out within the framework of geoarchaeological research dated the objects to the Árpád-era, between the 10th and 14th centuries. It became certain that these complexly structured ditches were created for the purpose of water conduction, so they are canal systems.

The current spatial structure of the region practically reflects the spatial pattern of the reconstructed ditch networks, i.e. the destroyed ditches mostly run along the current administrative, cultivation, estate and plot boundaries, and a part of the current road and internal water canal network also conforms to this structure. The vast majority of the main water-conducting objects forming the backbone of the reconstructed ditch network are triple-structured canals (3) or road-canal combinations (ÚCs). In terms of their relationship with other objects, these channels can be called primary channels or main channels.

The objects are usually several kilometres long, some of them directly connected to riverbeds.

The channels then branch out and, in many cases, form long parallel or nearly parallel lines, weaving the entire area. They are primarily found in relatively deep areas, usually located in the middle or/and on the edge (at the boundary between high and low surfaces). In larger deep areas, two, three or more parallel main channels can be observed.

The primary or main channels are connected by a large number of shorter and subordinate ditches, which are no longer divided, and which mostly connect two main channels or one main channel and a ditch road (ÚÁ) in a transverse direction. The latter are called secondary or cross channels. The double-structured ditches (2) form the mass of secondary or cross channels. Long parallel objects, i.e. primary or main channels, as well as ditched roads, are in most cases connected by double ditches. The generally short – mostly less than one kilometre – transverse objects line up in high density in the deep areas. The individual objects enclose areas of varying size and shape – mostly elongated rectangular or narrow „belts”. Most ditch roads (DRTs) are located on higher ground, but they also occur at lower ground levels. Objects located on higher, waterless terrain levels usually run straight for a long distance.

Some sections of the objects under discussion have survived in extremely different conditions. There are objects that appear to be almost completely intact, while others have disappeared without a trace, filled up. The chances of canals surviving are the lowest in arable land, as objects that have lost their function and hinder cultivation were (and are) plowed over with preference. In place of the triple-structured canals and road-canal combinations, we very often find canals that are still in operation today – primarily internal drainage canals. During the water management and drainage projects of the 19th and 20th centuries, these objects were primarily used in the new water management system being built. It is a common phenomenon that the central bed of the objects (between the embankments) was cleaned out, and in some places the bed section was also expanded: it was widened and/or deepened. The lateral (or outer) channels, however (which obviously interfered with the approach to the operating channel and mechanical maintenance) were left to decay. Their remains were often completely filled in with material excavated from the middle channel and the embankments, and the coastal strip of the channel – on one or both sides – was levelled. According to our research, the vast majority of channels operating today in the region originate from the Árpád-era and went through the described „development history”. What was described above about the survival forms of triple-structured channels is basically also valid for double ditches, with the difference that while triples are most often indicated by the remains of the middle channel, in the case of doubles, the embankment between the channels has survived the past centuries best.

Some of the Árpád-era roads have not been used for a long time – sometimes for centuries. In areas under cultivation, the road remains have been completely ploughed in some places. In primeval grasslands and forested and bushy areas, the objects are relatively well recognizable. A significant part of the ÚÁ-type objects (and some of the ÚCs-type objects) are still used as roads today, or were used as roads until recently (the second half of the 20th century): agricultural roads and inter-settlement roads. Due to the long-term continuous use, the destruction of the double ditches of such roads is very high.

Multi-bed objects (S) are almost exclusively found in lowland areas or on the edge of lowland areas. Regarding their role in the system, they can be cross-channels and primary or main channels. The internal beds and embankments of multi-bed structures have generally been preserved in better condition than other channels, as the edge beds and edge embankments provided them with a kind of protection against various impacts.

The examined canal and road system was created for three basic purposes, of which the most complex is the water management function, but the system’s transport and territorial demarcation role is no less important. With the help of the canal network, the rising water of the rivers was distributed throughout the region and delivered to a multitude of fish ponds (essentially reservoirs) or discharged into grassy areas. The same canal network was able to drain unnecessary and harmful waters – during the medium or low water levels of the rivers – from the entire region, thereby eliminating inland waters and swamps and draining the fish ponds. It is important to note that the boundary descriptions of the Árpád-era charters mention numerous lakes and fishponds in Tóköz. During the reconstruction of the boundary descriptions, the locations of twelve Árpád-era fishponds were determined. Each of the fishponds is identical to a characteristic surface formation: they are depressions of approximately 10-100 hectares in size, surrounded by higher surfaces and sand ridges. These surface formations are found everywhere in the entire area, therefore, if there was a fishpond in the place of the twelve depressions mentioned in the Árpád-era, then it can be assumed that other similar surface phenomena also functioned as lakes. We can conclude that nearly a hundred fishponds could have existed in Tóköz in the Árpád-era. The Árpád-era canals network the area of the former lakes in the same way as the other low-lying areas.

