Žírovice urn field
The Žírovice Bronze Age urn field (German Sirmitz- also called Horní Lomany) is located in Žírovice , a district of Františkovy Lázně (German: Franzensbad) in the far west of Bohemia near the German border in the Czech Republic .
In 1929 a spa guest discovered a burial site in the small forest above the Mlýnský pond (Sirmitz mill pond). The area with the urn field was popularly known as “im Haugn”. The local researcher Alois John (1860-1935) from Oberlohma had the vessel recovered. The archaeologist Anton Gnirs (1873–1933) from Saaz took over the excavations. Josef G. Hiersche took on the matter and lived for years in a small wooden house near the urn field. He uncovered 17 graves. He died at the research center at the end of the Second World War. In the Egerer Jahrbuch from 1930 and in "Our Egerland" from 1932 he reported on the excavations on the urn field near Sirmitz.
The square was already damaged by sand mining at the beginning of the 20th century. The first not preserved finds are said to date back to 1880. Scientific research took place between 1929 and 1958. On the rectangular area of 45 × 37 meters, the remains of two round burial mounds and around 50 smaller urn graves with remains of stone cladding were found. After later explorations, a total of 50 were drawn. The eastern barrow with a diameter of 5.3 meters has an oval enclosure made of granite stones. In its center was a rectangular east-west oriented stone box about 2.0 m long and 1.5 m wide . A hill that had not been preserved was piled up over it. It is believed that it was robbed as only flint, several shards of clay vessels and fragments of bronze were found. To the west of the main grave is another stone wreath. Many stones are scattered on the surface, but it cannot be determined what it is. The finds include a fragment of a ring, a bracelet, part of a spiral and bolt made of bronze, and many pieces of pottery.
To the surprise of the archaeologists, a settlement of the urnfield culture was found near the necropolis .
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 8 '27.2 " N , 12 ° 20' 45.7" E