Celtic settlements of Esztergom
The Celtic settlements of Esztergom are archaeological sites from the Latène / Celtic times in Esztergom ( Hungary ). The objects found are now in the Balassa Bálint Museum and partly in the Esztergom Castle Museum.
Esztergom - Várhegy (Castle Hill)
The castle hill, 156 m high, with an area of 300 × 500 m, was the location of a hilltop settlement from the late Celtic period, fortified with earth walls. Since Roman (Fort Solva ), medieval (royal castle) and modern construction work had taken place at this point , the original earthworks of the Celtic settlement were almost completely destroyed. The excavations in 1934–38, 1961–62, 1964–68 and 1981–88 were only successful in a few areas.
Parts of two houses with numerous garbage and storage pits were excavated. The most common finds of objects were fragments of smoothed bowls, pots and storage vessels decorated with combs. Based on these artefacts , the age of the settlement was dated to the transition from the Middle Latène to the Late Latène (LTC II to LTD I, late 2nd to early 1st century BC).
The place was probably the center of the surrounding settlements of the Celts and the Illyrians of the Azali tribe who were mixed with them . After the conquest by Emperor Claudius in AD 41, the Solva castle was built and the original inhabitants moved to the surrounding settlements.
Esztergom - Kisléva-Héviz
In the area of the medieval "Little Water Town", today the districts of Kisléva and Héviz, in the west-southwest of the castle hill, between this and the Szenttamáshegy (St. Thomas Mountain) to the Héviz-tó (Lake Héviz), an extensive late Celtic settlement was found . It is also located under Roman and medieval buildings.
In 1992 houses, an oven and pits with ceramics from the late Latène (LTD) were uncovered. This facility was created together with the settlement on the castle hill and grew together with the vicus (Roman settlement with commercial production facilities) after the Roman occupation .
Esztergom - Örmény
In the city center, at the east-southeast foot of the Szent Istvan Hegyi (St. Stephen's Mountain), a late Celtic settlement was found among the ruins of the medieval village of Örmény. A pottery kiln was uncovered in 1970 , partly destroyed by a later Arpáden period settlement, and in 2002 some pits from the late Latène (LTD III, 150 BC to the birth of Christ) near the Szent Istvan Kápolna (St. Stephen's Chapel), as well as the remains of a house .
Esztergom - Széchenyi tér (Szécheny Square)
On today's Széchenyi tér in the city center there was a vast late Celtic settlement on the Danube. In 1960 some pits with various objects, a house and a pottery furnace were dug. During excavations in 1994 and 1995, the remains of two houses, ten other pits and five pottery kilns came to light. The finds were dated for the late Latène (LTD III, 150 BC to the birth of Christ).
Esztergom - Szentgyörgymező
→ see also the Roman Burgus Esztergom-Szentgyörgymező 1
In the western part of the district, which is north-northeast of the castle hill, several Celtic objects from the late Latène were excavated. The exact location of a massive bronze ring (presumably a burial object , late Early to Middle Latène, LTB II to LTBC I, approx. 380–150 BC) can no longer be determined. The locations of a Boischen coin, an iron lance, two large storage vessels, four garbage pits with painted ceramic shards and a pottery furnace with disk-turned vessels from the 2nd half of the 1st century can be localized. v. And other fragments of vessels from early Roman times. Actual traces of settlement have not yet been found here
Esztergom - Szentgyörgymező-Dunapart
Elsewhere in the same district was an extensive late Celtic settlement. During a test excavation in 1959, some pits were uncovered. In the excavation periods of 1980–1983 and 1986–1988, four houses, 69 pits, a fireplace and a pottery kiln were found on an area of 1841 m², in addition to some Arpad-era objects. An omphalos bowl and a situla show that the place was inhabited continuously from the Early La Tène to the Late La Tène. The Celtic settlement only ended with the occupation by the Romans.
In addition to the vessels mentioned, spindle whorls , grindstones , millstones , animal bones and fish scales, carved bone objects as well as iron tools and pieces of iron slag were found.
Esztergom - Szentkirály
A vast Celtic settlement could be found on a bank plateau on the Danube in the southeast of the city. In 1988 a rescue excavation was carried out, during which 14 houses were uncovered, which based on the object finds - two bronze arm rings, an iron lance and an urn - in the 3rd to 2nd century. v. Chr. (Middle Latène, LTC I) could be dated.
Esztergom - Sziget
On this Danube island below a medieval nunnery, excavations between 1980 and 2001 uncovered a late Celtic house and some pits. Some bowls and pots decorated with smoothing and combs, as well as hand-made vessels were found on objects.
literature
- Susanne Sievers , Otto Helmut Urban , Peter C. Ramsl: Lexicon for Celtic Archeology. A – K. Announcements of the prehistoric commission in the publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-7001-6765-5 ; Pp. 517-520.
Individual evidence
- ↑ É. Petres: The Late Pre-Roman Age in Hungary with special reference to oppida. In: Oppida: The Beginnings of Urbanization in Barbarian Europe. BAR Suppl. Ser. 11, Oxford 1976, p. 51 ff.
- ↑ a b c d e f Márta Kelemen: Komarom Country I. corpus of Celtic Finds in Hungary, Vol. I, Transdanubia 1, Budapest 1987, p. 179 ff.
- ↑ a b F. Horvath: Hand-formed late Celtic and Roman ceramics in Esztergom and its surroundings. Alba Regia XXVII 1998, p. 65 ff.
- ↑ a b Márta Kelemen: Adatok Esztergom koracsászárkori településtörténetéhez (information on the early imperial settlement history of Esztergom). In: Komárom megye története I. Komárom 1988, p. 167 ff.