Archaeologists find first pottery at possible Metsepole castle site

Archaeologists have found the first pottery fragments at Grebu Hillfort and nearby Grebu Bowl Hill in Dikļi Parish, Valmiera Municipality, where LSM reports that the largest archaeological excavations to date are under way. Researchers hope the findings will help establish whether the site was once home to the Livonian Metsepole castle mentioned in written sources.

The discoveries include pottery sherds, pieces of clay daub and a layer of burnt stones. Researchers said they may need to excavate to a depth of about one metre to uncover further evidence.

“We have found many fragments of clay daub. It was used in building structures, with walls coated in clay, including for fire protection,” said Vanda Haferberga, a researcher at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Humanities. The archaeologists have found both handmade, wheel-less pottery and wheel-made pottery. The latter technology appeared around the 10th or 11th century, allowing the hillfort to be dated to the Late Iron Age, she said.

Researchers are also analysing samples from extensive bogs on both sides of the hillfort. The work, carried out with colleagues from the Faculty of Science and Technology who study past environments, is intended to help determine when people first appeared in the area and what they cultivated.

Large-scale excavations have not previously been conducted at the site; only limited work was carried out in 1989. Archaeologists now hope to gain a clearer understanding of when the hillfort was inhabited and what role it played.

There is a hypothesis that the site could be the location of Metsepole castle, which was first mentioned in known written sources in 1226. The hillforts have therefore been chosen as Latvia’s Archaeological Monument of the Year, with the research intended to determine whether their dating matches the period of settlement described in historical sources, said Mārcis Kalniņš, chairman of the board of the Latvian Archaeologists’ Association.