Fragments of ancient red-figure pottery from the 5th century BC, which were found by archaeologists along the route of the future D35 highway near the village of Milovice near Hořice in Jičín.
Hradec Králové – This year, archaeologists found the remains of an ancient vessel from the 5th century BC with figural motifs in the route of the future D35 highway near the village of Milovice near Hořice in Jičínsk. The remains of the container were found by scientists at a newly discovered settlement from the early Latena period, i.e. from the period of the Celts. It represents an import from the Mediterranean, said archeologist Daniel Stolz of Archaia. The discovery of vessel fragments can be described as extraordinary in the context of the Czech Republic. According to him, this is the first find of such a large number of ceramic fragments from one ancient vessel in the Czech Republic.
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“Among the material culture discovered at the settlement near Milovice, which consists of thousands of ceramic shards, thousands of animal bones, fragments of plaster, several fragments of iron tools, stone mills and grinding wheels, the most interesting find is approximately 40 fragments of one vessel of red-figure pottery, which comes from workshops of the ancient Mediterranean. As for the number of found fragments of this pottery, the find is unparalleled in the Czech Republic,” said ČTK Stolz.
He emphasized that this is the seventh find of so-called red-figure pottery in the territory of the Czech Republic. “It is a very high-quality work, the vessel – kylix (cup) apparently comes directly from Greece, from Athens and its surroundings. We will see if we can reconstruct at least part of the vessel. Human figures are visible on the ceramic fragments, which show us mythological scenes or scenes from everyday life. It is quite likely that the motive will be reconstructed,” Stolz told ČTK.
The red-figure style of ancient Greek ceramics is characterized by painting with red mineral paint on a black background. It probably originated in Athens at the end of the 6th century BC and gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean.
The researched settlement from the early Latén period near the village of Milovice u Hořice, dated to the 5th century BC, consists of hundreds ball pits, which represent the last remains of above-ground residential and farm buildings. Archaeologists also discovered several objects there, so-called semi-earthen houses, about a dozen storage pits and several aluminum for mining clay for the construction of houses and furnaces.
The archaeological survey near Milovice is part of the excavations on the route of the future D35 highway in section 10, 5 km between Hořice and Sadová. In addition to archaeologists from Archaia, their colleagues from the University of Hradec Králové (UHK), the Museum of Eastern Bohemia (MVČ) in Hradec Králové, the Regional Museum and Gallery Jičín, the Archaeological Center Olomouc and archaeologists from Slovenia are also participating in the research. Each institution is assigned a specific section. Research between Sadová and Hořice began in September 2022 and should last about a year.
