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The oldest surviving archeological artefacts from Slovakia date back to 270,000 BCE, the Early Paleolithic Era, and were found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom. These ancient tools were made by the Clactonian technique and are a potent reminder of the ancient habitation of Slovakia.
Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic Era (200,000 - 80,000 BCE) were discovered in the Prévôt cave near Bojnice and other nearby sites. Artefacts were discovered dating back to the Paleolithic Stage, include the famous Cranium Mold of a Neanderthal (c. 200,000 BCE), discovered near Gánovec, a village in Northern Slovakia.
Homo sapiens skeletons were also discovered on in this region. Numerous objects and vestiges of the era of the Gravettian culture have also been found, principally in the river valleys of Nitra, Hron, Ipel, Vah and as far as the city of Zilina, and near the foot of the Virhorlat, Inovec and Tríbec mountains and the Myjava Mountains. Among the most well-known find is the oldest female statue made of mammoth bone—22 800 B.C.—the Venus of Moravany. It was found in the 1940s during an archaelogical research at Moravany nad Váhom near Pieštany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary Period have been discovered at the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina, and Radošinare These findings are the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe.
From an archeological standpoint, the discovery of different instruments and objects made of pottery in several archeological digs and burial places scattered across the Slovakia, and even more surprising, in the northern regions at relatively high altitudes, give evidence to human habitation in the Neolithic period. The pottery of Zeliezovce, that of Gemer and of the Massif Bukové hory is characterized by remarkable modelling and by delicate linear decoration, revealing the first attempts at coloring. These shapes reveal a developed aesthetic sense.
Several caves have also been discovered in Slovakia. One is the famous Domica cave, almost 6000 meters long, which was inhabited down to a depth of 700 meters. This cave is one of the biggest Neolithic deposits in Europe and was inhabited continuously for more than 800 years by the same tribes who created the pottery from the Massif Bukové hory.
The transition towards the Neolithic Era in Central Europe was characterized by the development of agriculture and the clearing of pastures, the first transformation of metals at the local level, by the "Retz" style pottery and also by fluted pottery. During the 'fluted-pottery' era, several fortified sites were built and some vestiges remain today, especially in high-altitude areas. The most well-known being the Nitriansky Hrádok site, which is surrounded by pits. Starting in the Neolithic Era, the geographic location of present-day Slovakia was dense trade network for goods such as shells, amber, jewels and weapons. As a result, it became an important crossroads of European trade routes.
The Bronze Age in Slovakia went through three stages of development, which stretched from 2000- 800 BCE. The most well-known culture of that era was the funeral culture of the Carpathians and that of the middle Danube. During the later Neolithic Age, a considerable growth in cultural regions took place in Slovakia. This phenomena was linked to a large development in local copper manufacturing, especially in Central Slovakia and North-West Slovakia. This metal became a permanent source of enrichment for the local population. After the disappearance of the Cakany and Velatice civilizations, it was the Lusacian people who expanded the building of strong and complex fortifications, the appearance of large permanent buildings and administrative centers, a large growth in trades and agricultural technologies.
The richness and the diversity of the sepulchers increased considerably. Arms, shields, jewelry, dishes and statues were manufactured. Life for the people of Calenderberg who lived in the hamlets located in the plain (Sered) and also in the fortresses located on the summits (Smolenice, Molpír) was disturbed by the arrival of community tribes from the Thrace. The local power of the "Princes" of Hallstatt disappeared in Slovakia during the last period of the Iron Age after the battles which took place between the Scytho-Thracian people and the Celtic tribes, advancing from the South towards the North, following the Slovakian rivers. The victory of the Celts marked the beginning of the later Iron Age. Their reign then disappeared with the Germanic incursions, the victory of Dacia near the Nezider Lake and the expansion of the Roman Empire.
The Roman epoch began in Slovakia in 6 CE., inaugurated by the arrival of Roman legions on this territory which led to a war against the Markoman and Quadi tribes. The Romans and their armies occupied only a thin strip of the right bank of the Danube and a very small part of South-West Slovakia. It was not until 174 CE that Marcus Aurelius penetrated deeper into the river valleys of Vah, Nitra and Hron. It was on the banks of the Hron that he wrote his philosophical work "Meditations."
In 179 CE, the Roman Legion engraved on the rock of the Trencín Castle: Laugaritio, the Roman inscription marking the furthest northern point in Europe.
