Finding of worked trunks in Hradec Králové

In mid-October, builders discovered two worked oak trunks near the University Hospital in Hradec Králové, which probably represent unfinished monoxyles. If their prehistoric age is proven, this will be a find of pan-European significance.

Monoxyles are boats carved from a single piece of log, used from the Neolithic to the 19th century. According to archaeologist Radomír Tichý, who is among others the organiser of the Monoxylon maritime expeditions, the preserved plugs and the way the logs were worked will match theto the use of stone tools, which were used during the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods, i.e. between 5 500 and 2 200 BC. If their prehistoric age is proven, the experts believe that this will be a find of pan-European significance, as the closest similar finds are known from Scandinavia. However, the exact results will only be known after the samples have been taken and analysed, the earliest the results will be available is early 2024.

The discovery was made at a depth of two metres in the old gravel-sand deposits of one of the defunct Elbe River beds. According to archaeologist Radek Bláha, the depth of the deposit alone indicates a prehistoric rather than a modern age. Both trunks are about 11 metres long and together weigh 25 tonnes. The circumference of one of them is almost 4 metres and the diameter is 1.5 metres. Experts say the trunks represent different phases of boat making. One is chipped off from half of its diameter, after which the actual splitting of the boat's interior would have followed, while the other is at the very beginning of the processing. They are now in the depository of the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Jaroměř, Hradec Králové, awaiting processing.

Two finds of finished monoxyles are already known from the Hradec Králové region. One was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century during the regulation of the Orlice River in Hradec Králové, the other in the deposits of the Elbe River near Jaroměř. However, the age of these finds is unknown.

Link to the article about the last naval expedition Monoxylon IV, which took place this summer in the Aegean Sea: https://www.lovecpokladu.cz/home/namorni-expedice-monoxylon-iv-9548

Sources:

• https://hradecky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/archeologove-obri-kmeny-hradec-kralove-muzeum-nemocnice-monoxyly-20231103.html
• https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/2437305

Logs on the construction site in front of the University Hospital

detail of machining

the diameter of the largest trunk is 1.5 metres

monoxyl from this year's expedition monoxylon iv.