Istvánovits Eszter: International Connections... (Jósa András Múzeum Kiadványai 47. Aszód-Nyíregyháza, 2001)
Katalin Almássy: New data on the Celto-Dacian relationship in the Upper Tisza Region
other than Dacián (i.e. Sarmatian) was observed. However, we must keep in mind that the entire pit has not been unearthed; this assemblage is not the whole material of the feature, and there are Sarmatian features nearby (ISTVÁNOVITS 1986, 22). The site I examined can be also found on the left bank of the Tisza, in Nyírség, near the village of Kállósemjén (fig. I) 1 . Nyírség is a well-outlined geographical area of the Upper Tisza Region with special features unique to this territory. From the point of view of human settlement, the presence of the so-called "nyírvíz" is définitive. These were former riverbeds temporarily filled with water. The general direction of the "nyírvíz" was north/northeast - south/southwest, and they led through practically the entire Nyírség. These swamps and ditches, filled with water almost all year round, blocked traffic in the east-west direction. The only possible route must have been the great salt road mentioned in written records as early as in the first part of the 11 th c. starting at Salacea/Szalacs, it led to the Hímesudvar (Tokaj) ferry through Nyírbátor and Nyíregyháza (NÉMETH 1979, 115). Several of the Late Iron Age sites of the Nyírség (Bátorliget, Nyírlugos, Nyírbogát, Nyírbátor, Pócspetri, Kiskálló etc.) are situated along this line, though at some distance from it, there are white spots. This is the basis for our suggestion that the road was already in use during that period. A similar conclusion can be reached based on the dispersion of the sites of the next - Sarmatian - period. The Kállósemjén -Forrás tanya site examined here also lies on the track of this road. 1 Using FRISNYÁK 1995, 1. ábra. On the territory of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County marked with gray colour on the map, we can see the hydrographie system around the beginning of the 1 st c. (This reconstruction was made as a result of the geographic investigations conducted at the Department of Geography of the Teacher's College of Nyíregyháza.) Fig. 1 Celtic sites of the Upper Tisza Region. 1: Cemetery, 2: Settlement, 3: Coin, 4: Uncertain type of site, 5: Kállósemjén
