Course Title: The Eurasian Background of Early Hungarian History: The Nomad PeoplesBBNTR05200 / Credits: 2
Type of course: lecture and hours per week/semester: 2/30
Method of assessment (exam/practical grade): exam
Suggested semester:4th
Prerequisites (if any):
Course description:
Material
The course gives a comprehensive overview to the students to enable them to study the influence of significant nomadic peoples on Hungarian prehistory in the period before the Conquest. Moreover, it significantly widens their knowledge on the material culture of the Euro-Asian nomadic peoples whose majority also moved into the Carpathian basin, from the Scythians to the Cumanians. The course lays great emphasis on the differences found in the material of various nomadic peoples, through which a position can be substantiated in contrast to those theories on Hungarian prehistory which are distant from scientific and scholarly realities.
Competences
Students gain knowledge on the criteria of identifying and isolating the material coming from various nomadic peoples. Competence is achieved to select the finds relevant for Hungarian prehistory and expertise is acquired in the early medieval archeology of Euro-Asia.
  1. Scythians in Asia
  2. Scythians in Europe
  3. The history and archeology of the Huns
  4. The archeology of the Bulgars in Eastern Europe and the Pereschepino culture
  5. Bulgarians at the Volga, Zlivki- and Novinki-horizon
  6. The early Khazar heritage and the Sokolovskaya-horizon
  7. The problem of Saltovo-culture
  8. The interaction of Byzantine civilization on the Crimea and the nomadic peoples (7-11th centuries)
  9. Kievan Rus’ and the nomads
  10. The archeological heritage of Pechenegs and “the black-capped” people
  11. The archeological heritage of the Oguz
  12. The archeological heritage of the Cumanians

Required and recommended reading:
Required reading:
Bálint, Cs.: Die Archäologie der Steppe. Steppenvölker zwischen Volga und Donau vom 6. bis zum 10. Jahrhundert. Wien–Köln 1989, 44–73. 304 oldal, ISBN 3-205-072-42-1
История татарс древнейших времен. Т.1. Народы степной Евразии в древности. Издательство "Рухият" Казань2002, 551 oldal, ISBN 5-89706-048-7
Vásáry István: A régi Belső-Ázsia története. Balassi Kiadó. 2., átdolgozott kiadás (Magyar Őstörténeti Könyvtár,19. kötet, Budapest, 2003) 143 oldal, ISBN 963 506 496 9
Hajdú P.-Kristó Gy.-Róna-Tas A (Szerk.): Bevezetésamagyar őstörténet kutatásának forrásaiba, I. Budapest, 1984 (egyetemi jegyzet)
Recommended reading:
С.А. Плетнёва:Кочевники южнорусских степей в эпоху средневековья (IV–XVIII вв). Воронеж 2003.248 oldal, ISBN9965-441-18-9
Magyar régészet az ezredfordulón. Nemzeti Kulturális Örökség Minisztériuma Teleki László Alapítvány Budapest, 2003. 265– 347. ISBN 963 86291 07 7
Lecturer responsible for course: Attila Türk, PhD, senior lecturer
Lecturers participating in teaching: