Hic sunt leones? The Morava Valley Region During the Early Middle Ages: The Bilateral Mobility Project between Slovakia and Austria

Abstract

Cross-border cooperation is very important for understanding the cultural-historical development of the border regions of modern day states. These areas, today, are often considered as “peripheries”. However, in the past they usually had a very different function and status. This article introduces one bilateral mobility project between the archaeological departments at the University of Vienna and the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, aimed at facilitating more focused early medieval archaeological research in the region along the lower stretches of the Morava River. The article introduces the region, its history and state of research and describes the role of the project, the team and the project results obtained up to date. IANSA 2017 ● VIII/1 ● 99–104 Mária Hajnalová, Stefan Eichert, Jakub Tamaškovič, Nina Brundke, Judith Benedix, Noémi Beljak Pažinová, Dominik Repka: Hic sunt leones? The Morava Valley Region During the Early Middle Ages: The Bilateral Mobility Project between Slovakia and Austria 100 (cf. Herold 2011; 2012; 2016; Henning, Ruttkay 1998; 2011; Macháček 2013; Ruttkay 2012; 2015). For these and other reasons, the cultural landscape and the early medieval settlement structure of the lower Morava River have never been researched as a single entity – a complex system consisting of various types of settlements and burial grounds. 3. The region under study Geographically, the studied area belongs to the Vienna Basin. The central axis is formed by the lower course of the Morava River. In Slovakia, the area covers the southern part of the Záhorie region (Bor Lowlands) – the territory between the river and the Lower Carpathians, delimited by the Myjava River to the north and the area of Bratislava to the south. In Austria, it covers the adjacent parts of the Marchfeld (Figure 1). While the region’s medieval material culture (e.g. ceramics and metal finds) is relatively uniform on both sides of the river, the natural environment differs. The lower elevations in both countries are covered by the level floodplains of the Morava River and its tributaries. The elevated, upland areas in Austria represent the stable loess hills of the rolling landscape of Weinwiertel. In Slovakia, almost half of the study region is covered by unstable dunes of eolithic sands (Fordinál 2012; Kalivodová et al. 2008, 10) that form a highly specific and unique environment. These differences in geology are mirrored in different soil types and vegetation. 4. A brief history of the region In the sixth and seventh century AD, Slavs settled and established new communities on the territory of what is now the Austrian, Slovakian and Moravian side of the Morava River (Fusek 2013; Fusek, Zábojník 2003). In the vicinity of Bratislava, in the southern part of the study region, there is a strong evidence for probably peaceful interactions between Slavs and Avars (Bialeková, Zábojník 1996; Herold 2010; 2014; Winter 1997; Zábojník 1989; 2009). Further to the west and north along the Morava River, the evidence for Avaric influence declines (Zábojník 1999). At the beginning and first half of the eighth century AD, the dichotomy between the development of the areas east and west of the Morava River seems to have grown. The eastern part (now in Slovakia) most probably fell under the political influence of the Moravian Principality (Ruttkay 2008, 269–270), while the western part (now in Austria) was gradually incorporated into the realm of Emperor Charlemagne. He used the Danube River and adjacent lands as a route and base for his military expeditions against the Avars (Zábojník 2009, 10–13). Later, during the late eighth and start of the ninth century AD, the area on both sides of the river seems to have transformed into a buffer zone between the Carolingian Empire, the Moravian Principality and the Principality of Nitra. After the principalities of Moravia and Nitra merged in the ninth century with the conquest of Mojmír I in the Moravian Empire, the region became a contact and, at the same time, a frontier zone of the Carolingian Empire. The life of the people living here in those times was most probably strongly influenced by several military conflicts that lasted for over half a century (Musilová 2012; Steinhübel 2012a, 310–312). At the beginning of the tenth century, the area witnessed the collapse of the Great Moravian Empire and the raids from tribes of “Old Hungarians” (Révész 2014; Vavruš 2008; Staššíková–Štukovská 2008). During the Figure 1. The study region in the Marchfeld – Záhorie area. 1. Oberleiserberg, 2. Michelstetten, 3. Hohenau, 4. Devínska Nová Ves – Nad Lomom, 5. Devínska Nová Ves – Na Pieskach, 6. Bratislava – Devín, 7. Bratislava – Hradný vrch; small dots – other early medieval sites with information available in published sources. IANSA 2017 ● VIII/1 ● 99–104 Mária Hajnalová, Stefan Eichert, Jakub Tamaškovič, Nina Brundke, Judith Benedix, Noémi Beljak Pažinová, Dominik Repka: Hic sunt leones? The Morava Valley Region During the Early Middle Ages: The Bilateral Mobility Project between Slovakia and Austria 101 first decades of the tenth century and up to the eleventh century, the western side of the Morava River (today in Austria) transformed into a border/buffer zone between the newly-arriving Hungarians and the already, by then, “autochthonous” Slavic populations (Štefanovičová 2008, 139–146). Life in the region of Bratislava seems to have continued without interruption and with no indication in the archaeological evidence of any catastrophic events (Goldberg 2004; Štefanovičová 2012, 336). Bratislava became a political centre and the seat of a “comitatus” of the Hungarian kingdom (Steinhübel 2012b). The situation was very different north-west of Bratislava. The region at the confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers (March/ Thaya) and central Moravia witnessed a discontinuity in development. The collapse of the Great Moravian central sites is manifested in the archaeological record (Kouřil 2008; Macháček, Wihoda 2013; Štefan 2011, 344–348). Later, during the eleventh century, the region developed into a zone of interaction between Přemyslid Moravia, Árpád Hungary and the Babenberg March. During the first decades of the eleventh century, the region of Bratislava fell under the control of the kingdom of Poland (Steinhübel 2012b, 363). From the middle of the eleventh to the thirteenth century, the Záhorie Region literally turned into a “no man’s land”. It was purposely depopulated, and the area known as a “confinium” again served as a “buffer zone” between territory of the Árpád dynasty and its neighbours (cf. Hladík 2014, 61; Janšák 1960). Due to the absence of focused archaeological research in this study region, it remains unclear on what scale, and how much, the historical events described above and the differences in the natural environment east and west of the Morava River have influenced the life of the people, their settlement and subsistence strategies. 5. The project role, aims and goals The main role of the project is to find the most effective ways and methods to enable researchers to use and visualise the majority of the already-existing archaeological and environmental data which would help to minimise the existing biases. This goal is being achieved by collecting as much data as possible from archaeological sites and “findspots”, describing and classifying them using a common terminology and chronology as well as organizing and storing them together in a single database. The plan is that the collected data will be released as open data and made available for a wider audience, even after the project has reached completion. As such, scholars will be able to carry out multiple, joint cross-border analyses which to date has not been possible. Among other things, after the transformation of cross-regional data to formats more suitable for statistical analyses, GIS (cf. Demján, Dreslerová 2016; Dresler, Macháček 2013; Hladík 2014, 72–110; Kamermans et al. 2009; Lieskovský et al. 2013; Verhagen, Whitley 2012; Verhagen et al. 2013; Verhagen et al. 2016) and agent-based modelling (Danielisová, Štekerová 2015; Wurzer et al. 2015), it will be possible to draw a more realistic picture of the cultural-historical and economic development of the area along the lower stretches of the Morava/March River during the period from the sixth to the eleventh century AD.