Avar type finds in Bohemia and the traces of their local production

0566141 - ARÚ 2023 RIV HR eng C - Konferenční příspěvek (zahraniční konf.)
Profantová, Naďa
Avar type finds in Bohemia and the traces of their local production.
Avari i Slaveni. Dvije strane pojasnog jezičca - Avari na sjeveru i jugu kaganata = Avars and Slavs. Two sides of a belt strap end - Avars on the north and the south of the Khaganate. Zagreb: Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu, 2022 - (Rapan Papeša, A.; Dugonjić, A.), s. 180-209. Collectanea archaeologica Musei archaeologici Zagrabiensis, 5. ISBN 978-953-8143-58-8.
[Avari i Slaveni. Dvije strane pojasnog jezičca - Avari na sjeveru i jugu kaganata. Vinkovci (HR), 06.02.2020-08.02.2020]
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA18-00477S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985912
Klíčová slova: Czech Republic * Early Medieval Period * fittings of Avar type * local cast production * metal smithing * hillforts
Obor OECD: Archaeology

This paper focuses on the pieces of metal casting, metal smithing, and goldsmithing that were found mainly on hillforts dated to the 8th and 9th centuries in Bohemia, in the western part of the Czech Republic. It publishes bronze hammering forms and moulds from the 7th and 8th centuries (Jíkev, Tismice) for the production of belt decoration of Byzantine type and horse-harness decoration, unfinished belt and horse-harness fittings from the 8th century (Hostim, Kosoř/Prague, Senohraby, Tismice), lead ingots (Tismice, Hostim) and ingots from copper alloys, and crucibles with traces of gold (Tismice) and nonferrous metals (Doubravčice, Dolánky-Rubín). The casts/bars are found quite often in the same places (Tismice, Hostim, Nový Bydžov), and this can be interpreted in two ways: as evidence of a fire that consumed the hillfort or settlement, or as evidence of production waste. The unfinished decorations, 2 ingots, and also some casts have been analyzed by XRF. Only at Tismice, there were also finds of metal tools used for goldsmithing. Anvils are known from Tismice, Hostim, and probably also Senohraby. The problem of iron ingots is also discussed in the article. In the year 2020, the author (with co-authors) published evidence of the wearing of Avar type belts in Bohemia. We have, at the moment, evidence for local production of the late Avar type of decoration from the end of the 8th century, minimally at 3 sites in Central Bohemia (Tismice, Hostim, Doubravčice, Dolánky?), but we are not able to say how long it lasted, nonetheless probably even as late as the first quarter of the 9th century. Tismice belonged among the centres of the highest rank and had local production comparable to that at Mikulčice in Moravia, but had existed for only a short time.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0337570