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Archaeologists have uncovered a large settlement from the La Tène period in the Hradec Králové region of north-east Bohemia, in the Czech Republic.
The discovery was first made in 2023 along the route of a proposed motorway and subsequently investigated by researchers from the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, the University of Hradec Králové, and Archaia Praha. Remarkably, it seems that the area had never been disturbed by metal-detecting – the topsoil was full of artefacts that had sat there untouched for millennia – offering a unique opportunity to excavate such a site in its entirety.
The excavations revealed that the settlement, which flourished from the second half of the 3rd century to the beginning of the 1st century BC, covered an area of at least 25ha. This is highly unusual, as most late Iron Age sites known in the region extend to just one or two hectares. The settlement’s population is difficult to determine, particularly as no surviving burials were found, but according to some estimates it could have been home to up to a thousand people.
Across the site, archaeologists found the remains of a number of houses and one or two probable shrines, as well as evidence of industrial production facilities, such as pottery kilns and other pyrotechnological devices, as well as possible amber-processing works. They unearthed thousands of artefacts, too, including hundreds of gold and silver Celtic coins, in addition to coin dies indicating that some coins were being minted on site. Among the other discoveries were many luxury ceramic vessels, as well as an array of jewellery comprising fibulae, bracelets, belt parts, and glass beads. Finds of Baltic amber, a major commodity in this period, are a testament to the site’s position on the Amber Road (an ancient trade route that linked the Baltic Sea and North Sea to the Mediterranean), while other signs of long-distance contact appear in the form of imported bronze vessels from the Late Roman Republic, coins from the westernmost parts of Europe, and belt segments and glass artefacts from the Carpathian Basin and the Middle Danube region.
The size of the site and the types of find indicate that this was not simply an extensive residential area but an example of what the researchers call a ‘central agglomeration’: an important regional centre with key economic, social, and political functions. Similar sites are known in other parts of Europe, including at Němčice in Moravia, but the discovery near Hradec Králové provides the first clear evidence for this kind of central site in Bohemia, and is the first in the Czech Republic to be excavated so extensively.
Archaeological fieldwork is now complete, but ongoing analysis and conservation of the artefacts recovered will doubtless reveal more about this remarkable site.
Text: Amy Brunskill / Images: © Museum of East Bohemia, Hradec Králové
