The site of Mohelno-Plevovce is located on a small plateau near the bottom of a deeply incised Jihlava River canyon. While this concealed position is protected by rocky slopes from the east, north and west, it is exposed to insolation from the south. The site is affected by erosional forces of fluctuating water levels caused by Dalešice pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant since the 1970‘s. The site was intermittently occupied by humans from the Late Upper Paleolithic to recent times as documented by repeated salvage excavations since 2013. Lengyel Culture occupation has already been identified in surface surveys, but corresponding cultural features were not excavated until the last two years. The excavation yielded characteristic material including pottery and stone industry, as well as charcoal which allowed dating and a detailed anthracological analysis. Relative chronology suggests the MMK-Ib phase, while radiocarbon dating places the occupation at the end of MMK-I / beginning of MMK-II phase. Anthracology analyses suggest an open canopy woodland forest as the dominant biome.
This article presents the results of a 2019 rescue excavation of an Upper Palaeolithic settlement at Kouty III in Hlinsko u Lipníka in Central Moravia. The excavation took place due to a planned enlargement of the local greywacke mine. Lithic artefacts were found in Quaternary sediments redeposited by slope processes. The density of artefacts was quite low; therefore, it was not possible to recover them using a standard archaeological excavation and most of them were collected on the mounds of dirt beside the trenches excavated by a mechanical excavator, or during an excavation of the Eneolithic barrows situated in the south-western part of the site. A total of 106 lithic pieces were found during this excavation. Eighteen of the artefacts lacked a patinated surface, thus they were attributed to the Eneolithic period. A collection of 88 patinated lithics was classified as Aurignacian based on technological and typological characteristics. Most of the artefacts were made on erratic flint, however radiolarite, quartzite, spongolite and Moravian Jurassic chert were present as well. The technology was based on production of blades and bladelets from Upper Palaeolithic prismatic cores. These bladelets could have been used as components of composite tools. One tool set is similar to the neighbouring site Kouty I (Škrdla 2007) and consists of nine burins, three splintered pieces, one thick end scraper and two tool fragments. A bifacial triangular point that was found at Kouty I (Demidenko et al. 2018) and at several other surface sites in the surrounding area, were not found here. Despite this fact it is possible to classify this site as Evolved Aurignacian of the so-called Morava River type (Klíma 1978), which is quite common in this region.