9. 7. 2006 One of the greatest iron treasures

Archaeologists found around a thousand iron objects on the Klášt'ov hill in the Vizovice Hills. They discovered sickles, scythes and sword fragments. The objects lay in a layer about half a metre deep, either individually or together. It is one of the largest iron treasures in Czech history.

The public was able to see the rare treasure in 2010. The iron objects from the Vizovice Hills were presented by the Museum of Southeast Moravia in Zlín. The highest Slavic hillfort in Moravia was located in the mentioned locality.

The hill was inhabited by people in prehistoric times, in the Bronze Age. However, it was of the greatest importance in the Great Moravian period, which was confirmed by research conducted by archaeologist Jiří Kohoutek between 2005 and 2007.

"The Slavs no longer used the prehistoric settlement as a fortress, but used it essentially as a sacral or cult space, where the ironiron objects, which were found here in huge quantities, they actually offered sacrifices to the god of thunder and storm Perun," Kohoutek said earlier.

Klášt'ov was probably not only a central tribal stronghold for southern Wallachia, but also a cult site. The hill is seven hundred and fifty-three metres high, the highest in the area.

A large number of metal objects from the turn of the Bronze and Iron Age were hidden by the stone mound. "We have found about four hundred and sixty sickles, scythes, sword fragments, axes or otek," Kohoutek calculated the contents of the unique find in 2006.

He added that it is the largest collection of iron objects from 900 to 750 BC found in the Czech Republic so far. Josef Zicha, the mayor of Vysoké Pole, hoped the find would attract more tourists to the region.

"On the ridge running from Luhačovice to Horní Lideč there are the castles of Starý Světlov and Sehrad, other hillforts and plenty of views. Vysoké Pole is in the middle of the route. We are therefore planning to build a museum in our village and to exhibit the findings from Klášt'ov here," the mayor planned at the time.

The historical value of the found treasure is incalculable. Otherwise, the value of the material is negligible. So I consider the thousand objects we have from Klášt'ov more like a sample, and the actual number of iron objects was certainly much higher," archaeologist Ivan Čižmář concluded.

Sources: www.ceskatelevize.cz, www.denik.cz