51654 S5002318

190 MSeckó 2ehrovice in Bohemia

and wool. The smali proportion of neo-natal and non-adult individuals may have beon affected by the insufficient extent of sioving of the featuro fills. No remarkable difterence has beon noticcd between the composition of the local osteological collection compared to collections from purely agricultural (or non-industrial) settlements in Bohemia.

SETTLEMENT AREA AND COMMUNITY AREA

Dwelling, burial activities, specialized industries and food production form the components of one chronological horizon. They took place within a particular settlement area (on the concept of settlement and community areas cf. Neustupny 1986; 1991).

The investigations revealed part of the dwelling area with a timber house, probably residential, and snnken huts, the funcdon of which was in most cases indeterminable. The only exception is hut 3/86 intepreted as a (lived in) workshop for the manufacture of sapropelite rings. Only discon-tinuous parts of the settlement have been inves-tigated, probably on the edge of the settlement. It is not possible to estimate the total number of buildings in the whole settlement, or the number and location of the individual dwelling and production units. The chronology of finds suggests that the occupation lasted for c. 60-70 years without any noticeable interruption (i.e. an interruption that could be registered by the relative chronology of pottery, valid at present).

The burial area is identified by the only find com-plex, assumed to be the remnant of a cremation grave, chronologically belonging to the Early Horizon of activities on the site. Its location at the border of (if not within) the area which is inter-preted by the morę or less continuous surface finds as a dwelling (or mixed dwelling-production) area, may in di ca te the shifting of dwelling areas which might have originally been morę remote from the burial locus.

The industrial district, i.e. the area of industrial features related to iron making, including the fea-ture presumed to be a sapropelite workshop, and comprising also areas with the largest densities of bloomery and sapropelite debris, was identified at the western edge of the settlement not far from dwelling 7/81. The supposed bloomery workshops were situated at a distance of 45 to 70 m from this house, while the reheating hearth (feature 5/80) laid next to its wali. This suggests that the industrial features (or at least some of them) were most probably contemporary with dwelling units other than those uncovered in the immediate vicinity. It appears that a certain distance was kept between the dwelling and production areas.

It can nlso be obsorvod soutli of horo in tho aron of trench 29, i.o. in an arou of 700 m^a, whoro rosidontial structurcs aro complotoly nbscnt, un oxcoption being tho sunken hut 3/86 which in in-terpreted as a sapropelite workshop. Pit 39/86 which could havo been used as a storage pit and could belong to tho dwelling component of the settlement ropresents an oxception. It is situated only 3 m nwny from a reheating hearth (featuro 11/86) and both could probably not have been in usc concurrently.

According to the production debris from the surface finds (Fig. 111), there must have been further industrial areas situated in the other parts of the settlement area, where traccs of their existence have been identified together with finds typical of the dwelling component. As the smelting of iron is a pyrotechnological process bringing a danger of fire to the area surrounding it and disturbing with smoke and noise, it would seem probable that it was assigned a locus on the border of the dwelling area if not even a morę remote one (cf. Venc-lova 1995a; 1995b). Bloomery relics and dwelling-type finds, unseparated spatially, represent most likely therefore two activities not strictly parallel in time. The time interval between them could however have been very short (not necessarily lasting morę than one year).

In the case of sapropelite industry, the location of its production areas is less elear: it is a craft which requires cold processes only and is not noisy. It could have been performed within the dwelling area, if not directly inside a residential house (hut 3/86). However, manufacturing in places remote from the dwelling areas cannot be ruled out either (Venclova 1995b).

Part of the industrial activities, and consequently of the industrial area, is the site where raw materials were extracted. If we assume that the iron smelting activities took place in the immediate vicinity of the iron ore sources, the area of extraction must then be situated within the given settlement area. This does not apply to sapropelite working. Raw Kounov-type sapropelite had to be transported to the site from a distance of morę than 5 km. It foliowa that this extraction area at the outerops of the Kounov coal seam should also be included within the local community area. Through it the site of MSeckć Źeh-rovice was connected with the other contemporary communities in the region which shared this common source of the raw materiał. Access to the raw materiał was controled by the cluster of communities in the Upper Lodćnice region, i.e., it was their monopoly (cf. Venclovś 1994; in print a; 1995b).

Delimiting the settlement area of communities whose activities took place on the site of Mśec-

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A/i

Industrial settlement, LT B2-C1

kć Zelirorice can only be approrimate. It is possible to schematically mark off the area (Fig.

