Wrocław anthropologists examine a former village in the Czech Republic

Located in the northwest of Bohemia, the village of Libkovice is a truly unique place! – The village survived over 800 years. It was not taken down until the end of the 20th century – explains Dr. Paweł Konczewski from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław.

Our scientists have a unique opportunity to be part of extensive archaeological research, the aim of which is to fully get to know the village and its surroundings.

The research is being carried out by the Institute for Preservation of Archaeological Heritage of Northwest Bohemia in Most and the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and since 2019 also by the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. This year, students of Human Biology, doctoral students from the Doctoral School and scientists from the Department of Anthropology participated in the research.

The research scope of our university included relics of the medieval church of St. Nicholas and the surrounding cemetery, where the inhabitants of Libkovice, who died from the end of the 12th to the mid-19th century, were buried.

– Research at the cemetery in Libkovice is a great opportunity not only to recognise the culture and funeral customs of former inhabitants of the Czech Republic, but above all provide us with information regarding the demography, health, nutrition and biology of the Central European community buried there – explains Dr. Paweł Konczewski. He adds that they are also important because scientists rarely have a chance to look at former rural communities because archaeological excavations are usually carried out in municipal cemeteries. – And yet in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, most Europeans still lived in the countryside. We still know little about them, because there is almost no research on rural cemeteries – emphasises the scientist from the UPWr.

– This research is the last chance to do so – being carried out before the cemetery is destroyed to make way for the lignite open-pit mine.

This year's excavations have revealed over two hundred more graves, providing us with relics proving that the place was inhabited three thousand years B.C. by shepherd communities of the Corded Ware culture, and at the end of the Pleistocene (17–12 thousand years ago) penetrated by hunter-gatherers.

– UPWr students on internships in Libkovice in July and August had a chance to learn how to explore burials, carry out field research documentation and to improve their skills in analysing human skeletal remains. While there, they were also able to practice the Czech language and get to know more about the culture, geography and history of the Czech Republic – explains Dr. Konczewski.

The research will continue next year.