Castle Mountain is often mentioned in connection with the village Šarišské Sokolovce. Until 1948 it was known under the name Tolčemeš, on which in the 9th and 10th centuries there was a massive Slavic fortress, at the foot of the of the Čergov Mountains, at an altitude of 871 metres.
Castle near Šarišské Sokolovce was discovered J. Macák. It was built on the highest point of the steep mountainous ridge Lazíky, stretching between the Bernátsky and Bodovsky valleys in the north-south direction, on a conical castle hill. The castle was founded in the 9th century and is preserved, mostly protected by dense forest cover. Gradually, its portification was modified until it acquired a fortification consisting of four huge ramparts that surround the entire Castle Mountain. The ramparts were built on it gradually. The first fortification mound of the foothills was formed as early as the 9th century. Other ramparts were built later in the 10th century. At that time, a rampart was also built, which divided the entire foothills into two parts. The castle took the form of a smaller acropolis with a more prominent top. Most probably a centre was located on Castle Hill, intended for the administration of a certain territorial area. It was supposed to protect the local community from the penetration of the militant Hungarian - Apradovian cohorts into this territory in the Carpathian Basin. For more than a thousand years the surrounding area has changed beyond recognition.
Its location and fortifications belong to the classical examples of Slavic fortifications in eastern Slovakia. The largest the length of the hillfort is 253 m, maximum width 125 m. A meadow adjoins the northeastern bend of the rampart, which slopes gently to the west. Approximately in its centre, a dark cultural layer was found on the surface during experimental research. A section through the rampart showed that it was piled with clay and stone. The stone was mainly used to strengthen it against the landslide of soil into the ditch. A novelty in the structural system of its mounding was the discovery of traces of charred timber, together with a small band of red-hot clay. The mounding system and the recovered shrapnel material, an iron crossbow with reverse wings and the torso of another crossbow proved that it was built by the Slavs probably in a younger period. The preserved remains of charred wood from the construction of the rampart, shards from the Early Bronze Age, a rare Slavic shard and an iron leaf-shaped spear allow to express the opinion that it was built by the population settled on the acropolis before the 10th century, to prevent easy access to the acropolis from the north-western side.
At the Castle was found ceramic material. The oldest material found at the hillfort in the excavations so far is from the older part of the Younger Bronze Age (BD - HA - HB), belonging for the time being in eastern Slovakia to the Gavian culture, which expanded here from the south. The vessels were probably already made on a faster-turning circle, as evidenced mainly by fine horizontal strokes or grooves in the coating of the sherds.
Among the found iron objects is undoubtedly the most remarkable and most important torso of a complex-shaped oculus with triple curved arms; it is 8.6 cm long and 3.6 cm wide. The spike is of a completely different type from the existing grave finds of iron chairs from the Slavic-Avar and Old Hungarian periods in eastern Slovakia.
Found carbon samples from the culture layer, exposed on a platform outside the hillfort mound, was determined by E. Krippel of the Dionýz Štúr Institute of Geology in Bratislava in two cases as coming from birch (Ulmus) and in one case as coming from beech (Fagus). This finding is particularly remarkable because the forest cover on the hillfort and its surroundings is now dominated by hornbeam.
It was the only stronghold of the ancient Slavs with massive dimensions in eastern Slovakia. For Eastern Slovakia it should also be sacred place, such as for Slovakia the Devín fortress or Zobor near Nitra.
Source: valka.cz, korzar.sk
Photo: OOCR Región Šariš
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