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Fortified sites from the La Tène Period belong to the main research topics of Karol Pieta. He has contributed to their field excavations in the mountainous environment of Slovakia to a great extent. He also very intensely deals with their classification and dating. In the text, I try to apply his knowledge on the research of the fortified sites in the regions of the Hron and Ipeľ river basins and also confront them with the latest research. K. Pieta has distinguished several types of fortifications: hillfort, castella, small hillfort, refuge place, etc. Unlike other authors, he did not consider only the size of the fortified area, but also its use. Individual fortifications and enclosed areas might have had a practical function, social or symbolic meaning. K. Pieta promotes mainly the defensive and protective function of the fortified sites in the territory of Slovakia. There had to be real reasons and favourable conditions for existence of fortifications, as they were often large structures challenging as for work power and its organization, project with some experience as well as available sources of building material and strategical thinking of the authors. Nevertheless, he does not exclude possible central, commercial or sacral function of the fortified settlements. I have selected the regions of Pohronie and Poiplie in the analysis for three reasons – they are more or less complexly processed and their character allows application of results also for other parts of the north of the Carpathian Basin, maybe with the exception of the area of the Bratislava oppidum. The third characteristics of the chosen region which was the reason for selecting it as a ‘model’ is that it is partly a peripheral area of the La Tène settlement in the north of the Carpathian Basin, where two cultural areas meet – the La Tène and Púchov cultures. According to the current state of research, there are 26 fortified sites of different sizes and forms in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finds of human remain in settlement features from the La Tène period are rare, especially cases when we can interpret these finds as proof of ritual activities. One of them represents archaeological research of the La Tène settlement with 38 archaeological features situated in the Záhrady site, located southeast of the urban area of Bratislava in the city part Devín. The article is evaluated the burial context in feature no. 74, which represents a common La Tène dwelling, where skeletal remains of a man were found. It aims to reconstruct several aspects connected to properties, existence, destruction, and secondary usage through the method of inverse transformation. Based on interim results, are created hypotheses focusing on the interpretation of such behaviour. Can we join these activities with intramural burial or its only proof of disposal of the dead? Interpretation goes further when taking in count presents of the charcoal layer, which may indicate more deep activities connected with cremation rituals. Those questions are discussed in the context of central European archaeology and the need for rethinking some old conclusions is emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During rescue excavations in the town of Sereď, Galanta distr., SW Slovakia, a settlement from the La Tène Period was uncovered. The article analyses two sunken features, pit-houses. A usual set of pottery consisting of bowl and vase shapes, situlas and situla-shaped pots was discovered in their fills. One of the features is well dated by two fragments of bracelets made of sapropelite. Settlement is dated to the Middle La Tène Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article briefly presents the history of textile archaeology in Slovakia, the foundations of which were laid out by Karol Pieta. With his scientific curiosity and hunger for the new adventures, Karol Pieta has been crossing the boundaries of his discipline his whole life. The conditions for the preservation of organic materials are generally very unfavourable, which is why they were often overlooked by archaeologists. Interest for textiles first started with remains hidden in tubular anklets dated to the La Tène Period, initially noticed and studied by Karol Pieta. The most unique ones come from Nové Zámky and shed light on an embroidery technique of the Late Iron Age. The majority of prehistoric textiles in Slovakia are dated to the La Tène Period and it is comparable with finds from the Czech Republic and Austria. A find from an unknown location analysed in 2021, can with certainty be assigned to the corpus of La Tène Period textiles. It can be assumed that linen tabbies made of simple z-spun threads were preferred in this period. Textiles were found in different circumstances, usually mineralised on metal artefacts in graves. The primary use of these textiles was for clothing and ritual wrappings. A secondary use is evidenced by textile fillings of bronze hollow anklets. A Celtic female dress was reconstructed based on the position of artefacts found in the graves, as well on the observations of La Tène Period textiles, in particular the Nové Zámky embroidery. It is interesting to see, that textiles were apparently used as a code to reflect social and aesthetic values. In society they played an important role in the definition and expression of social space and of group relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain summits in the Slovak part of the Western