This region, which includes the Puchov culture of the Tatry Mountains and parts of the Hungarian Plain, is characterized by a plethora of small hill-forts which appear sometime in the first century BC. Like Roman forts or medieval castles, some of these became the nucleus for more extensive occupation, loose agglomerations of farmsteads and industrial zones, extending up to a kilometre or more from the central nucleus, what I have termed the Zemplm type of settlement (Collis 1972). What lay
Figure lo. i Location of sites mentioned by Julius Caesar in Gaul. (From Collis 1984,
Fig. 2.1.)
In the central enclosed nucleus seems to have varied. Logically the size of the ramparts at Zemplm suggests a defensive function. Nitriansky Hradok contained a cluster of unpretentious houses overlying an earlier cemetery. At Liptovska Mara in northern Slovakia the primary function was ritual: from the entrance a stone path, strewn with burnt offerings (bronzes, fibulae, burnt animal bones and cereals), led to a pit which contained fragments of female human remains (Pieta 1982). From the two phases remains of eight individuals were found, several of whom suffered from genetic abnormalities. On the slopes of the hill and around its foot were clusters of occupation, including farm enclosures, but also plentiful evidence of industrial production - glass, coinage, iron and other metals. Liptovska Mara was only one of a number of defended settlements in the Liptov Basin, but it seems to have acted as a central place. Several such semi-nucleated sites are known in the region with evidence of industrial activity - extensive ironworking at Zemplm, and pottery production, including painted wares, at Budapest.
World History
