Possible Livonian castle site examined by archaeologists

Pottery shards, pieces of clay plaster, and a layer of burnt stones – these are among the first artefacts that archaeologists have uncovered at the Grebu hillfort. When Latvian Television arrived, the researchers were working on the upper soil layers, but they suggested that they would need to dig to a depth of about one metre to find even more historical evidence. “We have found a great many fragments of clay plaster. This plaster was used in building construction – walls were coated with clay, partly for fire safety. The first pottery shards have also been found – both hand-made, unthrown pottery and pottery made on a potter’s wheel. This technology emerged around the 10th–11th centuries, so we can already date the hillfort to the Late Iron Age,” explained Vanda Haferberga, a researcher at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia.