ABSTRACT The fifth season of excavations of Oponice Castle in 2020 was located in the lower castle’s courtyard. The research led to discovery of an original clay floor being heavily burned with charred plank and a rectangular stone-brick... more
ABSTRACT The fifth season of excavations of Oponice Castle in 2020 was located in the lower castle’s courtyard. The research led to discovery of an original clay floor being heavily burned with charred plank and a rectangular stone-brick construction. The construction has collapsed upper part with a fallen low brick arch. The whole area was covered with numerous stove tiles and one clay mold for the production of stove tiles. The construction was identified as a pottery kiln dated to the second half of the 16th until the first half of the 17th century AD by the findings from excavated layer identified to the kiln destruction. Also, written sources mention a large fire in 1645 which destroyed the castle. The aim of this article is to use different methods of dating and refine the chronology of the context through microarchaeology and Bayesian modeling. For these purposes different types of samples were collected. The sampling focused on site formation process determination of pottery kiln use and the way of its destruction. Applying Bayesian analysis improved overall dating, through modeled time interval of the three individual sequences and helped recreated historical events during the period, when the calibration curve fluctuates.
Research Interests: Archaeology, Geochemistry, Radiocarbon, Pottery, Chronology, and 4 moreRadiocarbon Dating, Excavation, Brick, and Kiln
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Jde o archeologický výzkum severoceských piskovcových převisů. Hlavnim předmětem teto studie je izolovana skala Okrouhliku s ustředni linii převisů podel sve jižni stěny. Co se týce metod výzkumu byl zvolen plosný odkryv celeho převisu, s... more
Jde o archeologický výzkum severoceských piskovcových převisů. Hlavnim předmětem teto studie je izolovana skala Okrouhliku s ustředni linii převisů podel sve jižni stěny. Co se týce metod výzkumu byl zvolen plosný odkryv celeho převisu, s kresebnou dokumentaci profilů i sidelnich horizontů a trojrozměrnou dokumentaci polohy artefaktů i naturfaktů.
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Research Interests: Humanities and Arch
Clanek seznamuje s vyhodnocenim archeobotanických a archeozoologických vzorků z výzkumu v Kosticich – Zadnim hrudu (okr. Břeclav), realizovaneho v letech 2009–2011. Přispiva k řeseni otazek spojených se subsistencni strategii spolecnosti... more
Clanek seznamuje s vyhodnocenim archeobotanických a archeozoologických vzorků z výzkumu v Kosticich – Zadnim hrudu (okr. Břeclav), realizovaneho v letech 2009–2011. Přispiva k řeseni otazek spojených se subsistencni strategii spolecnosti v obdobi od 6. do pocatku 13. stol. v oblasti dolniho Podyji (Ceska republika). Zaznamenaný trend podporuje archeologický obraz osady, ktera v době Velke Moravy (9. stol.) tvořila subsistencni zazemi blizkeho centra na Pohansku u Břeclavi. Po propadu způsobenem kolapsem velkomoravske spolecnosti (10. stol.) zde doslo k revitalizaci a naslednemu boomu celeho sidlistniho komplexu. V mladohradistnim obdobi (11. až 12. stol.), kdy zde vznika centralni lokalita druheho řadu (trhova ves),produkuje sidlistě poměrne siroke spektrum plodin i kvalitni maso pro sebe, a možna i pro nedaleke pravni centrum v přemyslovske Břeclavi.
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Research Interests: Art and Geoarchaeology
Tento přispěvek je postaven na dvou nezavislých studiich. Prvni z nich je celkove zpracovanim lokality ze středni a mladsi doby bronzove (Přaslavice, Morava), druhým je uplne zpracovani archeobotanických dat z doby bronzove na Slovensku.... more
Tento přispěvek je postaven na dvou nezavislých studiich. Prvni z nich je celkove zpracovanim lokality ze středni a mladsi doby bronzove (Přaslavice, Morava), druhým je uplne zpracovani archeobotanických dat z doby bronzove na Slovensku. Obě studie dosly nezavisle k zavěru, že ve středni době bronzove (1600/1550-1300 BC) je zřejma proměna hospodařske strategie, ve vztahu k obdobi předchazejici starsi doby bronzove (2100-1600/1550 BC) i doby popelnicových poli (1300-800 BC). Kombinace poznatků z uzemi Moravy a Slovenska umožňuje sledovat proměnu zemědělske produkce a souvisejici hospodařskou proměnu.
