Kalendář věků

Kalendář věků ("Calendar of Ages") is a small but scientifically remarkable nature monument in South Moravia, right next to the village of Dolní Věstonice, at the northern foot of the Pavlovské vrchy hills. The name fits: the exposed sediment profile here reads almost like a timeline, letting geologists trace layer after layer of the region's geological past.

Where does this site come from?

Just before the road leaves Dolní Věstonice toward Pavlov, it passes an old brick factory. It was there, in the vertical clay wall of the excavation pit, that academician Karel Klíma uncovered and documented a cut in the early 1950s measuring 12 metres high, 5 metres wide and 3 metres deep. The layers visible in that wall reach back as far as one hundred thousand years. The entire protected area covers just 0.45 hectares, making Kalendář věků one of the smallest yet most information-dense geological sites in the region.

Why is it protected?

The formal reason for protection is that the site is a stratotype of the Upper Pleistocene in a dry loess facies — a reference profile that geologists and archaeologists use when dating similar sediments elsewhere. Alternating layers of loess and fossil soils, clearly visible in the exposed wall, record shifting cycles between cold, dry glacial periods and warmer interglacial phases. It is precisely this legibility of the sequence that earned the site its nickname: each layer functions like a page recording conditions from thousands of years ago.

Why does it matter for science?

Kalendář věků is still used today, mainly by archaeologists working at the nearby Palaeolithic sites of the Dolní Věstonice and Pavlov area — among the most important mammoth-hunter settlements in Central Europe. By comparing the layers exposed at the old brickworks with the profiles found in archaeological excavations, researchers can date finds that are tens of thousands of years old with greater precision. It's a rare case where a geological outcrop directly supports archaeological work.

What else can you see here?

Beyond the geological wall itself, the reserve also has natural value. The dry, sun-exposed sections of the site are home to solitary wild bees, which use the bare, sandy-loess walls as nesting sites. Rare wild poppies and other plant species typical of the dry, steppe-like habitats of South Moravia also grow here.

How to get to Kalendář věků

The reserve sits directly along the road connecting Dolní Věstonice and Pavlov, making it an easy stop while exploring the surrounding Pavlovské vrchy hills and the vineyards of South Moravia. It's a worthwhile short stop for anyone interested in geology, Stone Age archaeology, or the natural history of a region also famous for numerous Palaeolithic finds, including the celebrated Venus of Věstonice.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kalendář věků? It is a national nature monument consisting of an exposed geological profile at a former brickworks near Dolní Věstonice, documenting sediment layers up to one hundred thousand years old.

Who first documented the profile? The profile was uncovered and documented by academician Klíma, who described a 12-metre-high section here in the early 1950s.

Why is it called the "Calendar of Ages"? Because the successive layers of loess and fossil soils clearly record consecutive climatic periods, much like the pages of a calendar marking the passage of thousands of years.

Does the site matter beyond geology? Yes — the reserve is also a habitat for solitary wild bees and rare plant species, including wild poppies, typical of the dry, steppe-like terrain of South Moravia.