Havránok

Havránok is an important archaeological site in northern Slovakia [1]. It is on a hill above the Liptovská Mara water reservoir around 2 km from the village of Bobrovník, about halfway between Ružomberok and Liptovský Mikuláš in the Liptov region [1]. The Havránok hill fort was an important religious, economic, and political center of the Púchov culture (300 BCE - 180 CE), in which the dominant Celtic tribe of Cotini mingled with the older people of the Lusatian culture [1]. The hill fort was a religious center of the Celts living in northern Slovakia [1]. Its wooden shrine was built in the 1st century BCE around an exceptionally high wooden column, probably a totem or a statue [1]. Excavation of a ritual pit situated near this central cult object revealed bones of at least seven people sacrificed during druidic rituals [1]. The victims were beaten to death, quartered, and in some cases also burnt [1]. The Celts of Havránok minted their own coins [1].