Archaeologists discover three-thousand-year-old settlement in Pardubice region

Archaeologists in Dašice in Pardubice have discovered the remains of a village dating back approximately three thousand years. The find comes from a rescue excavation at the site of a planned new logistics hall in the southern part of the town. 

The head of the Archaeological Department of the Czech Museum in Pardubice, Tomáš Zavoral, guides Czech Radio through the remains of what would have been a house built roughly 3,000 years ago in the newly-discovered settlement:

Photo: Šárka Rusnáková, iROZHLAS.cz

“Let's say we could be at a potential entrance.  If we have the Southwest set up, here is a place where an entrance could be located, and here we see a number of columns. This was a wall, and there were more columns around it.

“It is actually an above-ground structure, created from coal, with a wick made from ferns, and it was smeared with clay. The roof could have been, let’s say, masonry, which remains to this day.”

The discovered prehistoric settlement had a semicircular shape, a small square, and a well. Zavoral continues:

Photo: Šárka Rusnáková, iROZHLAS.cz

“Below, we see the remaining wood of the structure. From the bottom, it is actually covered. We reached the groundwater, so we will have to excavate around it. We will gradually uncover the other half.”

Archaeologists also discovered pieces of pottery and bones in Dašice, which will be sent to the museum's depositories and thus preserved. Unlike the remains of dwellings, which will be covered by the new logistics hall, archaeologists will carefully document everything, Kateřina Formánková, head of research, confirms:

"The basic documentation consists of drawings and photographs. In the case of interesting finds, soil samples are taken for washing or further analysis. We also collaborate with other disciplines, such as natural scientists, who find seeds there, which they use to date what the landscape looked like."

Photo: Šárka Rusnáková, iROZHLAS.cz

Frequent discoveries

According to Zavoral, however, the discovery in these locations was to be expected.

Photo: Šárka Rusnáková, iROZHLAS.cz

Archaeologists frequently discover traces of settlement here. Most recently, two years ago, during the construction of a bypass, they uncovered finds from all periods of prehistory.

"The early medieval burial mound cemetery is interesting, but we also have a grave from the Eneolithic period, cremation graves from the late Bronze Age, and part of a medieval settlement," Zavoral describes.

Archaeologists are unable to uncover the entire prehistoric settlement, including its burial ground. This is a rescue excavation, as no construction is planned for the rest of the area at this time. What lies beneath the layer of clay remains a mystery.