Archaeological sources provide a wide range of information to help understand the social structure of human society in the past. In this paper, the authors deal with the information potential of grave pit modifi cations and wooden structures in graves at burial sites in the central region of Great Moravia (southeast Moravia, southwest Slovakia). The goal at this point is to defi ne the basic hypotheses and describe the methodological basis along with the research methodology. The authors treat the sources holistically, which means that one of the methodological foundations is the claim that the properties of the whole are not a simple sum of its parts. This means that all recognized elements of the funeral rite and their mutual relations and functions are the center of attention of this research. The primary basis for the research is the assumption that the presence of various wooden structures or wooden burial receptacles in the graves of the Great Moravian period is a common cultural occurrence. It further tests the hypothesis that there was intent behind choosing of these different wooden structures and grave pit modifi cations and their usage, as well as a potential differentiation based on age or gender in the frequency, quality and selection of these modifi cations/arrangements and structures. The main methodological tools are statistical and GIS analysis and the results are compared with published fi ndings from the wider Central European region., Marian Mazuch, Marek Hladík., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This article is an archaeological report on the results of the excavation carried out around the fi lled-up river branch and bridge No. 1 in Mikulčice in 2012 (excavation B 2012). The main aim of the research was to complete the fi eld works at bridge No. 1, which was discovered during the large-scale excavations performed at the defunct river channel in front of the NW gate of the bailey in 1966-1968. At the same time, the question of how the river channel developed at the site of the bridge was investigated, as well as the topic of the settlement in the wider area between the bailey and the north-western suburb. Presented along with the interpretation of the movable fi nds from the defunct river branch were two possible variants on how the settlement developed in relation to the gradual fi lling-up of the river channel. After analysing the fi nd circumstances in area B 2012, the authors inclined towards the second variant and thus revised the existing theories concerning the evolution of sedimentation in the area of the extinct riverbed. This has helped to resolve some key questions regarding the existence and demise of the power centre in Mikulčice., Marek Hladík, Lumír Poláček., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Pavel Malík, Karel Faltýnek, Pavel Šlézar, Lucie Černá, Petr Holub, Václav Kolařík, David Merta, Marek Peška, Lenka Sedláčková, Hynek Zbranek, Antonín Zůbek, Ivan Čižmář, Petr Kos, Marek Lečbych, Pavel Fojtík, Martina Kršková, Sandra Sázelová, Marie Prachařová, Michaela Kovaříková, Martin Novák, Josef Jan Kovář, David Parma, Lukáš Hlubek, Lenka Kovářová, Miroslav Daňhel, Miroslav Popelka, Táňa Adámková, Monika Martinisková, Jakub Halama, František Kolář, Jana Brhelová, Tomáš Zlámal, Marek Kalábek, Klára Rybářová, Pavel Malík, Jiří Kala, Michal Přichystal, Marek Hladík, Libor Klačík, Marian Mazuch, Lumír Poláček, Jaroslav Škojec, Tomáš Zeman, Piotr Werens, Peter Kováčik, Vít Hadrava, Richard Zatloukal, Jindřich Hlas, Martin Kuča, Jakub Vrána, Hana Kartousová, Josef Večeřa, Michal Zezula, Zdeněk Hájek, Hana Koubková, Dana Menoušková, Hana Lafková, Jaroslav Dytrych, Adéla Balcárková, Svatopluk Bříza, Rudolf Feilhauer, David Rožnovský. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Authors draw attention to certain problems which should not be missed especially concerning the last step of archaeological methodology i.e. in attempting to interpret discovered archaeological sources with respect to a living culture,i.e. a historical society. This article outlines several possibilities that may explain the so-called burials in settlementcontexts. All of the examples discussed were encountered in the area of Mikulcice - a Great Moravian power centre.The authors also introduce several possible interpretations of these field situations with respect to the living culture.They consider (similarly to other researchers) the possibilities and difficulties of chronological, social, economic, political as well as symbolic interpretations of material sources. In concluding this work, the authors emphasize thatall examples discussed, point to the necessity of carefully distinguishing between archaeological and empirical factson the one hand, and cultural facts that are not available to archaeologists, on the other hand. In light of the proposedconclusions, the revision of „old“ excavations in the area of early Medieveal fortified agglomeration Mikulcice-Valydemonstrates the need for acquiring new data of a quality matching the current methodological requirements. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The aim of this paper is to present and interpret the finding situation around so-called north-western gate in the outer bailey of the Great Moravian centre Mikulčice-Valy. In addition to the gate, this area revealed remains of a fortification wall and of a settlement, which was protected by the fortification wall. The analysed and interpreted finding situation was surveyed in 1966-1968. The first sections of the paper define the objectives of the paper (chronology, structure, decay of the fortification), introduces the method of revision processing (analysis of entities and qualities, spatial analyses in the GIS environment) and describes the finding situation revealed in the monitored area. Then, the paper focuses on the analysis of spatial relationships of documented contexts (stratigraphy). This analysis is a starting point for a discussion with hypotheses about the chronology and construction of the gate and fortification wall published by Z Klanica, Poulík and B. Kavánová in the second half of the 20th century. Finally, the paper presents an interpretation model about dating construction and decay of the fortifications in outer bailey of the Mikulčice agglomeration., Marek Hladík., and Obsahuje seznam literatury