Milavichi culture is an archaeological culture of the late Bronze Age , which existed mainly in the territory of modern Czechia in the 12th-9th centuries. BC e. at the same time as Knovizskaya and Ludice , and in the south of Moravia - with Velatice .
The cultural territory covered the lands of modern central Pilsen environs , part of the Karlovy Vary environs ( Tashovice , Jakubov , Radoszow ), then the surroundings of Domažlice ( Milavce ) and the surroundings of Gorszowski Tyn ( cs: Horšovský Týn ).
It was named after the Milavichi area near Domažlice , where about 50 burials of 6-15 m in size and 2.5 m deep were found. Burials were carried out by cremation, the ashes were placed in large funeral urns that were laid flat with the ground and filled up with a grave mound. Ornaments and bronze objects — needles , bracelets, swords , daggers, axes — were laid around the central urn with ash.
A characteristic feature of this culture were numerous and huge in their content treasures of bronze objects, among which prevailed:
- bracelets
- knives, sickles , razors
- axes with middle blades
- profiled daggers
- Rigse-type swords in a wooden scabbard
- bronze forged shells
The population of the Milavichi culture was mainly engaged in hunting and farming (numerous finds of bronze sickles).
A unique find is the iconic wagon from the tomb of a warrior - an amphora-shaped vessel on a four-wheeled wagon about 40 cm in size, is currently in the People's Museum. This item demonstrates the increasing importance of wheeled vehicles and the increasing distribution of horses on the farm.
Bronze products indicate a high technological level characteristic of this culture, located in a region with high mountain passes. Findings of ceramics, bronze ware and jewelry are currently presented in the Domažlice Museum.