Nicht nur als Kopfschmuck getragen: ein außergewöhnlicher hallstattzeitlicher Fund aus Smržice-Trávníky u ostrova (Mittelmähren)

This study deals with the cultural and spatial analysis of finds discovered in the previous five years during surface prospecting in Smržice-Trávníky u ostrova (Prostějov district) on the area of a presumed settlement of the Platěnice group of the East Hallstatt culture. In the set of the analysed items, in addition to local ceramics of the Platěnice group and several metal objects of the Hallstatt type (rare type of a bronze boat-shaped fibula, a bronze pin with a hemispherical head and a ribbed neck, a bronze conical arrowhead of circular cross-section) dating to Ha C2 and Ha D1, there were also bronze arrowheads of the eastern type (with an inner socket), which demonstrate the connections between the Prostějov region and the Vekerzug culture during the Ha D period. An exceptional find of a ceramic fragment of a local (Platěnice group) vessel decorated with impressions of small nail-shaped earrings probably from Ha D1 indicates, on the contrary, the contacts of Central Moravia with the late phase of the Tarnobrzeg Lusatian culture of Southeast Poland. It is the Prostějov region, where we observe a significant concentration of objects of the eastern type during the Hallstatt period. Therefore, special attention in the study was paid to Hallstatt period finds of the eastern type with the focus on the provenience, chronological aspect and interpretation of their occurrence in Moravia as well as in the neighboring regions.

Nově objevené hradiště Čerťák u obce Sovolusky v kontextu halštatského osídlení regionu

This paper presents a new hillfort site which is situated on top of „Čerťák“ Hill (651 m n. m.), Sovolusky municipality, Karlovy Vary district. It has been identified with the help of a digital terrain model based on Airborne Laser Scanning (LiDAR). Two separate lines of stone ramparts have been confirmed on top of the Čerťák Hill, formed by a significant right bank meander in the upper course of the river Střela. The inner area reaches 1.4 ha and the external enclosed area spreads to 2.3 ha. Subsequent field research yielded a collection of more than 500 pottery fragments from the Late Hallstatt period. The dispersion of finds shows relatively intensive settlement. The paper also discusses other sites in the surrounding region which date to the same period. The Hallstatt settlement seems to have been a structurally connected complex in the presented area.

PREHISTORIC CHARCOAL GRAFFITI DISCOVERED IN KATEŘINSKÁ CAVE, CZECH REPUBLIC

ABSTRACT The article reports on a new sampling method and the archaeological context of cave drawings, which include the oldest currently known graffiti in the Czech Republic. Between 2016 and 2020, samples with a small amount of charcoal were taken from drawings found in Kateřinská Cave (Catherine’s Cave) of the Moravian Karst in the Czech Republic. A new gentle method of sampling charcoal from the cave walls was developed for the purpose of radiocarbon (14C) dating cave drawings of unknown age, while preserving the contours of the drawings. 14C analysis has provided data from four periods of prehistory and history: from the Neolithic around 5000 BC, the turn of the Neolithic and Eneolithic around 4300 BC, the Hallstatt Period from 800–450 BC, and also from the Middle Ages (13th century). The radiocarbon dates of the graffiti correspond to the dates of the pottery finds from the entrance portal of Kateřinská Cave, thus validating the dates and the sampling method.

Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans The testimony of tools for determining the value of metal Tisíciletá kontinuita votivního chování Evropanů Svědectví nástrojů k určení jakosti kovu

Archaeology has a great deal of experience with how the misinterpretation of finds creates a false image of the past. The main reason for this is down to ideologically-conditioned stereotypes. The paper describes one such case involving hundreds of thousands of finds of one type of artefact, commonly classified as whetstones, pendants, amulets, etc., from the Chalcolithic up to the Early Middle Ages. The article emphasises that although touchstones from ancient burials had already been identified using an electron microscopy half a century ago, the interpretation of these finds corresponding to the paradigm from the early 19th century remains popular to this day. For the chemical microanalysis of metal traces preserved on the surface of these stone artefacts, samples were selected from Russian, Slovakian, Swedish and Ukrainian sites, from the Hallstatt period up to the Early Middle Ages, with special regard for their previous interpretation history. However, the main aim is to point out the symbolic role of tools used to test the value of precious metals outside the grave context. Finds from wet environments in particular reveal the continuity of the behaviour of European over the millennia, regardless of the current ideology or cult, and the diversity of artefacts that were, and still are, chosen as a medium for votive behaviour.

