Liviu, Marta - Szőcs Péter Levente (szerk.): Catalogul colecţtiei de archeologie (Satu Mare, 2007)
Introduction The catalogue wishes to present the most representative items of the archaeological collection from the County Museum of Satu Mare. The objects are exhibited or held in the deposits, and they cover a large period of time from the Prehistoric Ages, through the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The publishing of a catalogue in the present form has multiple motivations. First of all, this catalogue would like to extend the permanent archaeological exhibition, opened a few years earlier. Similar to the exhibition, the main aim of the present volume is to present through the objects, the history of the region of Satu Mare. In this sense, each age is presented in an introductory study. Those objects were selected for the catalogue, which were discovered within the boundaries of the present County, and are kept in the collection of the Museum of Satu Mare. Therefore, this catalogue is a mirror of the archaeological research for the region. Few exceptions were made, when several items were included from the rich archaeological collection of the Museum of Carei. These exceptions were made, when certain epochs could not be presented without these objects - like in the case of the early and middle Bronze Age, the late Hallstatt period, or the middle phase of the La Téne culture. A great number of finds are published for the first time in this catalogue, therefore, the present volume is an important instrument for the research of the local history. In addition, it gives the opportunity to improve, in several ways, the awareness on the cultural heritage. Publishing the texts both in Romanian and Hungarian, emphasizes that the values of the past are common heritage, not linked to any ethnic community. Furthermore, the accent put on the border region shows the multiple links which the County of Satu Mare had and still has with the territories lying to the west of the present Romanian-Hungarian border. Finally, the texts in English would like to ensure a wider access to the representative archaeological values of Satu Mare, and connect them with the common European cultural heritage. The editing and publication of this catalogue was possible within the project “Cross-border research of the cultural heritage,” financed through Phare CBC Romania-Hungary 2004 program, and implemented together with the Museum Directorate of the Szabolcs-Szatmár- Bereg County, Nyíregyháza. The present volume, therefore, reflects the good partnership of the two institutions. The editors 7
