The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: Discoveries, Hypotheses, Interpretations (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450)

The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland

East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 General Editor

Florin Curta

VOLUME 1

The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland Discoveries—Hypotheses—Interpretations

By

Andrzej Buko

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2008

Cover illustration front: Tower complex at Stodpie in its 2nd phase (around mid of 13th century): an attempt of reconstruction (drawn by Andrzej Grzechnik) Cover illustration back: Stone tower and stronghold at Stodpie, view from the west. (photo: A. Buko) This book is printed on acid-free paper. Translation: Sylvia Twardo Language Consultant: Paul Barford The translation of the book was funded by The Foundation for Polish Science

ISSN 1872-8103 ISBN 978 90 04 16230 3 Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands

CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................ List of Figures ............................................................................. Chapter One Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: beginnings of interest, birth and development ...................... 1. The earliest beginnings ...................................................... 2. The 19th century: in search of the roots of the Slavic identity ............................................................................... 3. Birth and slow growth: the rst two decades of the 20th century ............................................................................... 4. The 1930s: Early Medieval archaeology on the offensive, continuation of debate on the Slavs and systematic excavations of Early Medieval sites .................................. 5. Two post war decades: the coming Millennium and research on the origins of the Polish state ........................ 6. The 1970s and 1980s: fruitful aftermath of the Millennium research .......................................................... 7. The last decade of the 20th century: old questions and new possibilities .................................................................. 8. Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: an archaeology of regions or archaeology without borders? ..................... Chapter Two Sources and methods ....................................... 1. Early Medieval archaeological sites and their stratication: problems in exploration .............................. 1.1. Stratication of early urban sites ............................. 1.2. Stratication of rural settlements ............................ 1.3. Stratication of sacral sites and pagan cult centers ....................................................................... 1.4. Stratication of multi-layer cemeteries .................... 2. Layers and their portable content: mass nds ................. 2.1. Pottery as a source of information about past societies ..................................................................... 2.2. Archaeozoological data ............................................ 3. Small nds .........................................................................

xi xv

1 1 2 6

9 11 14 18 22 29 29 30 32 35 36 38 39 42 45

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contents 4. Soil and its natural components ........................................ 5. Written sources .................................................................. 6. Iconography .......................................................................

47 48 51

Chapter Three How did the Slavs get to Polish lands? ......... 1. ‘Autochthonists’, ‘Allochthonists’ and others: the long history of the debate on the origins of the Slavs ............. 2. The Polish lands between Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: a gap or continuity? .................................... 3. One or many models of the Slavs’ material culture? ...... 4. The phenomenon of the Slavs: how to explain it? ...........

55 55 61 63 69

Chapter Four Mysteries of the pre-state period ..................... 1. ‘Tribal’ geography and archaeology ................................. 2. The rst Early Medieval strongholds: when did they appear? ............................................................................... 3. One or many burial rites? ................................................. 4. Many questions and few answers ......................................

75 75 84 99 104

Chapter Five Holy mountains ................................................. 1. Large cult centers of the pre-state period: cysa Góra ..... 2. The mysteries of Mount sl\va .......................................... 3. Other mountains—supposed places of pagan cult .......... 4. The mysterious vmigrody ....................................................

107 107 110 117 126

Chapter Six Pagan cemetery or holy grove? .......................... 1. Open air shrines ................................................................ 2. An old cemetery and new problems ................................. 3. Forgotten or living tradition? ............................................

133 133 134 139

Chapter Seven Monumental mounds in Little Poland ........... 1. Monumental mounds, admired throughout the ages ....... 2. Przemysdaw’s (Tatars’) Mound in Przemytl ....................... 3. Supposed monumental mounds in the Przemytl region .. 4. Salve Regina Hill in Sandomierz ...................................... 5. The Mounds of Krak and Wanda in Cracow ................. 6. Other monumental mounds in Little Poland ................... 7. The European context ....................................................... 8. The Great Mounds of Little Poland: when and why were they raised? ...............................................................

143 143 144 147 148 150 154 157 159

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Chapter Eight The earliest Medieval script in Poland? ......... 1. A fascinating discovery .................................................... 2. What was found on the tablets from PodebÜocie? .......... 3. The tablets in the light of the most recent analyses ......

167 167 169 170

Chapter Nine How Poland came into being .......................... 1. Between archaeology, dynastic tradition and legend ...... 2. Where Poland began: Great Poland just before the rise of the state ................................................................ 3. Where did the Piasts come from? ................................... 4. From Great Poland to Little Poland: the rst step of expansion of the Piasts .................................................... 5. Towards the north: the Piasts on the Bay of Gdaqsk .... 6. ‘Forgotten’ Mazovia or a strategic territorial reserve? .... 7. From the Baltic Sea to the Sudeten Mountains: Silesia and Western Pomerania ....................................... 8. Bohemian or Piast Silesia? .............................................. 9. Western Pomerania: ‘urban republics’ and old ‘tribal’ territories .......................................................................... 10. Cracow Land: the last stage of the state formation process .............................................................................. 11. Summing up ....................................................................

175 175

Chapter Ten Towns still under investigation .......................... 1. The capitals of the Gniezno state: contested priority .... 2. From the legendary Lech to Mieszko I .......................... 3. A strong contender for primacy ...................................... 4. Kalisz: The Stronghold on the Amber Route ................ 5. Wolin: The town with twelve gates ................................. 6. Early state or pre-state Gdaqsk? ..................................... 7. The origins of Pdock still unknown ................................ 8. Sandomierz: First large investment of the Piasts in Little Poland? ................................................................... 9. Zawichost: intriguing rival of Sandomierz ..................... 10. Mysteries of the Cathedral Hill in Chedm ..................... 11. Przemytl: The center at the periphery ........................... 12. Witlica: in the shadow of a pagan prince ...................... 13. Cracow, Wawel and archaeology .................................... 14. Who built the earliest Wrocdaw? .....................................

178 183 190 196 199 206 207 211 214 216 223 226 228 233 241 246 250 256 262 266 272 279 283 294 300

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Chapter Eleven Other central places ...................................... 1. Cherven and Volyn: central places in the eastern borderlands ........................................................................ 2. Ostrów Lednicki: residence of rst Piast rulers or rst Polish episcopium? ......................................................... 3. Giecz: Unnished large-scale investment .......................... 4. Chedmno as a sedes regni principalis? .................................... 5. Pudtusk: The stronghold below the castle ......................... 6. The stronghold and masonry tower in Stodpie .................

309 317 322 324 328

Chapter Twelve Rural landscapes ........................................... 1. Off the beaten track .......................................................... 2. How do we envisage Medieval rural settlements? ............ 3. Unexploited research potential: service settlements ......... 4. Mysterious villages .............................................................

333 333 335 343 346

Chapter Thirteen The earliest monastic complexes ............... 1. The earliest monasteries and archaeology ........................ 2. At the threshold of Christianization: the rst Benedictine abbeys ............................................................ 3. In the shadow of Wawel Hill: the Benedictine Abbey at Tyniec near Cracow ...................................................... 4. A church and a monastery in a stronghold ...................... 5. A double foundation and the controversy over a princely burial .................................................................... 6. Archaeology and the earliest Cistercian foundations ....... 7. The ‘little monastery’ at cekno ......................................... 8. W[chock: a monastery on the ruins of a palatium? .......... 9. Monasteries still under investigation .................................

351 351

Chapter Fourteen The puzzle of the century: pottery marks 1. The long history of research and ambiguous results ....... 2. Signs on the bases of vessels from Kalisz and Ostrów Lednicki: an abundance of qualitatively new archaeological sources ........................................................ 3. Unusual signs ..................................................................... 4. Where did the custom come from and why were the vessels marked? ..................................................................

307 307

352 355 359 363 369 371 374 378 383 383

387 388 392

contents Chapter Fifteen Locals and migrants ...................................... 1. From cremation to inhumation: burial grounds of the early state period ............................................................... 2. Pomeranians and Veleti in Great Poland? ........................ 3. The Graves of Vikings? ..................................................... 4. A large warriors’ necropolis .............................................. 5. Not only warriors .............................................................. 6. Who was buried in the Mazovian graves with stone constructions? ..................................................................... 7. Strangers in the south ....................................................... 8. Who were they and what did they have in common? .....

ix 395 396 400 404 408 411 414 421 425

Appendix One Some Notes on the Translation of Andrzej Buko’s ‘Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland’ (Paul Barford) .......................................................................... Appendix Two A brief guide to the pronunciation of Polish words (compiled by Paul Barford) ..........................................

439

Bibliography ................................................................................

441

Index ...........................................................................................

465

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INTRODUCTION The Early Middle Ages are often portrayed as the obscure ‘Dark Ages’, but they were also a time of fascinating large-scale changes on the map of Europe. The period between the 6th and 10th centuries is a turning point in European history but still insufciently known. This was the long period of the collapse of the Roman civilization and simultaneously of the growth of Byzantium, the natural successor of the Roman Empire. It was also the time of the spread of the great modern cultures and religions, development of crafts and of the new type of feudal economy, decline and creation of many states and foundation of hundreds of early town centers. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the continent was settled by the peoples who would give rise to the modern nations and the European civilization. The changes affected various spheres of life. The most important one was the great population and cultural transformation. Europe became divided into a Roman zone (represented by the Byzantine Empire lasting more than 1000 years), a German part (giving rise to the states of western Europe), and a Slavic part, the successors of which are the inhabitants of the central and eastern Europe, including modern Poland. The nomadic peoples who looked for a place in Europe at the beginning of the Middle Ages fared much worse. Many of them, who for a time were huge powers, such as the Avars or Khazars, had become forgotten before the Medieval period was over. Others, like the Proto-Bulgarians, after their contact with the local population, became part of the Slavic world before the 10th century. Only the Magyars, who occupied the Carpathian Basin and the Pannonian Plain in the late 9th century, retained their linguistic and cultural identity, although due to the complex processes of acculturation it is now hard to see in them the descendants of the militant nomads. Finally, at the northern periphery of the continent, viewed as a land of darkness and monsters terrifying for the man of the Middle Ages, there existed the Balts and the Ugro-Finns. In ideological terms, the introduction of Christianity was a signicant turning point. The Mediterranean peoples were the earliest to come into contact with Christianity. Christianity became the ofcial religion in the area of the Roman Empire due to the decision of Emperor

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Constantine the Great in the early 4th century. In the 5th century, the Germanic people, including the Salian Franks, became acquainted with it. In the 9th century, the Christian missions reached the Slav groups living to the south of the Carpathians and to the Scandinavian peoples. However, in the large expanses of Central Europe, including Poland, the adoption of a new religion was connected with a political breakthrough, which consisted in the origin of new states of the New Europe in the 10th century. The processes and phenomena typical for these times of change were reected in the life of the populations inhabiting the area of the former barbaricum, including also the area which is now Poland. Many novelties, especially in the sphere of monumental architecture, sacral art or culture of the higher social strata, did not differ signicantly from the Carolingian or Ottonian model known elsewhere in Europe. In the early phase of the Polish state, many works of art were created by the representatives of the elites of the European christianitas. However, Poland of the times of Mieszko I and Bolesdaw I (The Brave)—the rst rulers recorded in history—also retained its unique character in many spheres of life.1 The Early Medieval archaeology of Poland, which is the subjectmatter of this book, sheds light on the origin and development of the cultural processes and phenomena taking place in the region over a period of seven hundred years. At that time in the territory of modern Poland there took place the great transformation from the settlement processes characteristic of Antiquity to those of the early Slav period. Within this period occurred the change from the proto-state (tribal) to early state organizations. These caesurae dene the period which is the subject of archaeological research. The key themes include the origins of Early Medieval settlement in Polish territory. The question of the settling eastern and central Europe by the Slavs has been the subject of a number of controversies; the material evidence for these people is slight and unclear in its interpretation. An important topic of reection in this book concerns the time when the rst proto-state structures were formed. One of the key issues is to establish when the tribal elites appeared and what part they played in organizing the local communi-

1 To save introducing them at each place where they are mentioned in the author’s text, the dates of the reigns of Polish rulers is given for foreign readers together with a few comments on the translation in an appendix at the end of the book (translator).

introduction

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ties. This is the background for the analysis of the relations between the pagan pre-Polish communities with their Christian surroundings. The tribal period was also the time when the peoples inhabiting various Polish lands lost their anonymity and appeared under various names in Arabic, Byzantine and Frankish chronicles. Another broad subject of research are the origins of the Polish state and its main centers. Due to the scarcity of written sources, the archaeological data play here a valid, and sometimes denitive, part and the possibilities in this respect have increased considerably in the recent decades. This is due not only to the intensication of eld research but also to the new possibilities of dating archaeological sites thanks to the application of dendrochronology (tree-ring dating methods) on a larger scale than before. The archaeologists studying the Polish Early Middle Ages have achievements of various kinds, some of them, however, are of particular importance and they will be the focus of the greatest attention. These include the famed discoveries, but also some which were later forgotten, which have split the scientic milieux. Also the problems which have been for many years the topics of discussions and polemics will be presented. The reader will nd opinions in this book which undermine the xed schemes of thinking and open new cognitive horizons. Although in many cases it is too early to come to any denitive conclusions, it is worthwhile to present, or in some cases, to outline, the prospects of further research. As there are many issues deserving presentation, the ones discussed in the chapters below are rst and foremost the author’s own choice from among the many other possible ones. The territorial scope of this book is the area within the modern borders of Poland. The regions of Warmia and Mazuria in the northwest, that is, the lands occupied by the Balts in the Early Middle Ages, are excluded. This means that the area considered here is broadly similar to the territory of the Poland of the rst Piast monarchy. The chronology of the Early Middle Ages adopted for this book embraces the period between the 6th and mid-13th century. The date chosen for the beginning of the period is similar to that of the chronological framework adopted for the Early Medieval period in most western European countries. The end of the period is much later than that used in many other countries. This is in accord with the tradition adopted in Poland, where the Early Medieval period is seen as extending far beyond the 10th century (which for western Europe sees the end of the stage of forming and consolidation of state structures).

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The idea of this publication arose on the basis of the lectures and seminars which I have been conducting at the Institute of Archaeology of Warsaw University since the mid-1990s within the thematic bloc Archaeology of the Early Middle Ages. An important part in its creation was also due to my active participation in several large projects of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of Polish Academy of Sciences. Although the book is meant mainly for students, archaeologists and historians, I hope that it will appeal to a much broader audience. I have seen many times how heated debates and interest may be inspired by the issues presented below in the regions (‘small homelands’) which they concern. This is probably because though they refer to things now forgotten, they still matter to the people who live in those regions. Perhaps also because they are so interesting they are worth knowing about. Finally, a few words are necessary about the structure of the book. The rst two chapters deal with the selected aspects of the history of archaeological investigations of the Early Middle Ages in Poland (Chapter 1) and the methodology of Medieval archaeology (Chapter 2). The next chapters are organized chronologically and thematically. The chapters arranged according to the former are Chapter 3 (concerning the origins of the Slavs), Chapter 4 (about the proto-state period) and Chapter 9 (on the origins of the Polish state). Each of the main chapters is supplemented with auxiliary ones. They present selections of the most interesting discoveries or issues particularly worth presenting. In this respect Chapter 3 posed considerable difculties due to the limited amount of evidence available, but in the case of the other ones, the possibilities were much richer. Thus, apart from in Chapter 4, the pre-state (tribal) period is also discussed in Chapters 5–8 and the archaeology of the early state period, in Chapters 10–15. This book could not have been written without the kindness of many of my colleagues and also collaborators. This concerns both their critical remarks about the respective chapters of the publications and their actual help in completing and preparing the illustrative material. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of them, especially to Maciej Trzeciecki for his work on digital processing of the illustrations.

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3. Re-deposited human bones, charnel deposit at an Early Medieval cemetery Sandomierz, Collegium Gostomianum, Archives of the IAE, PAS, Warsaw ................ Figure 7. Graphic matrix of settlement phases as well as stratigraphic sequences of layers, features and architectural remains at a multi- layered site, Zawichost (after S. Tabaczyqski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................. Figure 9. Shape of the bottom of an archaeological trench, bedrock level after completing the exploration of layers and features, Kaczyce, Early Medieval settlement, Trial Trench II (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ........................................................................ Figure 10. Details of the conguration of the surface of the loess natural soil, bedrock, Kaczyce, Early Medieval settlement, Trial Trench III (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ....................................................... Figure 12. Skeleton in so-called cemetery layer. The lack of visible outline of the burial pit is evident, Kleczanów churchyard (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 16. Reconstructions of forms of vessels produced in the same stylistic tradition, Sandomierz, St. James’ Hill, urban quarter, from the mid-12th till the mid-13th centuries (after A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ........................... Figure 17. Bear’s skull from the fortied settlement at Pudtusk with traces of a metal loop on the fang, didactic material from the Department of Archeozoology at the Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University ( photo: M. Gmur) ............. Figure 19. Fish species whose remains are most often found at various types of archaeological sites in Great Poland (after D. Makowiecki, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ................ Figure 21. Pollen diagram from Lake swi\tokrzyskie in Gniezno illustrating the dynamic of changes of hornbeam and palinological anthropogenic indexes from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages (after K. Tobolski) ........................

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Figure 23. Threshing with ails, representation from a 12th century paten from Trzemeszno (after M. Walicki) ............... Figure 24. Bishop Alexander of Malonne, in the center, a representation on the so-called Pdock Door, 12th century ( photo: A. Buko) .................................................................... Figure 25. Knight’s equipment reconstructed from the mid-13th century seal of Bolesdaw the Chaste (after H. Kotarski, digital processing: A. Buko) ............................... Figure 26. The oldest zones of settlement of the early Slavs in Polish lands (by A. Buko,cdigital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 27. A typical early Slavic hut from the 6th–7th century (after K. Goddowski, digital processing: A. Buko) .................. Figure 28. Szeligi near Pdock: reconstruction of an early Slavic fortied settlement of the 6th century (after T. Kordala) ..... Figure 32. ‘Tribal’ map of Polish lands. Settlement concentrations identied by means of archaeological investigations are marked in black and the names of the peoples mentioned in written sources, in gray (by A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ........................................... Figure 33. Main settlement concentrations in Mazovia in the pre-state period (after M. Dulinicz, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 34. Early Medieval settlements in Silesia and their relationship to the ‘tribes’ known from written sources (after S. Modzioch, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......... Figure 35. Spatial distribution of Early Medieval strongholds on the Pars\ta river (after W. cosiqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 38. Hoard of axe-shaped currency bars from Kanonicza Street in Cracow: a-stratigraphy of the hoard, b-arrangement of the bundles of bars in the top layer (after E. Zaitz, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................. Figure 39. Fortied settlement at Dobromierz with stone rampart facing: reconstruction of the gate (after J. Kamierczyk) ....................................................................... Figure 40. Silesian linear earthworkss: southern line of the ramparts near Pogorzele (after E. Kowalczyk) ....................... Figure 41. Graves of the Alt Käbelich type in Pomerania and Mecklenburg (after W. cosiqski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .........................................................................

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53 64 65 67

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list of figures Figure 42. Graves of the Alt Käbelich type: plans of constructions found within them (after W. cosiqski; drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ..................... Figure 43. Old-Magyar cemetery in Przemytl, rst half of the 10th century: a warrior’s burial, Grave 6 and its goods: a—tting of a purse, b—arrowheads, c–d—belt buckles, e—belt tting, f—bridle bit, g—bone element of composite bow, h—narrow bladed battle axe (czekan), i—stirrups, j, d—ttings, k—saddle girth buckle, l—scabbard tting (after A. Koperski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............ Figure 44. cysa Gora in the Holy Cross Mountains: view of the monastery from the south ( photo: A. Buko) ................... Figure 48. Distribution of archaeological features around Mount sl\va (after G. Domaqski, drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 49. Mount sl\va: stone sculpture representing a bear ( photo: S. Rosik) ..................................................................... Figure 50. Cathedral Hill in Chedm seen from the south ( photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .............. Figure 51. Modoczki in Podlasie: a presumed cult site (after D. Krasnod\bski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .............. Figure 52. Cult Circle 1 from Trzebiatów (after W. Filipowiak, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ........................................... Figure 54. umigród at Opatów: view of interior of enclosed area ( photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...... Figure 56. Map of cult sides discussed in the book. Circles denote single features, ovals—their concentrations (drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................................... Figure 57. Above: Kleczanów grove, marked in black; below: plan of the barrow cemetery. Features investigated by means of archaeological excavations or geological drillings are marked in black. Capital letters denote concentrations of barrows (after M. Florek and J. scibior) ................................ Figure 58. Pagan cemetery in the Kleczanów grove: augering a barrow from Concentration B located near a glade ( photo: A. Buko) ..................................................................... Figure 59. The alleged ‘footprint of St. Stanislas’, imprint in a piece of sandstone marked with a black arrow incorporated into the foundation of the chancel in the parish church at Kleczanów ( photo: A. Buko) ..................................................

