István Viczián

The  Budapest  History  Museum  conducted  excavations  under  2  Fő  Street  in  Budapest,  a  plot  between  the  Buda Castle Hill and the Danube, at the northwestern corner of Clark Ádám Square. Following a campaign by Judit Benda in 2013, Farkas Márton Tóth and his team excavated the rest of the layers in 2016. István Viczián and his colleagues reconstructed the landscape evolution of the area.The site lies at the foot of Castle Hill’s eastern slope, on top of an elevation emerging from the Danube’s floodplain. Although Neolithic and Late Copper Age finds have also been found, the area was permanently inhabited only in the second halves of the Early (EBA) and Middle Bronze Ages (MBA), respectively, and the Late Iron Age (La Tène D phase). It was used as a cemetery during the Roman Period, while in the Middle Ages and the Ottoman Period, people settled here again.The high floodplain underwent major changes during prehistoric times, becoming less and less exposed to floods. Thus the conditions for settling improved significantly over time. The Danube’s low-lying proximal floodplain  in  the  Middle  Neolithic  gradually  transformed  into  an  elevated,  flood-free  high  floodplain  by  the  end  of  the  MBA.  The  examined  sedimentary  succession  is  composed  of  the  Danube’s  alluvium,  Castle  Hill’s  colluvium,  and  products  of  soil  formation  processes.  The  proportion  of  alluvial  sediments  decreased  over time. In the Atlantic period (i. e., the Neolithic and most of the Copper Age), overbank alluvial sedi-ments dominated the deposits. In the following Subboreal phase (Bronze Age), the proportion of colluvium increased  gradually  and  significantly.  The  area  was  an  almost  intact  floodplain  in  the  Early  Bronze  Age  and  around  the  start  of  the  MBA,  which  provided  favourable  conditions  for  natural  soil  development.  In  the  MBA,  sedimentation  has  accelerated  ten-  to  twenty-fold.  This  sediment  was  primarily  colluvial,  indi-cating  an  increased  sheet  erosion  on  the  hillsides  due  to  more  intensive  land  use  (forest  clearing,  pastoral  and agricultural activity, settlements), which reduced vegetation cover and resulted in soil degradation and increased runoff. MBA settlers and wetter climatic conditions also contributed to this process. After the area depopulated around the end of the MBA, the vegetation cover on the slopes recovered. The building up and level rising of the floodplain surface practically stopped, and the subsequent cultures used the surface that was formed until that time.

Mocsárosdűlő is a flatland in the District III of Budapest, in the middle of the Óbuda Bay, bordered by the Pilis Mountains, the Buda Hills, and the last remnants of the Óbuda Danube, a filled-up Old Holocene river branch, and its floodplain. In recent years, joint archaeological and geological research has been carried out there; the discovered sites played a key role in the reconstruction of the area’s history. In addition to excavations, we have carried out a geomorphological investigation of the wider area. The research included geophysical and geochemical analyses, OSL and radiocarbon dating, and a detailed topographic analysis of the collected data. Based on our archaeological-topographic and geomorphological investigations, Mocsárosdűlő and its surroundings were suitable for settlement in every historical period. The population of the early Linear Pottery culture probably found the Óbuda Danube a still flowing branch that gradually filled up later, and established their settlements on higher, flood-free areas. Most Early and Middle Copper Age find assemblages discovered in the area cannot be regarded as markers of an inhabitation related directly to the prehistoric river branch (at that time, a floodplain), except for a few Protoboleráz settlements west of Mocsárosdűlő, an era when the former river branch was almost completely filled. From that phase on, it was probably primarily exploited as a lake. The Bronze- and Iron-Age settlers probably met with similar conditions in the area, although the size and depth of the free water surface started to decrease around 3000 BC, most probably due to a gradual incision of the Danube's main branch, which caused a lowering of the water level and a eutrophication and slow filling-up of the backwaters. Intensive land use caused an increased amount of sediment settling in the basin, and resulted in a complete filling up and siltation of the area after the Iron Age.

This study thoroughly examines the hydrographical and geomorphological aspects of the broader landscape encompassing the
presumed site of the Battle of Mohács in 1526. The research scope extends across the terraced plain of Mohács and its adjacent regions, with a temporal continuum ranging from the end of the Pleistocene era to the present day, placing particular emphasis on the
pivotal year 1526. Our investigative approach hinges on comprehensive field surveys, digital elevation modeling techniques, and an
exhaustive analysis of landforms and geomorphological processes. The flood-free terrace flanking the Danube assumes paramount
significance due to its identification as the presumed battleground. Within this terrain, a distinctive feature is the presence of both
active and abandoned stream valleys traversing the surface of the terrace. These landforms hold considerable importance within the
historical context of the Battle of Mohács, as they engendered swamps within the lower reaches of the valleys. These marshy areas
potentially posed impediments to the fluidity of troop movements during the battle.
Characteristics of the southern region encompass abandoned valleys, the formation and displacement sequence of which has been
meticulously determined through a thorough evaluation of landform conditions. Notably, even the most recently formed stream valleys
trace their origins back millennia prior to the Battle of Mohács. Over the course of thousands of years, all streams converged towards
the depression area of the Krasica valley. With the passage of time, lateral erosion by the Danube river led to the erosion of the terrace
and the subsequent capture of these stream valleys. The timing of these captures has been estimated by scrutinizing the age of archaeological sites situated along the ridge of the terrace. It is worth highlighting that the lateral erosion by the Danube has primarily impacted
the northern regions of the Mohács terrace over the past five centuries. The study enhances our comprehension of the Holocene landform development and the geographic setting of the presumed location of the 1526 Battle of Mohács through comprehensive analysis
of landforms, geomorphological processes, and their historical context, providing essential knowledge for reconstructing the battle.