Petr Kočár

Contrasting local and regional Holocene histories of Abies alba in the Czech Republic in relation to human impact: Evidence from forestry, pollen and anthracological data

After the last glaciation, around 4000 BC, silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) spread to the area that is now the Czech Republic. This spread was not restricted to high mountains, but also took place across both highland and lowland landscapes. Historical forestry records from around AD 1500 mention a massive expansion of Abies alba, favoured by forest pasturing, litter raking and selective tree cutting. According to the current interpretation of these historical records, this expansion in Czech forests was extensive and lasted until AD 1800. On the other hand, pollen data coming mostly from the Alps consider silver fir as a species that is extremely sensitive to human impact. In this paper, we compare historical forestry reports with pollen and charcoal data from the Czech Republic. Both pollen and charcoal records show that Abies alba reached its maximum during the Bronze (2200—800/750 BC) and Iron Ages (800/750 BC—AD 0). While charcoal records indicate that silver fir wood was important also during the High Medieval, pollen data show that the High Medieval and Modern times were periods of a general decline in Abies. Our data suggest that the expansion of silver fir documented by historical records was not general but rather fragmented, probably according to actual form and the intensity of human impact, as well as environmental conditions. These historical records have contributed much evidence regarding the wider ecological tolerance of Abies.

Trends in cereal cultivation in the Czech Republic from the Neolithic to the Migration period (5500 b.c.–a.d. 580)

This study summarises the current state of research on cultivated cereals from archaeological sites in the Czech Republic. We discuss the first appearances of particular cereals, their first proven cultivation (which usually happens much later) and their part within cereal husbandry. The questions of possible contamination of archaeobotanical material and problems concerning the identification of some cereal taxa are related to this topic. Trends in the importance of the cultivation of individual cereals are shown with generalized linear models (GLMs), based on an assemblage of 81 newly sampled sites. The results of GLM enable the division of the cereals into four groups characterised by: (1) species showing a gradual decrease in importance—Triticum monococcum (einkorn) and T. dicoccum (emmer), (2) species with progressively accumulating representation on sites during prehistory—Hordeum vulgare (common barley) and T. spelta (spelt), (3) those with a marked increase by the end of prehistory—T. aestivum/turgidum (naked wheat), Avena sp. (oats) and Secale cereale, (rye) and (4) a specific group including only Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet). There is a gradual increase in the diversity of cultivated cereals through time, starting with T. monococcum and T. dicoccum, followed by Hordeum, Panicum, T. spelta and T. aestivum/turgidum, Secale and Avena. Comparison of the chronological development of cereal cultivation in the area of the Czech Republic and surrounding countries shows a general correspondence with the trends observed in other parts of eastern-central Europe, although with some local specific differences.

Food offerings, flowers, a bronze bucket and a waggon: a multidisciplinary approach regarding the Hallstatt princely grave from Prague-Letňany, Czech Republic

Two princely graves (numbers 6 and 14) of the Bylany culture from the Hallstatt period were excavated at Prague-Letňany in December 2014. The paper summarises the results of the scientific analysis of grave number 6. The grave inventory contained a four-wheeled waggon, 21 ceramic vessels of variable size and type, one bronze bucket, one iron sword, two iron spits and a variety of animal bones. Dark paint on the outer surface of the bronze bucket was examined using infrared spectroscopy and revealed the presence of beeswax and charcoal. This is unusual as the paint or coatings found on archaeological vessels from numerous periods are generally based on natural resins. Pollen analysis of the organic matter found in the bottom of the bronze bucket showed that it had originally belonged to flowers, probably in the form of a floral tribute. Osteological analysis of the offered parts of one adult sheep, one adult pig and one calf skeleton revealed the specific selection from fleshy parts of the animal bodies. There were no clear signs of roasting on the animal bones. Analysis of the waggon showed that Fagus wood was used for construction of the felloes, Abies/Picea wood for the axle and Ulmus, Acer and Quercus for other parts, suggesting that Modern Age technologies were already in use during the Hallstatt period.

Rybník jako součást hospodářství vrchnostenského panství a indikátor podoby krajiny jižního Valašska v 15. až 17. století

Soucasti hospodařskeho rozvoje v kontinentalni Evropě 14. až 16. stoleti bylo rozsiřeni rybniků. V některých regionech se chov ryb stal jednou z hlavnich podnikatelských aktivit slechty. V ceských zemich zname dodnes existujici dila středověkých rybnikařů předevsim z jižnich a východnich Cech. Zajimave doklady těchto aktivit vsak byly zaznamenany i v oblasti jihovýchodni Moravy, kde dnes již neexistujici rybniky podstatně změnily podobu hospodařstvi i raz krajiny někdejsiho brumovskeho panstvi. To naznacuji dochovane pisemne prameny i terenni relikty, jež jsou v dnesni krajině stale jestě vice ci meně patrne. Archeologický výzkum pozůstatků konkretniho rybnicniho dila nedaleko obce Mirosova vedl k lokalizaci dobře dochovaných dřevěných prvků sypane hraze, jež datuji jeho založeni do obdobi po roce 1488. V prostoru rybnika, který pravděpodobně zanikl narusenim hraze svahovým sesuvem po roce 1536, byly take zaznamenany zbytky vodni a segetalni vegetace. Jejich paleoekologicka analýza doložila krajinu tvořenou mozaikou lesů, poli a pastvin. Průzkum sirsiho okoli pak prokazal napojeni hraze na siť pozdně středověkých až novověkých uvozových cest a hraz dalsiho rybnicniho dila. Ta doklada přitomnost vicestupňove rybnicni soustavy.

