In recent weeks, the staff of the Budapest History Museum, in cooperation with the Hungarian National Museum, researched the Roman villa and its surroundings in the 3rd District, Harsánylejtő, which was built during the last era of Aquincum - this was reported by Olivér Kovács on the site regeszet.aquincum.hu.

From the article, it can be learned that the villas known in the villa area of Aquincum were mostly built in the 2nd century and were used until the end of the 3rd century at most, which is why the building complex on Harsánylejtő is considered special, dating back to the 4th century, i.e., the last era of the ancient settlement complex. The villa itself was already identified a decade ago by the specialists of the Budapest History Museum, and now a trial excavation has been carried out in its surroundings before a new investment. The recent finds have confirmed the previous dating of the villa, and they have also found the remains of an earlier Celtic settlement from the imperial period, which, however, certainly no longer existed at the time the villa was built.

In the middle of the 3rd century, external attacks from across the Danube increased. The residents therefore gradually abandoned it, the majority of them moved into the walls of the military town, which provided greater security, so the civilian town could perish in abandonment, reports regeszet.aquincum.hu.

Several finds were found between the walls of the villa in Harsánylejtő (Photo: regeszet.aquincum.hu)

The writing also reveals that by the 4th century AD, it was presumably not primarily citizens, but soldiers or nobles who could afford military protection who moved to the former villa area. Several of the earlier buildings were strengthened, and as the Harsánylejtő complex proves, new ones were also built. During the excavation of this, they found mainly finds and objects related to the military during the past weeks. It is not known how long the villa in Harsánylejtő could be inhabited, but presumably, no one lived within its walls from the beginning of the 5th century, since the centre of the once prosperous province became less and less safe due to the new waves of migration - it is revealed in the report on the archaeology portal of the BHM published on 10 November.

The full article can be read here (in Hungarian).

Source: regeszet.aquincum.hu

Cover photo: ​Archaeologists unearthed a 4th-century Roman villa in the Aquincum villa area (Photo: regeszet.aquincum.hu)