Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
42 WHAT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS TELL US go on migrating to the west or south because the Roman Empire stood in their way. In the East they had to face the Dacian Kingdom, and after defeating them the Roman province of Dacia. They were prevented from expanding by the Quadi in the North- West and the Celts in the North. The Sarmatians were compelled to change their lifestyle both by the above political situation and the local geographical and environmental conditions. They used to be an equestrian-nomadic people breeding heavy built animals in the eastern European steppes, but in their new homeland they settled down and started living on animal husbandry and farming. During the Roman era the area of Vác was in the borderland between the Sarmatians and another people, the Germanic Quadi. The latter populated the valley of the River Ipoly and the middle and western parts of present-day Slovakia. One of the topics discussed by Ammianus Marcellinus in his work entitled The History of Rome was the relationship of these two peoples. They lived in peaceful coexistence, from time to time forming an alliance against their common enemy the Roman Empire. Their relationship was especially strong in the border region.Their mutual cross fertilization is well reflected by the mixed Sarmatian and Quadi findings at a large settlement in the Csörög Field. Archaeological researches have revealed that the inhabitants lived in houses that were half dug into the ground with dirt floors and ovens. The houses were built in more or less parallel rows. The ancient "rubbish” in the pits between the houses contains objects that are really valuable for us because they bear witness to life here during the 2nd-4th centuries AD: they are mainly pieces of broken pots, animal bones and leftover. Some other articles have also been found such as combs made of bone, clasps, spurs, fragments of glass containers. Several pits contained animal skeletons, mostly those of dogs, and two pits had an adult and a child's skeleton respectively. They might have been such members of the community who did not deserve an orderly funeral for some reason (witchcraft, crime?), or they might even have been sacrificed. The intensity of the Quad-Sarmatian connections is best shown by the pottery fragments: besides the Quad vessels there are typical Sarmatian ones as well. Their trading with the Romans Sarmatian house dug into the ground in Csörög Field (PMMI-TIM) brought here the shiny red-glazed Roman ornamental ceramics, the so-called terra sigillata, household vessels, glass dishes and accessories (clasps, combs). From the end of the 3rd century onwards Germanic people arriving from the east put a growing pressure on both the Sarmatians and the Roman Empire. Presumably that was the reason why a vast defence system was started to be built in the Barbaricum. The defences consisting of trenches and mounds are still visible and traceable in several places. Traditionally they are called CsörszTrench or Devil's Trench in Roman-type comb (PMMI-TIM 96.1 1 1.35)
