The paper is devoted to the early glazed ceramics from Racibórz dated on the 2nd half of the 12th century – the 1st half of the 14th century. Based on the microscopic and physico-chemical analyses was found that the glazed ceramics was manufactured locally and the applied technology was related to the workshops where the lead ore was processed. It is proved by the same raw material in a form of galena (PbS) that was used to prepare the glazes and to gain the lead and the silver. The authors’ thesis is confirmed by the latest excavations of the glazed ceramics from the 11th–12th centuries made on the manufacturing settlements within the borderland zone of Silesia and Little Poland where the local lead ores were processed. and Článek se zabývá glazovanou keramikou z 2. pol. 12. – 1. pol. 14. stol. ze slezské Ratiboře. Mikroskopickými a fyzikálně-chemickými analýzami byl zjištěn lokální původ těchto nálezů a vztah produkce glazovaných nádob ke zdejším dílnám zpracovávajícím olovnaté rudy. Dokládá to přítomnost výchozí suroviny ve formě galenitu (PbS), užívaného pro extrakci olova a stříbra i pro přípravu glazur. Uvedenou hypotézu potvrdily nové nálezy glazované keramiky z 11.–12. stol. z lokalit v hraniční oblasti mezi Slezskem a Malopolskem, kde byly rovněž zpracovávány místní olovnaté rudy.
Dariusz Rozmus a jeho spolupracovníci dospěli v posledních letech k názoru, že hutníci ve Slezsku v 11. až 13. stol. používali k hutnění olověných rud originální, „později zapomenutou“ metodu, kterou nazývají „redukce olova železem“. Olověné rudy skutečně lze, při dodržení určitých podmínek, redukovat železem a/nebo kysličníkem železnatým. Základní podmínkou takové technologie je oddělení vsázky od paliva, neboť uhlík a kysličník uhelnatý jsou podstatně silnějšími reduktanty než železo a jeho sloučeniny. Oddělení vsázky a paliva nebylo na studovaných objektech prokázáno. Co si však z výzkumu zaslouží pozornost (a co autoři opomněli podrobněji studovat), je prokazatelné použití železářských strusek jako součásti vyzdívky či výmazu olovářských pecí. and Dariusz Rozmus and his co-workers have come to the conclusion in recent
years that metallurgists in Silesia between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries used an original and ‘later forgotten’ method to smelt lead ores in a process they describe as the ‘reduction of lead by iron’. When certain conditions are maintained, lead ore truly can be reduced by iron and/or iron oxide. The basic condition for using this method is the separation of the charge from the carbon-containing fuel (wood, charcoal) in the furnace – for example by placing the charge in crucibles. Carbon and carbon monoxide are stronger reductants than iron and its compounds. The division of the ore charge and the fuel were not proven in the studied features. Meriting attention from the research, however (something the authors neglected to study in great detail), is the demonstrable use of iron-making slag as part of the lining of the lead smelting furnace.
Jedním z témat archeologické antropologie je studium vztahu člověka a artefaktu. Z tohoto hlediska je také možné studovat problematiku rekonstrukce středověkých opevnění. Výzkumu raně středověkých opevnění se věnovala řada badatelů, ale jen v některých případech interpretace dospěla až do stádia návrhu celkové kresebné rekonstrukce fortifikace. Z hlediska hájitelnosti těchto zařízení lze posuzovat rekonstrukce z pohledu vztahu hradby a lidského těla. Na některých kresebných rekonstrukcích podoby vrcholně a pozdně středověkých opevnění se na náspu objevují opevňovací prvky v podobě palisády. Ty nejsou spolehlivě doloženy a jejich existence by byla z hlediska obranyschopnosti kontraproduktivní. and One of the subjects of archaeological anthropology is the study of the relationship between man and artefacts. From this perspective it is also possible to study questions surrounding the reconstruction of medieval fortifications. A number of researchers have studied Early Medieval fortifications, but only in several instances has the interpretation reached the stage of drafting the overall graphic reconstruction of these fortifications. From the perspective of the defensibility of these structures, it is possible to assess the reconstruction from the point of view of the relationship of the walls and the human body. Fortifying elements in the form of palisades appear on the ramparts in several of the graphic reconstructions of the High and Late Middle Age fortifications. These are not reliably documented, and their existence from a defence perspective would be counterproductive.
The authors discuss three graphittonkeramik vessels from the stronghold at Ostróg in Racibórz (Silesia), which show diverse utilitarian qualities in terms of sizes, capacities and diverse wall thicknesses. All were produced in a style characteristic of 12th – 13th century North Moravian pottery. The examinations included physico-chemical analyses to determine the mineralogical and chemical composition of the ceramic masses, the temperatures of burning-out and the water permeability of the ceramic products. The aims were to determine the degree of homogeneity among the vessels in respect of ceramic mass competition and production techniques, and to compare the analysed features to those of other Silesian and Moravian products examined previously. The results obtained support the hypothesis of the local production of graphittonkeramik in the Racibórz area. The investigations did not reveal any special qualities in the graphite that would have improved the quality of the products. The authors believe that the admixture of graphite schist facilitated the preparation of the ceramic mass and working on a jolley. The exceptional softness of graphite and its grain slide characteristics were thus beneficial. and Na fragmentech tří grafitových nádob z raně středověkého hradu Ostróg v Ratiboři autoři prezentují rozdílné užitné vlastnosti, určené tloušťkou stěn, velikostí a obsahem nádob. Exempláře morfologicky odpovídají severomoravské keramice z 12.–13. století. Chemicko-fyzikální analýzy stanovily chemické a mineralogické složení hrnčířské masy i teplotu výpalu a nasákavost vodou. Cílem analýz bylo určení shod a rozdílů ve složení hrnčířské masy a výrobní technologie a porovnání těchto vlastností s dříve zkoumanými nádobami ze Slezska a Moravy. Získané výsledky svědčí o lokální produkci grafitové keramiky v regionu Ratiboře. Nebylo zjištěno, že by použití grafitu podstatně zvyšovalo jakost výrobků. Autoři se kloní k názoru, že grafitová příměs sloužila především k usnadnění práce s hrnčířskou masou při její přípravě a ve fázi vytáčení. Využívána při tom byla výjimečná měkkost grafitu a jeho charakteristická klouzavost.
