LOCATIONS — 230/262 — Bylany
A settlement 1.5 km southwest of Kuttenberg built along Bylanka creek. According to archaeological findings, the history of the local settlement dates back to the New Stone Age (about 4,000 BC). The first written mention of the village is from 1143, when Miroslav of Zimburg donated it to the Sedletz Monastery. The village later passed from the monastery into private hands and often changed owners. Near the village is the Spring of St Adalbert (pramen sv. Vojtěcha), which supplied the whole of Kuttenberg through wooden pipes, starting in the Middle Ages. To this day, massive slag heaps lie in the village along the Bylanka creek. These are remnants of medieval mining, when surplus and waste material from nearby mines was deposited here.
TRIVIA
— Bylany is one of the largest and most important Neolithic archaeological sites in Central Europe. Excavations began in 1955 and continue to this day — revealing one of the earliest known farming settlements north of Danube. Alongside sites such as Eythra in Germany and Těšetice in Moravia, it preserves evidence of some of Europe’s first farming communities.
The settlement is home to both the Linear Pottery (LBK) and later Stroked Pottery (STK) cultures, which played a major role in spreading agriculture across the region. Although no structures survived, archaeologists have recreated the village based on findings of postholes, pits, foundation trenches and grooves left in the soil, which allowed the reconstruction of longhouses and rondels.
Besides the ancient history, this area contains traces of more recent history too. An aqueduct crosses the Přítocká valley in the same location where the medieval structure made of wooden trunks stood before it, carrying water toward Kutná Hora. The aqueduct dates to the late 15th century. It supplied fresh water from the spring of the Chapel of St. Adalbert, about 2.5 kilometres from the city, feeding Kutná Hora’s fountains and water system.
-> -> -> ->
