Abstract
A Řivnáč culture hut from Prague-Zličín In 1998, in the course of an extensive area excavation in the cadastral area of Zličín, which was initiated due to the construction of the south part of the Prague bypass, an isolated hut of the Řivnáč culture was also discovered. It was a standard type of a feature which is known from many contemporary flatland settlements in similar terrain conditions.
The greater part of the hut's fill was dry-sieved and floated. This is reflected in the number of discovered pottery fragments and proportions of their size categories.
The traditional method of removal of artefacts from the fill would probably result in the identification of only 40% of the potsherds. The comparison of data on particular Řivnáč culture assemblages shows that different methods of collecting finds contribute to the relativity of their mutual statistical comparison.
According to typological criteria, the Zličín pottery doubtlessly belongs to the Řivnáč culture, while the absence of signs typical of its archaic and late phase enables us to date it, with some reservations, to the classical phase. The finds retrieved from the feature represent common settlement waste which points to a wide range of activities performed at the site in question.
Almost two thousand fragments of spillite and numerous sandstone whetstones are apparently connected with the manufacture of polished stone industry - their future analysis will certainly provide many interesting results. Finds of spindle whorls document the manufacture of fabrics, while the bone industry, fragments of querns and hammerstones attest to a plethora of other activities.
A fragment of a ceramic battle axe can perhaps be regarded as evidence of cultic practices. The site's location in the landscape and soil bonity without doubt allowed for common agricultural activities and animal husbandry.