An Interdisciplinary Study of the Princely Hallstatt Period Barrow in Rovna in the Strakonice District Representation of Social Identity and Symbolism of the Artistic Expression of Early Iron Age Elite

The work presents the main results of an international project focused on a rescue archaeological excavation of a damaged princely barrow from the Early Iron Age. The project was based on a combination of archaeological and bioarchaeological sources and utilised the broadest spectrum of approaches and methods, with natural science analyses playing a key role. Radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones provided significant support for interpreting the find situation, and a primary inhumation burial with a four-wheeled wagon and horse harness from the beginning of the Hallstatt period was also confirmed. The majority of grave goods found in the timber-lined grave chamber come from the Late Hallstatt period. Jewellery, costume components and bronze vessels date the younger princely burial to the period around 500 BC. A small chariot decorated with antler plates with geometric and figural motifs held the remains of a meat offering. The grave furnishings also included five bronze vessels, making the assemblage the richest burial inventory of bronze vessels in Bohemia. A Hochdorf type bronze toiletry kit comes from northern Italy, and a Rhine-Ticino situla and bowl of the Hundersingen type also have their origin on the Italian peninsula. The decoration arranged in radial fashion on the bottom of bronze cistae and the decoration of the body of the four-wheeled wagon and two-wheeled chariot raise the issue of cult symbolism, which the work addresses in broader contexts.