Chamber tomb with burial of an armed man
The 2010-2012 archaeological excavations in “Sutny” II verified a specific find context which was detected previously by magnetometric survey (Milo – Kazdová 2008). The multidisciplinary research, preceded by shovel tests, examined a spacious chamber tomb encircled by a perimeter trench, belonging to the Bell Beaker Culture. The tomb contained poorly preserved skeletal remains of an about fifty-year-old man in left-sided contracted position. The man was equipped with archer’s utensils of that time, i.e. with stone wrist-guards and six flint arrowheads. His funerary equipment also contained a copper dagger and decorated pottery – six beakers in total, some of them with preserved white encrustation. The buried individual was adorned with two golden spirals.
The excavation results document the existence of a narrow class of high-ranked and socially recognised men, who were connected with distribution and knowledge of early metallurgical technology.
Bibliography
- Kazdová, E. et al. 2011: Kyjovice (okr. Znojmo). „Sutny“II. KZP. Hrob. Systematický výzkum. PV 52-1, 180-182.
- Petřík, J. et al. 2012: Pedogeochemical investigation of Bell Beaker culture graves from Hodonice and Těšetice-Kyjovice, Moravia, Czech Republic. In. Kolář, J. – Trampota, F. (eds): Theoretical and methodological considerations in Central European Neolithic archaeology. BAR International Series 2325, 45-64.