The paper presents the results of the first stage of experimental research on reconstruction of the bloomery process in the slag-pit furnace of the Tarchalice type. The phenomenon of bloomery furnaces from the Przeworsk culture settlement in Tarchalice (Tarxdorf), Lower Silesia, Poland, has been known to the scientific community since 1903. With regard to ancient slag-pit furnaces discovered in the second half of the twentieth century in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains and Mazovia region, these features had two-times larger diameter of slag-pits and almost four-times greater weight of slag blocks. The large sizes of the slag-pits suggested dissimilarity of conditions of running the process, formation of iron bloom and block of slag in relation to quite well known from scientific experiments the bloomery process from the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. and V příspěvku jsou prezentovány výsledky první fáze experimentálního výzkumu rekonstrukce procesu přímé výroby železa v pecích se zahloubenou nístějí typu Tarchalice. Fenomén železářských pecí převorské kultury v Tarchalicích v Dolním Slezsku je odborné veřejnosti znám již od roku 1903. Pokud jde o starověké pece se zahloubenou nístějí, objevené ve druhé polovině 20. století ve Svatokřížských horách a na Mazovsku, tyto objekty měly dvojnásobně větší průměr nístějí a téměř čtyřnásobně větší hmotnost struskových bloků. Velké rozměry zahloubených nístějí naznačovaly rozdílné podmínky procesu tavby, tvorby železné houby a bloku strusky oproti, z vědeckých pokusů poměrně dobře známému, procesu přímé výroby železa ve Svatokřížských horách.
For many years, the attention of specialists has been aimed at
Těšín folk costumes decorated with silver jewellery. They are the result of a gradual diffusion of city jewellers’ products among wealthier countrymen; amateur craftsmen (so called fušeři - dabblers) used to make jewellery for less wealthy people. Jablunkov and Těšín were main centres of this production.
Jewellery was primarily made of silver, but copper, tin, lead and later new materials (German silver) were used as well. The most common methods of making silver jewellery were casting (the oldest technology), extrusion and filigree. There are following types of jewellery: hooks, belts, buttons, chains, necklaces and different brooches. Grotesque, arabesque, auriculated and also zoomorphic (lion, bird, lamb) and anthropomorphic (king David, angel) ornaments prevail on the oldest jewellery. Silver belts became the height of art and craftsmanship of Těšín jewellers’ work. The most extensive and comprehensive collection of Těšín silver folk
costume jewellery is owned by the Museum of Těšínsko in Český
Těšín.
The Czech ''Silesian identity'', obvious throughout the twentieth century, was based on a mixture of strong regional, even local, patriotism, which was determined by historical developments. This patriotism developed on the ethnically mixed territory of Czech Silesia (formerly Austrian Silesia). After the Second World War, this phenomenon was quickly revived, but unlike in the pre-war period, it took a clearly Czech national form. The territorial factor, by contrast, receded into the background. Behind this activity and new interpretation stood intellectual circles and institutions in Opava, some leading fi gures from Ostrava, and the Silesian Cultural Institute in Prague. In addition to cultural-educational activity, their efforts were concentratedon claiming some border areas of Polish and German Silesia as being historically Czech, and also on ensuring the distinctive administrative status of the territory of Silesia in Czechoslovakia, the seed of which they saw in the Ostrava branch of the Moravian National Committee (Zemský národní výbor) in Brno. During the Communist regime, according to the authors, the top state authorities showed an intentional lack of interest in the problems of Silesia when solving related economic and other questions. A consequence of this was a ''silencing of the offi cial sources'' about Silesia. In the 1950s, the ''Silesian-ness'' was condemned as a form of ''bourgeois nationalism'' and was identifi ed with the period of Czech-Polish national friction in the region. From the administrative point of view, Silesia was dissolved in the Ostrava area, later in the North Moravian Region, and was recalled practically only by artistic expressions of an ''Old Silesian-ness'', such as folklore and museum exhibitions. Silesian organizations and societies were, with few exceptions, dissolved or renamed and the newly established Silesian Research Institute in Opava had to orient its historical research chiefl y to the labour movement. The works of the poet Petr Bezruč (born Vladimír Vašek, 1867-1958) and his collection of verses, Slezské písně (Silesian Songs), presented a problem because of their questionable depiction of Silesian identity, and the publication of the complete collection led to disputes in cultural policy. The Ostrava-based arts and politics periodical Červený květ (Red Flower), which repeatedly included debates about regionalism, began to be published in the mid-1950s. At the end of the decade, however, the Communist Party launched a campaign against parochialism (lokálpatriotismus), which was refl ected also in the condemnation of publications seeking to exonerate the poems and ideas of Óndra Łysohorsky (born Ervín Goj, 1905-1989), who during the war promoted the theory of a ''Lach nation.'' In the 1960s, the local authorities and fi gures of Opava again began to emphasize the role of their town as a regional centre. During the Prague Spring of 1968, there were calls for the restoration of Silesian self-government, but that remained more or less limited to the Opava region, and consequently some ''Silesian'' cultural initiatives from this period were of greater importance.