Heavy equipment-maker Bobcat notes the use of one of its machines on a striking, archeology-themed art project in Czechia.
Local artists recreated a Bronze Age grave in the village of Únětice just outside Prague to mark the 100th anniversary of the celebrated archaeologist and physician, Dr Čeňek Rýzner.
Rýzner discovered 67 graves with the preserved skeletons of the Únětice people, who lived between 2,500 and 1,800 years ago in Eastern Europe.
The interred people were nicknamed “Crouchers” because the Únětice culture buried its dead in a crouching position.
Local artist Magdalena Kracík Štorkánová and colleagues from Art and Craft Mozaika conceived the idea for the monument.
They had a local company with a Bobcat E27 mini-excavator dig a hole to the same dimensions as the graves Rýzner discovered.
Then they lined the hole with concrete and used a mosaic technique to create the image of a Croucher skeleton at the bottom.
The mosaic is composed of tens of thousands of ceramic pieces, including real archaeological fragments.
It includes a Únětsk pot, which adorns the the village’s coat of arms, plus jewellery and coins.
“We are reminded of the time of Čeňek Rýzner by his glasses and work tools and an umbrella,” said Magdalena Kracík Štorkánová during the monument’s unveiling.
“Visitors can find a lot of other surprises in the mosaic,” she added.
Bobcat said its E27 excavator was developed in Czechia by Bobcat engineers from Dobříš in Central Bohemia, and was manufactured in the country.
