Archeologické rozhledy

Françoise Bostyn – Jacek Lech – Alan Saville – Dagmara H. Werra (eds.): Prehistoric Flint Mines in Europe. Archaeopress Publishing, Oxford 2023.

Martin Oliva — 2024-11-28

Hoard with a miner’s pick from Krtely in South Bohemia

Ondřej Chvojka — 2024-11-20

This article presents a hoard of 27 metal artefacts and fragments of one ceramic vessel from the South Bohemian site of Krtely, dated to the earlier phase of the Late Bronze Age (Br D – Ha A1). Two exceptional phenomena are associated with the hoard. The first is its placement in a burial mound, and the second is the presence of two fragments of a broken miner's pick, analogous to those found in the salt mines of Hallstatt. In addition to typological-chronological analyses, the article also includes elemental composition and use-wear analyses of the pick. Unique to this find is the reutilization of the pick as a chisel. The hoard also contained a fragment of a cast sword hilt with embedded fragments of other artefacts, examined by X-ray and tomographic analyses. The hoard from Krtely significantly contributes to the ongoing discussion on the role of Bronze Age metal hoards and their potential connections to ritualized behaviour and the spiritual world of that era.

On the origin and cultivation of grapevine in Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia

Michaela Látková — 2025-01-13

The study addresses the history of grape cultivation and viticulture in Czech-Slovak territory and examines the related economic and ecological aspects in individual historical periods – from the first finds of grapevine to the Early Middle Ages, when wine was an important liturgical symbol associated with Christianisation, to the high medieval and modern periods, when viticulture became an important economic sector. The paper discusses methods of identifying archaeobotanical grapevine finds, which had been problematic due to morphological changes caused by diagenetic processes. Although the accuracy of morphometric methods is low when coupled with the macroscopic assessment of finds, they can be effective for distinguishing between cultivated forms of grapevine and their wild counterparts. Despite the difficulties in classifying the finds, archaeobotanical studies are an important source of information on the history of viticulture and grapevine cultivation in the region.

Food detection in medieval acoustic vessels

Filip Facincani — 2025-01-13

The subject of the article is two systems of acoustic vessels from the Church of St. Gall in Myšenec, which is associated with the production of the so-called Zvíkov and Písek architectural workshop, and All Saints Church in Kovářov in South Bohemia. These vessels, built into the vault, were placed with their rim facing the interior of the presbytery and their bottom in the space of the attic at the same time as the construction of the vault and were probably intended to improve the acoustics of the interior of the presbytery. In the foreign synthesising literature, examples are described of custom-made vessels as well as secondarily used household vessels, i.e. those primarily intended for food storage. The paper aims to precisely determine the primary role of the vessels found in the two studied churches by detecting the hypothetical presence of food residues in them. Samples were taken from the inner surfaces of the vessels and their analysis showed a weak signal of casein (milk) in one case and a strong signal of gliadin (grain) in the other. The multiple potential functions of the vessels embedded in the vaults are discussed in the context of Czech examples and foreign research on acoustic vessels.

Interconnection between house and fenced area

Petra Schindlerová — 2025-01-13

The article aims to examine the relationship between the use of longhouses and adjacent fenced areas at the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) settlement in Hostivice-Sadová. The analysis focuses on house no. 1 and 15 and the rectangular fenced areas defined mainly by single posts that were excavated next to their eastern walls. The study includes representative pottery assemblages from settlement features and construction pits dated to the two subsequent phases in the middle stage of LBK. Formation processes and the proportion of decoration style were analysed in combination with radiocarbon dating. The article also addresses whether fenced areas were later used as refuse disposal spaces. The results show that the fills of the features in the fenced areas were deposited later than the house unit assemblages were formed. In both cases, there is no significant evidence of using fenced areas later for waste disposal. Additionally, the social and economic aspects of these houses are discussed as the construction, length, fenced areas, and concentration of finds indicate their important social and economic role within the settlement.

The development of the early medieval centre of Stará Boleslav revealed by radiocarbon dating of the multi-level cemetery at the Basilica of St Wenceslas and the Church of St Clement

Ivana Boháčová — 2024-12-09

Conducted in numerous phases, the rescue archaeological excavation of the early medieval Přemyslid centre in Stará Boleslav (central Bohemia) brought, among other things, completely new and fundamental knowledge of the development of the core of the site, where the first collegiate chapter in Bohemia was founded in the years 1039–1046. The establishment of the chapter along with the Basilica of St Wenceslas and subsequently the Romanesque Church of St Clement in its immediate vicinity is also related to the transfer of intensive burial from outside the town to these churches. A test pit dug near the Church of St Clement in the immediate vicinity of the southern apse of the basilica in 2005 captured the multi-level development of this cemetery. The test pit is the only place where it is possible to positively distinguish burials made after the construction of the Church of St Clement (c. first half of the 12th century) from the earlier phase of burial. The superposition of up to 10 graves was used to interpret the development of the site and its chronology. The analysis combines archaeological and historical sources with probabilistic modelling of radiocarbon dates from skeletal remains. The results confirmed the correctness of the previously proposed basic course of the early medieval development of the site and its chronology, but also specified the beginning and end of the burial, which the radiocarbon model pushes deeper into the past than originally assumed. Radiocarbon dates also indicate that the Church of St Clement was built in the period around the middle of the 12th century rather than at its beginning.

Editorial

Václav Vondrovský — 2025-01-13