The Castellum Pannonicum Pelsonense series was established in 2010, its aim being to publish the results from archaeological investigations in and around the Roman fortification of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. Chronologically, it focuses on...
moreThe Castellum Pannonicum Pelsonense series was established in 2010, its aim being to publish the results from archaeological investigations in and around the Roman fortification of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. Chronologically, it focuses on Late Antiquity but volumes in the series soon began to include pre- and protohistoric contributions (CPP4) or articles concerning the Middle Ages (CPP6). The Kis-Balaton region that includes Fenékpuszta and south-western Hungary in a wider regional sense is home to a dense network of pre- and protohistoric sites which also give significant insights into occupation processes at a supra-regional comparative level. The rich spectrum of finds and contexts in the area led to the idea of assembling a volume that presents older and newer research in the region from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. This objective could not have been reached without the support of the Romano-Germanic Commission (RGK). Eszter Bánffy, director of the RGK, approved the project and worked towards developing the concept alongside Judit Barna. The substantial contribution of the RGK, both financial and in terms of the content of this volume, is acknowledged by including the Commission as a publisher? of the series. Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska oversaw the gestation of the book – as she had done for previous volumes – on behalf of the institutions involved in its publication.
The contributions are arranged chronologically, starting with the Neolithic. The main focus of the volume is on the Copper and Bronze Ages, with an excursus into the Late La Tène period at the end. While the volume contains results from recent fieldwork undertaken by contract archaeology, and even more importantly those of completely new methods like ancient DNA research, the long-overdue publication of some material has also been included. The studies also reflect the decades-long, intensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic research activity of Zsuzsanna M. Virág and Judit P. Barna and their teams on behalf of the Balaton Museum of Keszthely.
Research into the prehistoric settlement pattern of south-western Transdanubia kicked off in 1979. A governmental decision came into force at that time, to re-inundate the former marshland in the estuary of the Zala river and the south-western part of Lake Balaton, in the Little Balaton region. Ever since the 19th century, the land, which had been intentionally drained in the hope of promoting agricultural use, failed to be productive. Thus, before the re-cultivation of the area, which today is under strict natural protection, the archaeological and heritage sites of the region had to be surveyed. Fieldwalking, surveys and excavations were carried out in cooperation with the Thury György Museum (Nagykanizsa), the Göcsej Museum (Zalaegerszeg), the Balatoni Museum (Keszthely) and the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Some of the contributions to the present volume are intended to belatedly offset the debt owed to this past research.
The years of the Little Balaton project proved to be an initial step in long-term and large-scale survey and excavation activity further west, in the valley connecting Nagykanizsa to Zalaegerszeg (e.g. the Hahót project, 1986–1993) and eventually the basin lying close to the Austrian and Slovenian border (the Kerka project, 1995–2002). These projects triggered further research into prehistory and produced some conclusive results from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in the broader region of Western Transdanubia. Finally, the investigations conducted before the M7 motorway was built in the 1990s along the southern shore of Lake Balaton and towards Croatia gave the opportunity to record further sites.
The present volume could draw on this long research tradition. Yet, it is not unusual that the publication of such a composite volume takes time to come to fruition. Most of the manuscripts were handed in by their authors as early as the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016. Thus, the lack of references to literature published after that time is not the authors’ fault but a symptom of the “sickness” affecting multi-authored volumes and hence the result of the long-drawn-out editing process. We would like to thank all our authors for their patience and hope that the resulting volume has been worth the long wait.
One of the authors, László Horváth, sadly did not see this book come out. He had long been committed to the archaeology of the Iron Age and Roman period in south-western Hungary and took part in the investigations and excavations of the Little Balaton project and at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. His essay in our volume was to be the last in a distinguished series of publications.
We hope that this collection of studies on the late prehistoric settlement and occupation of the Little Balaton area is not merely paying back an old debt but a presentation of useful and stimulating results from current research and an inspiration to all those interested in the lives of the early settlers of this region.