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112 115 119 123 124 128

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Figure 60. Kleczanów grove: a glade among the barrows: the traditional site of annual masses and folk fetes ( photo: A. Buko) .................................................................................. Figure 61. Pond and springs below the southern edge of Kleczanów grove as seen from the south ( photo: A. Buko) .................................................................................. Figure 63. Erosion gully on the slope of Tartars’ Mound with visible rubble ( photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 67. Krak’s Mound in Cracow ( photo: A. Buko) ............ Figure 68. Excavations of Krak’s Mound in the 1930s: the upper part of the mound already excavated (after R. Jamka) ................................................................................ Figure 71. Eroding mound, Early Medieval barrow(?) at Leszczków near Sandomierz ( photo: M. Florek) .................. Figure 73. Early Medieval barrow at Husynne near Hrubieszów, 9th century ( photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 74. Map of distribution of monumental and large mounds in Little Poland presented in the book (drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................................... Figure 76. Podebdocie, settlement 3, Features 10 and 13 where the tablets and pottery with the solar and zoomorphic ornament were found are indicated. Features marked in gray represent settlement Phase I (after E. Marczak, by A. Buko and M. Trzeciecki) ......................... Figure 80. Two interpretations of the form of the signs from Tablets 2 and 3. Veried forms of signs are on the right (after T. Pdóciennik) ................................................................. Figure 82. Main archaeological sites investigated in Poland during the Millennium period (after W. Hensel; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 83. Pre-state and early state strongholds in Great Poland: 1—pre-state strongholds destroyed after the origination of the state, 2—pre-state strongholds which survived and existed in the early Piast period, 3—strongholds build in the early Piast times (after Z. Kurnatowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................

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list of figures Figure 84. Main centers of early Piast Poland in the context of the road network of the 12th–13th centuries (after T. Lalik; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............................ Figure 85. Hypothetical scenario of the Piast expansion in eastern Little Poland. Places where the earliest sacral structures were discovered are marked with crosses (after Z. Kurnatowska, modied by A. Buko & M. Trzeciecki ) .... Figure 86. Settlement network in Eastern Pomerania in the period of state formation (after L.J. cuka; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 87. Linear earthwork (the so-called Swedish wall) at Zimna Woda, part of the zone of fortications on the Mazovian-Prussian border (after E. Kowalczyk) .................... Figure 88. Main settlement centers and discoveries in Mazovia: 1—centers of secular power, 2—centers of ecclesiastic power, 3—production structures and workshops, 4—places inhabited for a longer time by various cultural and ethnic groups, 5—custom houses from the 11th cent., 6—nds of single coins in archaeological layers, 7—nds of scales or weights, 8—port (after M. Dulinicz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 90. Supposed course of events from the second half of the 10th cent., associated with the incorporation of areas in the Gniezno state (by A. Buko & M. Trzeciecki) .............. Figure 91. Polish towns with a history of a thousand years. Early urban centers whose origins are determined by archaeological evidence are marked with black circles; the centers which require further verication are marked with white circles. Bishoprics created at the Gniezno Summit are marked with crosses (after A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 92. Cross-section of Lech’s Hill in Gniezno with the most important discoveries (after T. Sawicki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 93. Developmental phases of the fortied settlement at Lech’s Hill in Gniezno (after T. Sawicki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 94. Remains of the earliest church, rotunda under the Gniezno cathedral—presumed to be St. Adalbert’s rst grave (after T. Janiak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................

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Figure 95. External facing of the stronghold in Poznaq with a stone reinforcement of base, tentative reconstruction (after B. Kostrzewski) ........................................................................ Figure 96. Plan of the remains of a structure identied near the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary church on Ostrów Tumski in Poznaq identied as a palatium (after H. KóokaKrenz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............................... Figure 97. Baptistery (?) in Poznaq at the moment of discovery (after K. Józefowiczówna) ....................................................... Figure 98. Plan of the probable baptistery in the context of Poznaq cathedral (after Z. Kurnatowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 99. Presumed tombs of Mieszko I and Bolesdaw the Brave in Poznaq cathedral (after Z. Kurnatowska, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 100. Stronghold, Fortied settlement at KaliszZawodzie during the excavations, in the foreground remains of St. Paul’s Cathedral can be seen in the trench (Archive of the Polish Academy of Science Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology in Warsaw) ..................................................... Figure 101. Extent of the respective phases of the stronghold at Kalisz-Zawodzie (after T. Baranowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 102. Plan of the earliest wooden church in Kalisz, the early 11th century superimposed on the plan of St. Paul’s Collegiate Church of the 12th century and their reconstructions (after T. Baranowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 103. Topography of Wolin in the Early Middle Ages (after W. Filipowiak and Gundlach; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 104. Stratication and selected wooden structures of the Early Medieval Wolin, remains of a pagan shrine (after Filipowiak and Gundlach; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 105. Wolin. A wooden gurine representing a fourheaded god found near the shrine (after Filipowiak and Gundlach) ................................................................................ Figure 106. Topography of Early Medieval Gdaqsk (digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................

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list of figures Figure 107. Pdock. Tumskie Hill as seen from the north ( photo: M. Trzeciecki) ............................................................ Figure 108. Topography of Early Medieval Pdock (after A. Godembnik, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................. Figure 109. Pdock Cathedral as seen from north-east ( photo: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 111. Deer antler chess set, Sandomierz, St. James’ settlement, 12th century (after A. Buko) ................................ Figure 112. Topography of 11th century Sandomierz: 1–3—fortied parts of the town (A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 113. Early Medieval settlement in the area of Zawichost (after D. Wyczódkowski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 115. The Zawichost tetrakonch, tentative reconstruction of the church body (after R. Kunkiel; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 116. Fragments of the Romanesque wall of the central apse under the chancel of the church of the BVM at Zawichost ( photo: A. Buko) ................................................... Figure 117. Plan of archaeological sites in Chedm (by M. Auch and M. Trzeciecki) .................................................................. Figure 118. Elements of monumental architecture at Wysoka Górka with old trenches, in gray and trenches from 2001, in black (after J. Gurba and I. Kutydowska; by M. Trzeciecki and M. Auch) .......................................................................... Figure 119. Fragment of a wall of Danylo’s palace uncovered in 2001 ( photo: A. Buko) ....................................................... Figure 120. Chedm, Site 144, district of the town from Danylo’s time, exploration of industrial features ( photo: A. Buko) .................................................................................. Figure 124. Przemytl, two possible reconstructions of the palatium (after E. Sosnowska) .................................................. Figure 126. Stronghold on the Nida river at Witlica: an aerial view ( photo: K. Trela) ............................................................ Figure 127. Stronghold at Witlica, antler knife handle with female busts (after Z. Wartodowska) ....................................... Figure 128. Topography of Witlica and archaeological sites in the area of the town (after W. Gliqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .........................................................................

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Figure 129. The palatia and rotundas in Witlica (after Z. Wartodowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............... Figure 130. St. Nicholas’ church and the so-called baptismal font in Witlica (after various authors, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 131. 12th century oor slab from the Romanesque church uncovered in the crypt of the collegiate church in Witlica (after M. Walicki) ....................................................... Figure 132. Topography of Early Medieval Cracow (after K. Radwaqski and A. uaki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 133. Plan of the rst Early Medieval structures on Wawel Hill: 1—quadrangular structure, 2—remains of cruciform chapel, 3—tetrakonch church dedicated to St. Felix and St. Adauctus, 4—fragments of pre-or early Romanesque cathedral, 5—pre-Romanesque rotundabaptistery, 6—two-apse rotunda “B”, 7—pre-Romanesque church of St. Nicholas, 8—corner of a pre-Romanesque structure, 9—early Romanesque palatium, “Hall with 24 Posts”, 10—Romanesque basilica dedicated to St. Mary the Egyptian, 11—chapel (?) of the Romanesque palatium, 12—defensive tower, 13—Romanesque cathedral, 14—chapel with a rectangular chancel, 15—Romanesque rotunda, 16—Romanesque chapel with an apse, 17—Romanesque church of St. Nicholas (after Z. Pianowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ........................................... Figure 134. Topography of the earliest Wrocdaw (after S. Modzioch; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .................. Figure 135. Remains of a pagan shrine of the rst half of the 11th century uncovered in Wrocdaw (after S. Modzioch; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ........................................... Figure 136. The plans of the earliest churches preserved under the Gothic cathedral in Wrocdaw (after E. Madachowicz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............... Figure 139. Ostrów Lednicki, plan of the island, bridges and structures (after J. Górecki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 140. Ostrów Lednicki, remains of the palace chapel ( photo: A. Buko) .....................................................................

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list of figures Figure 141. Ostrów Lednicki, remains of the prince’s residence ( photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 142. Ostrów Lednicki, reconstruction of phase I of the residential complex (after T. W\cdawowicz) ........................... Figure 143. Remains of the church in the stronghold at Ostrów Lednicki ( photo: A. Buko) ......................................... Figure 144. Reconstruction of the church at Ostrów Lednicki (after J. Górecki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............... Figure 145. Giecz, plan of the stronghold and structures discovered in it (after T. Krysztoak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 148. Early Romanesque basilica in the stronghold at Kaddus, plan (after W. Chudziak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 150. Remains of houses and streets in the stronghold in Pudtusk ( photo: M. Mierosdawski, from the archives of the Regional museum in Pudtusk; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 151. Stronghold in Pudtusk, reconstruction of a house and a service building (after M. Mierosdawski) ...................... Figure 154. Zones of settlement and exploitation of Early Medieval rural settlements, headland of a loess elevation and the edge of the valley of a water course, Kaczyce, Little Poland, settlement from the 11th–13th century ( photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .............. Figure 155. Village church at Kleczanów, Little Poland located on a 9th century settlement ( photo: A. Buko) .......... Figure 156. Reconstruction of rural buildings scattered across a large area, Stobnica-Trzymorgi, Great Poland (after H. Wiklak) ............................................................................... Figure 157. Rural settlement at Biskupin, Great Poland arranged around a central open space (after Z. and W. Szafraqscy) ............................................................. Figure 158. Network of medieval rural service settlements in Polish lands (after K. Modzelewski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 159. Examples of remains of archaeological features at a rural settlement, Kaczyce near Opatów, Little Poland ( photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ..............

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list of figures

Figure 161. Benedictine monasteries in Polish lands (by M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 163. Monastery at Tyniec near Cracow, abbots’ graves (after H. Zoll-Adamikowa; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 164. Gold chalice and paten found in burial 8 (after H. Zoll-Adamikowa) ............................................................... Figure 165. Mogilno, plan of the monastic church of St. John the Evangelist from the third quarter of the 11th century (after J. Chudziakowa) ............................................................ Figure 166. Mogilno, view of the eastern crypt of the monastic church (after J. Chudziakowa) ................................ Figure 167. Lubiq, plan of the monastic complex from the late 12th century (after Z. Kurnatowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 168. Lubiq, burial chapel with the presumed grave of Wdadysdaw Spindleshanks (after Z. Kurnatowska, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 169. Medieval Cistercian monasteries in Polish lands (after A. Wyrwa; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ............... Figure 170. Architectural discoveries at the post-Cistercian complex at cekno (after A. Wyrwa; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 171. Presumed palace chapel in W[chock (after K. Biadoskórska) ...................................................................... Figure 172. Post-monastic complex in Trzemeszno: 1—rst phase, 2—second phase, 3—Baroque phase, 4—inhumation burials, 5—stone tomb with a woman’s skeleton, 6—charnel deposit (after J. Chudziakowa) ................................................ Figure 173. Rotunda at Strzelno (after J. Chudziakowa) .......... Figure 174. Plan of the monastic complex at Strzelno: 1—Romanesque phase, 2—Gothic buildings, 3—Baroque buildings, 4—inhumation graves, 5—charnel deposits, 6—stone tomb in the rotunda (after J. Chudziakowa) .......... Figure 175. Columns with gural decoration from the church at Strzelno (after J. Chudziakowa) .......................................... Figure 176. Forms of potter’s marks identied on the bases of Early Medieval pottery vessels from Kruszwica (after W. Dzieduszycki) .....................................................................

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list of figures Figure 178. Fingerprints on the bases of Early Medieval vessels from Kalisz-Zawodzie and Ostrów Lednicki (after A. Buko & K. Kostrzewa) ...................................................... Figure 179. Lines impressed on the bases of vessels from Kalisz-Zawodzie (after A. Buko) ............................................ Figure 180. Celtic cross (?) engraved on a vessel base from Ostrów Lednicki ( photo: M. Gmur) ...................................... Figure 183. Warrior’s grave with visible traces of an above-ground structure ( postholes and slots) in the cemetery at Kraków-Zakrzówek (after E. Zaitz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 184. Plan of a biritual cemetery at Piaski-Rochy (after D. Kosiqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................... Figure 185. Selected graves from the cemetery at Zielonka (after M. Kara; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ................. Figure 186. Plan of a settlement complex at swielubie (after W. cosiqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................... Figure 187. Weapons from some graves from the cemetery at Lutomiersk near cód (after K. Javdvewski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ...................................................... Figure 189. Zones where graves with stone constructions appear in Mazovia (after L. Rauhut; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 190. Plan of a cemetery with graves with stone constructions from c[czyno Stare near Przasnysz. To the left: Plan and section of Grave 28 with a visible outline of the burial pit. The deceased was equipped with a spearhead and a knife in a sheath (after L. Rauhut, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 191. Examples of grave goods from the cemetery at c[czyno (after L. Rauhut, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) ......................................................................... Figure 194. Plan of an inhumation cemetery at Niemcza with graves arranged concentrically around empty zones (after J. Kamierczyk and K. Wachowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) .........................................................................

xxv

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list of figures

The following gures can be found in the gure section at the back of the book: Fig. 1. St. John’s church: the only remnant in the area of the early urban district of Kodobrzeg-Budzistowo (photo: M. RÑbkowski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 2. Multi-layered urban site, layers and features destroying each other, Sandomierz, Collegium Gostomianum (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 4. Phases of development of St. Peter’s church uncovered in the yard of Collegium Gostomianum in Sandomierz (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 5. Leveling layer (below the humus) with its cultural content from the Early Middle Ages, Chedm, Site 144—urban district from the rst half of the 13th century (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 6. Road of Early Medieval origin in a loess ravine, Kleczanów, near the parish church (photo: A. Buko) Fig. 7. Stratication at the rural settlement at Kleczanów 11th–mid 13th features and layers seen in the section where cut by a road (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 8. Error caused by exploration with the use of mechanical levels: parts of three different layers have been uncovered. The proper order of exploration is marked with gures 1–3, Kleczanów, Site ‘Old Presbytery’ (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 13. Clearly visible burial pits. The gures in squares are numbers of burial pits and in circles, of their lling, Kleczanów churchyard (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Fig. 14. Burial with partly preserved skeleton, Kleczanów churchyard (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 15. Fragment of a highly decorated 9th century vessel from the stronghold at Chodlik. Discolorations of the surface caused by use and post-depositional processes, from the collection of the Museum in Kazimierz Dolny ( photo: M. Auch, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 18. Pair of bone skates from the 12th–13th century settlement in Kalisz. The arrows mark holes where the skates were attached to shoes with thongs ( photo: M. Gmur)

list of figures

xxvii

Figure 20. Silver ornaments from the hoard from Ciechanów, the second half of the 10th century ( photo: T. Nowakiewicz, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 22. An early 12th century epitaph on a lead plaque, CracowWawel, St. Leonard’s crypt, Bishop Maur’s grave (after M. Walicki, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 29. The early Slavic fortied settlement of the 6th century at Hamki in Podlasie ( photo: D. Krasnod\bski) Figure 30. An early Slavic pot, 7th century, from a open settlement beside the stronghold at Wyszogród ( photo: M. Auch) Figure 31. Belt tting, c. 5 cm long with the representations of human faces, 6th century, gilded bronze, Hamki, Biadostockie voivodeship (after Z. Kobyliqski) Figure 36. Chodlik: view of the enclosed area and three ramparts of the stronghold ( photo: A. Auch, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 37. Stradów: Multi-enclosure stronghold of the Vislane ( photo: K. Wieczorek, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 45. Stone wall around the top of cysa Góra (inset: stone constructions preserved on its southern side) after J. G[ssowski and A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 46. Stone sculpture, so-called Pilgrim at the foot of cysa Góra ( photo: A. Buko) Figure 47. Overall view of Mount sl\va ( photo: S. Rosik) Figure 53. Smoddzino on Lake Gardno: Mount Rowokód from the north-western side ( photo: A. Buko) Figure 55. Southern edge of the Sandomierz umigród extending into the Vistula river valley ( photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 62. Tartars’ Mound at Zniesienie Hill in Przemytl ( photo: E. Sosnowska) Figure 64. Supposed Early Medieval barrow at Sólca near Przemytl ( photo: E. Sosnowska) Figure 65. Salve Regina Hill at Sandomierz ( photo: A. Buko) Figure 66. Salve Regina Hill: the inscription engraved at the top of the mound ( photo: A. Buko) Figure 69. Fitting of a late Avar belt buckle found in the bottom layers of the mound, length: 8 cm (after R. Jamka) Figure 70. Wanda’s Mound in Cracow-Nowa Huta: probable Early Medieval barrow ( photo: A. Buko)

xxviii

list of figures

Figure 72. Barrow 2 at swi\cica near Sandomierz, Roman period and the Early Middle Ages ( photo: M. Florek) Figure 75. Stronghold, Fortied settlement at Podebdocie: rampart and moat ( photo: E. Marczak) (to be revised) Figure 77. Tablet 1 made of terra rosa paste with preserved two edges ( photo: M. Gmur) Figure 78. Tablet 2 with signs engraved in two rows. Made of local raw material. No original edges preserved ( photo: M. Gmur) Figure 79. Tablet 3 with signs engraved in two rows. Made of local raw material. No original edges ( photo: M. Gmur) Figure 81. Vessel with solar disk ornament and gural motifs found in the same context as Tablets 1 and 2 (reconstruction and drawing after E. Marczak, by A. Buko) Figure 89. Stronghold and port area, district in Kodobrzeg during the early Piast period, a tentative reconstruction (after L. Leciejewicz and M. R\bkowski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 110. Portal, so-called Pdock Door ( photo: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 114. The Zawichost tetrakonch, remains preserved on the escarpment of the Vistula valley ( photo: M. Gmur) Figure 121. Moulds for making silver ornaments (koety) found during the excavations in the area of the town, Sites 99 and 144 (after S. Godub) Figure 122. Przemytl, Three Crosses Hill, presumed location of the earliest pre-state stronghold, ( photo: A. Buko) Figure 123. Remains of the residential structures in Przemytl of the early 11th cent, the palatium and rotunda ( photo: Z. Pianowski) Figure 125. Early Medieval Byzantine intaglio gem from Przemytl, 11th– 12th cent ( photo: M. Horwat, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 137. Stronghold at Grodek Nadbuvny, general view from the other bank of the Huczwa river ( photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 138. Stronghold at Gródek Nadbuvny, view from the enclosed area to the Bug valley ( photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 146. View of the uncovered remains of St. John the Baptist’s church from the apse and crypt entrance (after T. Krysztoak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki) Figure 147. Stronghold on St Lawrence’s Hill at Kaddus (after W. Chudziak)

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xxix

Figure 149. Castle in Pudtusk located on the site of a former stronghold of the 13th century ( photo: A. Buko) Figure 152. Stone tower and stronghold at Stodpie, view from the west. In the corner (to the left) eastern apse of the chapel seen from the entrance ( photo: A. Buko, M. Auch) Figure 153. Tower complex at Stodpie in its 2nd phase (around mid of 13th ): an attempt of reconstruction (drawn by Andrzej Grochnik) Figure 160. Selected glass ornaments from the rural settlement at Kaczyce, a—melon shaped bead, b—biconical bead covered with gold foil, c—ring ( photo: M. Gmur) Figure 162. Monastery at Tyniec, view from the Vistula ( photo: A. Tyniec-K\piqska) Figure 177. Sign of the cross impressed on the base of a Medieval pot from the 14th cent. (collection of the Museum in Kazimierz Dolny, Photo M. Auch) Figure 181. Complex stamped sign on a vessel base from Ostrow Lednicki ( photo: M. Gmur) Figure 182. Cremation barrow with a stone construction from the early state period, cemetery at Czekanów, eastern Poland, 11th–mid-13th centuries ( photo: J. Kalaga) Figure 188. Double burial of the chamber type from Kaddus (after W. Chudziak) Figure 192. Burials in stone cists at the cemetery at Trepcza near Sanok ( photo: J. Ginalski) Figure 193. Some of the ornaments found in the graves at the cemetery at Trepcza ( photo: J. Ginalski) Figure 195. Skull of a six-year old child with preserved headband ornaments on the right temple, cemetery at Dziekanowice, Site 22, Grave 87/97 ( photo: J. Wrzesiqski) Figure 196. Grave of a man clutching a coin in his right hand. Next to his left hip an iron knife was found, cemetery at Dziekanowice, Site 22, Grave 41/99 ( photo: J. Wrzesiqski) Figure 197. Grave of a man with the trace of a spearhead wound in the left occipital bone. The body was tossed into the burial pit face down, cemetery at Dziekanowice, Site 22, Grave 52/03 ( photo: J. Wrzesiqski)

