JA KESKAEGNE RAKVERE - Arheoloogia Tartu Ülikoolis

SUMMARY
Prehistoric and Medieval Rakvere: history of research, sources of
research information and problems
The aim of this Bachelor Thesis' is to sum up the problems of research into Prehistoric
and Medieval Rakvere. During the Medieval Age, the little town of Rakvere had a
castle, a monastry and at least one church. Before that, in Prehistoric times, there was a
hill-fort up the hill and a settlement site below the hill.
Many sources of information have been used to find out about the history of Medieval
Rakvere, such as chronicles and old documents. The main part of information, however,
can be provided by archaeological fieldwork only. About prehistoric Rakvere,
archaeological fieldwork is one and only source of information, if we excluce The
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia.
Prehistoric and Medieval Rakvere has been researched for over 200 years. At first, it
was important to start collecting ja sum up written sources about Medieval Rakvere, but
even that work is to be continued. In 1901–1902 the first conservation works were done
in the Medieval castle. In 1927, first archaelogical fieldwork was carried out, but it was
not done at professional level. First man to dig professionally up the hill of Vallimägi
near the ruins of Medieval castle, to find the remains of Prehistoric hill-fort was wellknown
Estonian archaeologist Evald Tõnisson in 1959–1960. Two decades later, in
1975 to 1992 fieldwork was carried out by Toivo Aus up the hill of Vallimägi to get
information for conservation of the castle and in the town of Rakvere for various
reasons.
Nobody haven't had a chance to sum up these fieldwork and other information releated
to Prehistoric and Medieval Rakvere. This work tries to give an overview of the
research into Rakvere and sources of research.
88