Balatonfüred [antikvár]

THE HISTORY OF BALATONFÜREDWho would have thought that Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe, was one of the youngest as well? So young, in fact, that mankind was already here to see it develop. For we know that hunting peoples of the Ice Age dug a quarry in the second interglacial period on the edge of the village of Lovas, near Balatonfüred, using reindeer antlers as primitive tools. What they quarried was red clay, to paint their bodies. This quarry is 30,000 years old, while the lake, according to pollen samples taken from its bed, is 10,000 years younger than that.Of course the trench in which the water gathered came into being much earlier. This depression, 70 km long and up to 10 km wide, was created by tectonic action deep down in the earth, while volcanic eruptions lent variety to its surroundings. In the glacial periods the rift was covered by a mantle of ice. As the glaciers melted, the trench filled up with fresh water, only to evaporate again in the dry interglacial periods. So the lake dried up several times. The mass of water today is replenished by various streams and a modest river flowing in, by springs in the lake bed, and by rain falling onto the surface.The life in and on the lake is rich without being exceptional. The earliest surveys of these decidedly shallow watersrevealed 41 species of fish, with the surrounding reed beds as a habitat for numerous kinds of water fowl. Some of the prehistoric men who frequented its shores settled, but the earliest village-dwelling tribes of the Stone Age preferred to site their main settlements up valleys some distance away. So the prehistoric finds around Lake Balaton are much less frequent than those elsewhere in the district.The first historically recorded, identifiable peoples to appear were the still tribal Celts, an Iron Age people who travelled and conquered throughout Europe, spreading what is known as La Téne culture. But they did not settle permanently by Lake Balaton, although three large urns discovered while a house was being built in Balatonfüred provide evidence that they were here.The Romans set about conquering the province they called Pannónia in the first decade AD, gradually extending their rule as far as the Danube, and building a system of roads to link their garrisons (castra) and towns (oppida). Their most important route in this region was navigation on the Danube. Developing and securing this was their top priority, so that most of their settlements were established on the Danube banks. The nearest Roman town to1363