This paper presents the results of a research project addressing the hitherto mysterious absence of Palaeolithic traces within the Tatra Mountains. Preliminary investigations conducted in 2019 at hučivá diera cave, located in the Slovak portion of the Tatras (the Belianske Tatras), successfully identified distinct evidence of occupation by the Magdalenian culture. in 2022 and 2024, interdisciplinary research at the site continued. The findings have significantly expanded the archaeological dataset and facilitated a more precise definition of paleoenvironmental aspects, such as the late Pleistocene fauna and flora within this high-altitude environment. Discoveries from hučivá diera cave suggest that during the Bölling warming period at the end of the Pleistocene, the cave was utilised by hunters who primarily targeted the alpine ibex, processing the carcasses and hides in situ.

This article examines a Roman period gameboard (Gameboard 1) from Gerulata (modern Bratislava-Rusovce, Slovakia), a military settlement on the Danube frontier in Pannonia. The board was carved into a tile and features a 7 × 8 grid layout. A much smaller fragment of another possible gameboard or fragment of wall tile (Possible gameboard/tile 2) was also recovered from the site, though this identification is less secure. This study explores the archaeological context, typology, and potential identification of the board(s). Gameboard 1 was probably used for playing the game known as ludus latrunculorum, even if other possibilities should not be entirely discarded. Analysis of published and unpublished finds from the Northern Carpathian basin and neighbouring regions – which we present together for the first time – indicates that this gameboard belongs to a wider ludic culture, which was particularly visible among Roman soldiers and military communities. Portable elements of Roman-style material culture (dice, counters) but not bulky gameboards have been recovered in parts of Slovakia that were in the Barbaricum, and this suggests some cultural diffusion across borders in the Roman period. These objects appear to be prestige finds, since they are commonly associated with elite sites, but we cannot be sure that they were used to play ‘Roman’ games. The article argues that such objects offer a valuable lens into the social and cultural life of Roman soldiers and civilians on the frontier. It also highlights the methodological challenges of identifying and interpreting gameboards in provincial contexts.