Múzeumi Füzetek Csongrád 2. (Csongrád, 1999.)

HORVÁTH László András – H. SIMON Katalin: Csongrád város története (A kezdetektől a vaskor végéig)

were used only in the early phase of the culture, later they started to bury their dead in simple graves. This age can not be considered to be peaceful. After domestic warfares that followed each other a new, but probably relative population occupied the Alföld: the people of the Urn Graves culture (Urnenfelder Kultur). Tribal noble who had a significant power over the communities producing large quantities of bronze, dwelt in „Castles" built separately from the simple settlements. The Urn Grave culture was stopped by the Gáva culture east of the Tisza, so Csongrád again became the meeting point of different cultural circles. One of the treasure finds of the Gáva culture was discovered in the territory of a fortified settlement (earthwork) Fekete-város, in the yard of chemist Sándor Sólyom in 1887. At the end of this period the Trojan War in the Aegean Sea took part. The structure and the everyday life of the society could be similar to the situation described in the great epos. IRON AGE The hegemony of the Gáva culture in the Great Hungarian Plain was cut in the 9

th century B.C. (or according to other data in the 8

th century) by an eastern nomadic people. The metal objects that they brought with themselves refer to the Caucasian or Pontic origin of the people. Today this group is known as Mezőcsát culture. After the occupation the amalgamation of the two ethnic groups started soon. Their small cemeteries prove that all these events took place in HaC Age. Such sites are known also from the surroundings of Csongrád. Mezőcsát type inhumation graves were unearthed before the Second World War in Vendelhalom, and in the sandpit of the Petőfi Cooperative Farm in the 1970s. In the middle of the 6

th century B.C. a new people appeared at the eastern edge of the Great Hungarian Plain: the Scythians. Their finds are known mainly from their large cemeteries. The cemeteiy found at the site of Csanytelek-Ujhalastó close to Csongrád give a full cross-section of the Scythian culture of the Alföld. Almost half of the graves consisted of inhumation graves, the other half of cremation graves. Among the gravegoods there was an outstanding number of eastern objects, an iron hatchet, a bronze arrowhead, electron plates. At the same time some objects refer to the connections with the Hallstatt culture of the western world. The numerous sites found in the outskirts of the town prove that this territory was densely populated in the Scythian Age. In the 4

th century B.C. a new conqueror arriving again from the west reached the territory of the Alföld. The Scythians did not seem to resist seriously, the La Tène graves found in Scythian cemeteries refer to the peaceful amalgamation of the two peoples. Starting from this time up to the 1st century B.C. we can speak about practically continuous peaceful development. The finds of the age can be found in a great number in our territory. We know such objects from the Csongrád castle, Vidresziget, Erzsébeti szőlők, Nagykőhalom and Bokros-puszta. Researchers tend to seek for a Celtic oppidum in the vicinity of Csongrád. The 1

st centuiy A.D. was a turning point in the history of Celts who lived in the territory of the present Hungary. Celts of Transdanubia were conquered by Roman legions, the ones living in the Great Hungarian Plain were occupied by the Dacians. That was the time when a several thousand years development called in archaeology Prehistory, got to its end.