The Archaeology of Prague and the Medieval Czech Lands, 1100-1600

Book excerpt: 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.