Non-destructive Archaeology

New Archeological Findings from the Vicinity of Nižná, Tvrdošín
district In recent years, new archeological discoveries were made around the hillfort of Ostražica in Nižná, were the Orava Museum has been conducting archeological research since 2018. These localities
have been marked for research based on a surface prospection, cooperation withthe amateur and local inhabitants, as well as on the research into the personal collection of Pavol Čaplovič, which is located in the State Archive in Bytča.

Among the main objectives of the project 1 are the questions concerning the planning of the fort and the size and character of the civil settlement attached to it. An important issue was the fate of the site after the abandonment of Dacia by the Romans and whether there are visible traces that could be connected with the efforts under Diocletian and Constantine to refortify the Danube section that had been an internal provincial border for ca. 170 years 2 .

Molpír hillfort was situated in a strategically important location beside an important trade route going from the
south-east Alpine region through the Bratislava Gate along the eastern slopes of the Little Carpathians and continuing north
through the Váh valley. The proximity of the Jablonec Pass also allowed a direct connection of the Váh valley with the
Morava valley. The material culture of the inhabitants of Molpír was not only rich but also diverse and distinctive, due to
their contacts with close and more distant regions. Smolenice-Molpír is part of the settlement structure of the western
Carpathians in the early and later phases of the Early Iron Age. It is one of the most important fortified upland settlements
from this period and region. The majority of information came from the highest part (370 m above sea level) of the site, i.e.
the IIIrd enclosure.
Photographs from previous excavations illustrate the situation prior to reforestation, and before recent changes that can be
seen and documented today. The old photographs, together with the new mapping results, as well as geophysical and LiDAR
data, represent the basis for a reconstruction of the internal organisation of the hillfort. But first we must analyse the data
so as to exclude recent structures and impacts, for example old excavation trenches.
The aim of the research was to identify potential settlement features and their configuration using geophysical methods (see
above) and excavation. Areas 1 and 2 were surveyed in detail in order to investigate the relief and to recognize settlement
terraces and ramparts. Trenches 1/2015 and 2/2015 were delimited based on the results of these surveys (for trench 2/2015
the basic data was accompanied by the ERT results).

Strakonicko představuje jeden z nejvýznamnějších regionů pro poznání pravěku a raného středověku v jižních Čechách. Objevuje se zde podstatná část osídlených období z naší minulosti od lovců a sběračů ve starší době kamenné až po závěr raného středověku.
V této publikaci je prezentován jeden specifický druh nemovitých památek ze Strakonicka, kterými jsou hradiště. Představují opevněná sídla na vyvýšených polohách s rozdílnou velikostí a funkcí. Stopy lidské činnosti se na vyvýšených místech objevují již od mladších úseků
starší doby kamenné, avšak skutečné pozůstatky obecně po opevnění lze nalézt až v pozdní době kamenné (eneolit), s výrazným nástupem lokalit označovaných jako hradiště se však setkáváme až v pozdějších obdobích. Jedná se zejména o dobu bronzovou, dobu železnou
a některé části raného středověku. Naopak lidé v některých dobách výšiny neopevňovali, jmenovat můžeme například závěr pozdní doby kamenné (eneolit), případně dobu římskou a dobu stěhování národů. Zde bude prezentováno celkem sedm lokalit nacházejících se na
Strakonicku, přičemž pozornost bude věnována zejména movitému charakteru těchto lokalit, jejich historii poznání, výsledkům povrchového průzkumu a výsledkům metod moderní dokumentace. Nemovité nálezy z těchto lokalit jsou již mimo rozsah této práce a byly nebo budou zveřejněny na jiném místě. Oněch sedm hradišť ze Strakonicka, dodnes patrných v krajině, jsou Láz, Libětice, Němětice, Katovice, Řepice, Skočice a Třebohostice.

