Present-day Prešov is only the latest incarnation of a site that has known many earlier settlements, notably Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Hallstatt and La T ne. Under the Romans (145 B.C. to 169 A.D.) a depository of coinage was maintained there and at the time of the migration of nations it was the location of the Prešov-type culture (3rd - 5th centuries). There were continuously inhabited Slav settlements from the 8.th to 12.th centuries. Its earliest recorded mention dating from 1247, Prešov was incorporated in 1299 and became a free royal town in 1405. A series of privileges and a propitious location facilitated the growth of trades and of commerce with Poland and Transylvania, and since feudal times Prešov has been the political, economic and cultural heart of the Šariš region. The seat of the Šariš žup or county up to 1923, the town has been the administrative centre of an eponymous county since 1996. Events of note in the town's history include the execution by Imperial soldiers in 1687 of twenty-four people for the town's participation in the Thököly revolt - referred to as the Prešov massacre -and the declaration of the Slovak Republic of Councils in 1919. Since 1950 Prešov has been an Urban Heritage Area.