11 Feb 2014 Medieval tools, a revolver and the remains of a bridge
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Seven years ago, divers explored the bottom of the Vltava River near the Charles Bridge. In addition to mobile phones, cameras and glasses, they found medieval tools and the remains of what is probably the oldest stone bridge. Among the finds was even a revolver.
The divers searched the place at the foot of the Old Town Bridge Tower, which was the most suitable at that time. The depth there was a maximum of two metres and the water did not flow too fast. The bottom of the Vltava was searched by divers with brooms and even small rakes.
They collected over forty boxes of objects. Divers pulled metal tools or worked limestone and sandstone stones out of the water. "These could probably come from Juditina or Charles Bridge," Ondřej Šefců, director of the National Heritage Institute in Prague, commented at the time.
The Judith Bridge, built between 1158 and 1172, was the oldest stone bridge in the Czech lands and one of the oldest north of the Alps. It was the predecessor of the Charles Bridge and lay just a little further north of it, that is, downstream.
"We explored a rectangle measuring about 50 by 15 metres. It was challenging, the water is cold and the current is strong," said Petr Slezák, the head of the divers.
The aforementioned drum revolver was picked up by criminologists, who took it to ballistics for further examination. It was probably a replica. The divers also discovered a large number of glasses or ashtrays from nearby restaurants, coins and champagne bottles.
"Some fragments of pottery that are many hundreds of years old. Also of note is a profiled part of probably some kind of ledge. We will investigate what it belongs to. Then there are a number of some metal objects, crampons and the like. There we will look into how old they are," Pavla Státníková from the Prague City Museum explained at the time.
The divers also recovered several animal bones that had been worked. Some were cut, others were drilled. They are probably the products of medieval craftsmen. Experts dried and preserved the objects to prevent them from disintegrating. Later they became part of an exhibition organised by the Prague City Museum in the Old Town Bridge Tower.
Sources: www.irozhlas.cz, www.idnes.cz
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