Prague 16 is a district of the Capital City of Prague on the left bank of the Berounka, whose territory contains a long series of archaeological finds from the Early Stone Age to the early Middle Ages.
Prague 16 lies on the left bank of the Berounka River on the south-western edge of Prague. The territory lies on the border of the Bohemian Karst and the Pražská kotlina, at the confluence of the Radotínský potok with the Berounka. Geographically it is located at 49°59′ north latitude and 14°29′ east longitude, at an elevation of around 200 metres; the precisely surveyed position of the railway station is 204.549 m above sea level.[1]
Natural conditions
Thanks to its location on the border of a karst area and a basin, the territory offers both warmer places along the river and cooler wooded valleys. The proximity of water, wood, stone and arable land made it possible for people to make a living in a small area from prehistoric times, as shown by numerous archaeological finds.[1]
Earliest settlement
The oldest traces of settlement date from the Palaeolithic, roughly 130,000 to 50,000 years ago, and were discovered at the Šachetský potok. At the same site there was also evidence of the presence of people from the Mesolithic, from the 8th to 6th millennium BC. Settlements from the Neolithic, dated to 5300–4500 BC, extended below Prvomájová Street and below the Radotín sports hall. The Late Stone Age is so far documented only by grave finds. From the Early Bronze Age one grave was investigated, and from the Middle Bronze Age a settlement pit and a bronze bracelet.[1]
Bronze and Iron Ages
From the Late Bronze Age, three settlements and one or two cemeteries of the Knovíz culture are known. The largest settlement extended in the wider surroundings of today's railway station. The cemetery of this period beneath the sports hall was followed by a cremation cemetery of the Late Bronze Age. After a break probably caused by a change of climate, life returned to the territory with a large cemetery of the Bylany culture, dated to 800–500 BC. This cemetery was destroyed during the construction of the railway and the station, but the finds show that burials took place here until the beginning of the Late Iron Age.[1]
Roman period and Migration Period
In the period from approximately 40 BC to AD 400, a group of Germanic people settled in Radotín, leaving behind a cremation grave and a settlement in the vicinity of the stadium and along the railway line. From the Migration Period, roughly 400 to 580, the contents of several inhumation graves found in a clay pit opposite the railway station have survived. Among the finds were glass vessels, a gold buckle and coins, specifically a solidus of the Western Roman emperor Arcadius from 402 to 406. After this period the territory probably remained uninhabited again for a time.[1]
Early Middle Ages and first written mention
During the construction of a new road from Lahovice to Radotín in 1954, an extensive Slavic cemetery from the 9th century was uncovered.[1] The first written mention of Radotín is linked to the year 993, when Duke Boleslaus II is said to have donated a tithe from his Radotín court to the Benedictine Břevnov Monastery on the occasion of its founding. The deed of donation that attests to this is, however, according to the surviving findings, a later forgery from the 13th century.[1]
Finds by the river
In 2015 an archaeological investigation took place at the site of a former nursery by the river, in connection with the building of the so-called Místo u řeky. The investigation revealed several cultural layers, and the second Roman coin discovered in the territory of Radotín was found during it.[1]