On the trail of the mammoth hunters of Dolní Věstonice – 6 km

• Some 30,000 years ago, Bohemia and Moravia were a forbidding place, lashed by arctic winds blowing off the icefields that surrounded the territory. It was a landscape inhabited by herds of roaming mammoths and other animals suited to the ice age climate. This was not an environment suited to man. Yet, in the far south of Moravia, in the shelter of the Pavlov hills near the banks of the river Dyje, a group of hunters from the Gravettian culture established a camp and set about tracking the herds.
• Today, that ancient campsite is possibly the most famous archaeological site in the country. The mammoth hunters of Dolní Věstonice were known not just for their hunting skills, witnessed by the large numbers of massive bones unearthed across the landscape, but also for their creative efforts. The world’s earliest known ceramic statues were discovered at the site, occupied over several millennia, together with other evidence of an advanced ritualist culture. The Venus of Věstonice is one of the most famous relics discovered to date from the ice age settlements of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
• An excellent modern museum has been established just outside the village of Dolní Věstonice, which explores the archaeology of the area. This is well worth a special trip. An educational trail that leads past some of the important archaeological sites on the hillside (with five well prepared English/Czech information boards) starts in the vineyards above Dolní Věstonice and finishes at the museum.
• Most will probably start the trail from the museum car park and follow it ‘backwards’ (which is is not an issue as the information panels are independent of each other). The trail is 3 km long and the return journey can be either made along the outbound path or beside the public road which leads from Dolní Věstonice back to the museum. The first 2.5 km of the trail is on asphalt paths, so easily navigated with a stroller. The last section is on a track through the vineyard. If completing the full circuit shown in the map, this is 6.63 km long with 140m of height to climb/descend
• There are several good refreshment options in the villages of Pavlov and Dolní Věstonice along the route, including a number of wineries offering tastings as well as light snacks. One of the nicest (not currently shown in the mapy.cz application, but marked on the map below – map point 3) is the Vinařství Paulus.
• The Dolní Věstonice walk can easily be extended by up to 7 km by adding the tour around Dívčí hrady and Děvín hill. This more rugged walk starts from the center of Pavlov village.

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• Start at the archaeology museum situated just below the village of Pavlov (there are bus connections here and to the village of Dolní Věstonice from Mikulov and Břeclav)
• Follow the GREEN trail uphill through Pavlov village and past the wineries, one of the last being the yellow colored winery of Paulus – 1.1 km from the museum
• Continue on the GREEN trail for a further 200m until reaching the wayside shrine and bench area. Here, turn off the GREEN trail and take the right hand fork, which is the continuation of the archaeological trail (marked with green-white diagonal nature trail marks)
• After 1km the educational trail meets the RED hiking trail, which continues through the vineayards and then descends towards the village of Dolní Věstonice (the last information board is about halfway down the hill)
• On reach the public road leading through the village of Dolní Věstonice, turn right (leaving the RED hiking trail) and continue beside the public road for 2.7 km back to the museum