CHAPTER ONE

ARCHAEOLOGY OF EARLY MEDIEVAL POLAND: BEGINNINGS OF INTEREST, BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT 1. The earliest beginnings The interest in Early Medieval monuments has a long history in Poland. The most fascinating examples were those connected with famous legends. As early as in the Middle Ages, the two huge mounds in Cracow, now named after the legendary characters Krak(us) and Wanda, were linked with the earliest history of the town. This was recorded as early as the 15th century by Jan of D[brówka, a professor of the Jagiellonian University, when commenting on a note in the Chronicles of Wincenty Kadeubek on the circumstances of the death of Krak, the legendary founder of the town. He stated that the hill where he was supposedly buried might be the one ‘now known as Mount Saint Benedict.’1 This information was probably used by the Medieval Polish historian Jan Ddugosz (1415–1480), who, discussing the same question, added more information, namely that the barrow was erected on a hill and was mainly made of sand. Ddugosz was probably aware of the importance of the monuments of material culture since he used the term monimentum to refer to the burial site existing in his time at the place where in 1113 the battle of Nakdo with the Pomeranians was fought.2 After the baptism of Poland, at the instigation of the Church, changes were made in the location of burial sites. Old cemeteries, especially the ones which had some above-ground features, remained in the people’s memory, becoming part of the local landscape.3 They were often used as boundary markers and as such they were recorded

1

Cf. Zwiercan 1969. In preparing this chapter some general works on the history of Polish archaeology were used, and especially: Abramowicz 1991, 1992; G[ssowski 1970; Gedl 1971; Kostrzewski 1949; 1958; Kozdowski [1969] 1970; Nosek 1967; Stolpiak 1984; In these publications the reader will nd numerous bibliographical sources concerning the issues discussed. An assessment of the state of research on the Polish early Middle Ages can be found in: Z. Kurnatowska, ed. [1990] 1992. 3 Cf. Chapter 6. 2

2

chapter one

in chronicles. A relatively large number of such places are mentioned in Pomerania, where the pagan tradition was quite strong for a long time and the Christian faith came into prominence only much later.4 In the 16th century, Maciej Stryjkowski drew attention to the material testimonies of the past, including the sites of old battles and objects found there. The mounds and ruins still existing were, according to him, the remnants of old castles and towns. The next centuries provided further examples of people taking interest in the Early Middle Ages. In April 1633, the tomb of Wincenty Kaddubek—the famous 13th century Polish chronicler—was uncovered in the Cistercian church in J\drzejow. Half a century later the book Phoenix tertio redivivus by Jakub Susza (the Greek Catholic Uniate bishop of Chedm) was printed.5 It contained interesting data on the chronology and functions of a mysterious stone tower at Stodpie near Chedm.6 2. The 19th century: in search of the roots of the Slavic identity The interest in Early Medieval archaeology became clearly more advanced in the second half of the 18th and, the more so, in the 19th century. It was inspired by the increased curiosity about the Slavic origins of Poland. A key gure of the period was King Stanisdaw August Poniatowski (1732–1795), who took interest, among other things, in the discoveries of Early Medieval burial grounds. His example was followed by others. Tadeusz Czacki (1765–1813) went down in history as the explorer of the royal tombs at Wawel, which he opened in 1791 and then described the remains and objects found in them.7 Count Jan Potocki (1761–1815) was able to appreciate the role of archaeological monuments in the study of the Slavs’ earliest history. He identied with that people the earthwork strongholds existing in Polish lands and in search of Slavic ancient monuments he even traveled to Lower Saxony. He made the results of his investigations known in a book published in Hamburg.8 Paradoxically, the new impulse for the development of the studies on the Slavs was brought about by the partitions of Poland. They spurred 4 5 6 7 8

Kiersnowski 1955. Susza 1646. Cf. Chapter 11. Czacki 1819. Cf. Kukulski 1959.

archaeology of early medieval poland

3

the need to collect the national mementos, also the ones preserved in the soil. A collection started by Duchess Izabela Czartoryska (1746–1835) in Pudawy in the 19th century contained Medieval artifacts among curiosities from various epochs. The development of studies on the Early Middle Ages was enhanced after the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science was established in 1800. As one of its main aims, its members adopted the study of the history of Poland connected with that of the Slavic nations. The turning point was the publication in 1818 of the treatise O Seowiarszczynie przed chrzeucijarstwem [On the Pre-Christian Slavs] by Adam Czarnocki. The author (1784–1825). was also a diligent investigator of the earthwork strongholds and compiled the rst map of them. He also drew attention to the signicance of the toponym dysa Góra, often associated with pagan sanctuaries, and identied the strongholds of Czermno and Gródek Nadbuvny with the places known as Cherven and Volyn mentioned in the Russian Chronicles. In 1824 a book tledzenie pocz[tków narodów seowiarskich [Investigations of the Origins of Slavic Nations] by Wawrzyniec Surowiecki (1769–1827) was issued.9 Many researchers believe that it marked the beginning of Polish historical archaeology. The author raised many pivotal questions concerning, among other things, the original homeland of the Slavs and their burial rites. Another important personality of the Romantic period was historian Joachim Lelewel (1786–1861). He appreciated the role of archaeology in explaining the Slavs’ history and stressed the importance of Early Medieval sites for establishing chronology. Besides the Warsaw milieu, some regional associations made important contributions. The leading one was the Pdock Scientic Society, which inspired the investigations conducted in Pdock Cathedral in 1826. They resulted in discovering and then a solemn reburial of the remains of two Polish rulers: Wdadysdaw Herman and Bolesdaw Krzywousty (Wry Mouth). In the second half of the 19th century, the rst excavations of the specic local form of graves with stone curbs were conducted in Mazovia.10 After the defeat of the November Uprising in 1830 many scientic societies were closed and some scholars were forced to leave the country. At the same time in many regions, especially in Great Poland, there appeared conditions suitable for scientic research. A key personality

9 10

Surowiecki 1824. Cf. Chapter 15.

4

chapter one

of the epoch in the mid-19th century was Jerzy Moraczewski, who set up the Association of the Collectors of the National Antiquities (which operated from its seat in Szamotudy near Poznaq between 1840 and 1846). One of the aims of the Association was to record the archaeological features visible on the ground, which included many Early Medieval earthwork strongholds and barrow cemeteries. Records of numerous strongholds in Great Poland were made thus creating a base for regional studies, which has been developed since then. The Association launched the initial investigations of the site at Lech’s Hill in Gniezno. In the 19th century also the studies of the Early Medieval times in the Chedmno and Dobrzyq lands were conducted where, at the initiative of Gotfryd Ossowski (1835–1897), the earthwork strongholds were catalogued. In the Russian zone of partitioned Poland, the Vilnius milieu actively developed. One of its representatives was Count Eustachy Tyszkiewicz (1814–1873), the key specialist in the Slavic epoch in the mid-19th century, who created a rich collection of nds on his estate and compiled their description.11 At the same time in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, the most eminent researcher was Franciszek M. Sobieszczaqski (1814–1878) from Warsaw, who believed that the Slavs represented a high level of civilization. He conducted excavations of a pagan burial ground at the village of Nietulisko and a cremation barrow at Kotarszyn, dated between the 6th and 9th century A.D. After the excavations he ordered the barrow to be reconstructed and so he can be considered a forerunner of archaeological conservation. From the mid-19th century, research activity began in Cracow. The Archaeological Department was distinguished within the local Society of Friends of Science, whose member was, among others, Teol uebrawski. In 1851 the Annual Journal of Science presented the information about the discovery of a famous square sectioned stone pillar more than two and a half meters tall with reliefs on its sides and four faces at the top, probably a pagan idol representing the god Svantevit. This had been found in the bed of the Zbrucz river; in the same year the statue was brought to Cracow and displayed in Collegium Juridicum of the Jagiellonian University. Taking the monument from Mieczysdaw Potocki’s estate, uebrawski did not make proper documentation so the description of

11

Cf. Tyszkiewicz 1868.

archaeology of early medieval poland

5

the statue and the circumstances of its discovery are full of gaps. This inspired doubts about the authenticity of the object. As a result, in the following years Zygmunt Gloger and Wdodzimierz Demetrykiewicz made several trips in order to complete the data. uebrawski did much better during the investigations of the Tartars’ Mound in Przemytl, which he began in 1869 on behalf of the Cracow Scientic Society. He made detailed notes about the excavations and the material discovered.12 As early as the mid 1840s, investigations of the ruins on the island at Ostrów Lednicki were begun. There was no agreement about the interpretation of the site. Some believed that these were remains of a pagan shrine while others (e.g., Joachim Lelewel) assumed that it was a residence from the times of King Bolesdaw I, ‘the Brave’ (who ruled 992–1025). The debate on the interpretation of these ruins begun in the early 19th century has continued to our times, the excavations at the site have also been continued until the present day and are the longest lasting undertaking in Early Medieval archaeology in Polish lands.13 At that time the scholars were fascinated with the problem of the earliest Slavs’ writing, and the possibility that in pagan times they used runes. Many eminent specialists believed that the Slavs, like other peoples, had their own script. Such was the opinion of scholars like Stanisdaw Staszic and Wawrzyniec Surowiecki,14 whereas other scholars were more cautious. It was in this context that the so-called Mikorzyn stones with an apparent runic inscription materialized. They resembled quern stones and bore drawings of human and animal gures. The opinions that these were representations of a Slavic god, Prowe, accompanied by a runic script were contradicted by the claims that these were evident fakes. And although the latter view was nally accepted, the issue created discord in the academic milieu for many years. An important part in the research on the Slavs was played in the 19th century by an excellent writer, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812–1887). Although he is primarily remembered as the author of the novel Stara Baur [Old Tales] where he presented a vision of Poland in pagan times, he also made profound investigations of the Slavs, also those living along the Elbe.15 At the end of the 19th century one of the greatest Polish scholars of the time, Wdodzimierz Demetrykiewicz (1859–1937), 12 13 14 15

Cf. Chapter 7. Cf. Chapter 11. Surowiecki 1823. Cf. Kraszewski 1860.

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conducted his investigations. From 1891 he was the state conservator of the historical monuments in Galicia and also a professor of Cracow University and the director of the Archaeological Museum of the Polish Academy of Learning. For that reason he had more opportunities than anyone else to take part in eld work and have contact with archaeological monuments. Among other things he investigated Early Medieval pottery and the stone gures from Central Asia but also those found in Polish lands. It is difcult to treat the early archaeological investigations as a scientic discipline. The problem of the Slavs was considered from an excessively long chronological perspective, or in other words, no attempts at establishing the dating of the nds concerning the Slavs were made. On the contrary, there was a tendency to assume that the Slavs existed in periods earlier than the Middle Ages, or even in prehistoric times. The Early Middle Ages impinged on scholarly awareness mainly in the context of discoveries of other periods, there was a certain lack of agreement over when one could say that the history of the Slavs had actually begun. For that reason it was not the archaeology of the Early Medieval Slavs, but prehistory and anthropology supported by the natural sciences, which determined the trends of interest and research in the 19th century. 3. Birth and slow growth: the rst two decades of the 20th century Evident changes in the perception of the Early Middle Ages appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. At this time Marian Wawrzeniecki (1863–1943) conducted his investigations. He compiled, for example, records of the earthwork strongholds and made an interesting stylistic analysis of the Svantevit statue in Cracow in order to prove that it was an authentic antiquity. In 1909, the Museum of the Society of the Friends of Science was established in Great Poland. In 1914 Józef Kostrzewski, a student of the eminent German prehistorian Gustaf Kossinna and the author of the recently published work Wielkopolska w czasach przedhistorycznych [Great Poland in Prehistoric Times],16 became its custodian.

16

Kostrzewski 1914.

archaeology of early medieval poland

7

In the early period of Poland’s independence, three main academic centers developed, in Warsaw, Poznaq and Cracow. In subsequent years they were to become the leading ones. In Warsaw the greatest personality in the archaeological milieu was Wdodzimierz Antoniewicz, who in 1919 was employed by the Ministry of Education to organize the National Group of Conservators of Prehistoric Monuments. At the same time he replaced the ill Erazm Majewski and set up the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology at Warsaw University. Another important personality who made a large contribution to the development of the early Medieval archaeology was Roman Jakimowicz, nominated in 1928 as the director of the recently established Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. He wrote an important dissertation on the origin of ornaments found in early historic hoards and was a co-author of the Atlas grodzisk i zamczysk ul[skich [Atlas of Silesian Strongholds and Castles] published in 1939. Already in the late 1920s, some doctoral dissertations reecting the increased interest in the Early Middle ages were written in the Warsaw milieu. One of them was the paper by Janina Kamiqska on the early historical stone monuments found in Polish lands and the doctoral dissertation of Father Wdadysdaw c\ga Pomorze we wczesnym uredniowieczu [Pomerania in the Early Middle Ages] defended in the academic year 1927/1928 in Poznaq and later published as a separate monograph.17 The changes and preferences in research were marked by the fact that out of the 287 archaeological publications issued in 1925–1928 as many as 12% were devoted to topics related to the Early Middle Ages (in contrast to the 5% from the previous period), in this way, the need of in-depth studies of the Early Middle Ages began to arise and was fullled. Nevertheless the majority of the university lectures offered to students at that time concerned prehistoric archaeology. In the Poznaq milieu, a key role was played by Józef Kostrzewski—the greatest researcher of the inter-war period. For him two issues were the most important: typological classication of archaeological evidence and ethnic problems in archaeology. The rst synthesis of the material culture of Polish lands in the early Middle Ages, Kultura prapolska [Early-Polish Culture] was issued in Poznaq in 1947. In this publication he considered not only archaeological evidence from Polish excavations

17

c\ga 1929–1930.

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in Gniezno, Poznan, Biskupin, Kdecko and so on, but also German excavations carried out in Santok, Wolin and Opole. He also made use of ethnographic and linguistic evidence to a considerable degree, and also the rst analyses of preserved remains by representatives of the natural sciences. In this manner, Kultura Prapolska became a classic textbook which was an inspiration for many people who made their own mark on the study of the Early Middle Ages. Kostrzewski made his name as the originator of the hypothesis of the occupation of Polish lands by the Slavs from ancient times, an idea which had many followers and imitators. He launched the excavations in Gniezno (1936), Kdecko (1937) and Poznaq (1938), accompanied by his students (some of whom later became such eminent professors as Witold Hensel, Konrad Javdvewski or Zdzisdaw Rajewski). Early Medieval archaeology thus gained a chance for an independent existence. This possibility was enhanced by the lively debate in this period about the relationship between prehistoric archaeology and history. The Early Middle Ages appeared to be a natural bridge between the two disciplines. It seems that this was the context where the two notions were rst distinguished. Besides the Prehistoric Institute at Poznaq University, the above-mentioned Department of Prehistoric Archaeology was created at Warsaw University. In the book Archaeologia Polski [Archaeology of Poland], issued in 1928 by Wdodzimierz Antoniewicz, the Early Medieval period was divided into pre-Piast (600–900 A.D.) and early-Piast (900–1100 A.D.) periods.18 The author treated the chronological boundary at which he nished his text as the point where archaeologists made way for historians as the principal investigators. The tendency to separate the Early Middle Ages from prehistory can also be noticed in the subheadings of the specialist journals of that time. The above presented achievements were made possible by the eld work going on at this time. In the 1920s German prehistorians recorded the Early Medieval strongholds in Silesia and began to excavate the rst of them. The results were published in the journals: Altschlesien from 1922 and Altschlesische Blätter from 1926. We should not forget either the considerable contribution of German scholars in the investigation of centers such as Opole, Wolin or Santok.

18 Piast, the name of the legendary protoplast of the Piast dynasty which ruled Poland from the 10th till the 14th century [P.B.].

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In 1926 the excavations at Zdota near Sandomierz were started. Besides nds from various periods of prehistory, remains of Early Medieval settlement, existing from the beginning of the Middle Ages till the early 10th century, were found. At the same time rescue excavations near St James’ Church in nearby Sandomierz were undertaken. At that site, during the construction works on a home for retired priests, a perfectly preserved 11th century cemetery was found. It proved to be one of the most interesting sites which allowed the reconstruction of the early Polish population from the time when the town was established. At Koqskie near Radom a cemetery of the same period was discovered during intensive rescue works: more than 170 burials were explored and recorded. This and many other undertakings created a material basis and a suitable climate for the further development of Early Medieval archaeology in the inter-war period. 4. The 1930s: Early Medieval archaeology on the offensive, continuation of debate on the Slavs and systematic excavations of Early Medieval sites The ethnic theory of archaeological cultures elaborated in the 1920s by the school of the German prehistorian Gustaf Kossina assumed that the areas occupied by each archaeological culture were equivalent to the territories of the ethnic groups which had created them. Thus according to the German researchers, the area of modern Poland was occupied by Germanic people from the 2nd century B.C. till the 4th century A.D., according to this model, the Slavs were latecomers to the Polish lands. In reply the Polish side (led by Józef Kostrzewski) began investigations in order to prove the ‘eternal Polishness’ of the lands between the Oder and Vistula rivers. In this manner, in the 1930s there arose huge possibilities to turn the spotlight of history on the Slavs. Although many errors in assessment and interpretation of archaeological evidence were made (e.g., that the Slavs were perceived as distinguishable in such chronologically distant periods as the Early Bronze Age or even the Late Neolithic period), this work created a good atmosphere for the development of the research on the Early Middle Ages and provided new archaeological evidence for the studies on the origins of the Polish state. In 1936, excavation works were begun in Gniezno where many interesting nds were made during the earth-moving conducted in a garden belonging to the local bishop. It was possible to record traces of settlement here from as early as the 8th

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century. A year later excavations at the stronghold at Kdecko and then at Ostrów Tumski in Poznaq were began. Besides Józef Kostrzewski, Witold Hensel became an important researcher.19 The rst monographs of the investigated sites were published, including the work Gniezno w zaraniu dziejów [The Origins of Gniezno] which appeared in 1939 just before the outbreak of the War; other sites were published soon after the end of the War. Fieldwork also intensied in other regions. In Little Poland the strongholds were recorded and investigated under the leadership of Gabriel Leqczyk. Zoa Wartodowska, a student of Wdodzimierz Antoniewicz, undertook in the 1930s the excavations at the stronghold in S[siadka (Sutiejsk) on the Polish-Ruthenian borderland. They were continued after the War and they gave rise to the broader investigations on Red Ruthenia (the so-called ‘Cherven strongholds’). The results of these and many other excavations were presented at numerous national and international conferences, including at the 17th Congress of Pre- and Proto historical Sciences in Bucharest in 1938. At that time Polish archaeologists maintained lively contacts with research centers of many European countries.20 The greatest research undertaking of the 1930s was the excavation of the Krak Mound in Cracow. Although the way in which the site was explored and the obtained results became a subject of criticism and contention in the scientic milieu for many years, it should be stated that the eld work was conducted according to the then current European standards for investigating such features, with participation of the scientic elite of Poland represented both by archaeologists and representatives of other sciences.21 At the same time the work on the recording and exploration of strongholds in Upper Silesia were continued. The excavations of one such site at Lubomia were started, while in the nearby Syrynia Józef Kostrzewski investigated a settlement from the same period. In Lower Silesia archaeological work was at B\dkowice, Niemcza, Opole, Strzegom, and Wrocdaw-Nowy Targ and other sites. The eld work embraced also early Slavic sites of key importance such as Gostyq, Klenica or Pop\szyce.22

19 20 21 22

Cf. Hensel 1938; 1940. Kostrzewski 1959. Cf. Chapter 7. Cf. Kostrzewski 1949.

