A synthesis of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in the Czech Lands with some new ideas about the meaning of the fabrication of lithic industries, extraction of raw materials, typological variability etc.
The relatively restricted number of Mesolithic sites in Moravia is counterbalanced with their considerable extent and concentration in the lowlands along southern Moravian rivers. The densest concentration occurs on some 2 kilometers long... more
The relatively restricted number of Mesolithic sites in Moravia is counterbalanced with their considerable extent and concentration in the lowlands along southern Moravian rivers. The densest concentration occurs on some 2 kilometers long section of the Jihlava River in the area of Smolín and Přibice, another one is on the Dyje River under the Pavlov Hills. In Smolín, floor plans of slightly sunk habitations were discovered. These largest agglomerations belong to the Early Mesolithic, dated to the Boreal and characterised by a prevalence of microlithic points and triangles. Trapezoid blades prevail in Mikulčice on the Morava River and in the surroundings of Příbor in northern Moravia. They may represent a later phase of the Mesolithic, belonging to the Atlantic, but they have not been dated yet. The large settlements in southern Moravia, and also extensive quarrying of Jurassic chert in Krumlovský les, witness about a high degree of sedentarity. The mentioned Jurassic chert is also the only raw material that spread – despite its poor quality – hundreds of kilometres beyond the borders of the country. Raw materials of local origin prevail in all the Moravian Mesolithic groups, mostly originating from Krumlovský les or from river gravels. Imports were coming to southern Moravian lowlands mainly from the southeast , i.e. from the original Neolithisation areas (radiolarite of the Szentgál type, obsidian). All these phenomena, differing from the situation in Bohemia, set the territory of Moravia to the Peri-Neolithic sphere.