Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
WHAT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS TELL US 37 Mid-Bronze Age ran past Vác. The north-west borderline of the Culture of Hatvan, which populated the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain and North-Eastern Hungary between the second half of the Early Bronze Age and the end of the Late Bronze Age, can be drawn here too. Let us look at the two sites from the Mid-Bronze Age that provide us with the richest material known in more detail. The remnants of subsequent and simultaneous cultures of the Bronze Age have been found in the southern part of the town in the pit of the brick factory in Derecske Field. The bowl, the round bellied urn and the knotty-footed embossed pot were made by the Bell-Beaker people. Several mugs, jugs and pots belong to the Culture of Nagyrév, while an Roundish-bellied urn {PMMI-TIM 51.3.5) Jug (PMMI-TIM 51.3.7) Mug (PMMI-TIM 51.3,12) Mug (PMMI-TIM 51.3.1) urn and a mug can be related to the Culture ofVatya. Since most of the vessels are intact, we may well assume that the above finds were the commonly used accessories in the cremation graves at the time. We can find Pogányvár (Heathen Castle), a fortified settlement of the Culture of Hatvan north-west of the town, by the Danube. The dwelling area formed on the top of the 136 metres high hill with very steep slopes on three sides was protected with a 0.5 to 1 metre high artificial mound. The pits in the ground were used for storing food; the latter and the rubbish pits revealed some typical types of vessels used by the culture: several adorned stone and bone tools, and even an undamaged bronze spearhead. It was a burial place as well; the remains of the dead burnt on a pyre were placed into urns. The Mid-Bronze Age was a period of peaceful, prosperous development in the Carpathian Basin lasting for centuries, from 1900/1800-1400/1300 BC. This process was ended by some local economic and social factors, climate changes and, above all, the arrival of the new conquerors, the people of the Tumulus. The Tumulus tribes, armed with long swords, came from the north and north-west. They did not expel or annihilate the indigenous people. Analysis of the archaeological findings suggests that they merged with them. One of the characteristic examples of this is the change in burial rites. The people of the Tumulus used to perform skeletal burials in their original tribal territories, and they mounded tumuli above the graves of their dignitaries. Under local influence, however, cremation gradually took over in their cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin. The legacy of the people of the Tumulus in Vác is the grave found on the northern Bowl (PMMI-TIM 57.5.18) Urn (PMMI-TIM 51.11.1) Spear-tip (PMMI-TIM)
