The Pálava hills during the La Tene Period.
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | The La Tene settlement structure in the area around the Pálava Hills is relatively well known. Although fortifications at the peaks of the Pálava Hills were described in the nineteenth century, no large-scale excavations have been conducted here and the dating of the visible fortifications traces on the hills remains unclear. Until recently information was missing entirely on activities on the hilltop locations in the Late Iron Age. This situation has changed with metal detector surveys, especially in 2014-2015. Finds from the peaks of the Pálava Hills in the La Tene period can be dated to at least two distinct phases. Artefacts from Pavlov-Děvín and Perná-Kotel document activities on the peaks of the hills in LT A (a metal flagon figurine – probably a mount from a bronze beaked flagon, a pottery assemblage, an iron fibula), while those from Pavlov-Děvín also indicate a human presence in LT C1– C2 and possibly even LT D1 (a belt pendant, a Mötschwil fibula, a ring with knobs, a four-spoked wheel); a knife-cleaver with a curved grip from LT D1 was found below the Děvín cliff. It remains unclear if the site has the same development as certain Slovak hillforts (Plavecké Podhradie-Pohanská; Smolenice-Molpír) with the main occupation in LT C2 – unlike Bohemian and Moravian oppida, where the main period of occupation occurred in LT D1. In addition to the peaks of hills, La Tene finds also come from their close at the Soutěska location between the peaks of Děvín and Kotel and a large settlement has been excavated in Klentnice. It is not known whether the settlement at the foot of the hills represented a large agglomeration in the immediate vicinity of the hillfort, as has recently been demonstrated for some sites (Kolo near Týnec nad Labem; Schanzberg/Thunau am Kamp). |
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