Burials and Rituals in the La Tene Period: The Quadrangular Enclosure from Nemcice

The central agglomeration Nemcice in Moravia gave the name - the Nemcice/Roseldorf type - to the entire gradually recognised group of large lowland settlements with production and distribution functions existing in La Tene Europe in the 3rd-2nd century BC. In addition to settlement and production features, several ditched quadrangular enclosures were also identified at the Nemcice settlement. One of these, feature 525, was investigated in 2022. The history of the enclosure is demonstrated by finds and structures found in its inner space and from the individual layers of the fill of its ditch, which document development from the burial and perhaps other ritual functions of the enclosure ending with the deposition of fragments of weapons in the ditch, up to the incorporation of the feature into the space used for settlement activities. Ditched quadrangular enclosures, as are known besides Nemcice especially from Roseldorf in eastern Austria and from other settlements in the corridor of the Amber Road, reflect significant changes in the ritual behaviour of the La Tene population in Central Europe in this period.