Traffic and travel

Highways and byways

In prehistoric times, the best stone raw materials for knapping (and, thus, the most valuable ones) were often transported at distances of even hundreds of kilometres on roads taken on foot, outlining the road network.
The 5,000-year-old ceramic wagon models from Budakalász and Szigetszentmárton, dated to the Copper Age, are the earliest firm evidence of the use of cattle-draught four-wheel wagons.
Waterways were particularly important in local and distance exchange and trade, transporting news and knowledge, and the migration of communities and peoples. Bell Beaker groups spread throughout the continent in the Early Bronze Age, reaching the area of Budapest probably on water. They had a close connection with the Danube; their settlements were situated along the riverbanks, with the cemeteries at a distance, towards the inside of the land. Their boot-shaped houses perhaps also symbolised their special connection with water.

The appearance of the riding horse made it possible to cover relatively great distances in a short time. The first horse bits were made from bone and bronze, later also from iron, while saddle and stirrup were invented still later. As horse harnesses, that is, the possibilities of controlling the animal, evolved, horses gradually became the most important companions of humans, the primary means of travelling, transporting goods and news, and gaining advantage in battle—and remained so for five millennia until the first automobiles were invented at the end of the 19th century. In this respect, introducing the stirrup (brought by Avars from the East) to Europe was a groundbreaking technological innovation that considerably facilitated horse riding and made cavalry warfare significantly more efficient than ever before.