Roman and German historical theory suggests that the habitation of Central and Western Europe by the Slavs only began in the sixth century CE. However, certain elements attest to the fact that by the beginning of the sixth century, a Slav population was occupying vast territories extending from the Vistule, the Dniestr, the Danube, including present-day Slovakia, the Pannonia and the Coruthania.
The most recent archeological and historical knowledge has led to the development of a theory in which Slav tribes appeared progressively on this territory for thousands of years BCE, evolving from sedentary indigenous peoples in the middle of Celtic and Germanic tribe movements.
This quite recent historical knowledge is confirmed by the writings of ancient Greek and Roman authors which proves a much earlier Slavic presence on these territories.
The first reference to the Slavs-Vénčdes is found in a work by Herodotus of Halicarnasse dated 400 BCE. The designation Vénčtes or Vénedčs was the most widely used, and interestingly enough, it is still used today on the territories, places of contact between Western Europeans and the Slavs, situated on the territory of present-day Austria.
Mention of the Slav presence is also found in the writings of Pliny the Elder ( 79 CE) and of Tacitus Cornelius ( 55Alternate uses, see Number 55 Centuries: 1st century BC 1st century 2nd century Decades: 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s Years: 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Events Roman emperor Nero is also a Roman Consul. Births Epictetus, Greek-Roman ph- 116Events Roman Emperor Trajan completes his invasion of Parthia by capturing the cities of Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Susa, marking the high-water mark of the Roman Empire's eastern expansion. Trajan removes Chrosoes as king of Parthia, and appoints Parthamasp CE). The first designation of the Slavs in the Latin form "Souveni" appears in the writings of Claude PtolemyThis article is about the geographer and astronomer Ptolemy. For Alexander the Great's general, see Ptolemy I of Egypt. For others, see Ptolemy (disambiguation). Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Klaudios Ptolemaios; A. circa 85 circa 165), known in English as in 160Events Births Tertullian, Christian writer (possible date) Deaths Suetonius, Roman historian 160. CE. This name was used under the form "Sloveni" by the Slavs of the Middle Danube before the 8th century, who lived on the present-day territories of Slovakia, of North and West Hungary, Moravia, Pannonia, Austria and Slovenia. The name is still used by the Slovakians and the Slovenians, who come from the ethnic group Sloveni.
Coexistence between the Slavs and the Celtic tribes has been discovered, by the most recent research, in the region of Liptov in Northern Slovakia, near the area of Liptovská Mara. Six Celto-Slav colonies were discovered at the same time as the site of a castle with a sanctuary in the center of it which was used for Celtic and Slav rites. The castle was surrounded by stone fortifications. Slav tribes also coexisted with the Germanic Quadis, according to the latest findings of the Czech archeologist J. Poulík.
In the third and second century, the Huns began leaving the Central Asian steppes, crossing the Danube in 377Events Battle of the Willows, Roman troops fight an inconclusive battle against the Visigoths under Fritigern Births Deaths Tuoba Shi Yi Jian King of Dai 377. CE and occupying Pannonia which became, for 75 years, their base for conducting looting raids in Western Europe. In 451, under the command of Attila, they crossed the Rhine, devastating Gaul, even crossing the Pyrenees and devastating the "Champs catalauniques." However, the death of Attila in 453 brought about the disappearance of the Hun tribe. In 568, a proto-Mongol tribe, the Avars, made their own invasion into the Middle Danube region.
The insurrected [?] Slav population settled in the Middle Danube. The birth to the Samo Empire, which was first mentioned in writing as early as 623, was a response to the raids of the invading peoples. It was the first known political formation by the Slavs, who beat, in 631, the Frank Army of King Dagobert near Vogatisburg and thereby gained their independence from the Franks and the Avars. However, the Empire disappeared in 665 with the death of Prince Samo. The supremacy of the Avars in these countries only came to an end in 803, the year where Charlemagne, with much help from the Slavs in regions to the North of the Danube and that of the Nitrian principality (Principality of Nitra), beat, once and for all, the Avars, who were eventually assimilated into the local Slav populations.
The Slavs of the Danube suffered heavy human and material losses by containing two large invasions by Asian tribes, thereby playing an essential role by forming a shield, which prevented nomad Asian tribes from carrying out their invasions and bloody raids in Western Europe.
A third invasion of Asian nomads in Europe, the six Magyar tribes, took place in this territory at the end of the 9th century.