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Czech HistoryStone Age grave none the less queer for lack of ‘Gay Caveman’
The bustling Dejvice district of Prague is not where you would expect major
encounters with prehistory. Just a few hundred metres from the transport
hub at Vítězné Náměstí though, archaeologists are sifting through the
millennia and finding ever more evidence of the fact that Prague and its
environs have always been inhabited. In the case of the dig at Terronská
Street, by the enigmatic Corded Ware culture some 5,000 years ago. My guide
to the excavation is archaeologist Kamila Remišová Věšínová. More
Czech HistoryBedřich Hrozný – Re-Discoverer of the Hittite Language
The Hittites Empire dominated a swath of the Near East for some 600 years
in ancient times. It was a vastly precocious civilisation with better
tools, more modern methods of warfare, and the newfangled commodity of
iron. As is the way with empires however, the Hittites collapsed and all
that the great trading civilisation had recorded of its world was left in
oblivion until a Czech orientalist deciphered their forgotten language and
became the first to hear their words in 3000 years. This week’s Czechs in
History by Christian Falvey is devoted to the Father of Hittitology,
Bedřich Hrozný. More
PanoramaDid John the Baptist wear sandals?
Petr Hlaváček is a man with a passion for shoes. The dean of Zlín’s
Bata University knows the technology of shoe-making inside out. He has
reconstructed shoes worn by Oetzi the Ice Man 5,000 years ago and is
working on the latest technologies for shoes intended to help diabetic
patients, among many other projects. So when Czech experts studied the
contents of the St Maurus reliquary said to contain the remains of John the
Baptist –among them a small piece of a leather sandal which may have been
his – it was only natural that they should turn to the country’s
leading shoe expert for help. I spoke to Petr Hlaváček to find out just
what he had managed to ascertain. More
One on OneModern echoes from the Egyptian sands
Professor Miroslav Bárta is the head of a Czech team of archaeologists
working at a long established site in Egypt. He recently got back from
Egypt and is seeking clearance to resume work there again in the face of
the uncertainty about the situation in country. In this week’s One on One
Professor Bárta describes the new theories about the collapse of the Old
Kingdom he has contributed to and his thoughts about the more recent demise
of the reign of president Hosni Mubarak. I asked him first of all when he
had begun to be interested in Egyptology. More
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