Carpathian Basin before the arrival of the Magyar tribes. For the prehistory of the Magyar before they came to the Carpathian Basin, see Hungarian prehistory
Anatomically modern humans arrived at the Carpathian Basin before 30,000 BC and belonged to the Aurignacian group.[2] The rest of the Stone Age is marked by minimal or not-yet-processed archeological evidence, with the exception of the Linear Pottery culture—the "garden type civilization"[3]
that introduced agriculture to the Carpathian Basin.
During the Copper and Bronze Ages, three significant groups were the Baden, the Makó and the Ottomány (to not be confused with Ottoman Turks) cultures. The major improvement was obviously metalworking, but the Baden culture also brought about cremation and even long-distance trade with remote areas such as the Baltic or Iran. Turbulent changes during the late Bronze Age gave an end to the native, relatively advanced[4][circular reference] civilization, and the beginning of the Iron Age saw mass immigration of Indo-European nomads believed to be of ancient Iranian ancestry. However, as the time went on, the Carpathian Basin attracted immigration from all directions: the Hallstatt Celts from the west were the first and most influential at around 750 BC, the mysterious Sigynnae around 500 BC, the Pannonians—an Illyrian tribe gave the future Roman province its name, while the very east became occupied by other Thracian, Iranian and later Celtic tribes. Before 100 BC, most of the area was occupied by various Celtic or celticized people, such as the successor of the Halstatt culture, the Taurisci, the Boii and the Pannonians.
The Roman era began with several attacks between 156 and 70 BC, but their gradual conquest was interrupted by the Dacian king Burebista, whose kingdom stretched as far as today's Slovakia at its greatest extent. However, the period of Dacian dominance did not last long, and by 9 BC the Romans had subjugated the entire area and made it into the Pannonia subprovince of province Illyricum and eventually Pannonia province. Under Roman rule, many contemporary cities such as Buda, Győr and Sopron were founded and the population romanized, and culture as a whole flourished. Roman emperors sometimes tolerated other tribes settling in the territory, such as the Iazyges or Vandals. Christianity spread during the 4th century, when it became the state religion.
. This state lasted until the arrival of the Magyar tribes in the late 9th century.
Prehistory
Stone Age
The oldest
Carpathian Basin was excavated at Vértesszőlős in Transdanubia in the 1960s.[5][6] The Middle Pleistocene site was situated in calcareous tuff basins with a diameter of 3–6 meters (9.8–19.7 ft) that the nearby warm springs had formed.[7][8] The site at Vértesszőlős was occupied five times[7] between about 500,000 and 250,000 years ago.[8]The occipital bone of an adult male Homo heidelbergensis, who is now known as "Samu", and a child's milk tooth were found.[1][9] Tools of quartzite and silex pebbles collected at the nearby river were also found,[10] as well as a fireplace with hearths made from crushed animal bones, with remains of wild horses, aurochs, bisons, red deer, deer, wolves, bears, and saber-toothed cats.[10][9][11]
There is a gap in the archaeological record, with no evidence of human presence between about 250,000 to 100,000 years ago.
Pilis, Vértes and Gerecse Hills.[13] They regularly visited the Bükk Mountains and the White Carpathians to collect raw material for their tools.[13]Ibex was the main prey of the Neanderthals of the Middle Palaeolothic sites in the Bükk Mountains.[13] In addition to local stone, they used raw material from the White Carpathians and the region of the river Prut.[13] Archaeological research suggest that the Neanderthals disappeared from the northern regions of the Carpathian Basin around 40,000 years ago.[14]
Latest research shows that the first communities of
anatomically modern humans came to the Carpathian Basin between 33,000 and 28,000 BC.[14] Consequently, the cohabitation of the Neanderthals and modern humans in the territory, which was assumed by earlier scholarship, cannot be proved.[14] The Aurignacian group of modern humans who settled in the Istállóskő Cave primarily used tools made of bones and used the cave as a seasonal camping site during their hunts for chamois, red deer, reindeer and other local animals.[2] Their tools made of stone suggest that they came to the Bükk Mountains from the northern Carpathians and the region of the Prut.[2] According to a scholarly view, a local archaeological culture—the "Szeleta culture"—can be distinguished, which represents a transition between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and was featured by leaf-shaped spearheads from around 32,000 BC.[8][2][15] However, the existence of a distinct archaeological culture is not unanimously accepted by specialists, because most prehistoric tools from the eponymous Szeleta Cave (in the eastern side of the Bükk) are similar to those found in the Upper Palaeolithic sites of Central Europe.[15]
Attracted by the rich fauna of the lowlands in the centre of the Carpathian Basin, groups of "Gravettian" hunters penetrated into the territory from the west about 27,000 years ago.[2] The central grasslands were not covered by ice even at the maximum of the last glaciation (around 20,000 years ago).[2][16] The new arrivals settled on hilltops along the rivers Hornád and Bodrog.[17] They primarily hunted mammoth and elk and used stone blades to work skin, bone, antler and wood.[17] Artistic finds are rare; for instance, a disc with serrated edges, which was made of polished limestone, was found at Bodrogkeresztúr.[17] A second wave of "Gravettians" arrived during the warmer period that began about 20,000 years ago.[18] They primarily made their tools from pebbles, similar to Lower Palaeolithic communities, but no continuity between the two groups can be detected.[18] The remains of semi-sunken huts were excavated at a site on a hilltop near Sárvár where reindeer bones were also found.[18] The site also yielded a perforated (but not decorated) reindeer antler.[18] In addition to permanent settlements, the Gravettian hunters' temporary camps were unearthed in the plains of the Jászság and around Szeged.[18] About 15,000 years ago, new hunters came to the territory; their best-known settlements were situated in northeastern Transdanubia.[18] A pendant made of wolf tooth, a pair of red deer teeth and similar finds suggest that these hunters wore ornaments.[18]
Mesolithic sites are rare but start to appear after systematic surveys, especially in the Jászság area.
