Raně středověký areál v Roztokách z pohledu ekofaktů

The Early Medieval settlement at Roztoky (Prague-west district, Central Bohemia) represents an extraordinary case and, at the same time, a difficult challenge in terms of interpretation among sites of the Prague-type Culture (6th–7th century AD). Primarily, the high overall number of settlement features of the given culture is what makes this site unique and puzzling. To date, more than 300 sunken houses of this culture have been captured at the site (with an area size of min. 22 ha) and their overall number can be estimated as being at least double this amount. On the one hand, the site is specific also by its landscape setting (at the base of a canyon-like valley) and by its discontinuity in relation to the preceding and the following periods. On the other hand, the site lacks finds that would allow for a clear interpretation in terms of its function (e.g. production features, tools or waste materials, luxury goods, etc.). Finds of the Prague-type Culture were first discovered at Roztoky in the 1980s (Kuna — Profantova a kol. 2005). A further extensive excavation took place at the site in 2006–2010 due to road relocation. An integral part of the new excavation was the systematic collection of ecofacts, conducted with the aim of gaining as much information as possible on the nature environment and the basic economic character of the Early Medieval settlement agglomeration. This led to the obtaining and processing of an extensive assemblage of, for example, charcoal fragments, plant macroremains, animal and fish bones, and malacofauna; also conducted was a phosphate analysis of the house floors, a micromorphological analysis of their fill strata and the radiocarbon dating of a series of samples. The results of this work are presented in this article. Interesting findings concern, for example, the relatively minor impact of the Early Medieval settlement on the environment (in contrast to the large amount of settlement features), the focus on pig husbandry (most probably linked to a high population in the community), the growing of millet (the most significant cultural plant in terms of find numbers, but apparently not primary in economic terms), and the minor use for fishing. A range of indicators confirms that the site was settled by a large community of people. At the end of this paper, the hypothesis is presented that the site was originally divided into two parts, one of which (the southern, with the largest concentration of Early Medieval houses), must have been a specialized settlement (activity) area that was mostly used for non-agrarian activities. On the basis of the current results it is impossible to identify the type of activities more precisely, mostly because they must have belonged to activities leaving no clear archaeological traces. Nonetheless, the results of this paper offer a new starting point and a reliable ecological and economic framework to be integrated into further research.