How medieval Hungarian villages looked before the Ottoman occupation: A digital reconstruction

For the first time, we can catch a glimpse of the medieval Hungarian countryside as it looked 500 years ago, thanks to a groundbreaking project by Salisbury Ltd., a leading European firm in archaeology and heritage conservation. The company’s latest research reconstructs what rural settlements in the Kingdom of Hungary may have looked like before the Ottoman conquest, using the village of Besnyő as an example.

The project, led by archaeologist József Hoffmann, involved creating a comprehensive digital reconstruction of the medieval village of Besnyő, located near present-day Ercsi, Salisbury reports. Spanning over 100 hectares, the model offers a rare visual insight into a world that was largely destroyed or abandoned during the Turkish wars. Hoffmann notes that this research diverges from typical archaeological efforts focused on churches or castles, instead illuminating the everyday life of rural Hungary.

Unearthed history: Besnyő village

The remnants of the medieval village lie hidden beneath the soil on the banks of the Danube near Ercsi. First documented in 1405, the village’s name hints that it was once inhabited by the Pechenegs, a nomadic people. Aerial images reveal the layout of the late medieval settlement, with its central street, house plots, and serf estates still discernible due to the small mounds left behind by the collapsed structures from the Ottoman period.

High-tech research for a detailed reconstruction

The Salisbury research team utilised a combination of cutting-edge technologies to accurately recreate the medieval landscape. Drone footage was used to create a topographical model, and geophysical measurements helped identify the location of the village church and surrounding walls. Laser scanning (LIDAR) from a helicopter provided a detailed point cloud of the area, revealing that the village was originally situated on an island in the Danube, an area that has since filled in with sediment.