The fortification system of Staré Hradisko has been recognised since the earliest archaeological investigations. In 1912, František Lipka and Karel Snětina described an extensive defensive layout composed of ramparts and terraces with a total length of approximately two kilometres. They assumed that the western ramparts, originally much higher, were reinforced with wooden palisades, while at […]
Excavations at Staré Hradisko demonstrated that the oppidum was not an agglomeration of randomly placed houses, but a carefully structured settlement organised around enclosed courtyards (dvorce). Early researchers could not yet define this layout, but already in the mid-twentieth century J. Bohm observed that residential buildings in the western outer bailey formed larger complexes functioning […]
The understanding of settlement architecture at Staré Hradisko developed slowly and unevenly, shaped by the methods and expectations of successive generations of researchers. During the earliest excavations conducted before the First World War by F. Lipka and K. Snětina, only around twenty sunken features were explored. These pits were dug into the bedrock, had flat […]
Staré Hradisko is a site whose significance has been recognised for centuries, long before the development of modern archaeology. The earliest written evidence of knowledge about the locality dates to the beginning of the 16th century. In 1519, legal records of the Olomouc region mention the area under the name Kadidelná hora (Incense Hill), a […]
Staré Hradisko is one of the major Celtic oppida in Moravia and an important Late Iron Age centre in Central Europe. The site is located on the eastern edge of the Drahany Highlands, near the village of Malé Hradisko, roughly halfway between Prostějov and Boskovice. It occupies an isolated promontory between two watercourses, a naturally […]
Quite a lot has been happening recently, even if we have not been sharing updates regularly. Over the past weeks, work has focused on the study of existing archaeological collections and documentation rather than on new fieldwork. We have started reviewing materials from the oppidum of Závist deposited in the Prague archives, concentrating on selected […]
The project “Between the Celts and the Northern People”, funded by the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR), explores the interaction zones between two major cultural worlds of the Iron Age: the La Tène (Celtic) and the northern Jastorf/Przeworsk spheres. After the collapse of the Hallstatt centres north of the Carpathians, new groups from the south reintroduced […]
What did people eat in Silesia two thousand years ago? Answering this question takes us far beyond the visible artefacts. Together with specialists, we are applying a series of bioarchaeological methods to reveal traces of ancient food and farming. One of these is lipid residue analysis — a chemical method that extracts microscopic fats preserved […]
We are pleased to invite you to an online lecture by Dr Joanna Ewa Markiewicz, Principal Investigator of the project Between the Celts and the Northern People: Interactions between the Middle and Late La Tène Societies in Central Europe (Charles University, Prague). ? 6 November 2025 (Thursday), 19:00 CET? Online lecture via Zoom Her talk, […]
This week we’re in Poznań for the 20th edition of “Archaeology of the Barbarians: Migrations – Trade – Expeditions. Mobility in the European Barbaricum.” The meeting runs 22–25 October 2025 at the Archaeological Museum in Poznań (Wodna 27) and is a closed event for registered participants. Why this conference matters “Barbaricum” — lands beyond the […]