Štúrovo

Sister cities

• Bruntál
• Gmina Kłobuck
• Baraolt
• Esztergom
• Novi Bečej
• Castellarano

History

The area of Štúrovo has been inhabited since prehistoric times. On the natural plateau above the river to the southwest of the town a large Neolithic settlement was discovered by Juraj Pavúk during rescue excavations in 1965-67 when the South-Slovakian Pulp and Paper Mill (JCP Stúrovo) was constructed. Excavations uncovered a main area of approximately 140 by 120 meters, with longhouses distributed across it. A further excavated area suggested a minimum overall west-east extent of about 200 meters, with the excavator proposing a settlement area of up to 500 meters along the Danube. Ten building phases were identified, ranging from the developed Linear Pottery culture (LBK) to the Želiezovce phase, suggesting a more or less continuous occupation. A total of 31 longhouses were excavated, ranging from 14 m to 37 m in length. The site also provided a large assemblage of animal bones, indicating a diet dominated by domesticates such as cattle, sheep/goats, and pigs. Carbonised cereals were preserved in pits, with emmer dominant, and einkorn and spelt also present. There was a large house (Großbau) in three of the settlement phases that was probably used as communal grain store and animal stall. Chalcolithic finds of the Boleráz group were also recovered from this location. In the Roman era the land on the left bank of the Danube was part of the Pannonian Limes. A settlement named Anavum in Ptolemy's Geography (in Greek ἄναυό) can be located hypothetically near the mouth of the Hron by using Ptolemy's coordinates. So far no Roman remains have been found in this area. Archaeological finds prove the existence of a Germanic settlement in the Roman and Migration period. A rescue excavation was carried out in 1956-1957 in the former military training ground (Vojenské cvičisko)…