The oldest part of the history of human civilization is called the Early Stone Age - Paleolithic. The technical name consists of the Greek words palaios (old) and lithos (stone). According to absolute dating, the Paleolithic is roughly divided into four unequally long sections as follows:
- old 2,000,000-260,000 years before Christ
- middle 260,000-40,000 years before Christ
- young 40,000-15,000 years before Christ
- late 15,000- 8200 BC
From a geological point of view, this period belonged to the Pleistocene Quaternary, which was characterized by alternating ice and inter-ice periods. The developmental rise of the human individual took place on this long timeline, broken down into archaeological cultures. Today's man, Homo sapiens sapiens, entered the scenery of the world at the junction of the Middle and Young Paleolithic, 40 thousand years ago. The majority of southwestern Slovakia is home to the Szelet culture (named after the Szelet Cave in Hungary), which has filled the older phase of the Young Paleolithic for ten millennia. It was still a period of unproductive farming, and the main source of livelihood for the ancestral society was successful collective hunting. Man already knew the fire that protected him from discomfort, was a source of light, a protection from predators, and what was very important, improved the quality of the meat eaten. The collection of plant products formed only a supplementary component of the diet. Caves and rock overhangs served as his hiding place, but places in open terrain were also short-term centers of residence. A characteristic type of tool-weapons in greenery are leaf tips bearing a fine scale retouch on the surfaces. Did this man also live in Boleraz?
The western slope of the Šarkan hill, descending freely to the floodplain of the Bíňov brook, is in places where it creates flat terraces directly destined for Paleolithic settlement. Tertiary gravels, protruding to the surface, make it possible to observe the ancient formability of the area. The surface archaeological collection that took place in Boleráz was initially concentrated in these places. The result was the finding of stone spikes in the shape of a poplar leaf made of limnoquartite. They are credible and provable evidence that, based on the current state of knowledge, we can say that they belong to the early Szelet culture. This means that man made and used them 40,000 years ago. In the same position, radiolarite bites with a bottom retouch and blade-like scrapers (patinated claw) with modified edges were also found. The producer of these artifacts was the people of Gravett culture (named after the cave overhang La Gravette in France). Gravettien turns off the final part of the young Paleolithic and is expressed in the years 20,000 - 15,000 BC. Remarkable is the fact that it was a resettlement. It would be unbearable to talk about settlement continuity. The reason for the new return of man was in the excellent geographical location allowing a wide view, which made hunting more efficient. Another center of Gravett settlement was located southwest of Klčovian on the border with the cadastre of Suchá n / P. Also from this hill come more than a dozen beautiful scrapers made of patinated flint and scrapers made of brown radiolarity. Remarkable is the fact that it was a resettlement. It would be unbearable to talk about settlement continuity. The reason for the new return of man was in the excellent geographical location allowing a wide view, which made hunting more efficient. Another center of Gravett settlement was located southwest of Klčovian on the border with the cadastre of Suchá n / P. Also from this hill come more than a dozen beautiful scrapers made of patinated flint and scrapers made of brown radiolarity. Remarkable is the fact that it was a resettlement. It would be unbearable to talk about settlement continuity. The reason for the new return of man was in the excellent geographical location allowing a wide view, which made hunting more efficient. Another center of Gravett settlement was located southwest of Klčovian on the border with the cadastre of Suchá n / P. Also from this hill come more than a dozen beautiful scrapers made of patinated flint and scrapers made of brown radiolarity.
The prehistoric history of the world, our homeland and thus Boleráz was made up of people who underwent a daily struggle with nature. They depended on it and coexisted in harmonious symbiosis. The objects they have left us are the foundations of not only material but also aesthetic culture. The tooth of time prevailed over their leather, bone and wood products. What reminds us of the inhabitants of Boleráz are objects made of stone. In conclusion, it can be said that these are newly discovered Paleolithic localities that complement the current state of historical knowledge in the region. All objects from the finds in Boleráza were typologically determined and included by PhDr. Ladislav Banesz, CSc. an expert from the Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Nitra, for which we express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to him in this way as well.
The Early Stone Age was replaced by the Middle Stone Age - Mesolithic (8200 - 5500 BC), which is the beginning of the geological presence, the Holocene. The dynamics of the development is well observable in the archaeological finds from Boleráz. Old leaf tips have been replaced by cut stone axes, chisels, scythes and a range of mowing equipment. This also includes cutters and grain shredders, etc. The rebirth of man's civilization culminated when he mastered the secrets of making and firing pottery. Everything that was before is called the pre-ceramic horizon. The prehistoric potter applied his imagination and aesthetic feeling to the shape of the vessels and their decoration. These criteria have become a determining factor in classifying the findings into Neolithic cultural groups.
The Stone Age is completed by the Late Stone Age - Eneolithic (3200 -1900 BC) As before, we also divide this into three stages of development - older, middle and young Eneolithic. As this period is of the greatest importance for Boleráz, we will mention it in a little more detail. In its older phase in other Slovakia, other areas of the Lengyel cultural complex persisted. They were: the Brodzany-Nitra group, the Ludanická group and the Bajč group. In the Middle Eneolithic, a group with fluted ceramics was widespread in Slovakia. Its older stage of development was the Bolero group. The Young Neolithic cultural circle is closed by the groups: Bošácka, Kosihy-Čaka and Kostolacká.
Bolerázská skupina
The typological group was separated and defined within the culture with fluted ceramics in 1958 by Bohuslav Novotný and in 1959 by Evžen F. Neústupný. It was widespread throughout southwestern Slovakia, Moravia, Silesia, the adjacent part of Poland, Lower Austria, Burgenland and Carinthia. From Slovakia, the most famous localities include: Boleráz, Nitriansky Hrádok, Bešeňov, Iža, Štúrovo, Radošina and Barca.
The settlements of the Boleráz group bearers are mostly situated in lowland areas near watercourses. There are at least five such housing estates in Boleráz. But none of them have been systematically examined. Ceramics of this period are characterized by perfect technical processing, although it is not rich in shape. The most represented in the finds are pot-shaped vessels with interesting plastic decoration. The large development of weaving is evidenced by the large number of clay pigs abundant in the localities. Most often they are represented by a low conical with a slightly bottomed curved part. Stone tools represent larger axes, flat axes and small chisels are no special feature. They were mostly found intact. Green slate and serpentinites (snakes) were used as material in their production. The spherical grain crushers were mostly made of quartz. The split industry, mainly made of flint and radiolarity, is also represented.
Archaeological research only confirmed the dense settlement of the cadastre of the village and the built-up area in the Neolithic and Eneolithic. The localities rich in finds lie below the western slope of Šarkan, in the vicinity of the chateau, on the north-eastern edge of Horní háj, in Pavlova dolina, but especially on both banks of the Trnávka river to the border with the Šelpíc cadastre, where settlement continues. Among the local citizens, Dominik Čavara, František Drdúl, Imrich Balažovič and Vdp were engaged in searching for archeological monuments in the past. Andrej Danišovič.
Hradisko The
Eneolithic castle ended the last historical section of the Stone Age. Time from about 1900 - 700 BC. is called the Bronze Age in an epoch-making breakdown. The alloy of copper and tin had disproportionately many advantages over stone, and at the end of the Eneolithic already used copper, because it enabled better production of weapons and tools. It is divided into four basic sections: older, middle, young and late Bronze Age. They are characterized by a number of cultural circles.
The most important period for Boleráz and within it is the Hungarian culture (named after the fortified settlement in Maďarovce - today Santovka - Malinovec). At this time (about 1500 BC) in the castle, 1 km southwest of the village, there was a fortified settlement. Its fortification system consisted of a rampart, palisades and a pointed moat. A very unfortunate decision was to build a landfill in this position. Not only has the country's culture been disrupted, but an important archeological site has been destroyed. The last rescue research was carried out by the staff of the West Slovak Museum in Trnava under the leadership of PhDr. Petr Novák in August 1983. Field work for the construction of the dump was already in full swing. Many archeologically interesting objects were broken and destroyed. The museum staff managed to examine five settlement pits. The finding material was represented by fragments of amphorae, egg-shaped pots, deep and shallow bowls and cups with a cylindrical body. Thanks to the personal commitment and activity of Dr. Novak there are unique objects documenting the pulse of life in the Early Bronze Age in Boleraz. Life on the high fort in Boleráz did not end the invasion of the invaders, but the people moved away. Perhaps they have built new settlements in lower positions, closer to the watercourse, to confirm the geographical advantage of the place where today's village is located.
Towards the turn of the ages
The historical section from the end of the Bronze Age to the turn of the century is called the Iron Age. It is divided into time-limited sections. The first is the Early Iron Age - Hallstatt (700-500 BC) and the second is the Earlier Iron Age - La Tène (500 BC). It was a period of great historical change and technical progress. Metallurgical iron processing has enabled great progress in the field of crafts. In the Latin, a potter's wheel appeared, weaving improved, jewelry reached a high level, and metal coins and coins were introduced.
Our territory was inhabited by tribes that are known from the reports of ancient authors. The most famous of these are the Celts. A reminder of their presence are the finds of pottery, which was found near Klčovany in the locality of Pri šelpický chotár. Fragments of pottery from the Hallstatt and La Tène periods can also be found in the Boleráz area. One of the places is the garden of the late Dominic Čavar. The crepe material was included in the Hallstatt by prof. Vojtech Budinský-Krička.
Through the first centuries of the new era
At the beginning of the new era, the extent of Celtic power was eliminated by two important factors. The first was the penetration of Roman power to the Danube, the second was the pressure of the Germanic tribes from the north. The time has been given by historians the name Roman times. It covers a section of the first four centuries AD and is divided into older (0 - 200) and younger Roman times (200 - 400 AD). The lowlands of southwestern Slovakia have been inhabited by Germanic people almost all over the time in Rome, and on the basis of archaeological finds, but mainly ancient written sources, can be identified as the tribe of the Quaids. The pressure of the Germanic tribes on the Roman border defense on the Danube (limes Romanum) was strong and constantly enforced military retaliation. In short times of peace, Roman merchants penetrated deep into the interior, to obtain, for attractive goods from the Transdanubian provinces, above all the food necessary for the Roman crews. In the third quarter of the 2nd century, the situation resulted in the Marcomanni wars. The Romans, under the leadership of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, transferred military operations to the territory of present-day Slovakia and, along the Hron, Nitra, Váh and other rivers, penetrated deep into the interior.
It is almost certain that the people who came into contact with the Romans also lived on the territory of today's Boleráz at that time. This presumption is supported by the finding of a fragment from a vessel under the Lower Grove, which was most likely an import.
At the end of Roman times, the power of Rome was deep below its zenith. The onslaught of a new enemy - the Huns, internal crises and a number of other factors - weakened her so much that it disappeared in 476. This date also ends the period of antiquity.
In the European area, there has been a mass movement of the population, which historians have called the migration of nations. In the 4th and 5th centuries, idioms began to leave their northern Carpathian region. They first settled in the Carpathian part of the Danube Basin and later celebrated part of the Balkans. " Over time, they gradually penetrate to the west and turn off the Central European area. In the years 623 - 658, the Frankish merchant Samo headed the Danube Slavs. After his death for more than a and a half centuries, written accounts of the history of the Slavs fell silent. At the beginning of the 9th century, a supra-tribal union of Slavs was born, which is known in history as the Great Moravian Empire. It was established in 833, when Prince Mojmír I expelled Pribina from Nitra and annexed his domain to ancient Moravia. In 846, King Ľudovít Nemec of the East Frankish invaded Moravia, relieving Mojmír I of his reign. and he appointed his son Rastislav on the throne. During his reign, the mission of the Thessalonian brothers came to our ancestors in 863, which brought us the script and has the largest share in the Christianization of this area. In 870, Rastislav's nephew Svätopluk seceded his territory from Great Moravia and recognized Frankish sovereignty. In the same year, Rastislav tried to put an end to his resistance by assassinating Svätopluk, but he himself fell into a trap and Svätopluk handed him over to Karolman. In December 870, at the Reich Assembly in Rezna, Rastislav was sentenced to death, later the sentence was changed to blindness. Great Moravia experienced deep internal crises filled with a constant struggle with the Franks. In the first half of 894 Svätopluk died and his son Mojmír II came to the head of the empire. In June 895, the Czechs broke away from the core of the empire and promised obedience to Arnulf. In 897, the Lusatian seceded from Great Moravia and succumbed to Frankish sovereignty. Another internal crisis occurred when Svätopluk II. rebelled against Brother Mojmír II. in 898. As early as 896, the old Hungarians occupied the southwestern areas of the Great Moravian Empire. The Battle of Bratislava in 907, where the Old Hungarian tribes defeated the Bavarians, was crucial to the disintegration of the Mojmírovce state power.
We have put this historical picture here in order to get an idea of the life and demise of the empire whose actors our ancestors were.
In the Hungarian state
The disintegration of Great Moravia probably did not interrupt the continuity of settlement in Boleráza. The timely feudal Hungarian state was established on the ruins of the empire. Its founder was King St. Stephen (1000 - 1038), who united the Hungarian tribes. Thus he completed the work of his father, Prince Gejza (965 -997). After Slovakia's annexation to Hungary, the rulers left the peripheral area uninhabited and launched to prevent a sudden enemy invasion. This defensive zone between the actually occupied border and the inner border, where more thorough defensive measures were taken, was called confinium. It belonged to the king and later became the subject of donations for faithful service. This also led to its division. The then settlement of Boleráz was also located on the edge of this confina.