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Abstract The study presents nitrogen isotope data from prehistoric and Medieval charred cereal grains and grains from modern experiments in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The results are consistent with δ15N values of cereals from other... more
Abstract The study presents nitrogen isotope data from prehistoric and Medieval charred cereal grains and grains from modern experiments in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The results are consistent with δ15N values of cereals from other European countries. Various crops were manured differently, perhaps according to specific societal needs. Surprisingly, the highest (but also the lowest) δ15N value is found in barley. In modern experiments, means of fertilisation other than farmyard manure were tested. Based on these findings, and on soil analysis and prehistoric settlement activity observed within an agricultural landscape, we propose an alternative method for maintaining soil productivity by the periodic movement of fields within the settlement areas into places intensively fertilised by abandoned habitation areas, and vice versa. The results of the isotopic analysis of more than 700 archaeobotanical samples of cereal grains from Europe show that the improvement and maintenance of good soil productivity by adding organic material has been practised everywhere, to a greater or lesser extent, since the very beginnings of agricultural history, and confirm the high level of skill in prehistoric and Early Medieval farming practices.
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6.1. Échantillons carpologiques : nature, localisation et mode de traitement Dans ce chapitre, on propose d’effectuer l’analyse des macro-restes végétaux découverts dans les contextes laténiens du site. Sont exclus de cette présentation... more
6.1. Échantillons carpologiques : nature, localisation et mode de traitement Dans ce chapitre, on propose d’effectuer l’analyse des macro-restes végétaux découverts dans les contextes laténiens du site. Sont exclus de cette présentation les éléments provenant des contextes plus anciens (cimetière hallstattien) et plus récents (cimetière gallo-romain). Les carporestes (grains de céréales, vannes, semences de légumineuses et de plantes sauvages) sont représentés de façon inégale entre les diffé..
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The study area is located in the part of Western Carpathians, where mountain ridges steeply rise from dry and warm Pannonian basin. In the Považský Inovec Mts, two small protected calcareous wetlands occur in different geographical... more
The study area is located in the part of Western Carpathians, where mountain ridges steeply rise from dry and warm Pannonian basin. In the Považský Inovec Mts, two small protected calcareous wetlands occur in different geographical position and contain suitable sediments. One represents a foothill site (initiated ca 13,000 cal. BP) while the other a low-mountain site (initiated ca 7400 cal. BP). We investigated fossil pollen, spores, and macroscopic remains of plants and molluscs from their sediments. We further reviewed archaeological data, calculated Macrophysical Climate Model (MCM) and confronted it with other palaeoclimatic proxies. Temperate deciduous trees (Quercus, Corylus, and Ulmus) occurred since Allerod, but their expansion was blocked by harsh climate in Younger Dryas when Larix, Pinus, and Betula nana still occurred. The climate firstly moistened at ca 9500 cal. BP and more distinctly at ca 8500 cal. BP, which was reflected by a strong calcium carbonate precipitation a...
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Discovered in 2014 during geophysical prospection, the ditch in the central part of the oppidum was partly excavated in 2017-2018. Multi-proxy data (archaeobotany, palynology, micromorphology, diatom and parasite analysis) reflect the... more
Discovered in 2014 during geophysical prospection, the ditch in the central part of the oppidum was partly excavated in 2017-2018. Multi-proxy data (archaeobotany, palynology, micromorphology, diatom and parasite analysis) reflect the complex history of the site.
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The most common form of the burial rite of the Late Bronze Age period in central Europe is cremation. The cremation remains are, together with other objects, deposited in the shallow grave pits. These graves are later on often disturbed... more
The most common form of the burial rite of the Late Bronze Age period in central Europe is cremation. The cremation remains are, together with other objects, deposited in the shallow grave pits. These graves are later on often disturbed by agricultural activities. The post-depositional processes (disturbance, contamination) and fragmentarity are the main limits for interpretation of this type of archaeological source. Less common is the deposition of cremation remains into large grave-pits matching, with the size and shape, the measurements of unburned human body, which are due to their substantive depth well preserved. When excavated by appropriate techniques, they provide new information about the burial rite and its complexity. Two sites from Moravia are used to demonstrate how correlation of archaeology, archaeobotany and zooarchaeology allows the reconstruction of the final phases of the burial. It shows that deposition of remains into grave was a series of consequent steps spr...
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Results of excavations and analysis from the excavation on the top of Mont Beuvray/Bibracte in 2018.
