Tomasz Bochnak

At the end of the 20th century, as the researchers became more convinced about the existence of the La Tène culture settlement zone in south-eastern Poland, there were more and more attempts at identifying the ethnicity of this population. Some of the researchers allowed for connecting the said settlement with the Anartophracti, known from Claudius Ptolemy’ writings (Geography, III, 5, 8).

However, in order to identify the La Tène culture population from south-eastern Poland with Ptolemy’s Anartophracti, it is necessary to prove that Ptolemy’s account concerned the peoples inhabiting the area of the upper San basin in the 3rd and possibly 2nd century B.C. It is thus necessary to prove that the geographical and chronological data are consistent. One more argument in support of the claim would be a proof that the name Anartophracti refers to a Celtic tribe. It would have to be also assumed a priori that the ethnonym of Anartophracti is not a duplicate of the name Anarti.

In author’s opinion, Ptolemy’s writings do not allow to prove that the Anartophracti he mentions lived at the areas on the upper San river: they could have rather lived to the east or north-east of the Carpathians. Ptolemy’s account is not clear enough to locate the Anartophractis’ settlements.

The above list of the written sources seems to indicate that the chronology of all the information concerning the Anarti ranges between the end of the 1st half of the 1st c. B.C. and the late 240s A.D. There are no premises to link with the Anarti any settlement concentrations from the north-eastern La Tène culture from phase LT C or LT D1.

The ‘Celtic episode’ of the prehistoric Sanok region should be associated with a group of colonists from the south who, during phase LT C, used the local brine springs to produce salt and supply it to the population of the Upper Tisa River basin. For now, no finds definitely associated with phases LT B or LT D have been discovered in the region. The settlers probably relied on both agriculture and animal husbandry to sustain their communities. It seems unlikely they were able to produce any food surpluses, considering the unfavourable climate and poor soil conditions. When the expansion of Dacian tribes to the south of the Carpathians began to cause shifts in the political landscape and the trade routes’ network, the San River Valley cultural centre lost its economic significance and entered a period of decline. Presumably, some of the population may have migrated north into the more fertile lands, while others might have returned to the areas of their origin. According to the available data, there seems to be no clear continuity between the La Tène occupation and the oldest Przeworsk culture finds dated to the end of the early pre-Roman period.