equestrian nomads and formed the people of the Mezőcsát culture who used tools and weapons made of iron. They extended their rule over what are now the Great Hungarian Plain and the eastern parts of Transdanubia.[27]
Around 750 BC, people of the Hallstatt culture gradually occupied the western parts of Transdanubia, but the earlier population of the territory also survived and thus the two archaeological cultures existed together for centuries.[26] The people of the Hallstatt culture took over the former population's fortifications (e.g., in Velem, Celldömölk, Tihany) but they also built new ones enclosed with earthworks (e.g., in Sopron).[26][27] The nobility were buried in chamber tombs covered by earth.[26] Some of their settlements situated along the Amber Road developed into commercial centers.[26][27]
Between 550 and 500 BC, new people settled along the river
Darius I of Persia (522 BC - 486 BC) on the Balkan Peninsula or to the struggles between the Cimmerians and the Scythians.[26][27] Those people, who settled down in Transylvania and in the Banat, may be identified with the Agathyrsi (probably an ancient Thracian tribe whose presence on the territory was recorded by Herodotus); while those who lived in what is now the Great Hungarian Plain may be identified with the Sigynnae.[26] The new population introduced the use of the potter's wheel in the Carpathian Basin and they maintained close commercial contacts with the neighboring peoples.[26]
The Pannonians (an Illyrian tribe) may have moved to the southern territories of Transdanubia in the course of the 5th century BC.[26]
In the 4th century BC, Celtic tribes immigrated to the territories around the river Rába and defeated the Illyrian people who had been living there, but the Illyrians managed to assimilate the Celts, who adopted their language.[27] In the 290s and 280s BC, the Celtic people who were migrating towards the Balkan Peninsula passed through Transdanubia but some of the tribes settled on the territory.[26] Following 279 BC, the Scordisci (a Celtic tribe), who had been defeated at Delphi, settled at the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube and they extended their rule over the southern parts of Transdanubia.[26] Around that time, the northern parts of Transdanubia were ruled by the Taurisci (also a Celtic tribe) and by 230 BC, Celtic people (the people of the La Tène culture) had occupied gradually the whole territory of the Great Hungarian Plain.[26] Between 150 and 100 BC, a new Celtic tribe, the Boii moved to the Carpathian Basin and they occupied the northern and northeastern parts of the territory (mainly the territory of present Slovakia).[26]
The Romans commenced their military raids in the Carpathian Basin in 156 BC when they attacked the Scordisci living in the Transdanubian region.[26][27] In 119 BC, they marched against Siscia (today Sisak in Croatia) and strengthened their rule over the future Illyricumprovince south of the Carpathian Basin.[26] In 88 BC, the Romans defeated the Scordisci whose rule was driven back to the eastern parts of Syrmia, while the Pannonians moved to the northern parts of Transdanubia.[26][27] When King Mithridates VI of Pontus made plans to attack the Romans by way of the Balkan Peninsula, he referred to the Pannonic tribes, and not to the Scordisci, as masters of the region on his path; it appears, therefore, that around 70–60 BC, the Pannonic tribes were no longer subjugated.[26]
Around 50 BC, the mainly Celtic tribes living on the territory were confronted by Burebista, king of the Dacians (82-44 BC), who began suddenly to expand his domain centered in Transylvania.[29] The sources do not indicate clearly whether Burebista was the original unifier of the Dacian tribes, or whether his efforts at unification built upon the work of his predecessors.[29] Burebista subjugated the Taurisci and the Anarti; in the process, he confronted the Celtic tribal alliance led by the Boii.[27][29] Burebista's victory over the Celts led not only to the breakup of their tribal alliance, but also to the establishment of Dacian settlements in the southern parts of today's Slovakia.[29] Burebista, however, fell victim to his political enemies, and his domain was divided into four parts.[29]
The period between 15 BC and 9 AD was characterized by the continuous uprisings of the Pannonians against the emerging power of the Roman Empire. The Romans, however, could strengthen their supremacy over the rebellious tribes and they organised the occupied territory into a new province.[26]
The Roman Empire subdued the Pannonians, Dacians, Celts and other peoples in this territory. The territory west of the Danube was conquered by the Roman Empire between 35 and 9 BC, and became a province of the Roman Empire under the name of Pannonia. The easternmost parts of present-day Hungary were later (106 AD) organized as the Roman province of Dacia (lasting until 271). The territory between the Danube and the Tisza was inhabited by the SarmatianIazyges between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, or even earlier (earliest remains have been dated to 80 BC). Roman Emperor Trajan officially allowed the Iazyges to settle there as confederates. The remaining territory was in Thracian (Dacian) hands. In addition, the Vandals settled on the upper Tisza in the second half of the 2nd century AD.
Like in the other provinces, in Pannonia, the material culture of the native population showed little sign of Romanization in the first 160 years of Roman rule.[30]
The four centuries of Roman rule created an advanced and flourishing civilization. Many of the important cities of today's Hungary were founded during this period, such as Aquincum (Budapest), Sopianae (Pécs), Arrabona (Győr), Solva (Esztergom), Savaria (Szombathely) and Scarbantia (Sopron). Christianity spread in Pannonia in the 4th century, when it became the empire's official religion.
Ruins of Aquincum
Ruins of Aquincum
Restored section of the Roman aqueduct at Aquincum