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International audienc
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The history and continuity of lowland woodlands in Central Europe is closely connected with human activities. We studied a small wetland situated directly in a low-elevation oak-dominated woodland to evaluate the history and impact of... more
The history and continuity of lowland woodlands in Central Europe is closely connected with human activities. We studied a small wetland situated directly in a low-elevation oak-dominated woodland to evaluate the history and impact of humans on an oak woodland in south-eastern Slovakia. We used different proxies to obtain evidence of woodland history spanning at least 8,500 years. Pollen, diatom and physical analysis, including micromorphology, were used to study infill sediments and to determine the processes causing the influx of material into the wetland basin from its surroundings. The oak-dominated woodland community occurred throughout the Holocene, but its detailed history is impossible to trace because of reverse chronology caused by mixing of deposits. The stability of the oak woodland was determined by anthropogenic disturbances such as grazing. These disturbances are indicated by pollen taxa, signals of soil erosion in the deposits, and local development of the wetland that acted as drinking and hemp retting basin. The recent decline of human pressure has led to gradual changes in the species composition of the wetland itself (shrub encroachment) and of understory of the surrounding oak woodlands.
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The natural setting and prehistoric human activity on Holocene floodplains in Central Europe is a compelling issue from several points of view. This environment presents an important sedimentary archive reflecting past human behaviour in... more
The natural setting and prehistoric human activity on Holocene floodplains in Central Europe is a compelling issue from several points of view. This environment presents an important sedimentary archive reflecting past human behaviour in interactions with climate change. Two sedimentary sections recorded in the alluvial zone of Svratka River (Moravia) with a buried soil dated to the time span between the Neolithic and Late Bronze Age, and comprising one paleo-catena, were investigated using a multiproxy approach. The buried paleo-catena presents evidence of long-term (ancient) soil development, and the use of the site for human settlement and farming ca. 4500 BC until 1000 BC. Buried soil horizons indicate (climate) stability, which according to archaeological evidence lasted for at least 3500 years, until at least 1000 BC. The architecture and the lithology of the river floodplain changes approximately 0 AD. Anthropogenic settlement activity was not detected at the site in the subs...
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Mountain summits in the Slovak part of the Western Carpathians bear evidence of human presence from the Late Bronze to the Late Iron Age. According to fire-induced changes in archaeological record and finds of weaponry, some of the... more
Mountain summits in the Slovak part of the Western Carpathians bear evidence of human presence from the Late Bronze to the Late Iron Age. According to fire-induced changes in archaeological record and finds of weaponry, some of the extreme upland sites (EUS) were viewed as places of safety or refugia violently destroyed within a short period. We have focussed on three sites with summits at 1300–1550 m a. s. l. and found out that two of them were used in 650–400 calBC and 390–150 calBC, respectively. By the first systematic use of 14C dating and targeted 14C sampling, we have overcome the inherent chronological imprecision of their artefactual record and opened new vistas for interpretation of this type of sites.
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The research of Iron Age oppida and hillforts plays a significant role in understanding the urbanisation processes throughout the European continent. The habitation and built-up areas have always been in the limelight of both traditional... more
The research of Iron Age oppida and hillforts plays a significant role in understanding the urbanisation processes throughout the European continent. The habitation and built-up areas have always been in the limelight of both traditional and environmental archaeological research. However, at many oppida, there were also large, unoccupied empty spaces. As they are crucial for understanding these settlements’ internal organisation, their functions are debated. Here we aim to demonstrate that seldom studied archaeobotanical archives preserve information on their use-history. By implementing a multiproxy approach, we seek to answer questions on the development, land use and vegetation history of one important open space at Bibracte oppidum on Mont Beuvray. Through the correlation of pollen, phytoliths, diatoms, charcoal, seeds, and parasites with radiocarbon dating we collected evidence of archaeologically otherwise untraceable human activities and detected a much more complicated histo...
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The research of Iron Age oppida and hillforts plays a significant role in understanding the urbanisation processes throughout the European continent. The habitation and built-up areas have always been in the limelight of both traditional... more
The research of Iron Age oppida and hillforts plays a significant role in understanding the urbanisation processes throughout the European continent. The habitation and built-up areas have always been in the limelight of both traditional and environmental archaeological research. However, at many oppida, there were also large, unoccupied empty spaces. As they are crucial for understanding these settlements' internal organisation, their functions are debated. Here we aim to demonstrate that seldom studied archaeobotanical archives preserve information on their use-history. By implementing a multiproxy approach, we seek to answer questions on the development, land use and vegetation history of one important open space at Bibracte oppidum on Mont Beuvray. Through the correlation of pollen, phytoliths, diatoms, charcoal, seeds, and parasites with radiocarbon dating we collected evidence of archaeologically otherwise untraceable human activities and detected a much more complicated history of the studied area. We show that it was repeatedly used in the last eight millennia and was never farmed or built up. During the phases of its most intensive exploitation in the Late Iron Age (La Tène) and Early Middle Ages (Merovingian) periods, it was kept as grassland. Our research lays down the foundation for the wider implementation of archaeobotany into projects that aim to clarify the uses and functions of enigmatic large open spaces, not only from the Iron Age but also from other periods.
