Moravský Krumlov IV - a New Multilayer Palaeolithic Site in Moravia, the Czech Republic (original) (raw)
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Moravsky Krumlov IV -A New Multilayer Palaeolithic Site in Moravia
Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 2010
Der Fundplatz Moravský Krumlov IV liegt in der Region des Krumlov-Waldes (Krumlovský Les), der fur seine Hornsteinvorkommen bekannt ist. Ausgrabungen wurden 2000-2004 in verschiedenen Sektoren durchgefuhrt; hierbei konnten vier palaolithische Fundhorizonte erkannt werden. Der unterste Horizont (Fundschicht 3) gehort noch in OIS 6 und offenbart die Nutzung von Levallois- und diskoiden Abbaukonzepten. Die Fundschichten 2 und 1 konnten von OIS 5e bis OIS 5c datiert werden. Die Steinartefakte werden als Belege fur ein sehr fruhes Micoquien gewertet. Der hangende Fundhorizont 0 gehort zum Szeletien, als eine Variante der fruhjungpalaolithischen Technokomplexe. Dessen Steinindustrie wird detailliert beschrieben. Die Analyse der Zusammensetzungen mit Blattspitzen erhellen eine besondere Variante der Gerateherstellung.
Due to the recent mapping and study of soil micro-morphology of the new brickyard at Horky nad Jizerou we were able to revise the sequence documented in the 1950s and 1960s in the old brickyard. Sediments from Horky nad Jizerou document the evolution of loess sedimentation from at least MIS 15 to the pleniglacial of last glaciation (MIS 2). The development of loess sedimentation was interrupted by numerous hiatuses, evidenced by erosive interfaces. Since the 1950s several archaeological assemblages from five different locations were collected. The oldest archaeological levels are at the site of Horky III, situated in the loess which has a minimum age of MIS 14. Artefacts such as a subspheroide and a side scraper from these levels have characteristics which correspond to this period well as the presence of horse bones does. A limited collection of small dimension stone industry of lower Palaeolithic character discovered at Horky II, is slightly younger, corresponding to either MIS 13 or MIS 11. the largest assemblage from Horky I was found within an erosion channel under the loess of MIS 10 which lay under a significant soil complex, corresponding to MIS 9. The sediments filling this erosion channel seem to correspond to the beginning of the glacial MIS 10. The collection is significant as the dominant forms are of preformed cores with hints of knowledge of levallois technology as well as evidence of bifacial retouching. Two flakes from Horky IV lay in the loess corresponding to MIS 8. The youngest site is Horky V situated in soil strongly affected by solifluction and corresponding to MIS 7c. The assemblage is very small and chronologically featureless.
In the territory of the Czech Republic Krumlovský les represents the most important source of raw materials for the chipped industry. The extraction of Jurassic cherts peaked as late as in the Early Bronze Age and lasted into the Hallstatt Age. Hence, the extraction was discontinued as late as around 500 BC, and, since the end of the Eneolithic at the furthest, thousands of tonnes of excavated and knapped cherts made their way into the filling of the shafts and on the piles instead of being transported elsewhere. Radiocarbon date GrA-34410 supports the beginning of mining and places the hearth at the mouth of shaft I-12 between the years 8810 and 8560 BC. Remains of extraction on a much larger scale, probably from a front face of the slope, are being uncovered in the Area II. However, the upper portion of the slope and its top was entirely disturbed by quarrying during the Eneolithic and especially the Bronze Age. For the present, the expanse of the Late Mesolithic spoil heap exceeds 50 metres on the contour line and 16 metres on the slope, and in one-meter thickness it continues farther to the east. This mass-scale activity with no evident practical purpose suggests that certain social changes were also occurring in south Moravia just before the onset of the Neolithic.
Guidebook for Field Excursions of the XIIth International Symposium and Field Seminar on Paleopedology ‘Paleosols, pedosediments and landscape morphology as archives of environmental evolution’ (10-15 August, 2013, Kursk, Voronezh, Russia). Moscow, pp. 89-97., 2013
The Dolní Věstonice -Pavlov -Milovice area, located on the slopes of the Pavlov Hills (maximum elevation 550m a.s.l.) provides an ideal case for studying the relationship between the geomorphology of the Dyje river valley, Pleistocene paleoenvironments, and Gravettian settlement patterns during the later MIS3. Within a short time-period of a few millenia, this area functioned as a system of interrelated archaeological sites showing a variation in size, duration of occupation, and seasonality. Almost all these sites (with the exception of Milovice IV) create a chain at approximately the same altitude, 200-240m a.s.l. and 30-70m above the floodplain, in similar geomorphological positions ordered from northwest to southeast. All these sites may be viewed and controlled from the hilltop of the remarkable Děvičky hill, now crowned by a medieval castle. The locations on the mid-slopes of the Pavlov Hills, not far from the river and controlling the floodplain and the swampy side gullies on the slopes, were optimal places for hunting and other types of resource exploitation. Following this scenario, mammoth herds gathered on the floodplain were viewed from the strategic positions above, while selected individuals could have been killed in the side gullies and blind valleys which served as natural traps. A variety of additional resources, vegetable and animal, was available in the floodplain and on the slopes. The success of this economic model is reflected in the size and the inventories of the archaeological sites.