Ladislav Rytíř

The Causewayed enclosures phenomenon has been in the focus of European archaeology since the beginning of the last century. These monuments are amongst the characteristic manifestations of European agricultural prehistory. Since the beginning of the interest in these monuments, there has been extensive discussion of the interpretation of their purpose. The spectrum of hypothetical interpretations of the purpose of these enclosures is very wide. It ranges from their interpretation as strategic military fortifications, fortification of residential areas, through places of exchange and markets to sanctuaries with funerary function and worship of ancestral cult. Although unambiguous interpretation of these structures seems to be rather complicated, we believe that targeted research using a wide range of modern archaeological and natural science methods can at least in a general outline reveal the ways of construction and decline of individual enclosures, as well as the intensity and nature of their use and thereby contribute to the interpretation of their importance to prehistoric society.
Moreover, currently the evidence of such enclosures is growing significantly, mainly due to the application of methods of systematic remote sensing of the landscape, which has been developing in the Czech Republic since the early 1990s. Applying this method of prospection has brought a completely new type of archaeological evidence in this respect. In 2015, we launched the project “Proto-Eneolithic ditch enclosures in Bohemia: Interpretation of their purpose and social importance” (GA15-02453S). In the framework of the project, three causewayed enclosures were examined, which we can now securely date to the Proto-Eneolithic Period. These are Chleby (Nymburk District), Kly (Mělník District) and Vrbno (Mělník District). The research in these sites focused on their chronology, way of construction, traces of use, development and decline of the enclosure. Due to the complex nature of the questions that required archaeological as well as pedological and pedochemical procedures, an interdisciplinary research team was created, the core of which was staff of the Department of Archeology of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of Mendel University in Brno.
The main objective of the project was therefore to interpret the purpose of causewayed enclosures for the Eneolithic society. The basic question was whether these constructions served as places of religious rituals, funerary practices, worship of ancestral cult, and the extent of sacred and profane activities. Bearing in mind that ritual enclosures are just one form of manifestation of the ritual practices of the Proto-Eneolithic communities, in this book we also pay attention to other evidence of social and spiritual ceremonies. It is primarily a question of the nature of the burial rites and the treatment of the ancestors’ remains. This is related to the use of enclosures and the creation of long barrows as specialized funerary features. Given the indications of the presence of bovine skulls (bucrania) and finds of complete pottery vessels within enclosed areas, we also pay attention to the importance of cattle breeding and bull worship in agricultural communities drinking ceremonies in Eneolithic societies. We will also focus on the nature of Eneolithic ceremonial warfare that was probably also associated with causewayed enclosures.

The research going on at the construction of the D11 highway has provided an interesting expansion of our knowledge on field fortifications and their hinterland from the period of the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779) in the vicinity of Hořenice near Jaroměř. The research is complemented by an extensive collection of find from detector research, which considering its size (several thousand artefacts) will be a valuable source of information not only on the modern military event in the Hradec Králové district. Other than the complex research of the lunette, the capture of the rectangular sunken objects is essential, which are concentrated in arranged groups, and reflect the course of the line of the field fortification. They are chiefly rectangular buildings with stake holes in the corners. A total of 29 of them were identified at the beginning of November 2017 on the segments D1107 04 and D1107 05. Further objects of this type were captured also on other segments of the highway being built. We believe that these objects could be the relict of camps, in which soldiers were placed, deployed in this part of the defensive line. The distribution of the main camp of the Austrian army between Kuks (ca 3.5 km from the locality) and Jaroměř (ca 2.7 km from the locality) and therefore the presence of camps in this area (as well as some of their relicts) is one of the bases for our supposition. Another captured group are the rectangular to square (in one case circular) objects with a burnt central part. Six of these have been identified in the terrain at the time mentioned above. In the context of the described objects and after consultation with colleagues, we now interpret them as the relict of field kitchens. We know these facilities also from period depictions.

