A03_P21

Radiocarbon dating of multiple materials for clarifying of medieaval settlement formation in the outskirts of Prague Castle (CZ).

Tomanová P¹

¹Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Řež, Czech Republic, ²Insitute of Archaeology of the CAS Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

An archaeological excavation was conducted in the street U Kasáren in the Prague Castle area (Czech Republic) in 2020. The excavation revealed an intensive early mediaeval settlement of the 10th-13th centuries. The settlement features included different types of house constructions (sunken houses, masonry construction), pyrotechnical (possibly metallurgical) features and evidence of several fire events. Archaeobotanical analysis of selected samples proved the earliest evidence of viniculture in the outskirts of Prague Castle area, showed presence of some extinct species of weeds and contributed to the research of crops distribution in the early mediaeval central places.

However, the archaeological data allow only a rough dating of the researched settlement and it is hardly possible to date individual formation phases of the site. Only a limited number of datable pottery fragments was obtained. Furthermore, the research circumstances allowed us to document the area in separate sections, which makes it difficult to interconnect the data in a clear picture of the formation of the site.

This poster shows how radiocarbon dating of various materials (animal bones, archaeobotanical samples) can clarify the absolute chronology of the formation of the settlement in the outskirts of Prague Castle (e.g. the shift from log houses to masonry constructions, the beginnings of metallurgical activity and the viniculture in this area).