Ten Thousand Years along the Middle Danube

The present volume offers a selection of the results of the multidisciplinary Danubius Project conducted between 1999 and 2004 by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS).
Led by Árpád Bérezik, the principal goal of the HAS Danubius Project was the exploration of various aspects of the Danube’s geographical, environmental, ecological, botanical, economic and cultural impact. Coordinated by the Institute of Ecology and Botany of HAS, the Institute of Archaeology of HAS participated in the ambitious research project witli the aim of shedding new light on the history and archaeological heritage of the regions along the river’s middle section. On the initiative of the Institute of Archaeology, archaeologists from the Slovakian Academy of Sciences too joined this work.
Joint research aimed at a better understanding of this major waterway did not cease after the conclusion ofthe Danubius Project. From 2011, the Hungarian Danube Research Station will continue this fascinating work as an independent research centre (Hungarian Danube Research Institute). The priorities ofthe Strategy for the Danube Region recently adopted by the European Union include both the macroregional sustainable development ofthe regions and countries that lie in the river’s catchment and the protection of the environment, the historic landseapes and the cultural heritage of these lands.
The Danube is one of the major European rivers, flowing through many diverse regions along its many thousands of kilometres long course. The studies written by Hungarian and Slovakian archaeologists coverthe role ofthe Danube in linking peoples and regions, in promoting interaction between them or, conversely, in acting as a natural barrier during the vast period from prehistory to the Middle Ages. The papers collected in this volume vary in their scope, ranging from a factual presentation offinds to broader analyses, all with the aim of revealing various facets of the successive millennia in the region. The first study offers a comprehensive overview ofthe region’s environmental history and of the human impact on the Danubian landseape. This paper is followed by reports on the research conducted along the river’s Slovakian section. The volume’s second part is made up of studies focusing on various aspects ofthe Neolithic, the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, the Roman Age, the Migration period and the Early and High Middle Ages in the Southern regions ofthe Danube Valley set in a broader cultural perspective.
The research project ended in 2004. With a few exceptions, most of the manuseripts submitted for this volume were closed in 2004 and were then slightly revised and updated. The publication of the volume was made possible by a generous grant from the National Cultural Fund of Hungary. Thanks are due to Dénes Jankovich-Bésán, Mária Bondár for their assistance in the editorial work, and to Klára Kuzmová (Trnava) for her help in editing the studies by our Slovakian colleagues. Our greatest debt of gratitude goes to Árpád Bérezik for his constant encouragement and support.

Csanád Bálint