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Publications began to appear of the basic source material for the period discussed here. Of especial importance was Zdzisdaw Rajewski’s doctoral dissertation which dealt with the Early Medieval inhumation cemeteries in Great Poland and Wdadysdaw Kowalenko’s thesis on the strongholds of the same region in Early Medieval times. In Warsaw, numerous Master’s theses were written on Medieval nds: by Alina Kietliqska on battle axes from the 8th–13th centuries among the Eastern and Western Slavs, by Wanda Sarnowska on Medieval swords, and by Zoa Wartodowska on the strongholds between the Vistula, Bug and San rivers. In 1939 Krystyna Musianowicz completed her doctoral dissertation on the Early Medieval headdress ornaments (‘temple rings’—schlafenringe). The above mentioned and many other works were a lasting contribution to Early Medieval archaeology and a basis for further work after the Second World War. 5. Two post war decades: the coming Millennium and research on the origins of the Polish state Despite the huge destruction, after the Second World War there appeared good prospects for the development of Early Medieval archaeology in Poland. The creation of a new structure of academic teaching system was a favorable circumstance, as the needs of the discipline were taken into account. It was also an important factor that it was created by people involved in Early Medieval archaeology. Józef Kostrzewski renewed the museum and university activities in Poznaq and Roman Jakimowicz started to teach at the newly formed Chair of Archaeology at the University of Toruq. In the early phase he cooperated with Helena and Wdodzimierz Hodubowicz, archaeologists from Vilnius, who later on created the foundations of the Early Medieval archaeology in Wrocdaw. In Warsaw, the specialization developed thanks to the scientic activity of Wdodzimierz Antoniewicz and Zoa Wartodowska. In cód the presence of Konrad Javdvewski, who took the chair of prehistoric archaeology at the local university, created promising prospects. In Silesia the university teaching was organized in Wrocdaw by Rudolf Jamka. The situation in Pomerania was the worst because of the lack of strong academic milieus in that region; archaeological research on the Early Middle Ages was organized by the museums, especially the ones in Gdaqsk and Szczecin. Soon after the War there was another eruption of interest and ideas for solving the question of the Slavs’ origin. Besides the archaeologists,

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the debate was taken up by linguists (Tadeusz Lehr-Spdawiqski), anthropologists ( Jan Czekanowski), ethnologists (Kazimierz Moszyqski) and historians (Kazimierz Tymieniecki). The particularly fruitful eld of research on the Slavs proved to be the western and northern lands which had to be incorporated into Poland not only in economic but also scientic terms. It is not surprising that as early as in 1946, excavations were started in Wrocdaw and then in Opole, Wolin and Szczecin. However, undoubtedly the greatest event of the early post-war years was the radical change in methodology unwanted by the scientic milieu and connected with the necessity to adapt science to the needs of the new, Marxist ideology. The archaeologists of these times accepted this new vision of history to varying degrees. Some, like, e.g., Wdodzimierz Hodubowicz, were fascinated with the new ideas whereas others used the slogans of the new ideology without any practical consequences only to keep their positions and the possibility to do their work. The more resistant, for example Józef Kostrzewski, faced loss of importance and were forced to give up their positions to make way for those more obedient to the new rulers. In 1950 the Center of the History of Material Culture was set up, and it was obligatory for all the students to study here for three years regardless of their future specialization. For the development of Polish Early Medieval archaeology, this new methodological trend meant an important focus on studies of the material basis of life. This led to a number of studies of different areas of economy, especially agriculture and crafts, which was in many cases undoubtedly advantageous. However, one should not forget in this context the simplied interpretational patterns which were employed on as a large scale at this time and which have existed till today. Their effects, especially in the sphere of terminology can be seen even in the most recent publications. A milestone in the development of Early Medieval archaeology in Poland was the approaching 1000th anniversary of the beginning of the Polish state. This was noticed soon after the War, as early as 1946 Witold Hensel postulated launching a large scale research project on the Polish Early Middle Ages to commemorate the great jubilee.23 A year later, a committee at the Ministry of Culture and Arts acknowledged the particular role of archaeology in the studies of the origins of the state.

23

Hensel 1946.

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The investigations, often undertaken spontaneously in various parts of the country, were fostered by the fact that many modern cities lay in ruins and thus there appeared good conditions for eldwork in places which were not accessible in normal conditions; this concerned not only the historical centers of towns but also the interiors of churches and monastic houses which required renovation or even reconstruction after the War. On April 3, 1949, the ‘Directorate of the Research on the Origins of the Polish State’ [Kierownictwo Badar nad Pocz[tkami Parstwa Polskiego: KBPP] headed by the historian, Aleksander Gieysztor was set up.24 A year earlier, however, eld work at more than a dozen sites had been initiated. In the following years the number of investigated sites grew continually, reaching more than fty in 1959. The size of the undertaking can be demonstrated by the fact that the KBPPP employed as many as 231 people, including 119 full time workers and among them 50 professors. The scope of the program was impressive: at the same time several dozen archaeological sites of the Early Middle Ages were excavated. They included both defensive structures of earthwork strongholds, religious cult centers and Early Medieval towns, ports, rural settlements and many other sites. The discoveries of monuments of sacral architecture in the earliest centers of the Polish state, including Poznaq, Strzelno, or Trzemeszno fostered interdisciplinary cooperation with historians of art and architecture. An important part was played by the research conducted close to the Ukrainian border in the area known as Red Ruthenia, of the so-called ‘Cherven Strongholds’ mentioned in the Russian chronicles and located near the modern villages of Gródek Nadbuvny and Czermno near Hrubieszów. They produced a lot of high quality information improving our knowledge of the material culture of these cultural borderlands. Along with the eldwork, wide-ranging studies on the relevant written sources from various cultural zones and parts of Europe were taken up. The long-term effect of the work of the KBPPP was the foundation of the Institute of the History of Material Culture (today: the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology) of the Polish Academy of Sciences in November 1953. Its tasks included coordination, through its regional branches, of research work in various parts of Poland. The Institute

24

Cf. Gieysztor 1953.

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cooperated closely with the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The KBPPP program was implemented in cooperation with university and museum centers from the whole country. The quality of the eld work was improved by discussions on the methods of exploration and documentation, including the use of the stratigraphic method at multi-layer sites. Almost the whole elite of researchers took part in the debate, including Witold Hensel, Tadeusz uurowski, Konrad Javdvewski and Wdodzimierz Hodubowicz. Many excavations of that time may be considered as among the most advanced in Europe taking into account the scientic level and advanced research techniques and methods of documentation used. Their interdisciplinary character created favorable conditions for the promotion of Polish Early Medieval archaeology. For example, from the historical perspective it proved that the pioneering research in ceramic ethno-archaeology by Wdodzimierz Hodubiewicz, preceded the achievements of the world archaeology by a quarter of a century. Interim reports of the results of the excavations were immediately published and presented at national and international conferences. This helped to disseminate across Europe the image of the Polish Early Medieval archaeology of the 1950s and 1960s as a scientic discipline using the most up-to-date research methodology. However, although many new journals were established at that time, the multitude of excavated sites and of the collected materials made it impossible to produce nal monographs with the nal reports of many sites of key importance, which has remained a considerable drawback till today.25 6. The 1970s and 1980s: fruitful aftermath of the Millennium research In the mid-1960s, after the end of the Millennium program, the trends in eld research did not change. On the contrary, in the 1967–1980, Early Medieval archaeology saw its greatest number of archaeological expeditions. The expedition in Sandomierz operating in the early 1970s and run by Stanisdaw Tabaczyqski comprised several dozen people. 25 This situation has recently been considerably improved by the research program ‘Poland at the turn of the Millennium’ nanced by the Foundation for Polish Science [Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej ]. As a result of this the results from the excavation of many of the ‘millennial’ sites have at last been processed and prepared for publication. There successive publication is now in progress.

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This was a great summer school of modern archaeology for students, archaeologists and representatives of sciences cooperating with archaeology from various research centers in Poland and also for guests from European and other countries. During the excavations, seminars were held regularly and the most recent and sometimes unique methods of exploration and documentation were implemented.26 Apart from Sandomierz, in the 1970s there were a few other larger archaeological expeditions investigating sites of the Early Medieval period in Poland such as at Czersk, Pdock and Wolin. In other places, e.g., at Ostrów Lednicki and in some historical towns, eldwork has been continued until today. Until the political changes at the end of the 1980s, the archaeology of the Early Middle Ages was investigated both by the researchers who started their careers after the Second World War and the scholars who had begun in the inter-war period. Among the latter, the greatest inuence on the development of the Early Medieval archaeology was exerted by Witold Hensel, who became the director of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a post he held for many years together with being the director of the Department of Archaeology at Warsaw University. His inuence was in part the result of the numerous prerogatives which derived from the many functions he held, but also of the fact that many of the scholars of that time, especially in the Poznaq and Warsaw centers, were his students or close cooperators. Hensel initiated many new trends of research, e.g., in regional and microregional studies; the last mentioned ones were consistently implemented in Great Poland and Pomerania. The chronological periodization of the Early Middle Ages which he elaborated for Great Poland is still being used, especially in the Poznaq milieu. He is the author of works of fundamental importance, among which Seowiarszczyzna wczesnouredniowieczna [ The Slavs in the Early Middle Ages] (issued six times since its rst publication in 1956), is the most important.27 Another important contribution by Witold Hensel to the development of the sub-discipline are also Studia i materiaey do osadnictwa Wielkopolski wczesnouredniowiecznej [Studies and Materials on the Settlement in Early Medieval Great Poland] (from vol. 4 issued together with Zoa Kurnatowska) of which seven volumes have been issued so far.28

26 27 28

Buko 2000. Hensel 1956. Hensel 1950–1955.

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His many books and still more numerous articles on the origins of towns and of the Polish state as well as on the methodology of archaeological investigations enjoyed a considerable popularity. The researcher had his ardent followers and opponents; the latter objected, among other things, to his domination in Polish archaeology, marginalization of critical discussions (e.g., on the studies on the Slavs’ allochthonism) and his almost absolute ‘rule’ over Polish archaeology for several decades. Regardless of the aspects of the period that can be criticized, this was undoubtedly a period of unprecedented development of Polish Early Medieval archaeology, of the increase in the scale and widening of the scope of investigations as well as of a wide-reaching international cooperation in joint investigations with the participation of Polish scholars in work on Medieval sites in France and Italy, Bulgaria and many other countries. It yielded also large monographs publishing the results of excavations of leading early Polish sites, such as Pdock, c\czyca, Sandomierz, Szczecin, and Opole. There were in this period, however, no syntheses. The researchers from the Cracow milieu tried to ll in this gap. In 1974 Andrzej uaki issued a monumental work: Archaeologia Maeopolski wczesnouredniowiecznej [Archaeology of Early Medieval Little Poland], which was the rst regional synthesis in Polish Medieval archaeology. In the following three decades no comparable publication has been issued so far for any other region of Poland, let alone for the whole country. Other specialists tried with varying success to bring the most interesting results of research closer to the general public. Unparalleled in this respect remain a series of publications by Jerzy G[ssowski. Some of them, especially Dzieje i kultura dawnych Seowian [ The History and Culture of the Old Slavs] issued in 1964 have their faithful readers even after so many years. The author possesses an ability (rare in the Polish archaeologists’ milieu) to link scientic narrative with a written style easy for the non-specialist to follow, which has allowed him to convey even difcult research issues to a broad circle of readers. In the 1980s Early Medieval archaeology gained a lasting place within the archaeological specializations. A culmination of the period of its ‘childhood’ and ‘teen age’ was the work Archaeologia uredniowieczna. Problemy. Z´ródea. Metody. Cele badawcze [ Medieval Archaeology. Issues. Sources. Methods. Research Aims] published in 1987 by Stanisdaw Tabaczyqski. The title refers to the name of the discipline known in western Europe (the Early Middle Ages end there in the 10th century and not in the mid-13th like in Poland). However, its contents clearly indicate that it

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actually focuses on the problems of Early Medieval archaeology. The subtitle suggests at the same time that this specialization can be clearly dened as an entity, well-differentiated from others. In the early 1990s attempts were also made towards a conceptualization of the research process with respect to medieval pottery nds.29 The origin of the Slavs remained an important subject of interest. However, during the Millennium studies it had been somewhat dominated by the needs of the research connected with the 1000th anniversary of the foundation of the state. Another reason for the lack of debate in that period was the fact that a large proportion of the important milieus in the Millennium period shared the opinion of the most eminent scholars about the authochthonous origin of Slavic culture in Poland. This view was strongly expressed in a number of publications, for example the book issued in 1984 by Witold Hensel Sk[d przyszli Seowianie [ Where the Slavs came from]. From the mid-1970s, mainly due to the seminal publication of Kazimierz Goddowski: Z badar nad zagadnieniem rozprzestrzenieniu si\ Seowian w Europie w okresie V–VII w. n.e. [Studies on the problem of the dissemination of the Slavs in Europe between the 5th and 7th Century A.D.] the debate entered a new stage. Goddowski’s works, in which he raised important questions, but at the same time proposals for obtaining answers to them, created a suitable atmosphere for a new increase of interest in the question of the Slavs’ allochthonism. The rst monographs on a more precise denition of the early Slavic culture from Polish lands were prepared by Michad Parczewski, Goddowski’s student and ‘successor’ and at the same time the most consistent proponent of this theory. Conferences, discussions which arose at the occasion, like one organized in Warsaw in 1984, did not, however, lead to any breakthrough. On the contrary, they indicated the existence of differences which more and more divided the archaeological milieu. The key note of the conference is best rendered by the title of the special issue of the journal Z Otcheani Wieków: “Conict about the Slavs.” In the 1980s we also see a clear increase of interest in Late Medieval, post-Medieval and modern archaeology. The last mentioned tendencies were particularly fostered by the academic centers in Toruq, cód and Wrocdaw which began to ourish at this time.

29

Buko 1990.

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chapter one 7. The last decade of the 20th century: old questions and new possibilities

This was also an especially favorable period for Polish Early Medieval archaeology. At the beginning of the decade the Poznaq center was the leading one with the unquestionable part being played by Zoa Kurnatowska. She managed to attract around her many young researchers from the regional centers and together they addressed the main problem of the region, investigation of the strongholds and settlement zones of Great Poland. Many earlier conclusions about the chronology of the strongholds from the pre-state (tribal) and early state periods were considerably modied, mainly owing to the broad application of dendrochronology. At the same time detailed cartographic presentations created the outline of the new vision of the origins of the rst Polish state and its main centers. These works resulted in valuable papers and doctoral dissertations, for example on the topic of the stronghold compound at Ostrów Lednicki30 or on the concentration of strongholds around Kalisz.31 At that period some critical reections dealing with the bases of Early Medieval chronology, including that of the strongholds of the pre-state period, were undertaken by Jacek Poleski32 using the example of the materials from Little Poland. A new impulse for research work was given by the preparations for the 1000th anniversary of the Gniezno Summit in the year 1000, an historic meeting between Emperor Otto III and the Polish ruler Bolesdaw the Brave which was celebrated in the year 2000. To that end two all-Polish research programs: Poland at the time of the Gniezno Summit, established by the Committee for Scientic Research and the Thousandth Anniversary of the Gniezno Summit set up by the Bureau of the Conservator General of Historical Monuments. Both programs, implemented by the researchers from various milieus from all over Poland, aimed at verifying the old conclusions. For that purpose fresh studies of the previously unpublished material from the Millennium investigations were conducted as well as verication works at key settlement and architectural sites. This was the largest interdisciplinary program in the sphere of Early Medieval archaeology since the Millennium Project and a large number of specialists took part. The results of this

30 31 32

Górecki 2001. Teske 2000. 1992.

archaeology of early medieval poland

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work were presented in 2000 in a monograph Osadnictwo i architektura ziem polskich w dobie Zjazdu Gnienierskiego [Settlement and Architecture in the Polish Lands during the Gniezno Summit],33 resulted in many valuable and sometimes unique discoveries and allowed new conclusions to be drawn. These include the discovery of a central-plan (tetrakonchos) church at Zawichost, the princely residence at Ostrów Tumski in Poznaq, the previously unknown churches at Giecz, Kaddus and Wrocdaw and new data concerning the Tartars’ Mound in Przemytl, the datings of archaeological sites and much more besides. Some of these conclusions will be discussed later on in this book.34 Parallel, although not entirely within the topic of this publication, was the interdisciplinary research program Adalbertus, also set up by the Committee for Scientic Research, which focused on the aspects of natural environment and culture of the times of the fateful missionary journey of St Adalbert (Wojciech) to the Prussians. Its results were published in several volumes.35 In the 1990s the debate on the interpretation of the controversial ndings from Ostrów Lednicki was taken up again. The view that in the earliest phase there was a bishop’s seat and baptistery here, connected with Bishop Jordan, was put forward by the authors of a monumental publication U progu chrzeucijarstwa w Polsce. Ostrów Lednicki [Origins of Christianity in Poland. Ostrów Lednicki]36 in contrast to the earlier opinion that from the very beginning it was the earliest seat of the Piast dynasty. Numerous debates reected in scientic journals were also inspired by the research on the clan structure observed in the Early Medieval cemeteries in Little Poland. Its leading theme was the issue of the migrants from Great Poland whose presence had been indicated by the present author on the basis of his studies of the Sandomierz pottery and identied by recent anthropological analyses of the remains found in 11th century cemeteries at Sandomierz. The investigations have revealed the possibilities and limitations of the unconventional approach to the analysis of materials from cemeteries.37 A new element of research introduced in the last decade is the material culture

33 34 35 36 37

Cf. Buko. swiechowski eds. 2000. Chapters 9 and 10. Cf. Urbaqczyk ed. 1997–1999. Ed. by uurowska 1993–1994. Cf. Chapter 15.

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of the borderland areas neglected during the Millennium studies; this concerns especially the area of Little Poland.38 Lengthy discussions on the subject of the discoveries at Witlica failed to reach any denite conclusions. This was reected at the conference organized in that town in 1995, published in Wiulica. Nowe badania i interpretacje [ Wiulica. New Studies and Interpretations]. This concerns both such key issues as dating of the unique discoveries made in this town, the origins of the two strongholds there, the function and dating of the so-called baptismal font discovered in the old excavations and the origins of the center in the context of the mention of an anonymous prince which some have connected with the site in the Life of St Methodius. The problems these discussions have revealed seem to have caused a perceptible decrease of interest in the research into that center in the following decade. During the last decade of the 20th century, opinions in the debate on the origins of the Slavs became more xed. This was reected at the international conference on the subject39 organized in Cracow in 2001 at which scholars representing various outlooks and scientic disciplines presented their views. The debate, which sometimes took the form of an emotional ght with words instead of scientic arguments, clearly revealed that at the outset of the 3rd millennium not only does there exist a profound lack of agreement but also the participants in the discussions are less and less willing to seek a compromise. The main event of the year 2000 on the publishing market was, however, an edited collection of Kazimierz Goddowski’s works entitled Pierwotne siedziby Seowian [ The Original Homes of the Slavs] compiled by Michad Parczewski and a group of Kazimierz Goddowski’s former students.40 The good state of the early Medieval archaeology at the beginning of the third millennium is indicated by its closer and closer cooperation with historians, which is a symbolic return to the its origin and sources of development. A great contribution in this respect was made by Aleksander Gieysztor (who died several years ago) who as early as in the 1950s maintained close scientic contacts with the milieu of Medieval archaeologists connected with the studies of the origins of the Polish state. The same can be said about Henryk Samsonowicz 38

Cf. Chapters 9–11. An international conference on the Slavs’ ethnogenesis was held in Cracow on November 19th–21st, 2001 (cf. Kaczanowski, Parczewski eds 2005). 40 Cf. Goddowski 2000. 39

archaeology of early medieval poland

21

who continued this tradition in the 1990s and was also behind the large research programs described above. An important part of this cooperation was the jubilee conference organized by the Foundation for Polish Science in Kalisz. It was crowned with the synthesis: Ziemie polskie w X wieku i ich miejsce w ksztaetowaniu si\ nowej mapy Europy [ Polish lands in the 10th century and their place in shaping the new map of Europe] published by the Foundation in 2000.41 Attempts at disseminating the most recent achievements of archaeology have also been made, which can be exemplied by the recently published book Pocz[tki Polski [ The Origins of Poland] by Zoa Kurnatowska42 and this publication. At the time of writing, the most recent important event in the history of Early Medieval archaeology is the program Polska na przeeomie tysi[cleci [Poland at the turn of the millennia] initiated within a project originated in 2001 by the Committee for Scientic Research. Its aim is to process and publish the previously unpublished materials from the important strongholds and towns which were investigated during the research program associated with the celebration of Poland’s millennium.43 This discussion does not cover the history of investigations of the archaeology of the territory of the West Balts which lies within the borders of modern Poland in the extreme northeast corner of the country. This is a separate topic. Neither have I considered here the development of Early Medieval numismatics; although arguably a separate specialization, it has quite a lot in common with the archaeological studies of the Early Middle Ages. This is so mainly thanks to the material gained by excavations and the wide use made by archaeologists of coin nds in order to date the layers and features and also study Early Medieval economy. Hence many eminent numismatists, such as Ryszard Kiersnowski or Stanisdaw Suchodolski, have been closely connected with the development of archaeology and the millennium programs. The end of the 1990s and the beginning of the millennium marked a great generation change. Many eminent scholars who had begun their careers in the early 1950s retired. As farewell presents, their friends and students prepare special publications. In recent years they have greatly

41

Samsonowicz, ed. 2000. 2000. 43 The project was conducted under the guidance of Przemysdaw Urbaqczyk from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences. It embraced 21 sites and the work was nished in mid-2003; the results will be published in the coming years (Cf. Urbaqczyk, ed. 2006). 42