Chronological schemes of the Late Hallstatt period (HaD) in Central Europe: new opportuni-ties for the synchronization and refinement of dates

Unification of regional chronological schemes is one of the key issues in Early Iron Age archaeology. The main markers of the Late Hallstatt period are Scythian arrowheads and antique imports. Biconical glass beads, produced at the Yahorlyk settlement (in the first third of the VIth century BC), were found in the Eastern European Forest-Steppe and in the area of the Tarnobrzeg Lusatian Culture. This period is synchronised with the HaD1 of Central Europe, phase III/1 of the TLC and the late group of burials of the second phase of the Kelermes period. Its final phase is associated with the so-called “Scythian invasions” in Central Europe, which led to the decline of the Chotyniec agglomeration, West-Podolian and East-Podolian groups. A few TLC complexes of the Grodzisko Dolne, site 22, can be dated somewhat later, to the middle or second half of the VIth century BC (HaD2). Also, at this time, the Pomeranian population appeared in the south-eastern area of the Lusatian tribes and a new culture model (post Lusatian-Pomeranian stage) arose.

About the Dating of the Scythian Type Arrowheads of the Late Hallstatt Period From Central Europe

The article deals with the problem of the arrowheads of the Scythian type dating from Central Europe of the Late Hallstatt period

Intercultural Communication in the Carpathian-Dniester Region during the Early Hallstatt Period

The article considers some issues of intercultural communication in the between archaic societies of the Carpathian-Dniester region. Using the method of comparative-historical analysis the authors examine the nature and characteristics of affiliate networks, which served as the basis for intercultural communication in the Early Hallstatt period (XII-X centuries B.C.). One of the factors that determined the complexity and non-linearity of the processes of intercultural communication is location of the Carpathian-Dniester region at the crossroad of several “cultural worlds”. The authors stress that although archeological data confirm the presence of intercultural communication, it was not accompanied by the movement of actual material objects, ceramics itself, between the cultures. Accordingly, this requires a search for mechanisms that explain the processes of intercultural communications in the archaic societies of the Early Hallstatt period of Carpathian-Dniester region.

The will to baroque and the dynamics of fine pottery ornamentation of ISPC of carpathian-dniester region

Starting from some ideas of H. Wolflin, O. Spengler pointed out an interesting problem of correlation between the evolution of art and social evolution. Regardless of the realness of their observations and conclusions, the idea of searching and analyzing such correlations seems to be very fruitful, and especially in the context of preliterate culture surviving due to archeology. This paper, drawing on the empirical archaeological data related to so called Incised and Stamped Pottery Cultures (ISPC) of Early Hallstatt period (XII-IX centuries BC) of Carpathian-Dniester region, aims to consider and verify the ideas of H. Wolflin and O. Spengler. For this purpose, and basing on the previously established by the author fivephase evolution scheme of ISPC of Carpathian-Dniester region (including such a key component of ISPC as Sakharna-Soloncheni culture), the dynamic of fine pottery ornamentation of these societies is analyzed. The analysis demonstrates that the evolution of pottery ornamentation of ISPC started from a minimal number of ornamental patterns and moved towards increasing their number. The parallel tendency was the increasing of the ornamented square of pots. These processes, as well as the innovativeness and openness to external influences, peaked in the fourth phase of Sakharna-Soloncheni culture; this phase was also the time of its greatest prosperity.