What Did They Eat, What Did They Drink, and from What? An Interdisciplinary Window into Everyday Life of the Early Modern Burgher’s Household in Český Krumlov (Czech Republic)

The South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, a UNESCO world heritage site, the former residence of the noble family of the Rosenbergs, is a unique mirror of the Bohemian Renaissance and Baroque. Extremely rich archives, maintained by both the town and the nobility, were for a long time the only sources providing evidence about the everyday life during the period of the town’s highest prosperity. Thanks to developing post-medieval archaeology and rescue excavation conducted in South Bohemia over the last three decades, the original collection of archive documents was substantially enriched by a wide range of archaeological resources – artefacts and ecofacts. The archaeological excavation at a filled up well at house no. 55 in the area known as Latrán was the subject of interdisciplinary interest from the very beginning. The result of the joint research has become a probe into a burgher household, the rich inventory of which demonstrates that the early modern lifestyle was established in a wide range of both dish-ware (artefacts from glass and pottery) and meals (osteological materials and plant macro remains). The answers to the questions as to what and from what the townspeople ate and drank from on the threshold of modern times reflects the origins of modern consumer society in southern Bohemia. IANSA 2014 ● V/1 ● 59–77 Michal Preusz, Jaromír Beneš, Lenka Kovačiková, Petr Kočár, Jan Kaštovský: What Did They Eat, What Did They Drink, and from What? An Interdisciplinary Window into Everyday Life of the Early Modern Burgher’s Household in Český Krumlov (Czech Republic) 60 and archaeobotanical analyses and perform a comprehensive evaluation of an important Early Modern set of findings in Český Krumlov for the first time. 2. A brief history of the household in house no. 55 in Latrán (15th–18th century) The first written reference to house no. 55 dates back to 1492 when a burgher Jacob (Jakub) Kukla with the permission of his wife sold the house to Linhart Húska along with three tubs and two tables. Kukla kept the rear tract of the house with a sitting-room and chamber for his family in his ownership. He reserved a stable for his use under the lumberroom as well as the rear of the malthouse under the chamber. In addition, he also kept a small gallery connecting the yard with the sitting-room and all the feeders under it. The upper hall in the rear tract of the building remained in the holding of the Kukla family, although the malthouse located directly beneath it belonged to Linhart Húska. Although the house was then shared by two households, it was still considered one residential unit (Preusz 2010, 106–107). The malting craft was run in the front tract of the house up until 1553 when part of the house was bought by Casper (Kašpar) Libtner, a goldsmith. After his death, the house was purchased by Urban Šlechta, a chef at the castle residence.1 1Urban Šlechta’s interest in good cuisine was also probably reflected in his visits to lively local pubs where he would meet other burghers (Stejskal 1997, 376–408). In 1574 he was seriously injured in a brawl in one of the taverns. Figure 1. Český Krumlov on the map of the Czech Republic (drawing by M. Preusz). Figure 2. The front view of the house no. 55 in Latrán (photo by M. Preusz). 0 200 km IANSA 2014 ● V/1 ● 59–77 Michal Preusz, Jaromír Beneš, Lenka Kovačiková, Petr Kočár, Jan Kaštovský: What Did They Eat, What Did They Drink, and from What? An Interdisciplinary Window into Everyday Life of the Early Modern Burgher’s Household in Český Krumlov (Czech Republic) 61 of the house was in the ownership of Jacob Kukla’s family up until 1541, consequently, several owners followed: Stephen (Štěpán) Mittase, Blazek, the furrier, the maltsters Georg (Jiří) Schwarz and Georg (Jiří) Lobtascher, who owed in many pubs for beer and mugs of wine. Thomas Deutsch then also bought this part of the house in 1580 (Preusz 2010, 107–111). Thomas Deutsch, the bricklayer, probably came from the Tyrol. He was a member of a large group of foreigners invited to Bohemia, who brought a Renaissance style of life to Central Europe. It is conceivable that Deutsch together with other builders, John (Hans) Götsch and Hans Haas, built a brewery in Český Krumlov and executed several smaller Jetřich Slatinský from Slatinka, the hetman of Český Krumlov, who at that time represented William of Rosenberg, immediately began to urge the town council and wrote it a letter warning that “nasty wretchedness is committed by taverns in the town that despite the ordered hours to midnight or even past it, craftsmen and other humble persons perpetrate villainous acts by drinking and guzzling and numerous other wicked acts. All this is firstly against the Lord, secondly against good order and good manners, through this gaiety, murders, battles, assaults and various brushes occur. Most recently this incident happened to the