A grave with a stone construction from the Middle Bronze Age from Mikulov, south Moravia

Abstract

A grave dated to the Middle Bronze Age with two burials in stone chambers represents a unique find in Moravia. The grave was the solitary feature from the given period at the excavation site, without any barrow identified. Part of the stone used for the construction is querns from a 40 km distant source, most of the structure is made of local limestone. Both burials – a child and an adult – were deposited simultaneously and furnished with personal jewellery and grave goods. Organic residues and use-wear traces were recorded on bronze artefacts. The grave inventory also includes a stone axe from uncommon stone material – eclogite. Based on a typological analysis and a series of radiocarbon dates, the entire unit is dated to the middle stage of the Tumulus culture, at the turn of the 15th and 14th century BC. The preservation of anthropological material, the exclusive interior construction, the furnishing of both burials and modern documentation represent an exceptional data source for the knowledge of the Middle Bronze Age society and its burial practices.