Paths to this and the next world

Abstract

The article presents the assemblage of finds from a sunken hut in Nižbor opposite the Stradonice oppidum on the other bank of the Berounka River. The inventory from the sunken hut, which testifies to its contemporaneity with one of the phases of settlement at the oppidum in the Late La Tène period, was composed of common settlement finds of pottery and animal bones but also the skeletal remains of an older male. As such, it is a source for the study of excarnation, or the handling of the body of the deceased in the central European Late La Tène period following the end of burials at the so-called flat cemeteries. Radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones is important for establishing the chronology of the accompanying find assemblage, especially painted pottery in Bohemia. The location of the site near a probable ford over the Berounka River is the starting point for the reconstruction of the roads in the broader vicinity of the oppidum.

Keywords

• settlement
• oppidum hinterland
• excarnation
• roads
• ford
• La Tène period