The triple-structured canals are the main arteries of the entire system, they were capable of complex operation. The central bed of the objects is enclosed between embankments on both sides, thus being able to transport water at a higher level than the surrounding surfaces. The triple-structured canals were suitable not only for transporting and transmitting rising water, but also for dewatering and draining, since the bottom of the embanked beds is always deeper than the lowest parts of the surrounding areas. The water flowing between the embankments in the canals first entered the side beds, from where it then reached the surface to be irrigated or a fish pond. During drainage, the side beds collected the water on both sides, which the system operators delivered to the central bed at specific points. The bottom of the side beds sloped evenly towards the aforementioned points.

The function of the double-structured canals was similarly to spread the water received from the middle bed of the triples and, when drained, to return it to the same place (to the embanked beds). The embankment between the two beds played a specific hydrological role: it allowed for the independent flooding and drainage of areas enclosed by double canals. The enclosed fields could equally be separate parts of irrigated meadows, pastures or fish ponds.

During the excavations, it was revealed that wooden locks and pipe culverts (made of hollowed-out tree trunks) were used at the junctions of the individual objects. Such wooden culverts were used not only at the junctions of the canals, but also across the embankments of the canals.

The researched objects played an important role not only in water management, but also in the territorial division and delimitation of the region. The planned network of canals and roads could also have been a comprehensive territorial division system, which was obviously closely related to the land use and land ownership relations of the time.

An important circumstance is that the objects – thanks to their rampart-like structure – not only marked the borders of certain areas, but also represented a very serious physical obstacle, both for people and animals. The researched Árpád-era canal system in Rábaköz can be considered a single huge fence system, which enabled the regulated grazing of a large number of mostly wild-caught livestock in a mosaic-structured region, where settlements and the surrounding arable lands, gardens, and meadows follow each other. The rampart-like shape may also have protected the canals themselves from damage. The greatest danger to a dense canal network is grazing livestock, as the animals can completely destroy and trample the canals.

The researched canal network is closely connected to the contemporary road network of the region. The two systems (the road and canal system) cannot be physically separated, as they are intertwined at the level of individual objects: see the ditched roads and road-canal combinations (ÚÁ and ÚCs type objects). These objects with complex functions enabled uninterrupted transportation in an area where smaller and larger canals (and without exception, they were shaped like ramparts) intersected each other, hindering further travel. This also means that regular transport – with particular regard to carts and carriages – could only take place on the aforementioned roads, on the built-up road network. Within the borders of the villages, in addition to accessing certain border areas and transporting crops, the roads also enabled the movement of livestock kept in the given area. Since the specific structure of the roads can be partly explained by the animals, it can be concluded that the roads also functioned as herders’ roads, which in many cases may have been their primary purpose. Some of the roads obviously had not only a local economic and farming role, but also provided connections between settlements.

We are only at the beginning of the research of the Árpád-era canal systems in Tóköz (Rábaköz-Hanság region). In the future, in-depth archaeological, environmental archaeology and hydrological research will be needed to gain a more thorough understanding of these spatially extensive water management and landscape architecture facilities. The task is even greater because we have to reckon with the existence of similar ditch and canal networks in other parts of the country (and more broadly the Carpathian Basin).

In addition to what was described above, this is also indicated by our own field research, during which we observed ditch remains and other surface phenomena in several areas (Kalocsai-Sárköz, Nagy- and Kis-Sárrét, Bodrogköz) that show close similarities with the remains of the Árpád-era canals (and roads) in Rábaköz. From the comprehensive analysis of the written sources of the Árpád-era, we were also able to conclude that artificial canals and canal networks were built in a significant part of the country during the period. In addition to irrigation and drainage canals, the issue of roads is also fundamentally important. In other parts of the country, it is expected that constructed medieval roads will be discovered that had a stable structure (accompanying ditches, embankments) and, in some cases, were connected to the existing water management system of the region.

All signs point to the fact that in the first half of the Middle Ages, in Hungary, there were comprehensive water management systems that implemented regulation, within the framework of which gravity irrigation and lake management were carried out in the lowland parts of the Carpathian Basin and in the river valleys. The outlines of a system of landscape use are beginning to emerge, within which the versatile use of surface waters also meant the solution of the main water management problems (inland water and flood problems). The elements of the established water management and water utilization system (hydraulic construction and water management, agriculture and forestry, animal husbandry, lake management, transportation) were organically connected to each other and formed a unified system.

The importance of the question is shown by the fact that the Carpathian Basin is one of the richest areas in Europe in surface waters. It is well known that before the river regulations and flood relief in the 19th century, approximately four million hectares in Hungary were temporarily or permanently covered by water. In a region with such geographical features, the existence or non-existence of water management and water regulation systems is one of the most important issues in the life of society.

Therefore, it would be justified from several aspects to continue and expand the archaeological and environmental history research that has already begun.