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The Early Medieval settlement at Roztoky (Prague-west district, Central Bohemia) represents an extraordinary case and, at the same time, a difficult challenge in terms of interpretation among sites of the Prague-type Culture (6th–7th... more
The Early Medieval settlement at Roztoky (Prague-west district, Central Bohemia) represents an extraordinary case and, at the same time, a difficult challenge in terms of interpretation among sites of the Prague-type Culture (6th–7th century AD). Primarily, the high overall number of settlement features of the given culture is what makes this site unique and puzzling. To date, more than 300 sunken houses of this culture have been captured at the site (with an area size of min. 22 ha) and their overall number can be estimated as being at least double this amount. On the one hand, the site is specific also by its landscape setting (at the base of a canyon-like valley) and by its discontinuity in relation to the preceding and the following periods. On the other hand, the site lacks finds that would allow for a clear interpretation in terms of its function (e.g. production features, tools or waste materials, luxury goods, etc.). Finds of the Prague-type Culture were first discovered at ...
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Autori príspevku podávajú predbežnú správu o výskume neolitického sídliska na lokalite Harta-Gátőrház (Maďarsko). Lokalita s rozlohou približne 27 ha leží na ľavom brehu Dunaja, vo vzdialenosti 100 km južne od Budapešti. Záchranným... more
Autori príspevku podávajú predbežnú správu o výskume neolitického sídliska na lokalite Harta-Gátőrház (Maďarsko). Lokalita s rozlohou približne 27 ha leží na ľavom brehu Dunaja, vo vzdialenosti 100 km južne od Budapešti. Záchranným výskumom bola preskúmaná plocha o veľkosti ca 20 000 m2. Na skúmanej ploche boli zachytené pôdorysy siedmich domov, zásobné jamy, exploatačné jamy a šesť pohrebov. Podľa spôsobu umiestnenia v priestore sídliska a súborov nálezov z prislúchajúcich kolových jám sú do neolitu datované aj štvoruholníkové ohrady. Tie boli čiastočne s inými ohradami, čiastočne s jedným neolitickým domom v superpozícii. Keramický materiál z lokality je príbuzný nálezom v strednom Zadunajsku – často sa v jednom súbore, prípadne na jednej nádobe objavujú odlišné výzdobné štýly skupiny Keszthely, želiezovskej skupiny a kultúry Vinča. Lokalita sa rozrastala postupne od klasickej fázy kultúry s lineárnou keramikou po fázu IIb želiezovskej skupiny.
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The flotation of deposits from two recently excavated Kalenderberg Group cremation graves in DevínZáhrady (SW Slovakia) yielded a plethora of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical remains, including small, otherwise overlooked, ecofacts.... more
The flotation of deposits from two recently excavated Kalenderberg Group cremation graves in DevínZáhrady (SW Slovakia) yielded a plethora of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical remains, including small, otherwise overlooked, ecofacts. The results of our analysis in the context of contemporary data show that animals clearly constituted an unambiguous part of funerary ritual activities. Pig, fish, red deer, cattle and caprines were all exploited at Devín-Záhrady. These animals represented both food and symbolic offerings, with a preference for pig and fish. Cattle, red deer, pig and caprines astragali found in grave 2 were all associated with one of the urns. The age of perinatal piglets was used to indicate the season when the funerals took place. Plant macro-remains are much less common than bone remains and are not associated with the burial. The results of the analysis change what is known about the array, quantity and way animal and plant offerings from Kalenderberg Group cre...
