Býčí skála Cave

LAPE is involved in the investigations of the Býčí Skála Cave site, one of the most important Central European sites of the Hallstatt period, led by the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University in Olomouc (Martin Golec) and the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (Zuzana Golec Mírová). The current research aims to revise previous findings from 1872 concerning the Hallstatt discovery in the Entrance Hall of Býčí Skála Cave, well known particularly thanks to the significant number of human remains and luxury items.

The current revision research project and excavation from the 2020–2021 project employ various natural scientific methods to reveal local environmental issues and bring new insights into past human funerary behaviour and associated material evidence. LAPE is particularly involved in analysing charcoals and plant macroremains, discovering exceptionally preserved deposits of food remains. The archaeobotanical material from the Býčí Skála Cave consists of a rich “burial” layer, which, for example, contains numerous finds of millet, barley, wheat, poppy, and pulses. Among the archaeobotanical material, there are also findings of some aquatic organisms testifying to the aquatic environment (e.g. daphnia). that was associated with burial rituals.