Carpathians bear evidence of human presence from the Late Bronze to the Late Iron Age. According to fire-induced changes in archaeological record and finds of weaponry, some of the extreme upland sites (EUS) were viewed as places of safety or refugia violently destroyed within a short period. We have focussed on three sites with summits at 1300–1550 m a. s. l. and found out that two of them were used in 650–400 calBC and 390–150 calBC, respectively. By the first systematic use of 14C dating and targeted 14C sampling, we have overcome the inherent chronological imprecision of their artefactual record and opened new vistas for interpretation of this type of sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the application of non-destructive methods on the Tvrdošovce site. The goal of the paper is to inform about the latest results of a non-destructive survey at the Včelíny site in the village of Tvrdošovce. The case study of this site aims to present a combination of various non-destructive methods such as geophysical survey, LiDAR, aerial, and satellite photos with a subsequent comparison with features that previously underwent a process of archaeological excavation. This polycultural site has primarily the character of a settlement. Based on metal prospection, the largest settlement scope may be dated to the Roman period; based on archaeological excavation, the largest period of the settlement may be the middle La Tene period in LTB2/LTC1 and LTC2. An archaeological excavation was performed on the site from 2017 to 2019. Prior to this, an intense surface prospecting using metal detectors had been carried out on this site since 2015. This prospection showed significant Roman, and, to a lesser extent, Bronze Age, Hallstatt, La Tene, and Middle Age settlements. In addition, two geophysical surveys were carried out here in 2017 and 2022. Non-destructive methods are often considered ineffective in the case of lowland sites. Nevertheless, we will try to present a successful example of a combination of these different approaches in the presented article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is focused mainly on summarization of materials provided by documents on existence of settlements, settle-ment features from the territory of southwestern Slovakia and their possible use as residences. We also raise a question about the size and urbanism of settlements and their specifications from the aspect of a common inhabitant or elite of the then society with higher status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fortified sites from the La Tène Period belong to the main research topics of Karol Pieta. He has contributed to their field excavations in the mountainous environment of Slovakia to a great extent. He also very intensely deals with their classification and dating. In the text, I try to apply his knowledge on the research of the fortified sites in the regions of the Hron and Ipeľ river basins and also confront them with the latest research. K. Pieta has distinguished several types of fortifications: hillfort, castella, small hillfort, refuge place, etc. Unlike other authors, he did not consider only the size of the fortified area, but also its use. Individual fortifications and enclosed areas might have had a practical function, social or symbolic meaning. K. Pieta promotes mainly the defensive and protective function of the fortified sites in the territory of Slovakia. There had to be real reasons and favourable conditions for existence of fortifications, as they were often large structures challenging as for work power and its organization, project with some experience as well as available sources of building material and strategical thinking of the authors. Nevertheless, he does not exclude possible central, commercial or sacral function of the fortified settlements. I have selected the regions of Pohronie and Poiplie in the analysis for three reasons - they are more or less complexly processed and their character allows application of results also for other parts of the north of the Carpathian Basin, maybe with the exception of the area of the Bratislava oppidum. The third characteristics of the chosen region which was the reason for selecting it as a 'model' is that it is partly a peripheral area of the La Tène settlement in the north of the Carpathian Basin, where two cultural areas meet - the La Tène and Púchov cultures. According to the current state of research, there are 26 fortified sites of different sizes and forms in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During rescue excavations in the town of Sereď, Galanta distr., SW Slovakia, a settlement from the La Tène Period was uncovered. The article analyses two sunken features, pit-houses. A usual set of pottery consisting of bowl and vase shapes, situlas and situla-shaped pots was discovered in their fills. One of the features is well dated by two fragments of bracelets made of sapropelite. Settlement is dated to the Middle La Tène Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article briefly presents the history of textile archaeology in Slovakia, the foundations of which were laid out by Karol Pieta. With his scientific curiosity and hunger for the new adventures, Karol Pieta has been crossing the boundaries of his discipline his whole life. The conditions for the preservation of organic materials are generally very unfavourable, which is why they were often overlooked by archaeologists. Interest for textiles first started with remains hidden in tubular anklets