1999 Žužemberk Castle Excavation Unfortunately the 1999 archaeological excavation did not give us any additional insight on the life in the castle. However, we managed to obtain some valuable information as regards the destiny of the castle ruins in the 20th century. The stratigraphic sequence in the excavated tower No.4 confirmed the known fact, that the castle was emptied when abandoned in 1891. Even though it was emptied, it seems that the castle was used as a shelter a number of times after that. Amongst others, we confirmed with the archaeological method, that at least one military force occupied the castle during WW II. The fact, that tower No.4 was reused recently might come as a surprise. A wall was build on 3m (cca. 9 feet) of rubble in tower No.4. The second trench was dug out in the so called vine cellar. This was an excavation further into history. The 1st phase was deposited in the period, when the structure was built. The above mentioned shield-of-arms (see History...) dating to 1536 gives the most probable date. So, for once the historic source will help the archaeologists to date the ceramics found there. That, in turn, will enable us to date another stratigraphic layer on some other site ; or maybe in Žužemberk 2000 excavations.