Battlefield Archaeology of the First World War in Norhteastern Slovakia

Martin Vojtas; Jakub Těsnohlídek; Michaela Prišťáková; Jan Petřík; Martin Fojtík; Jiří Zubalík; Radim Kapavík; Peter Tajkov

doi:10.23858/APa61.2023.3362

Published: 2023-12-31

Vol. 61 (2023)

Battlefield Archaeology of the First World War in Norhteastern Slovakia

Martin Vojtas , Jakub Těsnohlídek , Michaela Prišťáková , Jan Petřík , Martin Fojtík , Jiří Zubalík , Radim Kapavík , Peter Tajkov

Archaeologia Polona

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.23858/APa61.2023.3362

Abstract

On the Slovak side of the Carpathian mountains, the archaeology of the First World War had long been completely outside the scope of research interest. At the same time, conflicts in this region had played a very important role in the initial phase of the war. Here, the Austro-Hungarian army blocked the invasion of the Russian army into Hungary with all its might. This lack of attention changed in the last decade with surveys conducted by our team from Masaryk University. In this short overview we describe and evaluate our main research conclusions so far based on surveys conducted at sites bearing the names of the hills of Staviská, Kobyla, Cingov and Wertyszów. Each of the sites is a place where various military events took place, so we have applied different, mostly non-destructive, methods to their study. Our results are mostly an introduction to the state of research and a review of a decade of expeditions to this unique field of conflict, where the armies learned how to fight in mountainous areas.

Keywords:

First World War, spring 1915, Eastern Slovakia, Carpathian battlefield, Easter battle in the Carpathians, geophysics, metal detecting, non-invasive survey

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Vojtas, M., Těsnohlídek, J., Prišťáková, M., Petřík, J., Fojtík, M., Zubalík, J., Kapavík, R., & Tajkov, P. (2023). Battlefield Archaeology of the First World War in Norhteastern Slovakia . Archaeologia Polona, 61, 31–59. https://doi.org/10.23858/APa61.2023.3362

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Czarnowicz, M. and Ochał-Czarnowicz, A. 2019. Cmentarze wojenne w masywie Kamenia nad Jaśliskami. In M. Karczewska (ed.), Cmentarze i pomniki I wojny światowej po stuleciu. Stan badań i ochrony, 67–82. Białystok.
Google Scholar

Čaplovič, M., Drobňák, M., Szabó, V. and R. Turík (eds). Karpatský front 1914/1915. Bratislava: Vojenský historický ústav – Klub vojenskej histórie Beskydy.
Google Scholar

Dejmal, M., Knápek, A., Machová, B., Prišťáková, M., Těsnohlídek, J. and Vágner, M. 2016. Opevnění v poloze “Na šancích” u Ledče nad Sázavou. Studia Archaeologica Brunensia 21(1): 185–205. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/SAB2016-1-8
Google Scholar

Druck- und Kommissionsverlag der K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei 1915. Feldbefestigung und technischer Unterricht. Instruktionsbuch für Reserveoffiziersschulen 6. Wien.
Google Scholar

Druckerei des K. u. K. Kriegsministeriums 1915. Anhaltspunkte für die Anlage von Kampfstellungen. Wien.
Google Scholar

Englund, P. 2012. The Beauty And The Sorrow: An intimate history of the First World War. Profile Books.
Google Scholar

Kapavík, R. 2016. Působení 81. pěšího pluku v Karpatech na jaře 1915. In M. Čaplovič, M. Drobňák, V. Szabó and R. Turík (eds), Karpatský front 1914/1915, 87–99. Bratislava.
Google Scholar

Kapavík, R., Vojtas, M., Petřík, J., Těsnohlídek, J., Zubalík, J., Čmelák, O., Tajkov, P. and Balogh, A. in print. Archaeological survey of trenchline from First world war over Sukov (NE Slovakia). In P. Drnovský, and P. Hejhal (eds), Archaeology of Conflicts 2. Hradec Králové.
Google Scholar

Kiss, D. 2018. Non-Invasive Research into a First World War Battlefield on Kobyla Hill. Geophysical work. Part (Habura, Laborcfő). Unpublished geophysical Survey Report by Herman Ottó Múzeum, Miskolc.
Google Scholar

Kobiałka, D. 2022. Curating The Great War In Poland. The prisoner-of-war camp at Czersk. In P. Cornish and N. J. Saunders (eds), Curating The Great War. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003263531-12
Google Scholar

Kołodziejczyk, P., Czarnowicz, M. and Czarnowicz-Ochał, A. 2016. Traces of the Great War in the Carpathian Mountains: research and documentation of elements of fortifications in the region of Jaśliska and Moszczaniec in the years 2015–2016. Journal of Heritage Conservation 46, 110-118.
Google Scholar

Košir, U. 2019. Legacies of the Soča Front – from rubbish to heritage (1915–2017). In U. Košir, M. Črešnar and D. Mlekuž (eds), Rediscovering the Great War. Archaeology and Enduring Legacies on the Soča and Eastern Fronts: 181-198. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315270586-12
Google Scholar

Kriegsarchiv Wien 1932. Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg 1914–1918 (Band 2). Wien, Verl. der Militärwiss.
Google Scholar

K. u. k. Kriegsschule 1906. Studienbehelf für Feldbefestigung. Wien.
Google Scholar

Mazáčková, J., Doležalová, K. and Těsnohlídek, J. 2016. Zaniklé středověké vesnice na Moravě, dějiny bádání a stav výzkumu. In. P. Nocuń, K. Fokt and A. Przybyła-Dumin (eds), Wieś zaginiona. Stan i perspektywy badań, 59–92. Chorzów. Monografie i materiały MGPE 5.
Google Scholar

