Settlement of the Basin on the Middle Course of the Morava River During the Early Middle Ages— General Model (Tested Hypotheses) and the First Preliminary Model

Chapter 6 Settlement of the Basin on the Middle Course of the Morava River during the Early Middle Ages— General Model (Tested Hypotheses) and the First Preliminary Model

The construction of the preliminary model was the first step in the presented research of the settlement in the Lower Morava valley during the early Middle Ages. The content of the preliminary model is the quantitative description of individual components of the settlement network and basic relationships between them and natural agents—entities and qualities of the natural environ- ment (Neustupný 1994, Dresler and Macháček 2008). The preliminary model was based on the results of prior archaeological and historical research in the area under study. The basis for the preliminary model is thus a summary of results of prior research. The preliminary model itself is thus preceded by a briefly defined general model of the settlement (Neustupný 1986a) focusing on a thor- ough definition of the tested hypotheses. Prior archaeological theories partici- pate in the creation of the general and preliminary model. The problems raised by this approach are those that Evžen Neustupný has mentioned (Neustupný 2010, 27). However, I believe it is necessary to create an interpretation model by means of gradual theory building. It goes without saying that neither archaeologists, nor historians will ever be able to attain complete knowledge. Structures that one looks for in sources, without any individual features, and not time-or space-sensitive enable one to create just a limited picture of the past. In an attempt to paint a better picture, one needs retrodiction (filling in the gaps). Previous archaeological theories are thus an important part of modelling. The model is a thought reproduction of the actual reality (Ochrana 2009, 25). When interpreting the results, it is necessary to consider the sim- plifying assumptions based on which the model functioning is founded. The result is that even models built on a systematically created theory enable us to form only relative conclusions, especially when the expressed statement only applies to the conditions of model functioning. Even when creating a general and preliminary model, one is confronted with the problem of uneven sources originating in a relatively long time period. Archaeological excavations and their published results reveal different methodologies. It is therefore necessary to turn briefly to a history of research, in order to evaluate the sources available for the preliminary model.

6.1 History of Research

The region under study is now divided between two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. As a consequence, research is different on either side of the current state border. The northern part of Záhorie was much less the subject of attention in the past than southeastern Moravia. Záhorie: Most Slovak archaeologists dealing with the early medieval settlement paid attention to the entire territory of Slovakia (Čaplovič 1998b, Chropovský 1985, Ruttkay 1985a, Ruttkay and Slivka 1985, Šalkovský 1988). Studies of selected regions within Slovakia are rare (Čaplovič 1996, Čaplovič and Habovštiak 1996, König 2007, Ruttkay 1993, 1996, Ruttkay 2006, Staššíková-Štukovská 2008). In the first half of the 20th century, knowledge of early medieval settlement in the Záhorie region was enhanced mainly through the work of Štefan Janšák and Vojtech Budinský-Krička (Budinský-Krička 1945–46, 1948, Janšák 1913, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1933–34, 1935). In the course of the 1960s, Janšák tried to describe and interpret some phenomena related to the structure of the settlement in the northern part of Záhorie during the Middle Ages. In several studies, he of- fered an interpretation of the form of communication (Janšák 1960, 1961, 1964a, b). The “stigma” of the borderland also appeared in Záhorie in the post-war archaeology. In spite of unique finds and intensive research in southeastern Morava (see below), the northern Záhorie region remained a marginal area in terms of research intensity. In the 1960s, early medieval finds from a broader area of southwestern Slovakia were examined by Darina Bialeková (Bialeková 1962). During the 1970s and 1980s, works appeared sporadically dealing with early medieval settlements in the northern part of Záhorie, mainly focusing on the post-Great Moravian period (Ruttkay 1983, Varsík 1972). This status per- sisted in fact throughout the 1990s when several research projects and larger rescue excavations started in Záhorie (Baxa and Glaser-Opitzová 2005, Baxa et al. 2005, Blažová, Kuzma, and Rajtár 2000, Drahošová 1997, Drahošová and Vančo 1996, Elschek 2002, Elschek and Marková 2000, Ferus and Baxa 2005). Perhaps the most important archaeologist for the study of Záhorie was Ľudmila Kraskovská who examined dozens of archaeological sites in the region (Kraskovská 1959, 1965, 1969, 1971). It was not before the late 1980s that the early medieval settlement in Záhorie began to appear in archaeological pub- lications Basic archaeological sources were first published, together with the relevant literature (including Kraskovská’s works) in the late 1980s (Bialeková 1989). Two decades later, Tomáš Tencer built a database of early medieval sites in the district of Senica (before the reintroduction of regions as administra- tive units in 1996; Tencer 2008). Ever since the early 1990s, the early medieval settlements in the northern part of Záhorie have been under the investigation