Summary (English)
Baziaş Monastery is situated at the mouth of a wide valley at the foot of Locvei Mountains. The monastery at Baziaş, having Eliah as patron saint, is mentioned in the Turkish documents dating to 1569 – 1579 in the Caraş-Vicinic region. In its close vicinity there were Camendin villages, a deserted settlement, Iyaş-Varadin, and Okrugliţa. As regards the deserted settlement of Iyaş-Varadin, we remark that its name is directly related to the presence of a fortification in the area, and to the patron saint of the 16th century monastery. According to the historical tradition of the 18th century monastic environment the monastery was founded by Serbian Despots during the 15th century. That opinion, not sustained by written documents, was taken over in Serbian and Romanian historiography up to the present day. The archaeological excavations at Baziaş started in 2002 and aimed at building up an archaeological file bringing in data on the early period of this monastic establishment. It should be specified that the archaeological excavations followed the current topography of the monastery within the locality of Baziaş, as formed during the 19th century, when Baziaş became an important port at the Danube and a railway node. Thus, the church is surrounded by a precinct wall, delimiting an irregular rectangular plan sized 43 × 28 m. In the north-west corner of the monastery precincts there are the living quarters of the monks. Earlier excavations, undertaken on the south and north sides of the church, uncovered a cemetery in which 34 tombs were excavated, as well as occupation traces from the First Iron Age and the 4th century AD. The 2005 archaeological excavations focused on the north space of the church in order to verify the extension of the cemetery, on the one hand, and, equally, to find the traces of the old cells, that might have provided, due to the archaeological material, clues to the dating of the church. The archaeological material found provides little information on the dating of this construction, that is undoubtedly related to the beginning of Baziaş Monastery.
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