dated to the La Tène Period, initially noticed and studied by Karol Pieta. The most unique ones come from Nové Zámky and shed light on an embroidery technique of the Late Iron Age. The majority of prehistoric textiles in Slovakia are dated to the La Tène Period and it is comparable with finds from the Czech Republic and Austria. A find from an unknown location analysed in 2021, can with certainty be assigned to the corpus of La Tène Period textiles. It can be assumed that linen tabbies made of simple z-spun threads were preferred in this period. Textiles were found in different circumstances, usually mineralised on metal artefacts in graves. The primary use of these textiles was for clothing and ritual wrappings. A secondary use is evidenced by textile fillings of bronze hollow anklets. A Celtic female dress was reconstructed based on the position of artefacts found in the graves, as well on the observations of La Tène Period textiles, in particular the Nové Zámky embroidery. It is interesting to see, that textiles were apparently used as a code to reflect social and aesthetic values. In society they played an important role in the definition and expression of social space and of group relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article briefly presents the history of textile archaeology in Slovakia, the foundations of which were laid out by Karol Pieta. With his scientific curiosity and hunger for the new adventures, Karol Pieta has been crossing the boundaries of his discipline his whole life. The conditions for the preservation of organic materials are generally very unfavourable, which is why they were often overlooked by archaeologists. Interest for textiles first started with remains hidden in tubular anklets dated to the La Tène Period, initially noticed and studied by Karol Pieta. The most unique ones come from Nové Zámky and shed light on an embroidery technique of the Late Iron Age. The majority of prehistoric textiles in Slovakia are dated to the La Tène Period and it is comparable with finds from the Czech Republic and Austria. A find from an unknown location analysed in 2021, can with certainty be assigned to the corpus of La Tène Period textiles. It can be assumed that linen tabbies made of simple z-spun threads were preferred in this period. Textiles were found in different circumstances, usually mineralised on metal artefacts in graves. The primary use of these textiles was for clothing and ritual wrappings. A secondary use is evidenced by textile fillings of bronze hollow anklets. A Celtic female dress was reconstructed based on the position of artefacts found in the graves, as well on the observations of La Tène Period textiles, in particular the Nové Zámky embroidery. It is interesting to see, that textiles were apparently used as a code to reflect social and aesthetic values. In society they played an important role in the definition and expression of social space and of group relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents new research on fortified settlements from the Early Iron Age in the Orava and Dunajec river valleys. Based on the characteristics of the construction of the fortifications and similarities in terms of material culture, we propose recognizing the hillforts discovered here as a manifestation of one cultural and settlement horizon related to the so-called Pre-Púchov stage. The radiocarbon determinations obtained for the contexts stratigraphically related to the ramparts from the Nižná-Ostražica, Zabrzeż-Babia Góra, and Maszkowice-Góra Zyndrama sites are already located on the calibration curve after the so-called Hallstatt plateau and allow this horizon to be dated to the 4th century BC, i.e. to the times corresponding to the La Tène B1-B2 phases. Our observations confirm the opinions appearing in more recent literature about the need to date the Pre-Púchov stage in Slovakia earlier, and discuss the thesis about the continuation of settlement at the beginning of the La Tène period. With regard to the Polish Carpathian zone, arguments indicating the possibility of the survival of settlements with Early Iron Age traditions up to the 4th century BC are presented for the first time. This allows us to assume that the process of the formation of the cultural tradition of the La Tène period here progressed in a similar manner to Slovakia, and it was not solely the result of migration from the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period of 2002–2004, two hoards and two individual finds of coins from the La Tène Period were discovered in the fortified settlement Hôrka, municipality Lysica, district Žilina, Slovak Republic. The collection containing 61 coins featured shovel-shaped staters of the type gliding bird/bird head, tetradrachms of the types Nitra and Veľký Bysterec, quinarii of Divinka type and a smooth bronze disc. All the above mentioned coin types were part of the monetary system of the Late La Tène stage of the Púchov Culture. In the coin collection from Lysica, tetradrachms of Nitra type are extraordinary important. The model of this type was probably the Roman Republican denarius of L. Papius L. f. Celsus from 45 BC. This Roman denarius represents the terminus post quem of the inception of coins of Nitra type as well of the time of hiding the most numerous hoard n° 1 form Lysica. The collection of bronze items damaged mechanically and by fire and found at the site indicates that the place could have been used for ritual purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]