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enhanced in a lasting manner the output of Polish Early Medieval archaeology. Today the researchers who began work in the 1970s are in their scientic prime. Their works are a continuation of their predecessors’ achievements but they are different in quality. Such a state of affairs is due to various factors, especially the inevitable changes in methodological orientations and theoretical foundations as well as the development of research methods in archaeology. Will the results of work of the new generation of researchers be equal to those presented above? This will be decided by future generations. 8. Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: an archaeology of regions or archaeology without borders? The state of Polish Early Medieval archaeology is today best assessed through regional achievements. This is where the most interesting discoveries are being made, and the regional academic centers employ renowned researchers. Almost from the very beginning there existed in Poland an unwritten tradition of archaeologists dealing with the early Middle Ages being ‘assigned to a region’. It is hard to imagine researchers from the Poznaq milieu carrying out excavations, e.g., at Witlica or Sandomierz (traditionally these places are excavated by the Warsaw center) or a serious involvement of the Cracow center in the studies, e.g., in Pomerania or Great Poland, although examples from recent years (e.g., the new excavations at the Dominicans’ Square in Gdaqsk) indicate that this principle may be disappearing.44 Some changes are caused by the lack of active care about the traditional ‘zones of inuence’. Therefore the territorial dependencies will be gradually ‘eroded’ and mixed teams will be formed. This evolution may be fostered by the grant system, tenders and joint interdisciplinary research projects. The most advanced work on the Early Middle Ages are, as it has been said above, conducted in the Poznaq milieu which has had the greatest number of achievements in this eld in recent years. However, it should not be forgotten that the archaeology of the Early Middle Ages originated there in the inter-war period and it is there that the

44 These investigations were conducted at the beginning of the third millennium by the archaeologists and students of the Institute of Archaeology at Warsaw University. The work was undertaken after winning a nationwide tender. The results of the eld work have been recently published (Cf. Godembnik, ed. 2001; 2002).

archaeology of early medieval poland

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basic chronology was formulated and tested. The scope of investigations implemented by the Poznaq center has been much larger than in any other one. In Western Pomerania, the interest is focused on the crafts and trade centers located on the coast, such as Szczecin, Wolin, or Kodobrzeg. Less attention is devoted to the strongholds of local importance, investigated in the previous decades. A specic place is occupied by the cemeteries containing both cremations and inhumations discovered at Wolin, swielubie and some other places. Their excavations created a problem concerning the part played by the foreigners (mainly Scandinavians) in the development of the centers on the Baltic littoral. Further issues are connected with the studies of pagan cult centers and in early city sites, of trade, boat building, and the spatial organization of port towns. The main drawback is that the excavations of many of these sites do not have complete publications. The situation in this respect is even worse in Eastern Pomerania. In comparison to other centers, the investigations here have been conducted on a very small scale. In their synthetic work therefore, authors have had to refer to discoveries made many years ago (for example, to the above-mentioned volume by Father Wdadysdaw c\ga). There have been however some interesting micro-regional studies. Research at the area of Early Medieval Gdaqsk is conducted on a relatively large scale. It was began soon after the Second World War and has been continued till today. It must be said that there has been an impressive number of publications concerning this center, both the earlier and the most recent ones. Research on the origins of the nearby small town of Puck has been conducted for many years, but there are still regrettably few publications of the results of these investigations and nal conclusions about the origins of this center will not appear soon.45 Investigations of the Chedmno and Dobrzyq Lands were initiated in the 19th century by recording the strongholds. This early work has been have been successfully continued in recent decades, mainly by the Institute of Archaeology at Toruq University. Although in the 1970s and 1980s many stronghold sites were excavated, the key problem of dating the settlement sites has remained unsolved as well as that of the chronological and cultural relations at the Polish-Prussian borderland. Investigations were relatively rarely conducted at open settlements and

45

Cf. Chapters 9 and 10.

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chapter one

cemeteries. It has been estimated that only about 7% of the results from the sites excavated so far have been published. In recent years research has been focused on the settlement complex at Kaddus.46 The Toruq center has also had many achievements in studying Romanesque sacral architecture.47 In Mazovia, the initial interest in the archaeology of cemeteries was extended in the post-war period to systematic excavations at the leading strongholds such as Bródno, Pdock, Niewiadoma, Czersk, Podebdocie, and at such sites from the area between the Vistula and Bug rivers as Ciechanów, comva, Wizna, Drohiczyn, and many others. In most of the cases the work lasted for rather short spans of time and not as part of systematic research projects; only a small part of the information obtained has been published. Due to that, our knowledge about the above-mentioned sites is still limited. In recent years there have been some larger projects on the dating of Mazovian strongholds, which has resulted in considerable changes of opinions.48 The questions of the burial rites in eastern Mazovia have not been settled so far; this concerns especially the custom of the late survival of barrow cemeteries and the inhumations with stone constructions. An important area of research concerns the issues of the Polish-Ruthenian borderland, and more broadly, the archaeology of the region of Podlasie, which has not been satisfactorily investigated. Finally, in Mazovia some interesting examples of early Slavic sites (Szeligi near Pdock, Wyszogród, Hamki) have been found. Combined with other groups of data they may provide a good starting point for the studies on the origins of the early Slavic culture in Polish lands. It is also necessary to study at greater depth the three large settlement concentrations: at Drohiczyn, Pdock and c\czyca as well as the local ones on the Wkra, Narew, Bug, Liwiec and Bzura rivers. As in the case of the other regions, the main problem is the lack of publications of the sites excavated in the past. In Little Poland at least four territorial units can be distinguished, each having different research priorities. The rst one is the area around the town of Cracow, which has been best investigated in the whole region. This concerns rst of all Cracow itself, both within the boundaries of the Medieval chartered town and of the Wawel Castle.

46 47 48

Cf. Chapter 11. Cf. Chapter 13. Cf. Chapter 9.

archaeology of early medieval poland

25

However, due to the wealth of research issues and the great number of discoveries made here for many decades and despite the fact that there are numerous, often very important, publications, e.g., the monograph of the earliest town written by Kazimierz Radwaqski,49 constant updates are necessary, which concerns in particular the Wawel Hill. Intensive research works, concluded with publications, were made for the leading strongholds of the Cracow region, such as Naszacowice or Zawada Lanckoroqska. The second area of interest in the region is comprised by Witlica and its hinterland. After the period of euphoria about the discoveries from the 1960s and disappointments after the verications from the 1990s, the area lost its attraction for archaeologists. The only exception are the recent verication studies and the publication of source materials about Stradów: the main stronghold of the region in the period of the Vislane and one of the biggest in Poland.50 In the Sandomierz region, after the period of intensive research of the Millennium and later periods which resulted in a full publication of source materials and a monograph concerning the Early Medieval settlement of the region and the town of Sandomierz itself, there are no larger research programs, except for the recent investigations of early Medieval Zawichost, though small in scope it has produced scientically important results.51 In the eastern part of the region: between Lublin, Chedm and Przemytl, continuous (although relatively small scale) research works are conducted. The most interesting are the works on the materials from Chodlik, recently concluded with a publication,52 studies on the Early Medieval settlement in north-eastern Little Poland, settlement and parish network of the Lublin archdeacon’s district, or the recent investigations and discoveries at the area of the town of Chedm.53

49

1975. The initiatives undertaken several years ago in order to publish this site crucial for the early Middle Ages were interrupted in 2001 by the unexpected death of the initiator and the leading person in the project, Professor H. Zoll-Adamikowa. In the meantime, the team of authors was reconstructed and it is continuing the work under the guidance of this author. A four-volume publication is going to be prepared issued as a part of the series Polskie Badania Archaeologiczne [Polish Archaeological Investigations]. Volume 1 has been sent to print in Autumn 2005 and the next volumes will be issued in the following years. 51 Cf. Chapter 10. 52 Hoczyk-Siwkowa 2004. 53 Cf. Chapter 10. 50

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Verication works have been recently conducted in the Early Medieval stone tower at Stodpie.54 A promising site, not completely investigated and thus open for future studies is Przemytl: the leading Piast center located in the south-eastern borderland of the Early Medieval state.55 Little Poland is also the most advanced in the studies of the Early Medieval burial rites, thanks to the pioneering studies by Helena ZollAdamikowa. The cemeteries of the region became a testing eld for deep analyses conducted within the broader comparative background of burial sites from all over central and eastern Europe. Silesia also is rich in research problems. This is because of the immeasurable potential of the archaeological sites embracing the whole Early Middle ages already discovered, often a long time ago, but also lack of publications of the basic evidence. In the 19th century the results of works by many generations of researchers, both Polish and German, overlapped. Of the 1900 recorded archaeological sites of the Early Medieval period, which is a huge number in comparison with the other regions of Poland, more than two thirds were identied and excavated before 1945. Their number increased dramatically especially during the period of the Millennium research project, and the eld work is still being continued. Also the scope of the research themes is impressive: it embraces both early urban centers, castellan’s strongholds, open settlements, sites from the early Slavic period, large pagan cult centers (e.g., the center at Mount sl\va), inhumation and barrow cemeteries and many others. Although quite a large number of monographs has been published, mainly about the main centers of the region, many questions remain unanswered. As examples one might mention the role of Silesian Niemcza, or the part the Bohemians played in the cultural formation of the region. Neither has a clear cross-regional strategy been created for the publication of the massive amount of unpublished material, including from the old and the postWar investigations. Due to the variety of topics, the archaeology of Early Medieval Poland is and will probably remain the archaeology of individual regions. However, it should not be forgotten that it also embraces many extra-regional issues such as the origins of Christianity, cult centers, origins of towns and of the Polish state, etc., which demand a coopera-

54 55

Cf. Chapter 11. Cf. Chapter 10.

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tion of researchers from various centers. The other option would be the increasing lack of balance in the progress of the research, which exists today, for example, in the case of the chronology of strongholds in Great Poland seen against the background of the other regions. Interregional research groups may thus have a positive impact on the development of the whole discipline. In the context of the above-discussed issues, it is worth underlining the interdisciplinary character of archaeological research: not only the obvious fact that in Early Medieval studies representatives of other disciplines take part but also the circumstance that at many sites there are structures not only from the Early Middle Ages but also from the preceding and following periods. As a result the researchers have to treat the evidence from various chronological periods in an equal way and at the same time they have to create teams composed of specialists in other archaeological periods as well as representatives of different branches of science. In this way we get closer to a broader approach to the discipline based not on respective classes of sites such as a settlement, burial ground or the earliest phases of a town center, but on interdisciplinary studies on the territory at which they are located viewed from the synchronic and diachronic perspectives. In such an approach, typical especially of the leading European countries, the direct topic of interest is not an entity isolated in space and time but a structural element of a settlement undergoing continual dynamic changes in connection with a broader environmental context. This equally concerns the changes in the natural environment caused by intentional human activity and the long-term settlement patterns. This opinion can be illustrated by the example of a long-lasting rural churchyard such as the one at Kleczanów, which had been in continual use between the 13th and 19th century and was closely connected with the settlement and its parish church.56 In such cases, no formal chronological turning points can be applied; life in rural settlement centers had a different pace than in the urban ones. It is also difcult to accept in this context the strategy of excavating only burials as they were functionally connected with the other elements of the settlement complex such as the church and the settlement. Thus it seems justied to state that in such cases not the Early Medieval phase but the settlement potential and

56

Cf. Chapter 12.

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chapter one

the natural environment determine the borders and thus the scope of interest of the archaeologist. The possibilities of further research and interpretation of Early Medieval sites are also hindered by the fact that in many of them the archaeological remains and contexts are poorly visible. Modern methodological orientations exert a certain inuence, although in practice this is rather limited. Finally, the very archaeological material on which the investigation is focused is sometimes so complex that it is only with difculty that it can be submitted to strict scientic analyses. This problem will be illustrated at the examples presented in subsequent chapters of this publication.

CHAPTER TWO

SOURCES AND METHODS The time span of almost seven hundred years during which the Early Middle Ages lasted in Poland is reected in the variety of categories of evidence used by archaeologists. For the early Slavic and pre-state periods these are mainly material obtained by excavation of the settlement layers and their context largo sensu. Mentions in the chronicles of Roman, Frankish, Arabic and Byzantine writers comprise a supplementary type of evidence as they describe episodes from the histories of various peoples (also the Slavic ones), their distribution, customs, culture, economy, methods of ghting and beliefs.1 However, the issues described by the chroniclers usually concern the areas located to the south of the Carpathian Mountains; only in a few cases, such as in the case of the text of the Bavarian Geographer, can they be connected with the people inhabiting the Polish lands. The quantity of evidence, its character and extent is considerably greater for the early-state period. The rst structures of sacral and secular architecture which have survived in the settlement landscape and the written sources increasingly frequently refer to events taking place in the area of modern Poland. Besides the archaeological material, data from other disciplines such as Medieval history, epigraphics, history of art and architecture, archive surveys, cartography and many others are used. However, although they enrich the existing knowledge, a decisive part is played by the material evidence which has survived in archaeological sites. 1. Early Medieval archaeological sites and their stratication: problems in exploration For the Early Middle Ages in Poland the main types of site excavated are early urban centers, strongholds which have survived in open 1 The written sources most often used by the Early Medieval archaeologists are included in the literature; a complete and thematically ordered list (with comments) has been published by G. Labuda (1999).

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land, rural settlements, sacral sites (including monastic complexes) and cemeteries. Each of them has specic stratication features and thus requires a different research strategy and procedure. 1.1. Stratication of early urban sites2 The most spectacular group is made up by the remains of defensive architecture of Medieval towns such as ditches, town walls, or towers. Sometimes they are accompanied by old churches and monasteries. Occasionally, the church is the only structure in the landscape remaining from the now non-existent urban center ( Fig. 1). Early urban stratication comprises complex arrangements of layers often several meters deep, including accompanying structures and features of various origins and functions ( Fig. 2). At the same time this is a material record of the history of the investigated area, which may have lasted for several hundred years. The consecutive layers and features are in such cases described as complex multi-stratied sequences; in the case of cemeteries these are numerous burials remaining in denite stratigraphic relationships ( Fig. 13). Since many of these sites lie under modern towns, the main drawback of the work on the sites of this group is most often the lack of space where the archaeological investigations can be conducted. In recent years archaeologists have mostly been working on plots which are vacant because they are future building sites. However, the sites made available by developers are not always the most desirable places for archaeological investigation. Another problem in such research is the poor state of preservation of the Early Medieval stratication; often there is none. This is caused by the later developments which was usually accompanied by destruction of the earlier structures, leveling, and then location of new ones in the same place.3 Sometimes the presence of earlier settlement structures in a given place is testied not by their relics but by redeposited potsherds. Only in places which have had symbolic functions for centuries, such as, e.g., the Wawel Hill in Cracow it is possible to nd a greater than average number of features from

2 In Polish archaeology the excavations of Early Medieval multi-stratied sites has a long tradition, going back to the early post-war period (Cf., Hodubowicz 1948; uurowski 1948/49; Hensel 1959; with further literature). The problems of research of urban centers in Polish lands, including the remains of architectural structures, are exemplied in: Kobyliqski red. 1999; Tabaczyqski ed. 1993–1996. 3 Cf. Godembnik 1999.

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31

the Early Middle Ages. Yet even there, due to intensive changes of the structures on the hill some key structural elements (e.g., the remains of the earliest defensive wall) remain beyond the scope of observation.4 Another problem are the changes in the layout of towns which last for many centuries, making it difcult to reach the earliest episodes of their history. After the change of the layout of Sandomierz at the beginning of the 12th century, on the site of the settlement on the Collegium Gostomianum Hill, St. Peter’s church with an adjoining churchyard was built ( Fig. 4). The existence of the previous settlement has been, however, proved by the multifunction pits, which, being dug deeply into the ground, survived the later building operations (cf. Fig. 2). During the excavations of early urban sites, we often nd the underground remains of stone (and/or brick) constructions. It happens that at the same level the traces of successive structures create a thick network of foundations which are difcult to interpret because they are overlapping and have destroyed one another (cf. Fig. 2). Sometimes it is impossible to establish the links between the layers and features because they are located under modern structures. Their analysis then relies on indirect evidence, on the basis of numerous but fragmentary data obtained from many narrow trenches a diagnosis is made about phenomena from distant past which existed in a given quarter of the town. These problems are illustrated by the latest excavations in Poznaq connected with the identication of the palatium from the times of Mieszko I or the recent search for the earliest shrine from the times of Bolesdaw I the Brave under Gniezno cathedral.5 A specic type of urban stratication is created by the abandonment of a previously settled area. These layers are formed both through natural processes and human activity. I encountered such a situation during the excavations of the Early Medieval layers at Chedm in the area of the secondary school complex at Czarnieckiego Street. Directly below a layer of topsoil less than twenty centimeter thick, which made up the utilization level of the area, there was a layer of soil 30–40 cm thick without any internal stratication and with an admixture of lumps of lime, which contained only Early Medieval artifacts ( Fig. 5). This layer was dened by my co-excavators as an occupation layer, but covered features dug into the lime bedrock, dated to the same period,

4 5

Cf. Chapter 10. Cf. Chapter 10.

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Figure 3. Re-deposited human bones, charnel deposit at an Early Medieval cemetery Sandomierz, Collegium Gostomianum, Archives of the IAE, PAS, Warsaw.

that is, the mid-13th century. It could, however, hardly be called an occupation layer due to its stratigraphic position (it covered settlement features) and the lack of an original ground surface. I believe it was formed from the abandoned and partly dismantled structures which became ruins in the course of time. So the material forming this layer was composed of the remains of destroyed structures. As a result of varying atmospheric conditions, including rainfall, frost and water processes, and perhaps also the secondary human activity, they underwent degradation and homogenization, achieving morphologic and cultural uniformity. The layer was ultimately formed when the area was turned into an orchard in modern times. 1.2. Stratication of rural settlements Problems similar to the ones described above are not generally met by researchers focusing on rural settlements. Even today one can identify

sources and methods

33

structural elements from the Middle Ages, preserved as elements of natural landscape in the same function ( Fig. 6). Except for extreme cases, the excavations in the country are conducted on an arable eld and the size of the investigated area depends mainly on the nancial resources and the conditions of the agreement with the owner of the eld. Rural settlements are thus a good subject for spatial studies.6 In this case thanks to the limited degree of disturbance it is possible to include the use of methods of eld prospection such as geological soundings or geophysical surveys. In contrast to the sites discussed above features at rural settlements usually consist of one layer ( Fig. 7). Usually there are no continuous occupation layers due to plowing. This is why the elements of the occupation layer and its contents often appear in the plowsoil. Indirect indications in this respect are provided by the Early Medieval pottery and material coming from the destroyed features which lie on the surface of the soil. In settlements located on slopes, even the features dug into the bedrock may be completely destroyed by

Figure 7. Graphic matrix of settlement phases as well as stratigraphic sequences of layers, features and architectural remains at a multi-layered site, Zawichost (after S. Tabaczyqski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

6

More on the subject, see Chapter 12.

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chapter two

intensive plowing and erosion. In extreme cases the earlier existence of a settlement is indicated by the eroded and crumbled pieces of pottery vessels, appearing on the surface.7 It happens however, that the rural stratication is much more complex. I encountered such a situation at Kleczanów (Little Poland), one of my students could not understand the ‘winding’, as he described it, shape of the layer he was exploring ( Fig. 8). The reason for this situation was simple, the student was trying (as he had been trained on previous excavations) to keep the excavated surface horizontal, cutting across several sloping layers dipping down into an erosion basin. Needless to say, the value of nds, including pottery, recorded in this way is very poor and hardly differs from the context of nds collected from the excavation spoil heap. It is different when the layers are explored using the stratigraphic method. This allows the recording of nds according to their actual context and makes it possible to uncover and record the features, occupation and natural layers in the same form as they entered the archaeological context ( Figs 9, 10).

Figure 9. Shape of the bottom of an archaeological trench, bedrock level after completing the exploration of layers and features, Kaczyce, Early Medieval settlement, Trial Trench II (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki). 7 This type of evidence has been used in Poland on a large scale in the study of the micro-regional Medieval centers of the rural type in the Lublin Upland (Rozwadka 1999) and Chedmno Land (Poliqski 2003).

sources and methods

35

Figure 10. Details of the conguration of the surface of the loess natural soil, bedrock, Kaczyce, Early Medieval settlement, Trial Trench III (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

1.3. Stratication of sacral sites and pagan cult centers Various stone cult circles, res, sacricial pits and ditches and springs are associated with the pagan times. At these sites are found deposits of objects having the character of offerings. In the case of so-called pagan cult places traces of the human presence are usually scant, which is due to the fact that individuals and human groups stayed there only for short periods of time. Such places are thus distinguished by the lack of permanent settlement structures, or features of a utilitarian or industrial character.8 It is different in the case of the structures of Christian religious cult. Often there appear multi-phased remains of sacral buildings, usually erected on the same spot. Then the main problem is to separate them properly and associate them with the appropriate layers. Such features may appear both at early urban sites and in isolation.

8

Cf. Chapter 5.

