Development-led excavation in Rousínov in 2017 uncovered a La Tène cemetery in which 30 graves were excavated. Out of these, two exceptional graves, a rich female inhumation and a warrior’s cremation grave, are discussed in detail in this paper. In addition to typological determination of artefacts, the paper includes the results of a survey and conservation work on metal artefacts and anthropological analysis. The inhumation burial of a gracile woman at the age of about 30 years (H823) contained, among other things, a complete bimetallic chain-belt; its furnishing can be dated to LT B2/C1. The warrior’s cremation contained, among other things, an undeformed sword in its scabbard and a spear-head with an exceptionally decorated socket; the grave goods date to LT C1.
The temporary lowering of the water level in Dalešice Reservoir for maintenance in the autumn of 2021 created an opportunity to conduct an archaeological investigation of the Kramolín hillfort – a site permanently flooded since the 1970s. A small group of archaeologists reached the shore of Kramolín island by boat and performed the survey with metal detectors and GPS hand held devices. This survey produced a large collection of lithic artefacts, pottery sherds, and isolated metal artefacts from different prehistoric periods (including the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman period and Early Middle Ages), which had already been identified during previous excavations. However, although the site was illegally surveyed with metal detectors earlier, several important artefacts were still found. In addition, the current state of the overlying sediment and its erosion was documented. The survey showed that the site is not yet exhausted and repeated survey in the case of the lowered water level can again provide more important information about this site.
The ‘Celts Beneath the Pálava Hills’ exhibition was installed at the end of the summer of 2020 at the Regional Museum in Mikulov. The museum prepared the exhibition in cooperation with the Moravian Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno. Along with other unique exhibits, an assemblage of 70 metal artefacts stored in Dolní Dunajovice in the study collection of the Research Centre for the Roman and Great Migration periods of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, was chosen to be displayed for this event. The article presents 47 small artefacts made of copper alloys, 18 coins and five glass artefacts from 17 cadastral units, which enriched the exhibition with a variety of characteristic LT C and D1 finds. They do not form a complete collection, as their common denominator is that they were found in 2011–2017 solely by metal detectorists working together with the archaeologists from the workplace where the finds are stored. These never-before-published artefacts and the qualities of each deserve to be presented both to the public and the professional community. These artefacts include finds which, in the context of the Late Iron Age of south Moravia, are unique objects (including two bronze figurines) that are significant contributions to the clarification and differentiation of the topography of the La Tène settlement structure in the studied region.
Švédův Stůl Cave in the Moravian Karst has been excavated several times since Martin Kříž started the first excavation in 1886. Two parts of the site were re-excavated in 2019. The primary aim was to conduct classical as well as innovative and experimental sedimentological and geoarchaeological investigations of sediments from the discarded spoil heap outside the cave entrance (trench C–D). Intact sediments with a small number of lithic artefacts and a large number of animal bones were also excavated during the 2019 excavation (trench A–B) located under the trench excavated by Bohuslav Klíma’s team in the 1950s. An attempt is being made using pXRF, benchtop ED-XRF and ITRAX techniques to link some of the sedimentary material in the spoil heap (C–D) with the stratified sediments in trench A–B. Animal bones and lithic artefacts were found in both trenches. Numerous samples were collected for geoarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and dating analyses and the results will be published in upcoming publications., Jeskyně Švédův stůl v Moravském krasu byla od dob prvního systematického výzkumu Martina Kříže v roce 1886 předmětem několika dalších badatelských aktivit. Hlavní představoval výzkum Bohuslava Klímy v letech 1953–1955. Poslední akce pak byla realizována v roce 2019. Jejím cílem bylo ověření potenciálu lokality. Zkoumána byla výsypka sedimentů před jeskyní (výkopy C–D) a současně byla v témže místě položena série sond (výkopy A–B), jejichž cílem bylo ověření tvrzení B. Klímy, že plošina je z archeologického pohledu již vyčerpaná, proto bylo překvapením, že pod výzkumem B. Klímy byly zachyceny zbytky intaktních sedimentů, které obsahovaly ojedinělé kamenné artefakty a četné pozůstatky fauny. Při výzkumu byly použity klasické výzkumné postupy, ale současně byly aplikovány další inovativní a experimentální sedimentologické a geoarcheologické metody. Příkladem může být nasazení pXRF, stolního ED-XRF a ITRAX přístrojů, cílených na možnost korelace sedimentů z výsypky (C–D) se stratifikovanými sedimenty ve výkopech (A–B)., and Tato metoda je založena na principu, že jednotlivé vrstvy mohou být geochemicky specifické v obsahu hlavního markerového prvku, vzácného stopového prvku nebo dvouprvkového poměru – např. vrstva, kde dominuje stropový opad může být obohacena vápníkem, naplavená vrstva může mít zvýšenou koncentraci železa, vápníku a hořčíku, nebo navátý material by mohl obsahovat zvýšenou koncentraci zinku, cínu, zirkonia, beryllia a hlavně křemíku. Závěrem můžeme konstatovat, že všechny výkopy poskytly kosti zvířat a kamenné artefakty. Kosti, které bylo možné taxonomicky určit, poukazují na přítomnost pestré škály pleistocenních zvířat jako jsou jeskynní medvědi, koně, vlci, nosorožci, lišky, hyeny, atd. Došlo jak k odebrání série vzorků pro geoarcheologické a paleoenvironmentální analýzy, tak k získání materiálu k určení datace. Zároveň byly odebrány vzorky sedimentů na aDNA analýzy. Všechny tyto vzorky jsou postupně zpracovávány a výsledky budou průběžně zveřejňovány v dalších výstupech z projektu.