SLOVAK ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVERED A PLACE ASSOCIATED WITH THE EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS
The latest research by Slovak archaeologists in the cadastre of the village of Želiezovce brought interesting results. They discovered an important polyculture site there, which had been intensively inhabited since the Early Stone Age (Neolithic) and people lived there until the late Middle Ages. The most important discovery, however, is the capture of a Roman marching camp, the existence of which has been sought by researchers in this part of Pohronie for decades.
Dolné Pohronie belongs to the areas that have enormous historical significance and potential from an archaeological point of view, which is documented by rare finds and individual rich sites providing important information about the settlement of the given territory in various stages of prehistoric and medieval development, thanks to which we can successfully reconstruct the life of our ancestors.
Research in the Želiezovce cadastre was already started in 1932 by Václav Mencl, an important figure protecting monuments in Slovakia. At the initiative of a local farmer, he carried out archaeological research at the site of a defunct church in Želiezovce. His work was followed up by researchers from the Institute of Archaeology SAS, and since 2015, they have again become intensely interested in locations in Želiezovce. Based on detailed surface surveys, it became clear that there is an important polyculture site there, which was intensively populated since the Early Stone Age (Neolithic) and people lived there until the late Middle Ages.
Non-destructive archaeological methods
In recent years, several surface collections associated with non-destructive surveys using a magnetometer have been carried out there. It is a non-destructive archaeological method that allows obtaining a complex scientific view of the settlement. The results obtained from the wider investigated area brought surprising knowledge and documented the settlement of Želiezovce in several historical periods.
Archaeologists captured two large Neolithic settlements, a settlement from the Bronze Age, the Late Latin Age and the Roman Age. A magnetic survey discovered one of the largest burials from the La Tène period in Slovakia, and a floor plan of an extensive medieval settlement was also obtained.
Based on the findings, we can classify the well-documented early medieval settlement as one of the larger trade centres connected to the toll station, thanks to which trade flourished all over the world. Rich trade contacts with distant regions were confirmed by numerous finds that came to the site from Western, Northern (Scandinavia) and Eastern Europe. Trade routes extending to the southeast, to the area of the Byzantine Empire, are also documented.
Marcus Aurelius in the Hron region
The most important discovery, however, is the capture of a Roman marching camp, the existence of which has been sought by researchers in this part of Pohronie for decades. Magnetometry analysis, as well as the findings themselves, date the camp to the second half of the 2nd century AD, which means that it was founded during the so-called Marcomannic Wars, during which Roman legions operated on our territory under the leadership of the Roman emperor and the philosopher on the throne, Marcus Aurelius, to pacify the attacking Germanic tribes that repeatedly penetrated and plundered the territory of the Roman Empire.
Given that this is the only recorded Roman march camp near the river Hron, we can assume that it was here, as Marcus Aurelius writes at the end of the first volume of his philosophical work Conversation with Himself, that the very first book was created on the territory of today's Slovakia.