School of archaeology begins in Zvolen

AT THE end of July, about 50 students of archaeology of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries began learning at the Summer School of Archaeology (LŠA) in the complex of Dolný hrad (Lower Castle) which is part of one of the most extensive fortifications in the Central Europe – Pustý hrad (Deserted Castle), above the town of Zvolen.

Dolný hradDolný hrad (Source: Sme-Ján Krošlák)

AT THE end of July, about 50 students of archaeology of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries began learning at the Summer School of Archaeology (LŠA) in the complex of Dolný hrad (Lower Castle) which is part of one of the most extensive fortifications in the Central Europe – Pustý hrad (Deserted Castle), above the town of Zvolen.

“We got the [financial] support from the International Visegrad Fund,” Ján Beljak, head of research at Dolný hrad – part of the Zvolen branch of the Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Nitra – told the TASR newswire. Organisers of the LŠA are the Archaeological Institute and the Department of Archaeology of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Apart from practical skills that students acquire during the school, they also experience numerous excursions and lectures. The LŠA at Dolný hrad will last for four weeks.

Professional archaeologists have been working on the preservation and conservation of the ruins of the only tower of Dolný hrad that has been preserved. Archaeologists late last summer started researching the tower. They found that under the western line of the medieval fortifications of Dolný hrad, there is also an older stone-earth rampart. When excavating it, they found dozens of fragments of pottery from the late Stone Age. Moreover, a local settlement from the early and late Bronze Age was confirmed. The castle was built in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.


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