The Knovíz culture () was an upper Danubian subgroup of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture, located mainly in Bohemia, Thuringia, and Bavaria. The eponymous type site for this culture, in the Czech village of Knovíz, is located near Prague. The Knovíz culture was similar to the neighbouring Milavce culture, except for the funerary rites, which featured occasional skeletal burials as well as cremations.
The Knovíz culture featured a distinctive type of horse, which may have been the predecessor of the so-called 'Celtic' or 'Germanic' pony. Archaeological and genetic evidence tentatively suggests that the people of the Knovíz culture may have been ethnically Celtic.
Research history Between 1892 and 1893 archaeologists J. L. Píč and Jiří Felcman excavated part of a settlement from the Late Bronze Age near the village of Knovíz. The finds from this settlement were later found to have similar characteristics to those of other sites, and so Knovíz became the eponymous type site for a late Bronze Age culture, mainly centred in Central and Northwestern Bohemia. Initially, the similarity of the Knovíz and Lusatian cultures led to the assumption that these civilizations were ethnically unified, and it was at first suggested that the Knovíz culture emerged from the Lusatian culture.
Origins The Knovíz culture emerged from the preceding Tumulus culture at the beginning of the Bz D period. Hrala states that the material and ethnic continuity of the Knovíz culture with the Tumulus culture is beyond any doubt.
At the beginning of Ha B1, this culture developed into the Štítary phase.
Chronology The following chronological table is based on Kuna (2008), Hrala (1973), and Bouzka (1962):
Year BCE Reinecke Hrala Bouzka1300–1200 Bz C2/D Knovíz I K IK II1200–1100 Ha A1 Knovíz II K IIIK IV1100–1025 Ha A2 Knovíz III K V1025–925 Ha B1 Štítary I K VIŠt I925–750 Ha B2 Štítary II Št IIHa B3Št III
K I (Bz C2 / Bz D) The K I period begins the transition between the previous Tumulus culture and the Knovíz culture, and is characterised by grooved amphorae with handles on the shoulders, decorated footed bowls and cups, and the earliest bi-conical vessels.
K II (Bz D) From this stage, amphorae with a cylindrical neck are found. The biconical vessels from this period have a distinctive vessel wall, with a sharp change in angle in the upper part, which is vertical. The smaller amphora-like containers have grooved decoration, while the larger ones still resemble those of the Tumulus culture.
K III (Bz D–Ha A1) The K III phase marks the transition to the Ha A style. The amphorae have a slightly concave neck. The two planes of biconical vessels have a less sharp angle. Amphorae vessels have a cylindrical neck. Jugs are now cup-shaped with an indented and slightly bent neck. Pots are usually double-eared.
K IV (Ha A1–Ha A2) Amphorae typically feature an enlarged neck with a curve under the rim. Cups are made in two parts with a conical bottom and a more open neck. Amphorae-shaped containers have a slightly conical or cylindrical neck.
K V (Ha A2 / Ha B1) Two-storeyed amphorae with a low, vertically compressed lower part are typical. Biconical vessels have an 'S' profile, occasionally horizontally grooved. Amphorae-shaped vessels have a pronounced open funnel-shaped neck.
K VI (Ha B1) The gradual transition to the Ha B style begins at this stage. The cups and containers have a funnel-shaped neck, and the biconical vessels have a continuous profile, without a sharp change in angle.
Št I (Ha B1) The two-storeyed amphorae are no longer found at this stage. Ceramics include bowls with a curved body, asymmetrical cups, pots with a narrow offset neck, and amphorae with low and wide necks. Pottery is usually smoothed with a wooden tool. Ceramic production begins to look professional, probably indicating specialized production.
Št II (Ha B2–3) The middle phase of the Štítary period is characterized by sharper, harder pottery profiles than previous periods. Ceramics include bowls with wide open conical necks, asymmetrical cups, wide urns, and pots with a handle at the bottom of the neck.
Št III (Ha B3–Ha C) The basic shapes of the vessels remains the same, with smoother shaping in the lower part. Decoration is less fine, and amphoras with an indented neck are not found.
Territory
In period Bz D (1300–1200 BC), with the Knovíz culture occupying western Bohemia, the Lusatian culture expanded into eastern Central Bohemia from the east. By Ha A1 (1200–1100 BC), the Knovíz and Lusatian cultures are separated by an area of uninhabited territory between them. During the late Bronze Age, (Ha A2, 1100–1050) the Knovíz culture expanded, with an apparent retreat of the Lusatian culture to the north and east. The persistent border between these two cultures indicates different cultural, and perhaps ethnic, identities.
The Knovíz culture expanded to Central Bohemia by the time of Ha A2, into the middle Elbe region, where it displaced the Lusatian culture. At the end of this period, border fortifications are constructed, probably due to hostility between the two cultures. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the border zone between the Knovíz and Lusatian cultures was maintained for several centuries, which may suggest a "clear definition of and a respect for the individual territorial integrity of each of the two cultures that were essentially related." A peaceful coexistence between the Knovíz and Lusatian cultures, at least in the border zone, is also indicated by the fairly frequent occurrence of each culture's pottery in the graves of the other, which, since pottery was primarily a women's craft, may indicate marriages between individuals of the two cultures.