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Due to the considerable level of complexity they resemble the stratication of early urban sites. This issue will be discussed in further parts of the book.9 1.4. Stratication of multi-layer cemeteries In Early Medieval multi-layer cemeteries on the Polish Lands, inhumation burials are located in a relatively uniform layer of mixed soil, which makes it difcult to establish the limits of the burial pits ( Fig. 12). Sometimes, even the material deposited intentionally, e.g., the remains of the dead deposited in the Early Medieval cemeteries, may have been shifted in the past from their original place of deposition, as a result of which there appear deposits of different quality ( Fig. 3). The layer containing the grave is called by Polish archaeologists the ‘cemetery layer’. It has not been given much attention by the specialists, but it has several specic features. These are: – a relative uniformity of the internal structure across the whole area of the site. It is always however possible to dene its upper and lower boundaries, and dene the basic components distinguishing it from the neighboring layers;

Figure 12. Skeleton in so-called cemetery layer. The lack of visible outline of the burial pit is evident, Kleczanów churchyard (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki). 9

Cf. Chapters 9, 11, 13.

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– this layer, in contrast to the other ones, contains the majority of the burials known from the site; – within the identied burial pits, besides the inhumation burials (and often also outside them) there often appear human bones. What is a ‘cemetery layer’? It may be said that it originates from the layer (or layers) into which the burial pits were dug. If they were cut in an area which was not previously occupied, then they are lled only with re-deposited components of the underlying natural layer. It is different when for some reason the graves were dug into the earlier ones. Then the archaeologist has to deal with the remains of many burial pits and their llings. The later stratigraphically the burial in comparison to the other ones, the more elements from the llings of earlier burial pits it contains. This applies to the objects deposited together with the deceased, artifacts belonging to the layers the grave cuts through, soil substances, and the anthropological material found in the burial pit. In intensively utilized cemeteries (this concerns especially churchyards), a dense network of burial pits is created, situated at certain depths with respect to the level of utilization of the cemetery. Then their limits can not be observed because of the similarities of the color and content of the llings both of the burial pits and their immediate neighborhood. In cases of intensively utilized cemeteries, many burials of the earliest phase are irretrievably destroyed. Their previous existence is then only indicated by the stray human bones found in the layers. The number of burials destroyed because of later use of the burial ground may be in such cases determined by analyzing the whole discovered anthropological material, including the redeposited material. The latter material is for the archaeologist not only a material testimony but also the main source for drawing conclusions about the earliest, completely destroyed burials. Investigations of the anthropological material from the churchyard at Kleczanów for example have revealed that the actual number of the deceased buried at the cemetery was at least three times greater than the number of the recorded skeletons, that is, bones discovered in the anatomical order. At cemeteries in use for many centuries, the stratication processes, regardless of the phenomena described above, result in ‘multi-level burials’. They formed when the deceased were consecutively buried in the same place but at different depths. The changes in depth of the burial pits are caused by the gradual raising of the area of the burial ground because of its intensive utilization. Often, the later burials did not reach the same depth as the earlier ones. Furthermore, it may be

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assumed that, as may be observed in modern cemeteries, also in the past there existed zones where more bodies were buried and ones where they were buried rarely or never. During the excavations of the churchyard at Kleczanów, three rows with concentrations of burials located at a distance of c. 1.5 m were distinguished, as well as zones where burials occurred sporadically or not at all.10 In the former areas the majority of the burials (in many cases the earlier ones) were destroyed by the later ones and numerous stray human bones were identied. There had been more inhumations made in the areas where there were higher concentrations of human bones and in the areas with no burials, paths were probably located. The increased admixture of clean yellow loess observed in some zones of the cemetery indicates that in these places more often than in the others, the level of bedrock was reached while digging graves; its components got included when the grave was lled. Due to the contrast of the color and structure of the layer the stratigraphic relations between respective burial pits were at that level much easier to notice ( Fig. 13). Burials found in undisturbed pits are generally quite well preserved. However, sometimes we encountered the cases of ‘disappearances’ of a part of the remains and this happened in situations where no premises indicated that the arrangement of the bones was disturbed by the deposition or post-deposition processes. It is possible that these phenomena were caused by the non-uniform biochemical micro-environment in which the deceased was deposited ( Fig. 14). The problems discussed concern the 11th century non-churchyard rural cemeteries to a lesser degree. The burials are usually located one next to another in easily distinguishable rows, which considerably facilitates the identication of the original grave pits.11 2. Layers and their portable content: mass nds The artifacts found in the stratigraphic units are derivatives of the functions of the layers. At the Polish medieval settlement sites postconsumption and post-production remains are the most numerous. We nd what the past communities considered as unnecessary: fragments

10

Buko, ed. 1997. The issues concerning the forms of Medieval burial rites in Polish lands are discussed more extensively in Chapter 15. 11

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of broken pottery vessels, animal bones, or slag, which is a useless post-production element. More valuable are ‘deposits’, groups of nds which reached the soil with a specic aim, the purpose of which is either known (e.g., care of the dead in the cases of nds in burials), or unknown (such as hoards hidden in the soil without any determinable context). Such deposits, besides being collections of objects precious in a given epoch (ornaments, coins, cult or military objects), provide a mutual context for the individual nds, which considerably facilitates their dating. The deposits are also a good basis for drawing conclusions about trade relations.12 However, even post-consumption remains, which comprise pottery and animal bones, are carriers of many no less important groups of data. This concerns various aspects of life of the people from the past, including the stratication processes to which the archaeological sites were subjected throughout the centuries. 2.1. Pottery as a source of information about past societies The pottery found in layers is one of the artifacts most frequently encountered by the archaeologist ( Fig. 15). It is usually treated by Polish archaeologists as a dating element particularly useful in establishing the chronology of layers, features and archaeological sites. To that end, classication schemes have been constructed, which make it possible to dene the similarities and differences between groups of the material analyzed.13 Similarities (or identical character) are usually treated as a synonym of simultaneity whereas differences, as an indication of differences in time of the appearance of the investigated phenomena. Such systematizations usually disregard the question to what extent the ‘types’ distinguished by the archaeologist could be accepted by the producers and users of the vessels. In this respect pottery treated as a source of knowledge about the past societies is relatively anonymous. Many archaeologists believe that this issue can be solved by making a classication based on the stylistic similarities of the products ( Fig. 16).

12 More on this subject cf., Kiersnowski 1960; Suchodolski 2000; with further literature. 13 In the past many classication schemes were prepared to be used both at a regional and cross-national scale. The rmest position in the archaeology of the Early Middle Ages in this respect is occupied by the chronological classication of the Great Polish pottery suggested by W. Hensel (1950). More about the research process on early Polish pottery, including the problems of its dating, cf.: A. Buko (1990); with further literature.

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Figure 16. Reconstructions of forms of vessels produced in the same stylistic tradition, Sandomierz, St. James’ Hill, urban quarter, from the mid-12th till the mid-13th centuries (after A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Such groups are dened as ones representing a workshops which produced vessels following the same stylistic tradition and in a similar time span. Furthermore, it is assumed that style contains information about broadly understood (socio-cultural, political, economic) afliation of social groups which used the analyzed pottery. For years the use of pottery for determining chronologies was in Poland the main or even only research priority. For that reason a lot of attention was devoted to so-called turning points in the development of pottery. For the Polish Early Middle Ages such points were: the change from the partial to full wheel-turning of the vessels, beginning from about mid-10th century, with the introduction of the fast-wheel, the change of the techniques of hand building [from the kneading method to coil-building with clay strips (taumowo-ulizgowa)], changes in the fabrics (e.g., the use of alluvial silt in Cracow pottery-making from the mid10th century), the appearance of new forms of vessels (including the rim shapes, patterns of decoration, and many other ones. From the point of view of its use for dening the chronology of the layers in which it is found, the pottery itself had to be dated by noting its appearance in contexts well dated by independent chronological indicators such as coins (e.g., pottery vessels containing Early Medieval

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hoards), or in closed assemblages such as graves (grave goods sometimes included pottery vessels), or by interrelations between the material occurring in the layers with respect to the adjacent structures (as in the case of pottery found in association with architectural remains). In recent years many new conclusions about the chronology of pottery have resulted from nding pottery in the contexts of wooden structures dated with the use of dendrochronology. The possibilities of dating by means of pottery is in many cases limited by the uneven rhythm of the changes in production of vessels in time, in various regions of the country and at the same time by the conservative character of pottery-making workshops. The last mentioned feature, conrmed by the results of ethnographic investigations, may in many cases be the reason why the time span of dating the material should not be shorter than 50 years. One should not forget about the high probability of making errors in dating, especially if chronological conclusions concerning one site are transferred to material coming from other regions and even between sites within the same region, which sheds some light on the complex problems of the analysis of the ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ products.14 The changes in the attributes of the vessels, manifested in the technology, morphology and the decoration have one more advantage noticed by the archaeologists: thanks to it well dened assemblages can be assigned to the social groups belonging to the same territorial or cultural community. In this way pottery from the excavations becomes a clear-cut sign identifying past societies and often an indicator of their cultural afliation. For the beginnings of the Early Middle Ages, such identication was possible thanks to the so-called Prague type pottery.15 For the pottery from later phases of the Early Medieval period, the number of attributes acting as signiers of the producers or users of the vessels is considerably broader. It has been debated to what extent the potter’s marks on the bottoms of vessels16 can be used to establish the family afliations of the producers. Interest was focused also on some categories of nds which appeared in a limited territory; in this context one may mention the Mazovian vessels with a cylindrical neck, or the Drohiczyn type pots produced and used in Podlasie (eastern Poland). Questions were also asked about

14 15 16

For more details see Chapter 12. Cf. Chapter 3. For more details see Chapter 14.

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the non-standard (and not entirely understood) fabrics known only from pottery production in the area of Cracow from the 9th–11th century. These are vessels of the so-called white pottery with very high (about 30%) concentration of calcium, with unclear practical value (because special technological conditions were necessary to make it and the resulting product had a considerable permeability). Another trend in Early Medieval ceramics research is the use of pottery as a indicator of trade. The basis for distinguishing the imports and the vessels produced under foreign inuence are usually the morphological features, the raw material and techniques of production, differing in quality from the local ones. Such problems are solved by the laboratory analyses of the raw material and determining the individual and group features of pottery production. Archaeologists are also interested in the saturation of the pottery from excavations with symbolic meanings which may be expressed in the form of the vessels, their technology or the decoration of vessel surfaces. Sometimes a symbolic function of the vessel is endowed by the context of the nd. In this way are interpreted ceramic grave goods, foundation deposits or offering vessels deposited in cult places. Ultimately the phenomena of erosion and fragmentation of pottery products are more and more often taken into account. They may be, as has been demonstrated many times, an effective tool for studying both the stratication processes and for determining the degrees of similarity or difference between assemblages coming from dened stratication contexts.17 In the case of pottery, the research process concerns various spheres of investigations, together forming a network of mutually overlapping analyses. It depends on the individual archaeologist which of them and to what extent they are in everyday use. 2.2. Archaeozoological data Analyses of animal bones, the most numerous, besides the pottery, category of nds at the Early Medieval sites, have been very fruitful in Poland for many years.18 The main interest in this respect concerns 17

Cf. Buko 1990. A decisive part is played in Poland by the results of research of Alicja LasotaMoskalewska and her team. In compiling this part of the chapter of especial use have been the data from: Gr\zak, Kurach 1996; Moskalewska 1997, 2005; with further literature, have been used. 18

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especially the use of animals as a source of meat for consumption but also as suppliers of raw material useful in economy such as hides, bones, tendons, fur, and many others. Also important in the Middle Ages were animal products, e.g., milk, but also manure and the animals themselves providing tractive force and used as means of transport. Usually on Early Medieval sites in Poland the main type of material recovered comprises post-consumption remains, whole or in pieces, often bearing traces of food preparation. Conclusions may be drawn on their basis about the kinds of consumed animals, the way in which they were portioned and what dishes were made. The investigations of this type of material focus also on several other key issues. One of them is the assessment of the species composition of the populations represented by the remains, including the proportion of wild and domesticated animals. On sites in Poland, cattle and pig bones predominate. The third position is almost always taken by the sheep/goat, while the proportion of horse bones is usually small and seldom exceeds 5–6%. In the Early Middle Ages over most of Poland there was a preference for pig meat and this tendency is determined by the geographical factor. It has been noted that the centers located to the east of the Vistula provided higher proportions of cattle bones whereas in those found to the west of the line, the pig predominated. Only a few Early Medieval sites prove to be an exception to this tendency, among them is the open settlement from the 11th century–mid 13th century at Kaczyce near Opatów where a clear domination of sheep/goat over other species has been found. These data are among those which present a picture of a settlement complex unique for the whole area of Polish lands.19 Recent assessments indicate that the proportion of the remains of wild animals on the Early Medieval sites in Polish lands oscillated between 0.1% and 18% in the early Piast period. The data from the settlement at Bielsk Podlaski (eastern Poland), dated to the 10th–13th century are an exception, for at that site the proportion of wild animals was as much as 40%. At the same settlement, the presence of two horse populations was found (a tall sub-species used for riding and small undomesticated animals which were hunted, identied as a local sub-species). The analyses of the material from the centers on the eastern border of the Polish lands, such as S[siadka or Tykocin, have revealed that in some cases a large proportion of wild animals in

19

For more details on the subject see Chapter 12.

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the assemblages (more than 30%) may be due to the location of these centers. In these borderlands, these settlements were more susceptible to armed attacks and this factor might have substantially limited the possibilities for animal husbandry. Animal bones are a valuable source of information about various spheres of daily life. A trace identied on the upper fang of a bear from the Early Medieval settlement at Czermno-Kolonia (Lublin voivodeship, south-eastern Poland) indicates that the young animal wore a wire loop encircling the upper jaw from the back. The loop was probably attached to a rope. Similar traces were noticed on a bear’s skull found at the fortied settlement in Pudtusk ( Fig. 17). These examples illustrate the possibility to derive from the archaeological material evidence of the keeping of wild animals in settlements. The analysis of animal bones is sometimes useful in the studies of the stratication processes. Such investigations were conducted on the Early Medieval material from Sandomierz. The analyses of the species distribution of animal bones served in that case to determine whether the soil used for erecting two different parts of the defensive system of the Sandomierz stronghold could have come from the same place. It has been found that as the soil contained bones of different species

Figure 17. Bear’s skull from the stronghold at PuÜtusk with traces of a metal loop on the fang, didactic material from the Department of Archeozoology at the Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University (photo: M. Gmur).

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of wild and domesticated animals of varying ages, the hypothesis had to be abandoned. Bone was a valuable raw material for various products.20 It was used to make both objects of everyday use such as hoes, chisels, awls, weights, handles of iron tools, (such as knives, etc.), as well as ornaments, e.g., necklaces, amulets of the teeth of wild animals, or bone beads. Bone was used to make combs, elements of costume, and objects connected with entertainment, e.g., dice, musical instruments (whistles), objects connected with transport (skates, sledge runners) and some kinds of containers (e.g., drinking horns) and many other objects. This type of nds ( Fig. 18) are as a rule analyzed by the archaeologists separately and treated as small nds (see below). Archaeo-ichthyological research is equally important. However, material of this type is much less plentiful than the types described above, and at many archaeological sites they do not appear at all. Daniel Makowiecki’s investigations21 as well as the research conducted by other authors indicate that in many regions shing developed intensively from the 8th century. These processes were clearly accelerated when larger settlement concentrations began to appear, including the strongholds. Their rapid development triggered, for example, the growth of shing in the Baltic Sea and promoted the international trade in herring. Fish consumption was considerably increased when fasting was introduced by the Church after adoption of Christianity. Until the 13th century the most appreciated species of sh were sturgeon, salmon and pike ( Fig. 19). It is believed that as early as the 11th–12th century there began a slow decrease in the number of sturgeon. 3. Small nds These are single nds made of various raw materials, similar to the ones found in ‘deposits’. They include tools, ornaments, coins, objects of religious cult or elements of weapons. In contrast to pottery and animal bones, each of them is recorded and analyzed separately in archaeological investigations. They can be used to study various aspects of everyday life, fashion, armaments, minting, or trends in the trade and exchange, but also most of them are valuable chronological 20 21

Cf. Cnotliwy 1973; with further literature. Makowiecki 1998; 2003.

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Figure 19. Fish species whose remains are most often found at various types of archaeological sites in Great Poland (after D. Makowiecki, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

determinants for layers and the elements found in them. The objects from this group differ in their diagnostic value. For the artifacts made of antler or bone, nails, or those which are very common (such as the little knives found frequently in burials), it is quite low because these objects do not have sufciently strong diagnostic features. For centuries their function determined their form and their raw materials were the same. Many ornaments, commonly found, for example, as grave goods, such as headband ornaments, glass beads, or bracelets can be dated within a broad chronological framework of one or even two centuries ( Fig. 20). This is due to the fact that many of the products of that time were used by several generations of owners, so they should be considered as timeless.22 At the other extreme are coins, especially the so-called ‘dead man’s obols’ put in the deceased’s mouth. The date

22

Cf. Kóoka-Krenz 1993.

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of their minting and the approximate time of circulation allow the archaeologist to determine quite precisely the terminus post quem, i.e., the date after which the deceased was buried. Yet even in this case the upper time limit of the deposition is open, unless the investigated feature is in direct stratigraphic relationship to another. In such cases the chronology is determined by a terminus ante quem (that is the date before which the phenomenon must have taken place). Coins found in occupation layers have a different signicance. Single specimens may indicate that the coin was in circulation, whereas nds of large quantities reect the intensity of circulation. It is believed that if the latter is the case, they make up a representative sample of monetary units in circulation at a given time, and thus have a different value for science than the ones discovered in burials or hoards.23 4. Soil and its natural components Not only the occupation layers but also the ancient soil is a valuable source for archaeological analysis. Soil proles, and especially the samples taken for biological analyses are the basic source of knowledge about the natural environment of the site. Sometimes these investigations provide pivotal information about the given site. Most often the archaeologists are interested in the settlement oikumene seen from the local and regional perspective. The investigations conducted in recent years in Great Poland are particularly valuable in this respect. They allow the following of anthropogenic changes in the environment which took place in the 8th and 9th century, and in the next century became profound transformations caused by the acceleration of the economy of the region. It has been established that large areas were occupied by agricultural activity after rst being deforested. The deforestation was accompanied by the change of the type of tree cover. There were fewer and fewer elms, ashes, lindens and hornbeams, which were replaced by trees demanding soils of lesser quality and preferring the ones gradually becoming barren, such as pine or beech.24 In the vicinity of Lake Lednickie the deforestation was particularly intensive. These data in combination with the nds of plants preferring open and poorly shaded

23 More on the subject in, Kiersnowski 1960; Tabaczyqski 1987; Suchodolski 2000; all the quoted works present further literature. 24 Tobolski 2000.

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sites indicate the high level of anthropogenic change in the region which took place at the beginning of the Polish state ( Fig. 21). 5. Written sources The written sources comprise a rich group of information for the Early Medieval archaeologist but vary in the topics covered, chronology and value of the information provided. Information about the earliest times can be found in the works of Roman authors such as Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Tacitus (1st–early 2nd century A.D.) writing about the Vinidi and Venedi on the Baltic coast, or Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.) mentioning the Slavs in European Sarmatia and the mysterious Kalisia, interpreted by some as the earliest name of the town of Kalisz on the Prosna river.

Figure 21. Pollen diagram from Lake swi\tokrzyskie in Gniezno illustrating the dynamic of changes of hornbeam and palinological anthropogenic indexes from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages (after K. Tobolski).

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The texts contain information on the dissemination of the Slavs in Europe, on their attitude to the neighbors, the circumstances of formation of the rst political and tribal communities among the Slavic tribes, economic foundations, the earliest state organizations, political systems, religion, circumstances of adopting Christianity, material and social culture or martial arts.25 For the ‘tribal’ period, the most valuable record is the list of peoples inhabiting the Polish lands presented in the description of the fortied settlements and areas to the north of the Danube written by the so-called Bavarian Geographer (the rst half of the 9th century). Among them is a mention of the Vislane. They are also mentioned in two other documents of the same period (in the Universal History, an Anglo-Saxon adaptation of the work by Orosius ordered by King Alfred, and in the anonymous Life of St Methodius). Archaeologists are also interested in the texts about the Slavs’ burial rites described several times in the Russian Primary Chronicle (The Tale of Bygone Years) from the 12th century, which describe situations similar to those found in the burial grounds in Polish lands. Invaluable sources of information are contained in the chronicles of the so-called Gallus Anonymous and of Wincenty Kaddubek. They are also found in records written by western writers, in the chronicle of Thietmar, the Bishop of Merseburg, which concerns the times of Mieszko I and Bolesdaw I the Brave. The history and culture of Pomerania was described in numerous passages of the chronicles of Herbord, an author writing in the second half of the twelfth century, who wrote about the life of St Otto of Bamberg and of his contemporary, Adam of Bremen, a parish priest from Bozow in the Holstein Land, who wrote the Chronicle of the Slavs. Some interesting data about the Poland of Mieszko’s I times can be found in the account of a Spanish merchant of Jewish origin, Ibrahim ibn Yaqub. A lot of information on the Polish-German relations in the same period can be found in the chronicle of the Bavarian monk, Widukind of Corvey. Records from some chronicles are sometimes a valuable starting point for the research on a given center. In the Halich-Volyn Chronicle there is a description of the topography of Sandomierz from the period before the Tatars’ invasion of 1259. The chronicle says that the town consisted of walled defensive parts ( gorod i dietiniec) separated by a ditch and connected by a bridge. The town itself was not so strongly fortied.

