This book offers the first comprehensive picture of the medieval
archaeology of the Czech Lands to be available in English. Alongside
assembling the main topics of current archaeological research, it
establishes the key issues in its methodology. Topics covered explore
both rural and urban contexts, secular power structures, and monastic
houses and parish churches.
Besides flagship urban archaeology surveys in Prague and Brno (the
Moravian metropolis), unique in Europe is the excavation of the suburb
of the town of Sezimovo Ústí which ceased to exist in 1420, and the
complex castle excavations at Lelekovice and Rokstejn. In the landscape,
important data come from the surveys of deserted villages and manorial
farms. Special attention is given to technology, crafts, industry
(including mining and glass production), housing culture and daily life
across the various social strata. One of the fascinating features is the
artefactual presentation of two competing religions - Catholicism and
Utraquism; and new insights are made of Jewish everyday life, and the
story of the Anabaptists and their Central European crafts heritage.
Key sites, structures and finds are illustrated as the author ventures
on an archaeological journey through the medieval Czech Kingdom. A
particular focus of this book is the position of the Czech Lands between
the gradual process of medieval transformation (13th century) and early
modern transition (16th century). Throughout, the book is illustrated
with images rarely seen in the wider European context.