Sites Excavated sites of the Knovíz culture include:
Knovíz First excavated in 1892–93, the eponymous Knovíz site is the type site for the Knovíz culture.
Human remains are frequent at this site. Human bones are found broken and charred in multiple pits, scattered among animal bones and other material. Also a complete skeleton of a child is found here.
Březno Located on the right bank of the Ohře. This settlement, dating from Ha A1 and Ha A2 (1200–1025BC) is around 3.5 hectares, comprising around 300 buildings.
Obory This site contains 87 cremation graves, dated to between Ha A2 and Ha B1 (1100–925 BC). The settlement is continuously populated between these dates, and is one of the largest cemeteries of the Knovíz culture in Bohemia.
The relatively high number of bronze grave goods at the Obory cemetery compared to other sites may indicate that the local population engaged in prospecting.
Modřany Hrala describes the Modřany cemetery as a classic site for studying the origins of the Knovíz culture. The site contains distinctive pottery, including footed bowls and amphorae with handles at the base of the body. Additionally, novel forms are found, including jugs with a more balanced height-to-width ratio and an S-shaped curved shape, and bi-conical vessels which have no precursors in this location. The pottery types are distinct from those of the Lusatian culture.
Křepenice Near the village of Křepenice, the opening of a quarry at the Kamenná hůrka peak in the 1930s led to the discovery of a cremation burial ground with over 110 graves, placed in rows running roughly east–west.
Obříství The Knovíz settlement at Obříství, at the confluence of the two largest Czech rivers, may have been an important communication node and long-distance trading port during the Late Bronze Age.
A grave here contained a claw of a brown bear, a rarity in Bronze Age Bohemia.
Konobrže From the period Bz D – Ha B1, human skeletons are found at this settlement which greatly exceed their occurrence at other Knovíz sites, indicating that this may have been a cult centre.
Plešivec A huge fortified settlement with a visible system of ramparts. A large number of bronze artifacts, and at least 9 deposits, are found at or near the site.
Characteristics Settlement types Knovíz culture settlements are represented by the following main types: on river terraces on stream terraces on seasonal stream banks near springs on lake edges on hilltops
The majority (70%) of sites fall into the first 3 types, but the hilltop sites were more regularly distributed than the other types. Sites are uniformly distributed along rivers at distances of between 1–3 km.
There are two main types of settlement. The first type involves a relatively short-term settlement followed by subsequent relocation within micro-regions, which is especially common during the Ha A1 to Ha B1 periods, when there was probably an increase of both the population size and the total number of settlements. The second type involves continuous settlements where development occurred, often throughout the entire period of the Knovíz (and Štítary) culture. These settlements are generally larger than the first type, and are mostly situated near large rivers or on the terraces of streams. However, in both types of settlements there is evidence for small-scale movement within residential areas, likely due to factors including limited building life, as well as for hygiene reasons.
Fortified hilltop settlements were probably a late development. These may have been defensive structures, economic and trade hubs, or centres of tribal organization.
There is evidence for a significant increase in the use of cave shelters during the Urnfield period by the people of this culture.
Residential buildings There is only limited evidence for Knovíz dwelling construction, but post constructions appear to be consistent. Hrala suggests that the Knovíz stage dwellings were likely to have been similar to the residential buildings of contemporary neighbouring cultures.
In the Štítary phase, pit houses are found, usually around 1m deep and up to 10m long. Walls were plastered with clay, which was sometimes painted.
Economy
Livelihood was probably based on agriculture, which is evidenced by the expansion of this culture along the fertile soil of the Elbe river basin and some of its tributaries, and supplemented by pastoralism, probably in the form of cattle farming, particularly in hilly and rocky areas. The contribution from hunting was probably negligible. There is evidence for fishing and gathering of clams, which were occasionally used as ornaments.
Domestic animal bones found at Knovíz sites include pig, goat, sheep, cattle, horse, dog, and one specimen of a cat. Wild animals included deer, hare, and occasionally beaver. Grain including wheat and millet were cultivated.
At the Hostivice-Palouky site, cultivated plant remains included barley, millet, legumes (pea, vetch, and lentil), wheat (spelta, einkorn and emmer) and a few oat grains (which were probably only weeds). This site has a particularly wide variety of cultivated plants compared to other Knovíz sites.
At Špičák, animal bones included domesticated pig (36.2%), domesticated ox (31.5%), and other ruminants such as sheep and goats (25.2%), showing the increasing reliance on pig rearing.
In northern Bohemia, food storage pits are found, sometimes containing the remains of grain or acorns.
Graphite finds may indicate that this mineral was exploited by the people of this culture.
Artefacts In the earliest phase there are slender, vertical amphorae with a cylindrical neck, with handles located at the intersection of the neck and shoulders. These are followed by amphorae with a slightly concave neck, then by amphorae typically with low, slightly open necks, with rudimentary handles and grooved decoration on the shoulders. Later Štítary phase amphorae generally come to have a low funnel-shaped neck with a round bottom. Subsequently, amphorae with a straight or downwardly conical neck are found.