25

Cf. Labuda 1999.

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Before the Tatars occupied the town (called dietiniec in the chronicle) they rst invaded the suburb ( gorod ). We also learn that there was a ‘large and uncommon’ basilica made of white stone, with a roof covered with shingle, which caught re easily, engulng the people who were seeking refuge inside. In the town, says the chronicler, there were plenty of wooden huts with thatched roofs, which were also easy to set on re.26 This information was veried during the long-lasting project of archaeological investigations on the beginnings of Early Medieval Sandomierz, which were begun at the start of the 1970s.27 There are many more such possibilities. The Hypatian Cronicle says that at the beginning of the 13th century Danylo ( Daniel), the prince of Halich, erected a fortied settlement in Chedm, and mentions four churches. The so-called ‘Mogilno Forgery’ (a royal privilege supposedly written in Pdock in 1065 but in fact created about a century later) in turn states which of the Mazovian centers were fortied settlements in the mid-11th century whereas the Chronicle of so-called Gallus Anonymous informs us about the great rank of Wdocdawek and Giecz, as these two towns provided the Piast rulers with the greatest number of armed warriors. There are some other valuable written texts. One of them is the Catalogue of Magic by Brother Rudolf, a monk who wrote in the 13th century about the superstitions among the population inhabiting Polish lands.28 The information about many of the pagan customs described there such as making foundation offerings under new buildings has been repeatedly conrmed by the results of excavations. Another source of knowledge about Early Medieval craftsmanship useful for the archaeologists is the text On Diverse Arts by Theophilus Presbyter,29 a Benedictine monk living at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. He was of foreign (Byzantine?) origin but artisans connected with his order actively operated almost all over the whole Europe, also in Poland. In the quoted work one can nd the methods of producing various paints and colors, building kilns for making glass and metals, tools, and also recipes for preparing many raw materials. A separate class of evidence are Latin inscriptions. On a tombstone found in St Leonard’s crypt in the Cathedral on Wawel Hill in Cracow 26 27 28 29

Sielicki 1987. Buko 1998; with further literature. Cf. Karwot 1955. 1998.

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there is an engraved text stating that Bishop Maur was buried in that tomb in 1118 ( Fig. 22); the information about the deceased is repeated on a gold ring with the inscription MAURUS EPC found in the same burial. An inscription on a tombstone coming probably from the earliest cathedral in Gniezno dated to the 11th century says that under it lay the remains of three brothers. These and many other examples illustrate the research potential of inscriptions for Early Medieval research. It should be, however, added that there are many problems connected with deciphering their often ambiguous content in the correct way.30 6. Iconography The rst Early Medieval representations bring a lot of information about the appearance of the people of that time, their everyday occupations, buildings, beliefs or martial arts. Usually these are bas-reliefs on the earliest structures of sacral architecture, more rarely they can be found on church oors. Another source of information are the illuminations in the oldest manuscripts and liturgical books and decoration of metal objects. The gure of a peasant threshing corn, represented on the paten from Trzemeszno (the second half of the 12th century) renders not only the physical features of the man but also the details of his attire and the shape of the ail he is using, and even the way of arranging the sheaves ( Fig. 23). The inscriptions found on the bas-reliefs are of similar importance. Those on the representation on the bronze doors from Pdock Cathedral (12th century) allow the identication with absolute certainty of the individual portrayed in the central place ( Fig. 24) as Bishop Alexander of Malonne. The depictions of the bishop and his fellows reveal not only the details of their physical appearance but also of their hair styles, shoes and attire. A series of Early Medieval miniatures provides information about the details of contemporary martial arts. They include representations of battle scenes with warriors and single gures wearing military equipment of the epoch. The gure of duke Bolesdaw the Chaste presented in Fig. 25 reconstructed on the basis of a seal of 1252 represents a

30

A good example of this is presented in Chapter 8.

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Figure 23. Threshing with ails, representation from a 12th century paten from Trzemeszno (after M. Walicki).

Figure 24. Bishop Alexander of Malonne, in the center, a representation on the so-called PÜock Door, 12th century (photo: A. Buko).

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Figure 25. Knight’s equipment reconstructed from the mid-13th century seal of BolesÜaw the Chaste (after H. Kotarski, digital processing: A. Buko).

man in a conical helmet wearing a full coat of mail. On top he has a knee-length tunic cinched with a belt. Another belt seems to be used to fasten a short broad sword, which is on the left hand side. In his left hand the prince is holding a small triangular shield with an eagle whereas in his right one he has a short spear without a banner.31 A good example of representations in the ornament of churches is the famous Witlica slab on the oor of a crypt with the gures of women and men with such details as hair styles, beards, attires, and shoes (for a more detailed description of the Witlica slab see chapter 10).

31

Kotarski 1983.

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chapter two *

*

*

The potential of the data presented in this chapter is used by archaeologists in a selective way and to varying degrees. The effectiveness of different types is determined by the subject of research. Some of these types of evidence (for example inscriptions or iconographic representations) can be used only by researchers of the later phases of the Early Middle Ages. However, these data, even in connection with other categories of sources, are in many cases insufcient to ll the gaps in our knowledge. This is illustrated by the problems with understanding and interpretation of many of the discoveries from Polish lands presented in this publication, although sometimes these nds were excavated many decades ago.

CHAPTER THREE

HOW DID THE SLAVS GET TO POLISH LANDS? 1. ‘Autochthonists’, ‘Allochthonists’ and others: the long history of the debate on the origins of the Slavs1 For Nestor, the Russian chronicler, the author of the Russian Primary Chronicle (The Tale of Bygone Years) written in the 12th century, it went without saying that after the collapse of the Tower of Babel, the Slavs were among the 72 peoples into which God divided mankind and they originated from Japheth’s tribe. They are said to have settled, after long wanderings, in the Danube region and then spread farther, adopting tribal names recorded in their written sources. The Slavs’ migrations were was seen in a different way by Jan Ddugosz, writing in the 15th century. He believed that they marched from the east to the west, namely from Babylon through the Caucasus Mountains and then to Europe. In this way he made a direct connection between the Slavs and the Sarmatians known to the classical authors. Later on, as the knowledge on the topic increased, the possibility of the indigenous origin of the Slavs in Central Europe was discussed. The most eminent representative of this trend of thought was the Czech scholar, Lubor Niederle, who worked from the late 19th till the mid-20th century. In contrast to many of his predecessors he based his conclusions mainly on the achievements of archaeology. In the period between the two World Wars the advocates of the local origin of the Slavs (including the Polish prehistorians, Leon Kozdowski, Józef Kostrzewski and Konrad Javdvewski) tended to shift the rst appearance of the Slavs to as early as the Bronze Age, linking their origins with the population of the Lusatian Culture. The debate, which has been continued till today, involves the representatives of various sciences: history, ethnology, natural sciences, 1 There is a wealth of literature on the debate about the Slavs’ origin. In compiling this part of the chapter use was made mainly of information from: Baran 1972; Barford 2001; Curta 2001; Goddowski 2000; Hensel 1984; Javdvewski 1970; Kostrzewski 1960; Leciejewicz 2000; Okulicz 1986; Parczewski 1988a, 1988b; ZOW 1985, were used; more suggested reading can be found in the Bibliography.

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archaeology and linguistics. So far it has brought about a division into two camps fostering two main (but not the only) concepts of the origin of the Slavs, called in the Polish literature the ‘western’ (authochthonic) and ‘eastern’ (allochthonic) one. According to the former, the cradle of the Slavs was located most often in the basins of the Vistula and Oder rivers, hence in the area of modern Poland. The other concept is that the homeland of the Slavs lay in the area of modern Ukraine and, partly, Belarus. There have been formulated some middle-of-the-road concepts which linked the origin of the Slavs with the areas between the Oder—Vistula—Dnepr as well as those locating the Slavs’ homeland in completely different regions. A great deal of attention in the debates on the origins of the Slavs is devoted to the mysterious Venedi (or Veneti) people, which is mentioned repeatedly by the ancient writers (Tacitus, Ptolemy), and appeared also in the texts of the authors writing at the outset of the Early Middle Ages, especially Jordanes, who wrote the history of the germanic Goths in the middle of the 6th century. So far it has not been decided what was the origin of the Venedi mentioned in the rst centuries of our era or even what lands these people occupied. According to some researchers they lived in the Polish lands and were the Slavs, whereas others believe that the Venedi had nothing to do with either of these two. Witold Hensel2 assumed that the name ‘Venedi’ concerns two different peoples: originally it denoted a non-Slavic population but from the 6th century it was used for all the Slavs. At that time names for respective groups of the Slavs also came into use; it is possible that among them there existed some non-Slavic groups of the Venedi (Veneti). Additional arguments are apparently derived from the hydronyms, which, according to the Autochthonists, in the area between the Dnepr and the Oder have, (except for those of general Indo-European character), a uniform Slavic character. The emergence of the Slavic linguistic community from the original Indo-European one is believed to have taken place about the mid-2nd millennium B.C.3 It is also assumed that the Slavic culture formed simultaneously in many smaller centers. The advocates of the theory also stress the many similarities between the assemblages of the cultures of Late Antiquity (especially the Przeworsk culture) and the early Slavic one. As in many other cases the former were multi-ethnic

2 3

1984. Lehr-Spdawiqski 1946.

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due to the fact that numerous peoples and tribes had migrated across the Polish lands. It is also stressed that the Venedi were perceived even by the informants of the Roman authors as a large population. Thus their name might have been a pseudo-ethnonym of pre-Indo-European origin used, for example, by the Germans to describe aliens. However, there are many other possibilities of interpreting the name ‘Venedi’ (Veneti) and their topogenesis. In this context various understandings of what should be meant by the name of these people have been put forward. The people mentioned by Ptolemy may represent the Balts inhabiting the eastern shores of the Baltic, from the Sambian Peninsula to the Dvina River. Jordanes’ Venedi should rather be linked with the area of Eastern Europe and identied with the Veneti mentioned by Tacitus.4 Despite many doubts, the concept of the origin of the early Slav culture in the area of modern Poland and its links with the older (Przeworsk) cultural substrate still has many advocates, which has been recently stressed by Lech Leciejewicz.5 The Slavs, as that author believes, were mainly the indigenous population of that part of Europe which, after the collapse of the Lusatian culture, sought new possibilities of development drawing inspiration rst from the La Tène and then Przeworsk and related cultures. They faithfully adhered to the cultural traditions of their predecessors from that part of barbaricum, and they were the most numerous farming people outside the former limes of Europe. For that reason he believes that it is highly improbable for a population of such a specic character and type of economy to have formed among the forests and marshes of the upper Dnepr river basin. The eastern (allochthonic) origin is nowadays mooted far more frequently in Polish archaeology. Its most persistent proponent was Kazimierz Goddowski, even though similar views were expressed many years earlier.6 Goddowski noticed that although the written sources from the 1st–5th century mentioned various peoples for the area between the Danube river and the Baltic Sea, it is difcult to nd any references to the Slavs in them. He analyzed several categories of sources: written documents, natural science data and archaeological data. He placed the Venedi mentioned by Jordanes in the context of the war between the Goth leader Vinitar against the Antes (Eastern Slavs). For that reason

4 5 6

Kolendo 1986. 2000, 2002. E.g. Vasmer 1926.

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he assumed they lived to the north of the Danube, the Black Sea and the Carpathian Mountains. More information concerning the topogenesis is provided by the linguistic data. They indicate that the Slavs originally lived far from the sea, tall mountains and, perhaps, also the steppe (or in another approach: in a forest-steppe environment). It is also assumed that they lived outside the compact forest areas from the Vistula and Dnester basins. In determining the Slavs’ origin the archaeological data are also helpful. They present a model of the archaeological culture typical for the Slavs, the equivalent of which is the Penkovka type culture in the area of modern Ukraine, the Kolochin culture located to the north of the former (the area of modern Belarus), and, in the lands of modern Poland, Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, the Prague culture. The Korchak culture is a variant of the latter on the lower Prut, Dniester and (Southern) Boh and the Szeligi-Sukov culture, in central and northern Poland. According to Goddowski, during the Slavs’ great migrations all these areas followed a model of material and spiritual culture different from that of the late Roman Period: the scarcity of nds both at settlement sites and burial grounds, exclusive preference for cremation and the common use of hand-made, undecorated pots of the Prague type. This concerns the agricultural structure to a lesser extent, although the author believes that in the Roman period there was a greater frequency of cattle bones and horse remains in contrast to the remains of wild animals. According to this interpretation the origins of the Slavs’ culture should be connected with the areas of upper Dnepr basin (cultures of the Kiev type) which offered the best conditions for the expansion of the Proto-Slavs to the south after the collapse of the federation of the Goths and the Cherniakhovo Culture. At the same time there continued the assimilation of local groups of the Cherniakhovo, Dacian and other cultures. As a result in the mid-5th century there developed two large groups of the Slavs: the Prague Culture and the Penkovka Culture, which are linked with the division into the Sclavini and Antes, known from the written sources. The Old European Venedi may have also had some contacts with the local peoples and as a result their name was conferred to the Slavs. The period of the formation of the Slavs lasted, according to Goddowski, till c. 520 A.D., when, as the written sources say, began their unprecedented expansion into large parts of Europe.7

7

Cf. Goddowski 1999, 2000.

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This concept was consistently developed in Poland by Michad Parczewski,8 who presented a model of the early Slavic culture and the earliest phases of its development and substantiated by the recent research by Marek Dulinicz9 on the northwestern Slavs, which indicates that in these areas organized settlement activity began relatively late, that is at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries. Views on the origin of the Slavs have been also expressed by linguists. These opinions reect the dilemmas faced by the archaeologists10 presented above. According to the linguistic data one may look for the homeland of the Slavs in the Danube basin, in the areas to the west of the middle Dnepr, as well as in the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers. Some linguists claim that the linguistic data can not be used to solve the basic problems concerning the origins of the Slavs at all. The hydronymic vocabulary used by many as a decisive argument in this respect is, according to some of the specialists, of a general IndoEuropean character and the earliest ethnic names do not contain any information about the linguistic afliation of the people denoted by the term.11 Characteristically, there are no proper names of the Slavs for the earliest period and the names given to them by the chronicles, such as the ‘Venedi’ mentioned above, are of non-Slavic origin. According to the linguists, the ethnonym ‘Slavs’ may have various meanings: it has been connected with the root ‘liquid, ow’, which would denote inhabitants of wetlands, but there are also opinions that it denotes the inhabitants of clean elds (that is, the steppes) or ‘people knowing the word’, that is, speaking in an understandable manner (in contrast to the ethnonym Niemcy —people whose speech one cannot understand). Other researchers believe that this group of data can be used to prove the autochthonic character of the Slavs’ appearance on the Polish lands. The most consistent standpoint in this respect is represented by Witold Maqczak.12 According to him ‘Slavicness’ is rst and foremost a linguistic notion. Thus what was special for all the Slavs was their shared language. For him the argument for the Slavs indigenousness is the so-called consonant shift (in the Slavic languages some consonants

8

1988a, 1988b. 2001. 10 Among many publications the following are particularly interesting: Lehr Spdawiqski 1946; Maqczak 1981; Miodowicz 1980; Popowska-Taborska 1991; Trubaoev 1981. 11 Popowska-Taborska 1991. 12 1981. 9

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were retained whereas in the pre-Germanic they were changed). Thus if the Slavs learned, for example, the names of the rivers from the Germans inhabiting the Polish lands at that time, these names would sound differently. For that reason one should assume that the name ‘Venedi’ denotes the peoples of Slavic origin. The case does not seem to be so evident, however, for linguists do not agree about the value of the hydronyms quoted by the said author. Ethno-archaeological studies also indicate that the preserved names of the tribes may not refer to the peoples speaking the same language. The case of the Longobards in the second half of the sixth century after they had settled Italy is instructive. A Longobard was any who acknowledged the traditional law of that people. The name therefore is not so much one of an ethnic group of people all speaking one language, but a federation of different peoples containing not only ethnic Longobards, but also members of other Germanic tribes (including Ostrogoths) but also Romans, Slavs and nomadic peoples. The question therefore arises: how far was the situation different in the case of the Slavs? Controversy however is not aroused by the genetic closeness of the Slavic and Baltic languages, although it should be added that that observation does not ease the task of locating the original homelands of these peoples. A vivid debate is also devoted to the surprising mobility of the Slavs at the threshold of the Early Middle Ages. The most extreme version assumes that whole of a Slavic people moved across the European continent and settled the territories deserted after the migrations of the Germanic and nomadic tribes. However, even these great migrations which according to the chroniclers occupied short spans in their histories, were marked by breaks which, as the archaeological investigations have revealed, could have lasted as long as several generations. During these breaks the local populations and the Germanic arrivals inevitably mingled. Yet the earliest historians were fascinated mainly with the Germanic peoples. It is their leaders whose names were written down. The case is different for the Slavic peoples. Only in exceptional situations were the names of their leaders recorded. Was it because there were few real leaders among the Slavs or, as was said by Procopius of Caesarea, they lived ‘under the peoples’ rule’ and the decisions were taken at general meetings? This notwithstanding, from the 6th century the Slavs were known as well-organized warriors who made themselves noticeable in many parts of Europe. Probably the expansion of the Slavs was considerably inuenced by the appearance of the Avars in the Carpathian Basin in the late 6th century together with whom (but

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on their own, too) the Slavs ravaged the territories of Byzantium in the 6th and 7th centuries. They reached the Peloponnese and in the late 7th century they settled as the Arabs’ allies as far away as in Syria. It is a mystery that all that was done by a people that subsisted, according to the archaeological data gathered so far, on a simple, agrarian material culture. It is also curious that although many chroniclers stated that the soldiering was the Slavs’ main occupation, up till now no fortied settlements and offensive weapons have been discovered. Are we dealing with an expansion of a people or, as others believe, the march of a ‘Slavic cultural pattern’ across Europe? What are the reasons for the discord between the written and archaeological evidence? 2. The Polish lands between Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: a gap or continuity? An unequivocal answer to the question posed in the subheading requires adopting a position on either the migration of the Slavs into the territory of modern Poland in the case of the rst option, or its ‘eternal indigenousness’ in the case of the second. What is the evidence which has led researchers to the formulation of such different conclusions? According to the Allochthonists, before the Slavs appeared in the Polish lands (the 4th and 5th centuries), two large archaeological cultures dominated in the region: the Przeworsk culture in southern and central Poland (traditionally the Vistula river is the borderline of this culture in the Late Roman period) and the Wielbark culture, located to the east of the Vistula and on the lower Vistula over to the Pasd\ka river. The archaeological data indicate a progressive depopulation of these areas, which is reected in the diminishing number of nds of Roman coins becoming most marked in the 4th century. At the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries also the population in southern Poland became more and more sparse and in this context the episode of settling the higher part of the Carpathians (as well as occupation of the caves in the Cracow-Cz\stochowa Uplands) is particularly interesting. It may indicate that the population left the lowlands and looked for shelter in the uplands. The only settlement concentration which probably existed to as late as the late 5th century seems to be the one at the Prosna river and on the left bank of the middle Warta river. The situation was quite different in Pomerania, which remained quite densely populated until the early 6th century.

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The phenomena discussed here are linked with two events: the Huns’ invasion in Europe and the migrations of large groups of people from the area of modern Poland to the west and south where, together with the Ostrogoths, they took part in the occupation of Italy. That settlement void was lled in by the Slavs in the second half of the 5th century. They rst occupied the deserted areas in Little Poland, Silesia and Mazovia, and about the mid-6th century, also the areas of central and northern Poland. The Polish lands became completely settled by the Slavs in the 7th century when Eastern Pomerania and some parts of Upper and Lower Silesia were occupied (Fig. 26). In this interpretation, in the 6th century the Polish lands were the scene of large scale population shifts. The Slavs settled mainly in the basin of the upper and middle Vistula and initially did not occupy Silesia or the fertile lands of Kuiavia. As a result of these processes they gradually created three territorial concentrations: the Little Polish, Mazovian and Lower-Silesian—Lusatian ones. The Autochthonists interpret these issues in an entirely different way. The idea of a settlement void at the end of Antiquity is for them completely groundless just like that of identifying the peoples of that period with the Germans. The latter, who from the 3rd century A.D. migrated across large expanses of Europe crossing the Polish lands in the process, may be identied only at the north-western periphery. The Autochthonists agree, however, that it has to be explained why at the end of the Antiquity the ‘Przeworsk’ model of material culture was replaced by the Slavic one. At the same time they question the possibility of deriving the early Slavic culture from the Kiev culture group, for the latter ones formed in a different ecological niche: mainly in the forest and marsh zone. Furthermore they believe that the early Slavic culture was an outcome of a crisis which arose as a result of the fall of the Roman civilization during the period of the Great Migrations. The Germanic tribes were not so much affected by the crisis because they adapted the model of the Merovingian culture, which extended as far as Scandinavia.13 There are some new data in favor of continuity in Polish lands during the Migration period. This comprises the so-called pseudo-Medieval ceramics recognized until now on 66 sites from Polish lands, particu-

13

Leciejewicz 2002.