110:A) ugainat the nearest neighbouring aites prosu med to be eon tempo ran eo u* (within the LT B2-C1 phaae): the boundaries on the NW, N, E and SE sidee can be drawn half way between these Hcttlcmenta. We know of no other sitea on the western aide, the boundary therefore foliowa the 450 m above sea level contour, which in the Upper Lodćnice region marka the upper limit of La Tćne settlement (although the area above this limit might have been used for forest ezpłoitation or as pasture land). The resulting delimited area has an irregular shape and measures 3.45 km². It cxtends to a distance of max. 1.5 km, moatly not morę than 1 km from the site core. It is roughly similar to an area obtained by drawing a drcłe with a radius of 1 or 15 km around this core (i.e. to an area of approz. 3 to 7 km²). By comparing it to the results of the surface survey project (the Lodćnice Project of the present author, 1993-95) it will become apparent that this area comes close to the area of the bloomery slag and sapropelite debris surface scatters (Fig. 111).

The calculated area of 3.45 km² does not deviate m arkedly from the areas of the La Tene settlement sites in the Vinof stream region east of Prague, estimated by M. Kuna (1994, 88) to readt on average 2.3 (or 4.3) km².

At Mśeckć Żehrorice, the assumed settlement area includes - if we disregard the dislocated area of sapropelite extraction - a fiat elevation between the upper streams of two smallish broaks (tributaries to the Lodćnice stream) and the shal-low fiat valleys of these brooks. Most of this area is today covered by brown soils, while along the brooks strips of flood plam and meadow soils occur and brownearth represents only a smali percent-age of the soil cover (Fig. U0:B). The elevated parts with greater slope gradients were probably used for tree felling and pasture (the palaeobotani-cal analyses by E. Opravil, this volume, prove the existence of sparce forests with rich undergrowth in the area), while the other parts provided good enough conditions for setting up the fields.

SUMMARY

In the LT B2-C1 period, although morę likely in LT Cl, a settlement ezisted on the site which can be called "industriaT. Three types 8f specialized production - iron making, iron working and sapropelite working took place there. The selec-tion of the site was probably influenced by the local iron-containingmaterials, servingasironore in the iron smelting process, i.e. pełosiderite or Cenomanian iranstone (the suitability of the latter as a raw materiał has been the subject of diacus-sion, nevertheless, ironstone was subject at least

to ezperiment* on the site and the selection of piece* rich in iron cannot be ezcluded). Another prerequisite for iron smelting was a sufficient amount of fuel, which was provided for a certain period by buming the wood of local oak groves. The exploitation of the forest is documented by the remarkable thinning of the woodland cover, taking place some time in LT Cl, as was demonstrated by the palaeobotanical analysis. Another important factor for infiuencing the location of the settlement here was the relatwe-ly short distance (5.3 km) from the nearest outerops of Kounov sapropelite. Finally, another important factor was the enstence of the Lodćnice stream (Katik) in the vionity, with a possible route along the stream, leading both to the aouth, to the Berounka valley, and to the northwest, where it could continue through the valleys of the Dibńn Hills to the Zatec and Louny regions. Connection with the east was maintained along the Bakovsky stream valley, a tributary of the Vltava river. The ralley was freąuented by the local craftsmen in order to obtain raw sapropelite. The higher age of the slaughtered cattle may indicate that it was used for the draught work needed, among other things, for the transport of raw sapropelite to the rillage.

Eridence for using the above-mentioned routes for trade and other purposes is provided by the presence of ezogenous artefacts - above-average percentage ofgraphite pottery, glass bracelets, the lineh-pin, or the guernstone from the Maić Zemo-seky - Oparoo workshop (if it bekmgs to this settlement phase). The pottery rereals affi ni t i es with the Central Bohemian settlement in the wider surroundings of Prague as well as strong contacts with the Zatec and Louny regions, particularly in the 1 afer part of LT Cl. This is confirmed not only by the forma! similarity of some veasels but by their ceramic materia! as well (grey micaceous clay), and by the raw materiał of three whetstones from hut 3/86 - a workshop for sapropelite rings, as well as a fragment of rock from iron smelt-ing feature 1/79, all originating from the Most, Chomutov, Tbplice or Louny regions. The main eridence for trade contacts, not only with the neighbourtng regions. is the distribution of the local sapropelite products not only in Central, NW, Eastern and Southern Bohemia, but through-out the w hole of Central Europę (Venclovś 1995a. Fig. 8). The iron produced on the site which probably ezceeded the local consumption and was also traded. though it is impossible to identify its consumers: the composition of the locally produced iron is not known, nor are iron bars or half-finished products available, which were used, in other parts of Europę, as a trading commodity. An impetus for the investigation of other forms of