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This paper explores disappearing vernacular architecture in the Karachay region (Karachay-Cherkessk Republic, Russian Federation). Recent research at the University of West Bohemia in cooperation with Karachay-Cherkessk University focused on the last preserved examples of block buildings in the mountain villages of Greater Karachay in the central Caucasus. Such buildings mostly disappeared in the late twentieth century due to both the Stalinist deportation of the Karachay people and modern development. Dendrochronological evidence has helped to date the surviving vernacular buildings to the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. Interviews with local inhabitants revealed the cultural context of the traditional housing and attitudes towards it. Possibilities for tracing cultural links and elucidating the historical context of this neglected building culture are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During archaeological excavations in burial sites, sometimes stoned organic objects are found, in addition to human remains. Those objects might be of a different origin, depending on various factors influencing members of a community (i.e. diseases, trauma), which provides information about their living conditions. The St. Nicholas Church archaeological site (Libkovice, Czechia) in the 18th century horizon of the cemetery, yielded a maturus-senilis female skeleton with a stone object in the left iliac fossa. This object was an oviform cyst-like rough structure, measuring 54 mm in length, 35 mm in maximum diameter and 0.2–0.7 mm shell thickness. Within the object there were small fetal bones (long bones, i.e. femur and two tibias, two scapulas, three ribs, vertebrae and other tiny bone fragments). Methods utilized to analyze the outer and inner surface morphology of the cyst and its inside, included: X-ray, CT imaging, SEM, histological staining and EDS. The EDS analysis revealed the presence of primarily oxygen, calcium and phosphorus in bone samples, and oxygen and silicon, in stone shell. Based on the length of the femur (20.2 mm) and tibia (16 mm) shafts, the fetal age was determined as being in the 15–18 week of pregnancy. The differential diagnosis was conducted, including for the three most probable cases: fetiform teratoma (FT), fetus-in-fetu (FIF) and lithopedion. The possibility of fetiform teratoma was discounted due to the presence of an anatomically correct spine, long bones and the proportions of the find. Although the low calcium content in the shell (2.3% atom mass), the lack of skull bones and the better developed lower limbs indicate fetus-in-fetu rather than lithopedion, the analyses results are unable to conclusively identify the object under one of these two categories since there are insufficient such cases in excavation material with which to draw comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Castles were centres of the socio-economic life. In the last centuries castles were gradually disappearing from the landscape of Central Europe. It was mostly due to changes in a social order, but also because of natural disasters which happened during that time. In few cases this happened so suddenly and fully that today we even can't point out their approximate location. This is especially true for castles functioning between 14th and 16th century in the Zgorzelec Wilderness (south-west Poland), in places known nowadays as Prędocice, Nowoszów, Pieńsk and Piaseczna. To identify castles' oikumenes authors decided to re-analyse known historical evidences and execute a field research. The latter one was targeted to recognize not only cultural heritage such as ruins of buildings or earthworks, but also changes in the natural environment, such as biotope's transformations. As a result of dual humanistic-environmental studies remains of a medieval building were found in Nowoszów. They were assumed to be vestiges of the castle's oikumene, maybe a tower house, functioning at the manmade isle on the Czerna Wielka river. The other result of the research was identifying other artificial islands, in these cases, on the Lusatian Neisse river that with a big probability contain remains of castles in Prędocice and Pieńsk. Castles in the Zgorzelec Wilderness didn't deviate from other structures of this type and were built in naturally defensive locations. River valleys' neckings and natural elevations within river fluvial valleys were accordingly transformed to better serve its purposes. Rivers and streams in addition were used as an economic base, for example to power hammer forges. A natural environment's transformations caused by castles' inhabitants were so vast, that these changes dated back to Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period to this day are clearly visible in ecosystems of the Zgorzelec Wilderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the St. Nicholas Church archaeological site (Libkovice, Czechia; the 18th century cemetery) a female skeleton with a stone object in the left iliac fossa was found. It was a cyst-like structure. The measures of it were 54 mm in length and 35 mm in maximum diameter. Within the object fetal bones (long bones, i.e. femur and two tibias, two scapulas, three ribs, vertebrae and other tiny bone fragments) were revealed. The methods used for the analysis were intended to describe the external and internal morphology of the object and its content: X-ray, CT imaging, SEM, histological staining and EDS. The EDS analysis revealed the presence of primarily oxygen, calcium and phosphorus in bone samples, and oxygen and silicon, in stone shell. The measurements of the femur (20.2 mm) and tibia (16 mm) shafts allowed to estimate the fetal age as the 15-18 week of pregnancy. During the differential diagnosis three most likely cases were taken into account: fetiform teratoma (FT), fetus-in-fetu (FIF) and lithopedion. FT was excluded due to the presence of long bones and their proportions, and due to the presence of an anatomically correct spine. Of the other two possible variants, fetus-in-fetu is more likely than lithopedion, due to the lack of a skull, better development of lower limbs, and low calcium content in the shell. The results do not allow to clearly answer the question which of these two cases is the object due to the insufficient number of similar discoveries in the excavation material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Archaeologia Historica is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)