HOSTIVAŘ HILLFORT

The existence of the Hostivař Hillfort has been known since the early 20th century. It is situated on a flat, nearly rectangular hillock slightly descending from east to west. Steep slopes, encircled by the Botič Stream on the south, west, and north, formed its natural protection; on the east the area faced an open landscape. Prior to filling the Hostivař dam with water, the hillock and hillfort towered about 40 metres above the Botič valley. The hillfort has three parts: two baileys on the west and north are adjacent to the extensive central area. Originally estimated at 5.28 hectares, the overall area encompasses nearly seven hectares after the new localisation in 2008. The destructed rampart survived, crossing the promontory on the east, i.e. the most vulnerable side. Therefore, an outer moat reinforced the fortification on the east. The past agricultural activity strongly disrupted the hillfort fortification system; the moat was backfilled and the rampart nearly ploughed. The remains of the fortification are visible on the south and west perimeter of the central area and western bailey.

Based on early medieval pottery fragments which supplemented the pottery fragments of the Early Iron Age – Hallstatt Period (800–400 BCE) collected on the surface, the Hostivař Hillfort was regarded as a Slavic hillfort built on the site of an unfortified settlement from the Early Iron Age. During the surface research and monitoring minor terrain adjustments at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, fragments of pottery were acquired that provide evidence of the settlement during the Hallstatt period; early medieval pottery is less numerous. Findings from the Eneolithic (4200–2300 BCE) and Early Bronze Age (2300–1600 BCE) were rather sporadic. Evidence of settlements in all prehistoric and protohistoric periods was found in the close environs of the hillfort while there is no evidence of any connection to the early medieval pottery.