Archaeology of mediaeval towns in area of the Czech Republik

doc. dr. J. Klápště, CSc. (co-operator, main director: J. Doležel, ARÚ Brno, 404/01/0490) - 2001-2003

The emergence of first institutionalised towns is one of the major indicators of fundamental social changes taking place in the Czech State in the 13th century. Owning to its significance, this developement has long been the focus of research of several history-related disciplines among which archaeology has been growing in importance. The aim of the proposed project is to provide the missing assessment of the archaeological material obtained from the entire area of the Czech Republik and datable to the period of early towns, namely from the late 12th to the early 14th century. Data from a sufficiently broad sample of representative localities should be analysed, compared and integrated to provide a reliable source base to enable the formulation of further research projects. The final output, a draft of a publication comprising both the overall assessment and catalogue of the selected localities, should serve as a basis for a comprehensive work on archaeology of early Czech towns as well as make archaeological resources available for other history-related disciplines. An extensive summary in other languages should make the project presentable and exploitable within a wider framework of central Europe.