PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN BOHEMIA

A means of recording and documenting the information about settlement history in the area of interest that exists in the form of relief features and artefacts on the ground surface.

Fig. 1a. Schematic depiction of surface survey by grid. To preserve the spatial distribution of the artefacts, which may reflect the settlement behaviour of prehistoric populations, "analytical collection" is employed. Enlarge.

Fig. 1b. Schematic depiction of the walking of an area during a "preliminary site survey" collection. Enlarge. 

Fig. 2. Assemblage of prehistoric pottery arising from surface survey carried out at Ledčice (Mělník district), a site identified during aerial prospection by differential growth marks. Such assemblages form a basis for dating sites discovered in this way. Enlarge. 

Fig. 3. The results of a complex project at Ledčice (Mělník district), showing that the group of archaeological features (red dots) at the lower right may, in view of the absence/minimal occurrence of artefacts (yellow dots) during survey, indicate a cemetery (usually, very few ceramic fragments are to be found on the surface of a burial ground). It has recently been possible, again on the basis of the absence of ceramic fragments, to interpret the series of objects at the upper left: they probably represent a former orchard (M. Kuna). Enlarge.

Fig. 4. Concentrations of artefacts scattered across the surface occur close to ditches identified from the air in the cadastres of Trpoměchy (Kladno district). (M. Kuna). Enlarge.

Fig. 5. Concentrations of artefacts scattered across the surface occur close to ditches identified from the air in the cadastres of Vepřek (Mělník district). (M. Kuna). Enlarge.