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Research Interests: Geography, Digital Humanities, Landscape Archaeology, Border Studies, Environmental Studies, and 10 moreEarly Medieval Archaeology, Early Medieval History, Medieval Archaeology, Archaeological GIS, Osteoarchaeology, Borders and Frontiers, Middle Ages, Borders and Borderlands, Early Medieval And Medieval Settlement Archaeology, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
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The study aims to stimulate discussions about farming in the past and archaeological interpretation of archaeobotanical data using recently acquired unique ethnographical evidence. The paper is divided into two parts.The first part... more
The study aims to stimulate discussions about farming in the past and archaeological interpretation of archaeobotanical data using recently acquired unique ethnographical evidence. The paper is divided into two parts.The first part presents aspects of disappearing traditional agriculture in geographically similar sub-mountainous regions of Romania and central and northern Slovakia as observed during our ethnographic and ethnobotanic surveys. Farming practices and yields of mainly einkorn (Triticum monococcum), production of other cereal crops, some aspects of animal husbandry, as well as extension and division of agricultural land are described. In addition, productive attributes of land under different climatic and edaphic conditions managed by means of traditional farming practices were studied. In the second part of the paper, results of our surveys are compared with some archaeological data on farming practices from prehistory to medieval period. Our results are confronted with ...
""The studies on the economy of the oppida in Bohemia traditionally derive from the presumption of their specialisation in craft production and trading economy. This paper considers ecology and... more
""The studies on the economy of the oppida in Bohemia traditionally derive from the presumption of their specialisation in craft production and trading economy. This paper considers ecology and environmental potential of the surrounding landscape for food production. We address the questions of „marginal arable land“ of the milieu of the sites and its productivity in terms of possible crop and animal husbandry; „lack or absence of farming implements“ at central sites; and „existence of abundant small food supplying farming settlements within convenient distance from the oppida and on more suitable soils“... This paper aims to demonstrate recent approaches of a model based interpretation for the landscape exploitation and husbandry strategies practiced by the populations at the oppida and within their hinterlands through incorporation of various data – archaeological, environmental, agricultural, palaeoclimate, work force etc. By doing so it hopes to interpret the organization of life and husbandry of the food producing „ethos“, producers / consumers ratio in society and also the perception of the very late La Tѐne settlement, economic and social hierarchy. ""
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Abstract book from conference held in Ceske Budejovice (CZ) in February 2015: It has been already ten years when group of several Czech palaeoecologists, archaeobotanists and archaeologists met together for the first time under the... more
Abstract book from conference held in Ceske Budejovice (CZ) in February 2015: It has been already ten years when group of several Czech palaeoecologists, archaeobotanists and archaeologists met together for the first time under the platform called the
Archaeobotanical Working Group. It was in 2005. After several very simple and modestly
organized meetings our group was transformed into the Conference of Environmental
Archaeology since 2010 as Czech speaking action. Yet in 2015 we decided to organize first international meeting in English.
So, welcome to České Budějovice! This conference is connected with main activity of the PAPAVER, Centre for human and plant
studies in Europe and Northern Africa, founded in 2012 by the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Science with collaboration of the Institute of Archaeology,
Faculty of Philosophy, University of South Bohemia. The aim of the PAPAVER centre is to develop ties within the interdisciplinary team consisting of paleoecologists, archaeologists, and vegetation ecologists in order to create an effective space for the study of climatic, cultural as well as landscape changes in vegetation and crops along a gradient from Northern Africa across Central Europe up to the coldest areas of the north. The purpose of the project is to connect and coordinate key experts of international repute and thus provide the South Bohemian team the dynamics and impulses for the development of top quality research. A research centre bears the name of a genus of poppies (Papaver), whose representatives are distributed from the coldest areas in the High Arctic to the warmest Northern Africa, thus, representing the region targeted by the project research interests.
21st January 2015,
Jaromír Beneš – Petr Pokorný
Archaeobotanical Working Group. It was in 2005. After several very simple and modestly
organized meetings our group was transformed into the Conference of Environmental
Archaeology since 2010 as Czech speaking action. Yet in 2015 we decided to organize first international meeting in English.
So, welcome to České Budějovice! This conference is connected with main activity of the PAPAVER, Centre for human and plant
studies in Europe and Northern Africa, founded in 2012 by the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Science with collaboration of the Institute of Archaeology,
Faculty of Philosophy, University of South Bohemia. The aim of the PAPAVER centre is to develop ties within the interdisciplinary team consisting of paleoecologists, archaeologists, and vegetation ecologists in order to create an effective space for the study of climatic, cultural as well as landscape changes in vegetation and crops along a gradient from Northern Africa across Central Europe up to the coldest areas of the north. The purpose of the project is to connect and coordinate key experts of international repute and thus provide the South Bohemian team the dynamics and impulses for the development of top quality research. A research centre bears the name of a genus of poppies (Papaver), whose representatives are distributed from the coldest areas in the High Arctic to the warmest Northern Africa, thus, representing the region targeted by the project research interests.
21st January 2015,
Jaromír Beneš – Petr Pokorný