Michalík, T. 2009. Právne aspekty ochrany archeologického kultúrného dedičstva v Európe. Archeologické rozhledy 61(3): 524–546.
Google Scholar

Mlekuž, D., Košir, U. and Črešnar, M. 2016. Landscapes of Death and Suffering: Archaeology of Conflict Landscapes of the Upper Soča Valley, Slovenia. In B. Stichelbaut and D. Cowley (eds), Conflict Landscapes and Archaeology from Above, 127–145. Routledge.
Google Scholar

Opravil, A. 1917. Personal belongings of Antonín Opravil (officer of Infranterie Regiment 28). Personal archive of PhD Kateřina Bečková.
Google Scholar

Roman, R.-T. 2020. The Edge of Europe. Heritage, Landscape and Conflict Archaeology. First World War material culture in Romanian conflictual landscapes. Oxford. British Archaeological Reports. International Series 2987. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407356853
Google Scholar

Rozsáfi, J. 2017. Győzelem – minden áron? https://nagyhaboru.blog.hu/2017/05/18/gyozelem_minden_aron
Google Scholar

Steffen, A. 1911. Feldbefestigung. Olmütz.
Google Scholar

Sytin, I. D. 1914. Voyennaya entsiklopediya 17. Sankt Peterburg.
Google Scholar

Těsnohlídek, J., Duffek, P., Kochan, Š., Hrubý, P. and Maršíčková, M. 2017. Detektorový průzkum zázemí tvrze v Ústrašíně. Vlastivědný sborník Pelhřimovska 23: 7–14.
Google Scholar

Voyennaya tipografiya 1910. Nastavleniye po voyskovomu inzhenernomu delu. Sankt Peterburg.
Google Scholar

Veda, 1979. Encyklopédia Slovenska III. K–M. Bratislava.
Google Scholar

Verdegem, S. 2021. Cutting the landscape: Investigating the 1917 battlefield of the Messines Ridge. In N. J. Saunders and P. Cornish (eds), Conflict Landscapes: Materiality and Meaning in Contested Places, 34–50. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003149552-4
Google Scholar

Zakšek, K., Oštir, K. and Kokalj, Ž. 2011. Sky-View Factor as a Relief Visualization Technique. Remote Sensing 3(2): 398–415. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs3020398
Google Scholar

Vojtas, M. 2018. Rakousko-Uherská zákopová linie na vrchu Staviská (okr. Bardejov) z roku 1915 ve světle archeologického výzkumu. Master thesis manuscript. Masaryk University, Faculty of Philosophy. Brno.
Google Scholar

Zalewska, A. I. and Czarnecki, J. 2019. An archaeology of ‘No Man’s Land’. The Great War in central Poland. In U. Košir, M. Črešnar and D. Mlekuž (eds), Rediscovering the Great War. Archaeology and Enduring Legacies on the Soča and Eastern Fronts: 122-139. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315270586-9
Google Scholar

Zalewska, A. I. (ed.). 2021. Archeologia frontu wschodniego Wielkiej Wojny jako wyzwanie. Warszawa-Lublin.
Google Scholar

Zubalík, J., Těsnohlídek, J., Bíško, R., Petřík, J., Vojtas, M., Kapavík, R., Petr, L., Tajkov, P. and Drobňák, M. 2017. Nedestruktivní průzkum bojiště 1. světové války na kótě Kobyla (o. Medzilaborce). Archaeologia historica 42(2): 539–559. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/AH2017-2-8
Google Scholar

Zubalík, J., Fojtík, M., Kapavík, R., Těsnohlídek, J., Vojtas, M., Petřík, J. and Tajkov, P. 2019. Maďarská palebná linie pod vrchem Veretyčiv u obce Habura: Prvotní výsledky výzkumu bojiště první světové války. Studia Archaeologica Brunensia 24(2): 75–88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/SAB2019-2-3
Google Scholar

Martin Vojtas

MartinVojtas55@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1522-5934

Affiliation:

Department of Archaeology and Museology, Masaryk University, Joštova 220/13, 662 43 Brno (Czech Republic), Czechia

Jakub Těsnohlídek

Affiliation:

Archaia Brno z.ú, Bezručova 15/78, 602 00 Brno (Czech Republic), Czechia

Michaela Prišťáková

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6178-8522

Affiliation:

Department of Archaeology and Museology, Masaryk University, Joštova 220/13, 662 43 Brno (Czech Republic), Slovakia

Jan Petřík

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5269-2411

Affiliation:

Department of Geological Sciences, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 267/2, 611 37 Brno (Czech Republic), Czechia

Martin Fojtík

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0018-1726

Affiliation:

Department of Archaeology and Museology, Masaryk University, Joštova 220/13, 662 43 Brno (Czech Republic), Czechia

Jiří Zubalík

Affiliation:

Institute for Archaeological Heritage, Kaloudova 1321/30, 614 00 Brno (Czech Republic), Czechia

Radim Kapavík

Affiliation:

Signum Belli 1914, U Trati 409, 667 01 Vojkovice (Czech Republic), Czechia

Peter Tajkov

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4227-6681

Affiliation:

Department of Theory and Art History, Faculty of Arts, Technical University of Košice, Watsonova 1561/4, 042 00 Košice (Slovakia), Slovakia