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Silviu OŢA, Liana OŢA
de Rebus Transsylvanicis, between the events which took place in 1595 is mentioned
that in July, G. Borbély conquered two castles from the Ottomans, namely Varsocs
(Vršac) and Bokcsa (Bocşa) 14 . It is very possible that Caraşova fortress, situated near
the two mentioned fortifications, was destroyed again on this occasion, and after this
time was never rebuilt, since we do not know any other information concerning
Caraşova, from now on.
Other Ottoman chroniclers frequently enumerate the fortresses of Timişoara,
Lipova, Şoimoş, Igriş, Margina, Felnak, Cenad, Becikerek, Mako, Gyula, Ciala, Arad
etc. Besides, they tell us about „numberless castles belonging to them. The damned
who lived there, pressed to run, all of them were found empty and all those necessary
for guard were occupied” 15 . The lack of any information about Caraşova in the
Turkish Deftera, corroborated with the mention of abandoning the small fortifications
(amongst them probably Caraşova), is an indirect argument of the fact that the
fortress analyzed here lost its importance during the 16 th century.
Narrating his travel in Banat, Evlia Celebi does not say anything about the ruins
from Caraşova, although he mentioned other abandoned fortresses.
The characteristic features of the defensive system
During the archaeological excavations, we noticed that the fortress had three
important stages of construction (Pl. 3). These are characterized mainly by the
enlargement of its space towards south-west and south. Thus, in the first phase (Pl.
4.1-3, Pl. 5.1-3, Pl. 6.1-2), the building occupied the top of the hill. The fortress had
an elongated shape, with towers at each end. In the second phase, a wall of enclosure
was built in the south-western part (Pl. 8.2), closing the access from this direction and
increasing, at the same time, the inner space. The last phase consists of large
arrangements of the enclosure wall and of the inner constructions, together with a
new enlargement of its space towards south-west.
The first defense ditch (until 3.5 meters deep and approximately 10 meters wide)
was dug in the rock, in front of the future fortress (Pl. 1.3). It was doubled by another
ditch, at a distance between six and nine meters, and two to four-five meters deep.
The fact that the north-western part of the enclosure wall descends in the first defense
ditch, confirmed the supposition that the defense ditches have been dug first.
During the first phase, two towers were situated towards the two ends of the
fortress. The first of them was situated in the western part (Pl. 12. 1-2). Due to later
reconstructions and to the destruction of the paraments, we cannot know exactly what
plan this tower had. We can only say that it was not built at the end of the enclosure
wall, which covers the rock, but in the central part of the north-western side of the
fortress. The tower was almost totally destroyed during the construction of the third
enclosure. It is very possible that one of its sides was built out of the enclosure wall.
14 Bethlen 1783, at the year 1595, p. 576.
15 Mustafa Ğelalzade, in Cronici turceşti, vol. I, p. 287.