Ipeľ River Basin

"Late La Tene Period with Focus on Ethnicity in the Hron and Ipeľ River Basins. The area of South Slovakia is one of the less researched areas. The density of its settlement in the La Tene period was highest during the middle La Tene, while later, in the late La Tene, the settlement stagnated. Late La Tene sites occur only in the northern part of the territory, which is the area of Púchov culture. Only six of the sites are in the Hron and Ipeľ river basins. Our research does not take into account the finds that date to this period too generally. The following are the hill forts that probably existed in the late La Tene period: Detva, Horné Pršany, Krivín - Rybník, Selce, Šášovské Podhradie and Žiar nad Hronom.
The population of the late La Tene sites in Slovakia (including that between rivers Hron and Slaná) is normally identified with Celtic tribes. As is generally known, two Celtic tribes are attested in written records in the territory of Slovakia - the Boii and the Cotini. In the middle of the first century BC, the Dacian king Burebista attacked the Celtic tribes of Boii and Taurisces in Pannonia and Slovakia. The Boii were defeated by Burebista, and a part of them probably left or moved to the hilly areas of northern and central Slovakia. Conquests of the Roman Empire were fatal for the Dacians. The Roman conquests are related to the so called Tusculan elogium, which mentions the tribes of Cotini and Osi settled in the mountainous areas of Slovakia. A fragment of the Tusculan elogium tells us that around 10 BC the consul M. Vinicius had contact with the Cotini, Osi and Anarti. These dates are confirmed by the ancient Roman historian Tacitus (Germania 43). The Cotini are considered the bearers of Púchov culture. In the Hron river basin they are placed mostly in the northern areas (Detva, Horná Lehota, Horné Pršany, etc.). Sometimes they are localised in the wider area of central Slovakia or even as south as the Danube. This, however, is opposed by the fact that the area was not settled, or was only settled in the upper Hron river basin. That the Cotini would settle by the Danube seems to be impossible. The region of the upper Tisa, which borders our area, was also settled only sporadically in the stage LTD. The same is true of the Roman period. Dacians are another group which can be excluded from the settlement in the Hron and Ipeľ river basins, since we do not have any evidence of them in this area , as opposed to the areas which border present day Hungary. We have just sporadic or unpublished finds from this area (Chrastince, Ipeľské Predmostie, Kamenín, Maďarovce, Slovenské Ďarmoty, Šarovce).
The Osi might have been settled in the northern parts of Pannonia but written records of them are even scarcer than in the case of other ethnicities. According to some hypotheses they lived to the north of the Danube bend. As with the other ethnic groups, their settlement in the researched area is not attested in the late La Tene period, including the Ipeľ river basin, which is a likely settlement area.
The bearers of Púchov culture - the Cotini - seem to be the only population that certainly lived in the upper Hron river basin. Some La Tene relics may have relation to other Celtic tribes, especially the Boii or another, unnamed, tribe. Other ethnic groups mentioned in literature as dwellers in the territory - the Azali, the Eravisci, the Osi or the Anarti - are improbable in the researched area. Based on excavations, the only ethnic group in the Hron and Slaná areas are the Celtic Cotini. The arrival of Germanic tribes to the area in the Roman period modified the ethnic map. The region with the adjacent areas may have become a ‘no man’s land’ because it got beyond the confines of interests of several powers. It may also have lost its economic appeal temporarily."