Odpadní vrstvy a objekty jako pramen poznání stratifikace středověké společnosti – výpověď mocného smetištního souvrství z Nového Města pražského

Waste Management and Attitudes Towards Cleanliness in Medieval Central Europe

“…Today, X-ray technology can help us read the original documents that have since been written over (Lyons, 2011). The recycling of textiles for repairing and altering clothes has been documented (Rammo, 2012in Březinová & Selmi Wallisová, 2016. As a matter of fact, out of frugality the clothes and bedding that dead people left behind were not thrown out, not even during epidemics (Hoffmann, 2009).…”

“…It is, however, difficult to trace the evolution of waste in towns with any continuity in the medieval period. Due to regular street cleaning, today we do not know the full stratigraphy of street waste in some towns (Březinová & Selmi Wallisová, 2016). As Moravec notes, in seventeenth-century Ostrava, bailiff's instructions were issued that prohibited the accumulation of waste in front of and behind buildings, in the streets, and along town walls (Adamus, 1929in Moravec, 2014.…”

“…This was the case in Prague's New Town, where the location of previous wetlands (surrounding today's V jámě Street) was used as a dump for household waste and construction waste. Filling in this space resulted in new building plots (Březinová & Selmi Wallisová, 2016). It is, however, difficult to trace the evolution of waste in towns with any continuity in the medieval period.…”

“…The composition of waste materials might indicate the social status of the inhabitants of each plot. For example, the rare presence of silk in a waste deposit might be a sign of prosperity and the high socioeconomic standing of the person who used it, as opposed to the owners of more common woolen or linen textiles (Březinová & Selmi Wallisová, 2016). The discovery of rare exotic spices and fruits bears witness to the exceptional status of a property owner, and at the same time it provides us with information about long-distance trade; examples include the discovery of nutmeg in Beroun (Čulíková, 1994) or discoveries of less common plants (Čulíková, 1995; 2007).…”

“…21 Thick layers of organic materials made up mainly of horse manure have been found by archeolgists in Prague's Old Town. Older paving stones were placed atop these layers (Březinová & Selmi Wallisová, 2016). 22 In the Middle Ages it was a commonly held belief that diseases (such as the plague) were spread through the air through noxious vapors (i.e., miasmata) emitted by decaying material contained in waste deposits, dung heaps, etc.…”