In July and September of 2021, a non­destructive survey of a fortified site in the cadastral area of Rohoznice (Czech Republic) was carried out. Field prospecting, magnetometry measurements and sampling with a soil sampling auger were conducted. Judging from the findings achieved by soil sampling and magnetometry measurements, it seems that the original form of the fortification was an earthen rampart without any internal structure, perhaps with a wooden palisade on the top. On the basis of a combination of the testimony of written sources, analogical types of fortifications and scant ceramic fragments found at the site, we believe that the fortification was built by an unknown builder from among the ranks of the lower nobility during the 14th century.

The main subject of this study is a survey and evaluation of field fortifications located in Nebesa near Aš (Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic). Although the site was already surveyed in 2019, following earlier surveys between 1980 and 1984, it is still not possible to link it to a particular military event in the second half of the 18th century. The ceramic assemblage recovered is extremely heterogeneous in terms of typology, morphology and chronology. The assemblage mostly consists of vessels which cannot for the most part be connected to civil activities (forest work) and the deposition of waste in the trench area after the period the fortifications were in use. field fortifications-18th century-modern age-pottery-stoneware

Vážené kolegyně, vážení kolegové, dovolujeme si vás pozvat na 2. ročník konference Archeologie konfliktů. Předmětem našeho zájmu nejsou pouze bojiště a místa střetů, ale i problematika fortifikační architektury, hmotné kultury spojené s konflikty, dopad konfliktů na krajinu, výzkumy výrobních objektů spojených s vojenstvím, výzkumy vojenských táborů, hrobů spojených s konflikty apod. Chronologické vymezení je široké, od pravěku do konce 2. světové války. Ačkoli je konference zaměřena primárně na archeologické bádání, vítané jsou také příspěvky z příbuzných oborů.

The territory of northeastern Bohemia became in the course of the reign of Empress Maria Theresa one of the key locations of the Prussian-Austrian military conflict. In terms of strategy, an area demarcated by Hradec Králové and Jaroměř was particularly important. Prussian King Frederick regularly used this area for the redeployment of his armies during invasions to the Habsburg monarchy or on the journeys back to Glatz and Upper Silesia. During the War of the Bavarian Succession, the Austrians built a belt of field fortifications which made it impossible for the Prussian army to venture further into the country. The success of this tactics resulted in the modernization of the Hradec Králové fortress and in the construction of a new one called Ples/Josefov. The article discusses the archaeological research into the belt of field fortifications in the strategic area defined by the confluence of the Elbe, the Metuje and the Úpa rivers.

Detailed and systematic archaeological research on the site of White Mountain (Bílá Hora) and its immediate surroundings in the last six years has yielded a great deal of new information. In the light of archaeological finds, White Mountain, the Hvězda game preserve and the Ladronka park in the cadastral zones of Břevnov, Liboc and Ruzyně in Prague 6 turned out to be not only the sites connected with the historic Battle of White Mountain but also a symbolic battlefield of the Cold War. While the Thirty Years’ War is represented by the finds of firearms and, in particular, ammunition, the Cold War left traces in the form of an encampment of the Czechoslovak Army soldiers taking part in the Czechoslovak Spartakiad, one of the largest propaganda events of the communist period in this country. The paper compares evidence
of archaeological, written and iconographic sources, and for the 20th century also the evidence of aerial photography.

Predicting the location of archaeological sites is an important part of archaeology and heritage management. This paper focuses on the landscape of the middle part of the Otava river basin in South Bohemia during the period from the Late Bronze Age to the Early La Tène Culture. The predictive model assumes that the location of an archaeological site on the landscape depends on its geographical setting such as elevation above sea-level, slope gradient, distance from the nearest water course, as well as on the distance from the nearest finds. Prediction maps were created using the IDRISI computer software module called MCE (Multi-Criteria Evaluation) which was designed to facilitate the analysis of multiple variables. Despite the clear limitations of the method we believe that it represents a useful tool for identifying areas of archaeological interest on the landscape.