Samson's Castle

The Árpád-era earthwork known as Samson's Castle appears on András Paulovics's 1789 map, with no earlier references in historical sources. According to a local legend, the castle's name is linked to a robber leader named Samson. During the Turkish era, this was the hideout of a robber leader named Samson, who caused significant damage to the Turks and killed many of them. He had a deep cellar underground where he stored his treasures. However, the only way to access this underground cellar was through the hollow trunk of a stunted willow tree growing on the banks of the Körös River. In 1964, Júlia Kovalovszki, an archaeologist originally from Doboz, determined the extent of the castle during her excavations. Samson's Castle consists of two parts: an inner and an outer castle. In one of her excavation trenches, Júlia Kovalovszki uncovered the remains of a gate tower, which provided passage through the rampart made of compacted earth. In 2006, an authentication archaeological excavation was carried out at the site of the gate tower under the leadership of archaeologists Dr. Mária Béres and András Liska. As a result of the excavation, previously unknown details of the gate tower documented by Júlia Kovalovszki were discovered, and data was collected about the structure of the rampart. The local population of nearby villages, particularly in the early Árpád era, may have used Samson's Castle, built in a protected nook of the Körös River, as an occasional refuge.