Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
WHATTHE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS TELL US 39 prehistoric people mentioned in written sources, such as the ones written by Herodotus, the Greek historiographer of the 5th century BC. The spread of the use of the other important technical invention of the age, the potter's wheel was due to the Scythians in the 6th century BC in the eastern part of the country. One of the peculiar finds from the Scythian Age in Vác is the meander-patterned ornamental signet from Pogányvár, while the bronze clasp from the north-western perimeter near the area called Vaskapu (Iron Gate) can be linked to the Hallstatt Culture. Scythian and Sarmatian weapons CELTIC CIVILIZATION ATTHE END OF THE PREHISTORIC AGE (5th century BC-around the birth of Christ) The Celts appeared in the Carpathian Basin in the final period of the Prehistoric Age at the end of the 5th century BC. Under their rule most of the Carpathian Basin was unified again in the Late Iron Age (450 BC-around the birth of Christ). The Celts are mentioned in the works of the Greek and Roman historiographers several times, which gives us a more exact and detailed picture of their history. We know from ancient sources that they broke into Pannonia (i.e. Transdanubia) and ransacked Rome simultaneously, some time around 388-387 BC. This first wave of Celts, having set off from the Rhineland and moving forward mainly along the Danube and its tributaries, occupied the northern part of Transdanubia, and soon after they reached the Danube Bend as well. The findings from the period are two day bottles of a special lentil-like shape with flat bellies and long necks. Further tribes arrived at the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries BC and occupied the district of the Danube Bend, from where they went on occupying the Great Hungarian Plain. The Celts belonged to the family of Indo- European languages and they reached a very high level of economic and social development. This was chiefly due to the extended use of tools made of iron (ploughshare, spade, scythe, sickle, vine dressing knife, scissors), which started an "industrial revolution" and made production much more efficient. They spread the use of the potter's wheel in Transdanubia, which resulted in the large-scale production of pots. The highly developed economy brought about the introduction of minting as well; coins minted on Greek and later Roman patterns were used in trade among the tribes. All that had an impact on society too: a tribal aristocracy was established that lived in fortified mountain areas called oppidums in Western Europe. In Hungary some oppidum-type settlements can be found in Transdanubia
