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