Confronting Production of a Halstatt Cart From the End of the 6th Century BC From Býčí Skála Cave With Mediaeval Plate Metal Production Techniques

Zdeněk Čermák

Archeologia technica, vol. 32 (2021)
Pages: 22–30
Language: Czech
Type of article: scientific article
DOI: n/a

Abstract:
It is generally assumed that iron made using plate techniques was not produced until the Middle Ages, with the method of production identified with the production of armour. A remarkable discovery was made in Moravia which dates back much earlier, to the Halstatt period at the end of the 6th century BC – a four-wheel cart whose wheels and drawbars were covered in iron sheet/plate, while the body was bronze. This is a unique object which has a single parallel in the wealthiest part of the Halstatt period in the princely tomb in Hochdorf near Stuttgart, dated to 530/520 BC. The Moravian object was kept in the princely tomb in Habrůvka – Býčí skála cave. While its first parts were discovered in 1872, it was not identified until 2018 by Z Mírová. Contemporary archaeology looking at technologies and skills had not anticipated such a find, and there is no description of iron plate production techniques from the prehistory period. The Moravian find is complemented by a set of smith tools found at the cave site which are strikingly similar to contemporary equivalents (anvils, hammers, gouges and chisels) used for production.