The Partnership in Research and Presentation of Archaeological Heritage

Abstract

This contribution presents a successful research and educational project, which was completed in 2014 at the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň in cooperation with 3 partner institutions. The project aimed at finding innovative ways of collaboration amongst university, museum and culture heritage management sectors through sharing research and educational resources. This goal was achieved by joint research activities, mostly realized as field schools with students’ participation, as well as through discussion of interdisciplinary topics conducted at educational and dissemination events, namely study stays, conferences, seminars and workshops. IANSA 2014 ● V/2 ● 163–170 Ladislav Smejda: The Partnership in Research and Presentation of Archaeological Heritage 164 everyday tasks carried out at the visited institutions and their individual departments. They participated in field research and gained insight into the predominant routines of laboratory and documentation procedures. An important part of the visits consisted of extensive use of institutional libraries and field reports for pursuing individual research interests, as well as opportunities to consult particular problems with specialists from the cooperating institutions. These discussions and involvement of visitors in the host’s daily agenda led to effective start-ups of new collaborative research plans and the strengthening of personal bonds between the professionals and graduate students of the networked institutions. This type of inter-institutional collaboration and research support has already generated new publications (Kristuf et al. 2012; Moravcova, Vokounova Franzeova 2012; Baierl et al. 2013; Gersdorfova et al. 2013; Hložek 2013; Hložek, Mensik 2013a, b, c). One of the most remarkable outcomes of this joint research was an archaeological contribution to the large published volume presenting the past of the town of Unicov from the first human settlements up to the present (Buresova ed. 2013). This book received the award of the Olomouc Region for Outstanding Book of the Year. A number of these collaborative ventures provided opportunities for running training field schools and courses for students, which represented another structural component of the project. 3. Field schools for students (key activity #2) During the period of project implementation (2011–2014), 25 field schools of varied length and thematic content were realised in total for students of archaeology and related disciplines. These were aimed at obtaining practical fieldwork skills and familiarity with surveying, sampling, excavating and recording of various types of archaeological sites (Figure 1). Field reports have been produced for each conducted campaign and on the basis of these a number of the results have already been published. Detailed publications and several larger studies containing extensive amounts of data are forthcoming and their preparation may be supported by additional follow-up projects. Our team covered a broad spectrum of chronological periods and categories of archaeological sites in order to offer undergraduate and postgraduate students from several universities varied stimuli and exposure to field archaeology. We were focused on and conducted research on the following main categories of archaeological heritage: a) Palaeolithic and Mesolithic landscapes and sites, namely the Horni Břiza and Jistebsko regions (Moravcova, Vokounova Franzeova 2012; Moravcova et al. 2014). b) The Neolithic enclosure in Křimice. c) Prehistoric burial mounds, particularly a Late Eneolithic tumulus cemetery near Dřevohostice in East Moravia (Kristuf et al. 2012; Hejcman et al. 2013), the Middle Bronze Age burial mound Butov near Střibro in West Bohemia (Metlicka 2014) and to a minor extent various sites in South Bohemia (Mensik