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
The author presents the preliminary results of the excavation of the Mikulčice acropolis fortifi cation near Church II. Any rampart is the largest such structure built by the Mojmír dynasty. The importance of this particular fortifi cation lies in the fact that it is the rampart of the main area of one of the top Great Moravian centers of power that protected, among other things, a number of religious buildings and a district with the only properly documented stone palace of a Great Moravian ruler. Great Moravian rampart is composed of a stone face wall, clay-wood core strengthened by grates and a stone substructure ringed by stake palisades, in front of, and in some places partially under, the face wall. The substructure’s role was most likely to bear the face wall’s weight and to strengthen the artifi cial slope under it against water erosion by the nearby river. The conclusion poses the main issues and unknowns that remain to be discovered and answered about the Mikulčice fortifi cation, Marian Mazuch., 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 author presents a revised interpretation of the area of the NE gateway of the acropolis of the Great Moravian power centre Mikulčice-Valy and the adjacent fortification. The work is a response to a previously published picture of the overall find situation of this area (by B. Kavánová 2003), which, according to the author, does not match the infor mation available in the original documentation. The interpretation procedures clearly presented in the aforementioned monograph cannot be substantiated due to inadequate field work methods, the extent of the documentation compiled and the way in which this documentation is selected and designed This work also provides a critique of the interpre tation of the stratigraphic situation and the dating means and methods used. According to this revised interpretation, it is not possible to concur regarding the relevance of the evidence on which B. Kaváinová bases her hypothesis that there was more than one phase to the rampart. Due to this unsubstantiated interpretation, the chronology given for other settlement structures therefore lacks credibility. The text also includes a reconstruction of the passage through the fortification when the aforementioned gate was in use., Marian Mazuch., and Obsahuje seznam literatury