Mesto Krupina, nachádzajúce sa na pomedzí vinárskej a baníckej oblasti stredného Slovenska,
profitovalo z obchodu s vínom. V ranom novoveku sa mesto dostalo do priameho susedstva s Osmanskou
ríšou. Aby výnosná činnosť mešťanov nebola ohrozená pohnutými udalosťami v pohraničí, vyvinula sa špecifická
forma rozsiahlych skladovacích priestorov na pomerne malom, hradbami ohraničenom priestore vo
forme podzemných kresaných pivníc. Príspevok sa zaoberá genézou, mapovaním a zhodnotením tohto javu.

The paper publishes the results of a non-destructive archaeological survey carried out on the hill of Třemšín in the Brdy mountains, Central Bohemia. The hill of Třemšín is a landmark in the surrounding landscape. It contains the remains
of a hillfort, a high medieval castle, montane activities and park landscaping from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The hillfort of Třemšín is one of the longest known hillforts in Bohemia. However, modern research has not paid much
attention to it and neither any support for its dating nor an accurate map of the terrain features are available. The
situation concerning the medieval castle was until recently practically the same.
In the first place, the aim of the survey was to determine the degree of preservation and the extent of remains of
human activities from different periods and to distinguish them from each other. Subsequently, it was necessary to
obtain dating material and data for the understanding of their structural appearance and the purpose of their construction.
A combination of methods and approaches of non-destructive archaeology was used – geodetic-topographical survey,
surface collecting, geophysical survey, and sampling probes. The survey also resulted in the production of the first
modern plan of the hillfort. With regard to the fact that it was quite isolated from the surrounding settlement, different
reasons for its construction are discussed. Despite a lot of effort, no material usable for dating purposes has been
recovered.
The survey also provided interesting findings regarding the interpretation of the high medieval castle. It appears in
written records from the mid-14th to the 15th century. Based on several mentions of the castle's owners, it has been supposed that the castle had been small and rather unimportant. However, the testimony of the archaeological record is
just the opposite. Our survey has established that it actually had been a large castle, built probably already in the second
half of the 13th century, and without a stronger link to its commercial hinterland. In the process of selection of the
castle's location, practical functions were suppressed, and symbolic functions were highlighted instead.

The paper introduces results of project
of interdisciplinary research of artifacts through
modern technologies based on archaeometric
study of Prehistoric and Middle Age pottery and
on chemical analyses of soils around a deserted
medieval village. Processes of production and use
of the ceramic artifacts in the past society may be
studied in a better way through modern archaeometric
methods; chemical analyses of soils enable
a non-destructive understanding of inner structure
of areas of activities and components on archaeological
sites. Chemical analyses of soils on
the basis of phosphate analysis were applied on
example of the deserted medieval village called
Sloupek (Rokycany region) where it was possible
to defi ne spatial structure of activities in terms of
one farmstead on the basis of phosphate distribution
and we were able to interpret processes
related to abandonment of the site followed by
organic remains. Archaeometric analyses of the
settlement pottery from the Younger Bronze Age
and Middle Age pottery from České Budějovice
enabled us to understand the structure of the ceramic
raw material and character of the pottery
production. It is possible to take into consideration
local or regional production of Middle Age
as well as Prehistoric pottery on the basis of the
identifi ed characteristics which was not related to
any other production spheres.

Online: https://archaeologicahereditas.wordpress.com/dotychczas-wydane-tomy-past-volumes/

Website presenting all the volumes of the series "Archaeologica Hereditas"  published so far, with opportunity to download many of the volumes and individual chapters

The topic of this article is presentation of use of the latest (non-destructive) methods at identification, recording and detailed documentation of selected terrain relics of historical fortified settlements in the Kostolianska kotlina basin and its surroundings. Comparing new knowledge obtained by means of modern methods with results of our own terrain prospecting and currently known (previously published) information outside our investigation, a new picture of individual relics is created. We deal with the prehistoric hillfort of Veľký Tribeč and relics of medieval fortified settlements – a medieval hillfort in Velčice and a medieval fortified settlement of Studený hrad.