cook of his Majesty, master Urban Šlechta, and about all this the town is aware, how shamefully, not to say treacherously, beaten, stoned and robbed he was“ (after Gross 1900-1901, 546). Figure 3. The ground plan of house no. 55 with the outlined yard and well (drawing by M. Preusz). Urban, the cook, died in 1578 and authorized curators sold the house to Thomas (Tomáš) Deutsch, the builder. The rear N section W section N section IANSA 2014 ● V/1 ● 59–77 Michal Preusz, Jaromír Beneš, Lenka Kovačiková, Petr Kočár, Jan Kaštovský: What Did They Eat, What Did They Drink, and from What? An Interdisciplinary Window into Everyday Life of the Early Modern Burgher’s Household in Český Krumlov (Czech Republic) 62 orders which earned him a decent wage. He joined the two parts of house no. 55 in Latrán in 1580 and also bought a hops-field, a garden and other lands in close vicinity to the town. After his death, his widow married a brewer Guy (Vít) Šítal. The malting craft was once again carried on, and the new owners of the house, Andrew (Ondřej) Mang, Thomas (Tomáš) and Jerome (Jeroným) Steiner were malsters. There was a brewery in the house in 1654. The Steiner family lived here up until the 18th century (Preusz 2010, 111–114). 3. Material and methods 3.1 Archaeological excavation at the yard and well Planned reconstruction of town house no. 55 in Latrán in Český Krumlov was preceded by an excavation conducted by the Archeos Company (Beneš 1999, 16–17). The excavation was performed in the yard covering an area of 7.10×7.30 m (Figure 3). The yard was seriously disturbed by recent interventions. Removal of the concrete layer in the south-west corner of the yard revealed an elongated wooden trough (length=0.96 m, width=0.34 m), in which very clean water with an increased salt content was held in the past, implying significant human activity in its vicinity. In all probability, the trough served for feeding livestock. The surface of the lot was covered with stones, while beneath it a layer consisting of ballast was discovered. After clearing the surface, the crown of a circular well, built of dry-laid stones, appeared in the north-east corner of the yard (Figure 4). During the archaeological excavation, filling from the well to a depth of 5.40 m was removed. Subsequently, the cave expert František Krejča was invited to conduct further research at larger depths. The mouth of the well was located in close proximity to the residential building in the northeastern corner of the yard. Considering the overlap of ca 30 cm of the well at the mining, the northern part of the well casing was located beneath the wall of the northern tract of the house. This implies that at the time the well was dug, there is little probability that a building stood on the land. It can be assumed that it was a medieval well supplying the original Gothic house with water. The well was mined to a maximum depth of 11.20 m in a direction perpendicular to the bedrock, formed by biotite paragneiss without significant traces of weathering. The well formed a circle with a diameter of 1.2 m. Its maximum depth reached 11.20 m. The total well volume was 13 m3. The well was carved into the rock, its above-ground part was formed by dry-laid stone curbing. The lowest point of the well was a niche in the northern part, serving probably as a mud trap. The filling of the well was divided into five stratigraphic layers marked with the letters A, B, C, D, E (Figure 5). The recent layer containing concrete was marked as “A”. After its removal, the reddish clay layer “B” followed to a depth of 7 m. The archaeological material only occurred here in a limited quantity, these being fragments of pottery, glass and two coins. At a depth of 7 m, the colour of the filling changed to dark grey. The archaeological material, however, was similar as in layer “B”. This layer “C” continued to a depth of 8 m, with the findings mostly involving treated stones. The last two layers were the richest in artefacts and osteological material. Layer “D” was noticeably lighter and the filling contained varying amounts of impurities forming, mainly at the walls, separate accumulations. This layer contained fragments of pottery, bones and Baroque glass, which dates the D layer back to the second half of the 17th/first half of the 18th century. At a depth of 8.3 m, the well walls were damaged. Stones were missing in the area of approximately 60×80 cm at the site where the timbered casing was attached to the rocky massif. To ensure security during the excavation, wooden beams were used to reinforce the timbering. The character of the filling of the bottom “E” Figure 4. The well (photo by F. Krejča). IANSA 2014 ● V/1 ● 59–77 Michal Preusz, Jaromír Beneš, Lenka Kovačiková, Petr Kočár, Jan Kaštovský: What Did They Eat, What Did They Drink, and from What? An Interdisciplinary Window into Everyday Life of the Early Modern Burgher’s Household in Český Krumlov (Czech Republic) 63 layer was completely different from the previous layers, this layer began at a depth of 9.3 m and ended at 11.2 m. Water was