Horváth Attila – H. Tóth Elvira szerk.: Cumania 1. Archeologia (Bács-Kiskun Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei, Kecskemét, 1972)

Horváth A.: Előszó

FO REWORD Bács-Kiskun County, the largest county in Hungary lies in the geographical centre of the Carpathian basin. Its territory, extending from the Danube to the river Tisza, includes from the East almost the total of Kiskunság with its so typical sand-hills, reedy-marshy and sodic pastures, once extensive woods. To the West, the county is bordered by the Danube, followed parallelly by along ridge, flaring to the South into the spurs of the loess-plato of Bácska. These two large sections of the county's area were at times separated by the great river, occupying its ancient, deserted and silted branches extending at the SouthEast into a large peat-moor called Örjeg. Changes in the waterlevel, bed and bank-lines of the river following the great climatic fluctuations transformed the landscape as well as the way of living and farming of its inhabitants several times, This is reflected by the periodical change, once sudden increase, then substantial decline of population in the ancient and early history of the county. Periodical changes of geographical environment did not permit the stabilization of large settlements. This is probably one of the reasons why the area never merged, not even temporarily, with the ancient world power and culture, although, being in its direct neighbourhood to the West and South, they were in close contact for a long time. It is not accidental either that much later, during the 13th century, this territory became the central settlement area of the migrating, nomadic Cumanian people. The geographical features of this area may have influenced, besides its historical development, the scientific survey of its history, too. The protection and investigation of the material remains of this area began later and lagged behind that of the neighbouring, former Roman provinces. In our county, public museological collections were started late and slowly, less than 100 years ago. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, collections, surveys, investigations began for the methodical solution of historical problems. In this work, the municipal museum of Kecskemét played an important pioneering role, hardly followed in the county. The occasional archeological centres worked in isolation, and did not participate in the undertakings of the developing studies of the Plains region. Therefore, the publication of scientific information and results did not become a regular practice. The first summerizing works, appearing in the 19th century, were followed but rarely by partial surveys, shorter or longer publications. Some of these latterare still of fundamental importance, others, have historical value only. Due to their randon publication, however, most of these studies are hardly accessible even for the narrow circle of specialists. The territory of the county was formed into administrative unit after 1945. Our museums recovered with difficulty from the serious damages caused by the war. Considerable development has been attained during the last decade only, when, due to the support and leadership of the County Council, activity of museum experienced a rebirth. Our collection of authentic material, excavated in a contemporary way, and thus material remains, sources of local history, to be investigated and published, have increased manifold. The need to bridge the inherited gaps of publication, as well as that to inform about our recent investigations have required to start a new series of publications, facilitating the publication of works about this county, for the specialists of various scientific fields. In this series we shall pay particular attention to the history of the Cumanian people — 11