Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)
Lectori salutem! The romantic view of archaeology tends to associate archaeology with dramatic discoveries, exceptional finds and imaginative detective work - a view, which though widespread among the wider public, is only partially accurate. True enough, archaeologists usually find themselves in the limelight of interest if they unearth a sensational find. In contrast, the public is rarely aware of the daily spadework in the world of excavations and the tedious work following each dig, the very essence of any archaeological activity, which relies more on systematic, organised work than on luck. Rarely does the public get an insight into what happened before history and during the centuries preceding the arrival of the ancient Hungarians to the Carpathian Basin. The daily work of archaeologists, understandably, hold less fascination than the romanticised perception of archaeology, in spite of the fact that the fruits of long-term research projects are often far more rewarding than a unique, unusual find, for they take us beyond the newspaper headlines. On the one hand, the findings of these projects are often far more fascinating, while on the other, painstaking, systematic research conducted over one or two decades contributes more to a better understanding of the past, once the finds are analysed and evaluated. This catalogue was assembled with the aim of presenting the new results and the new perspectives offered by this discipline following two decades of research. Accompanying the many construction projects in County Pest during the past two decades were largescale excavations exploring extensive areas. This volume offers an overview of the archaeological investigations conducted by the Directorate of the County Pest Museums. Included are the excavations preceding the construction of the MO Ring Road, the M5 and M6 Motorways, Road 6 and the Vác bypass of Road 2, as well as the salvage work preceding the construction of apartment buildings and industrial parks, and the archaeological work supported by the local municipal and county councils, such as the research of the Roman military fort at Szentendre and of the medieval town and castle of Vác, to mention the two most important ones. The descriptions of the excavations are presented in chronological sequence from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period. Each is accompanied by many photos of both the excavation itself and the finds brought to light in order to provide a sense of archaeological work. It is our hope that both the broader public and our colleagues will find something of interest in this book. Another perspective must also be mentioned: the enormous time-range spanned by the remains uncovered by the archaeologists working in the county’s museums, ranging from Neolithic settlements through Árpádian Age villages to medieval towns. Modern counties are modest in size compared to the entire distribution of a particular culture and investigations conducted on the county level can often only capture a few facets of that culture. However, modern counties also offer a link with the past in the sense they are the successors of the royal counties created in the early Middle Ages. This is not the first volume presenting the major achievements in archaeological research co-ordinated by the Directorate of the County Pest Museums. The 2004 volume of Studia Comitatensia, the museum yearbook, provided a brief overview of the research on the Roman settlement at Páty, and was soon followed by an independent volume on the archaeological remains and their finds. The results of the salvage excavations preceding motorway constructions in County Pest were published in another volume, Digging up one and a half million square metres. These volumes, however, were principally written for professional archaeologists. The present volume is intended for the broader public with an interest in archaeology and in our archaeological and historical heritage. • • Márton Gyöngyössy Director of the County Pest Museums