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larly in Silesia and Great Poland. According to B. von Richthofen14 such products, despite their resemblance to Late Medieval pottery, were characteristic of Roman provincial pottery from the 4th century. That is why many other authors believed they are intrusions of Late Medieval or even post-Medieval productions or imported products from Roman Empire provinces.15 During the recent decades the number of sites with such pottery has increased—already there are 66 sites in Poland with such nds. According to T. Makiewicz the pottery under discussion is evidence of pottery making from the Migration period (5th–6th centuries) which began under cultural inspiration from the areas of Slovenia, Carinthia, Tyrol and eastern Italy (Friuli). Hence its producers are dened as a migrating potters from the eastern Alpine zone, producing and distributing their native products among central European societies during the Migrations period.16 3. One or many models of the Slavs’ material culture? The material culture of the Slavs from the rst phase of the Early Middle Ages became the focus of interest in Poland in the mid-1950s. Since then quite a lot of time has passed yet the number of discovered and excavated early Slavic sites of the earliest phase is still quite small (cf. Fig. 26). For that reason the material evidence is scant, which leads to weaknesses in argumentation and makes it impossible to settle the debate on the origin of the Slavs. The beginnings of the Slavs’ settlement of Polish lands are usually xed for the turn of the 5th and 6th century; in the late 6th or the early 7th century they are thought to have reached the middle Elbe and Saale. The advocates of the allochthonous theory assume that the material correlates of the early Slavs are not uniform in Polish lands and vary across the area. This fact is interpreted as an outcome of the Slavs’ contacts with local milieus of other peoples, including the older Germanic population. At the same time it is stressed that in the region a set of features characteristic for all the Slavs can be distinguished. The most distinctive features are the settlement form, economy, crafts and burial rites.

14 15 16

1926, 1928. Goddowski 1977, 190. Makiewicz 2005, 179.

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Figure 26. The oldest zones of settlement of the early Slavs in Polish lands (by A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

3.1

Settlement form

Typically open settlements consisting of a few square sunken-oored huts with an oven in the corner located along the river valleys. There are no fortied sites. The early Slavic hut (Fig. 27) is generally considered as an important trait of this people. That form of habitation which developed in the 3rd–4th century especially within the Cherniakhovo Culture (the Prut and Dniester basins in Ukraine) traveled with the Slavs to the west.17 These structures are quite characteristic: usually they had 3–4 meter long walls and in their classical form these were square 4 u 4 m huts,

17

Donat 1980; Kobyliqski 1988; Šalkovský 2004.

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Figure 27. A typical early Slavic hut from the 6th–7th century (after K. Goddowski, digital processing: A. Buko).

although the dimensions might have varied in different regions; in Polish lands their average oor area was 13 m2. Most often they were sunken in the ground down to no more than several dozen centimeters. In one of the corners (usually the north-eastern one) there was a heating device in the form of a 0.5 u 0.5 m stone oven. Surprisingly, this type of structure did not appear in Great Poland and Pomerania. Instead so-called tub-shaped (slightly sunken oval) 2 u 3 m features of unclear function sunken in the ground to c. 0.5 m are found there. None of them had an oven. The advocates of the autochthonous theory see more similarities between the early Slavic and Przeworsk culture huts than between the Slavic and Germanic structures. Namely, except for a few cases (e.g., Wólka casiecka), the Slavs had no tradition of the long house so popular among the Germans, commonly appearing in the area between the Rhine and Elbe and in Scandinavia. Thus if the population inhabiting the Polish lands before the Slavs was of Germanic origin, how can it be explained that it did not build houses following the tradition of the latter? It is worth noting here that the Przeworsk culture had an incomparably greater variety of structures than the early Slavs. The analyses of the arrangement of buildings in Slavic settlements shows

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that, unlike the Roman ones, they were not arranged in a circle surrounding an empty central area and had no separate production zones. In this respect the arrangements of houses in the Slavic settlements resemble the later peasant farmsteads commonly known from Polish lands. The huts and settlement patterns were gradually replaced by above-ground buildings in the 7th or early 8th century. The followers of the autochthonous theory, however, add that circular villages were not entirely unknown among the Slavic population as there is a group of sites (e.g., Biskupin, Dessau-Mossigkau) where such settlements were identied and excavated (cf. Chapter 12). The origin of fortied settlements is another debatable issue. It is generally assumed that they did not appear during the initial phase of the Slavs’ settlement; they were rst built when the lands had been well settled, that is, in the tribal period; in extreme cases their origin was dated to the late 9th century. However, in some areas, including the Polish lands, fortied settlements are known from the earlier phase of the Early Middle Ages, although their character and functions have not been ultimately established. It is possible that such features as Szeligi near Pdock (Fig. 28), or Hamki in Podlasie (Fig. 29) were of symbolic and ceremonial rather than military character.18 3.2

Economy

According to both the written and archaeological evidence, the early Slavs had an economic structure based on agriculture and animal husbandry.19 The basis of the economy was land cultivation, especially the growing of millet and wheat, whereas the evidence from animal bones shows that the animal husbandry was mainly based on cattle rearing. Analysis of the development of the settlement network reveals a pattern of shifting settlement in many areas at the beginning of the period. This is interpreted as caused by arable land temporarily losing its fertility after repeated cultivation without manuring, and consequently the practice of a natural fallow system, where infertile elds were left to revert to wasteland for a number of years to recover. Only a limited number of agricultural tools, for example plough parts, tends to be found in archaeological investigations of early Slav archaeological sites. Among the nds assemblages from the Danubian region, however, are quern 18

Szymaqski 1967. Hensel 1965, particularly chapter I (p. 11ff.); Parczewski 1988a, 69–76; Curta 2001. 19

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Figure 28. Szeligi near Pdock: reconstruction of an early Slavic fortied settlement of the 6th century (after T. Kordala).

fragments which (together with the information from written sources) show the importance of grain growing in the farming regime there.20 The siting of many early Slavic settlements in river valleys with their rich meadows and access to water is a reection of the importance of livestock rearing to the economies of these communities. As has been mentioned above, it is thought that on sites of the Roman period, the number of cattle and horse bones is much greater that that of wild animals compared with those from the beginning of the Early Middle Ages. At the same time it has been determined that there was an increase in the rearing of pigs.21 The main weakness of arguments like these is that the problem has not been investigated comprehensively and data from individual sites and regions may differ considerably. 3.3

Crafts

A characteristic low level of production limited mainly to pottery, a surprising lack or considerable shortage of metal ornaments and scarcity of products from other raw materials. 20 21

E.g., Strategikon XI 4.5. Cf. Goddowski 2000, 91.

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The pottery specic for the Slavs in Polish lands was of the Prague type. These vessels were usually hand-made pots with straight walls and poorly distinguished rim (Fig. 30). In the earliest phase this pottery was not decorated. The form of these vessels is said to have been adopted by the Slavs through the Cherniakhovo Culture. According to the Allochthonists the pottery forms from that region bear considerable similarities to the vessels of the early Slavic type from the 6th–7th century so they may have been the forerunners of the Prague type vessels. However, in the Danube region (e.g., in Romania) Prague type pottery appears together with technologically more advanced products. There are also areas evidently inhabited by the Slavs, e.g., in various parts of the Mediterranean or on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, where no traces of Prague type pottery have been found. Thus it seems that the hypothesis that the Slavs produced and used only Prague pottery may be open to challenge. Ornaments are rarely found in the early Slavic settlements and burial grounds. Their range is also limited. The most numerous are bow bulae, common in many areas of Europe in the 5th–7th century. They were probably derived from those of the Goths through mutual contacts. On the other hand, the forms of bulae and spiral beads made of bronze sheet as well as some forms quite unique in Polish lands (Fig. 31) are considered as an outcome of the interrelations between various ethnic and cultural groups extending from the Baltic to the Danube. Other elements of the inventory of the early Slavic nds are objects of everyday use: knives, spindle whorls, loom weights, whetstones, querns, sh-hooks, bone skates and antler combs. The small number of object types which can be listed, and the modest quantities in which they have been found mean that this category of nds is not particularly helpful for reconstructing the daily life of the Slavs. 3.3 Cremation burial rites with at, urn or pit burials with very poor grave goods The Slavs’ burial rites have two main characteristic features: cremation burials and poor grave goods. However, outside Poland (e.g., Sprata Monteoru in southern Romania) there exist cemeteries where the situation is quite different. Besides the pit burials there also are urn graves. Finally, it is characteristic that in some areas, for example in Pomerania (Poland), there are no cemeteries even though there are other indications that the Slavs had lived there. This is why it is assumed that other

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burial forms (overground?) might have been used which do not leave traces that can be uncovered by the archaeologist (Chapter 4). 4. The phenomenon of the Slavs: how to explain it? Many observations concerning, for example, the scarcity of the ornaments or the use of simple hand-made, undecorated vessels have lead some researchers to formulate an opinion that these phenomena were intentional and not caused by a lack of skills to create the things that were the in everyday use outside the areas these people inhabited. It has not gone unnoticed that at some sites (e.g., Hamki, Biadystok voivodeship, Zimne in Ukraine, and so on) rich collections of metal nds of the Slavic type (cf. Fig. 31) were discovered. It is also difcult to believe that a people which achieved an unprecedented historical success in Europe did not possess the basic manual skills. There thus appeared opinions that the telltale simplicity and crudity of the Slavs’ culture had a symbolic dimension.22 So far, however, it has not been established what supported the ideology that was convincing enough to serve as an alternative for the goods of higher order known outside the Slavic milieu. This gives rise to more questions: why such strange behavior of one of the greatest people in early Mediaeval Europe was not recorded in any written source, despite the fact that the chroniclers often refer to the Slavs’ beliefs? Were the things which are bafing for us today quite obvious for the early Slavs’ contemporaries? Or perhaps those who watched the Slavs from the areas located to the south of the Carpathian mountains simply did not notice their ‘weird’ behavior? There are more questions: why did the Slavs not adopt the animal style so popular among the societies of that time: the nomads, the Balts and the Germans? Did they not become acquainted in the Polish lands with the production of pottery of better technological, morphological and aesthetical parameters than the Prague type pots? Why did they not use the potter’s wheel or decorate the vessels in the earliest phase? Could the Slavs’ material culture be so attractive indeed for the others that it was commonly adopted in large parts of Europe, to the detriment of their own cultural features and identity?

22

Such an opinion was expressed a few years ago by J. Gassowski (2000); similar views are presented by P. Urbaqczyk (2000, 136).

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These questions gain a new dimension if we look at the problems of the Slavs’ dissemination from a broader perspective. For the eastern part of the Mediterranean there are written testimonies of the Slavs’ presence (in the Peloponnese there appeared sclavinias which existed for several centuries) but the material traces of their stay are most often missing except for rare cases (e.g., the Greek Olympia where more than 40 years ago a Slavic cremation cemetery was discovered). A similar picture can be drawn for the western Balkans (Croatia) where the Slavs arrived already in the rst phase of their expansion to the south. There are written sources conrming the presence of the Slavs in southern Italy (Siponto) in the 8th century, where for some time they became the Longobards’ rivals.23 Long-lasting archaeological research has not yielded any material traces for either of them. What distinguishes these areas from the other ones? First and foremost, they were within the sphere of the Roman-Byzantine civilization. More to the north, in the Danube region, the situation is more diverse as traces of material culture of the nomads, Germans, indigenous populations, and Slavic people can be found there. In the areas to the south of Poland the pots of the Prague type sometimes co-occur with other vessels technologically more advanced including wheel-made ones. Not surprisingly the Prague pottery was initially treated as a poor-quality local, rural variant.24 More technologically advanced vessels appear in the Ipote‘ti-Cande‘ti-Ciurel culture in Romania. Also the burials in the greatest early Slavic cemetery at Sprata Monteoru located on the Danube in Romania, where more than 1500 graves were found, are equipped with ornaments much more frequently than the typically poor Slavic burials to the north of the Carpathians. The discussed areas, formerly parts of the provinces of the Roman Empire, make up a zone where the cultural elements of the Roman civilization ‘mixed’ with those of the Barbarian one; in our case this concerns especially the Germans, Slavs and the nomadic peoples. A ‘pure’ Slavic material culture can be found mainly in the areas to the north of the Carpathians, including Poland. Why was the Slavs’ culture so selective? One possible answer is as follows: in places which offered more civilization benets (the Mediterranean) the Slavs quickly and willingly gave up the ‘ “crude cultural model’ (very much like the

23 24

Cf. Labuda 1999, 224. Borkovský 1940.

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Longobards when occupying southern Italy) melting into the local milieux. More to the north, and thus in the areas with population enclaves at varying levels of civilization, the Slavs were selective in their choices. As a result the archaeologically recorded model of the early Slavic culture is not uniform. Only in the areas depopulated after the events of the 5th century, located mainly to the north of the Carpathians, with no attractive cultural benets ‘to be taken’, the archaeologically detectable remains of the so-called Slavic model of material culture are to be found. Why, however, did the Slavs not take advantage of their neighbors’ experiences? One cause may be the collapse of the existing trade routes and bonds, which at the threshold of the 6th century led to the isolation of many cultural groups inhabiting the Polish lands. When these areas were being settled in the early 6th century the Slavs were not numerous enough to reproduce these bonds quickly. However, there still remains the question of the surprising poverty of their material culture. It seems that while solving this problem the researchers did not take into account the numerous Byzantine writers who mentioned the Slavs’ amazing mobility, and for several generations representatives of that people could be seen almost all over Europe. Such a lifestyle, typical for the nomads rather than land cultivators and cattle rearers, made the Slavs similar to the former in the phase of searching for the new places to settle. For the nomads it is quite normal and natural to be permanently on the move but the long and hard journeys did not make the Slavs nomadic. Yet their material culture from the earliest phase is not only unusually poor but also unique in this part of the continent. The poorness and simplicity of the cultural inventory during their settling of Europe could thus have been caused by the lack of conditions for making any labor-consuming material goods due to the lack of stable settlement and economy. This may be the reason why in central Europe the earliest Slavs did not possess a developed inventory of tools, including the potter’s wheel, ornaments, and other elements of material culture characteristic for the other peoples of the discussed period. It is therefore quite probable that while settling the new areas, the Slavs limited themselves to producing the simplest objects basic to everyday existence; the Prague type pots are a good example. They represent the simplest possible forms, are undecorated and hand-made of commonly available raw materials without the use of the wheel. Such production yielded wares made with a minimum of effort, unattractive in appearance but with relatively good technical parameters. The basic needs do not include, e.g., the widespread production of

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ornaments which, as it is often stressed, appear rarely among the Slavs. The situation of the Slavs at the outset of their migration resembles to some extent that of the Wild West pioneers; although generally during the 19th century they were farmers they made trips in family groups just like the nomads (although they were not nomads!) across the vast expanses of the American prairies. For that reason they took only the basic necessities with them. Their material culture (including the elements of female attire) was much simpler and poorer than in the settled population. The situation changed rapidly, however, as more and more settlers arrived and, especially when production and farming were instituted. As a result new settlements were established, the economy began to thrive and there appeared trade routes along which craftsmen and traders started to travel. All in all, from the historical perspective, the pioneers, like many centuries before them the Slavs, achieved an unquestionable success. It may be thus said that the period of the early Slavic culture and its material manifestations tted the times of unstable economy during the search for and occupation of new settlement oikumenes.25 This was the time when the right choices were made as well as, certainly, errors. The Slavs settled the areas of Little Poland but were not equally attracted to Silesia which was just as fertile. They existed in various parts of agriculturally less attractive Mazovia and Podlasie, but not so much in the fertile Kuiavia. Assuming the possibility of migration of groups of Slavs, in the 6th century this phenomenon was limited and has left archaeological evidence only for some parts of Poland. What happened in the areas with no traces of their presence? Did their inhabitants depart in a body? If so this would be an unprecedented case in the history of the early Mediaeval Europe. So perhaps the lack of material traces of the Slavs is due to the fact that, like the migrating Germanic peoples, they sometimes assimilated and adopted the local culture. This thesis is partly supported by the data from northern Poland where the cultural collapse of the 5th century was not so acute as in other regions. It is believed that the rst early Mediaeval pottery assemblages from that area are those of the Sukov-Dziedzice type, equivalent to the Prague

25 Some instructive examples for comparative studies have been provided by recent research on the migrations of the Anglo-Saxons to the British Isles in the context of the earliest forms of their houses (see, e.g., 2002, and especially: J. Tipper 2004; with the quoted literature).

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phase.26 Yet there no houses with sunken oor characteristic for the Slavs or the typically Slavic burial rites are found there. The pre-Slavic artifacts unearthed in this area may be dated to the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Could Pomerania, afuent at the threshold of the Middle Ages, launch the assimilative mechanisms similar to the ones described for the Danubian south, as a result of which it is difcult to distinguish the Slavic features in these areas even though it is known that the Slavs had settled there? This situation is similar to what went on in southern Italy in the Longobardic period where that people settled when the Apennine Peninsula was being occupied, but like the Slavs in Pomerania, did not leave any clear traces in the material culture. In contrast, in northern and central Italy, the presence of the Longobards in the phase of settling these areas is clearly marked both in the settlements and burial grounds; they had characteristic ornaments, weapons, pottery, burial rites and structures. There used to be a hypothesis of so-called ‘Slavs’ second current of development’ connected with the Tornov-Klenica groups in Silesia and southern Great Poland. They were said to link the Late Roman tradition and the early Slav culture.27 In theory such a situation is possible, however, the recent tree-ring datings from the settlements with the Tornow type pottery from the core areas of its distribution (Lower Lusatia) have revealed that these sites should be dated to a much later period, that is the late 8th or sometimes the 9th century.28 *

*

*

Thus there are still many problems to solve. However, the 6th century Slavs seen in the context of their migrations from the broader European perspective as ‘people on the move’ are not necessarily a crude cultural isolate or a bizarre ideology from the end of the Migration Period. In the light of the remarks presented above they were a quite conservative people of considerable adaptive skills, farmers but just as mobile as nomads. While settling the new areas they accepted the ‘crude model of material culture’ but used, wherever possible, the cultural benets of their world. This last mentioned feature must have played a decisive part in their success as the co-founders of Early Mediaeval Europe.

26 27 28

cosiqski 1972. Kostrzewski 1960. Cf. Henning 1998.

CHAPTER FOUR

MYSTERIES OF THE PRE-STATE PERIOD 1. ‘Tribal’ geography and archaeology About the mid seventh century, the peoples inhabiting the Polish lands entered into a phase of settlement consolidation. That was the time of the slow disappearance of the relatively egalitarian material culture of the early Slavic period, lasting well into the 8th, or as some believe, even the 9th century, and at the same time of the formation of qualitatively new settlement structures. In the old landscape of the pre-state period, besides the scattered open settlements, there now appeared fortied ones, consisting of one to several households. Economic growth fostered the processes of concentration which lead to the birth of territorial communities. It is assumed that the smallest ones occupied areas of c. 3–4 square kilometers, and more rarely of 10 –12 square kilometers. Several (and sometimes even more than a dozen) such units constituted structures called opola, identied with so-called ‘small tribes’. They utilized areas from 50 to 150 square kilometers, rarely larger ones and were separated by forest or uninhabited areas.1 The term ‘tribal geography’ used in the title of this chapter may be a little confusing. This is so mainly because it is impossible to use with respect to the communities of the pre-state period the traditional denition of a tribe as it implicitly assumes a relative isolation of the group from others.2 Neither can we be certain if and in what conditions

1 These issues are the focus of interest of both historians and archaeologists. They have been studied at the regional level and also for the whole area of Polish lands (cf. Lalik 1967; cowmiaqski 1973; Kurnatowska 1991; 2002; Tyszkiewicz L.A. 1993; Movdzioch 2000; Tyszkiewicz J. 2003). 2 In recent decades cultural anthropologists have been gradually departing from the term ‘tribe’ in favor of ‘ethnic group.’ The latter term usually denotes a self-identifying socio-cultural system having a sense of distinctiveness from the other ones. An important feature of an ethnic group is its dynamic character, the state of constant transformation and interaction with neighbors. This was in many respects the situation in Polish lands in the pre-state period. Archaeological discoveries conrm the existence of large zones of exchange both of regional and interregional character (cf. Buko in print). For the above reasons, attaching excessive importance to the tribal names established in

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peoples described below considered the names assigned to them as ones indicating their distinctiveness or they were given to them (when? in what circumstance?) by outsiders. Regardless of that and many other doubts, it remains a fact that whereas in the early Slavic period the written sources contain only general mentions of the Slavs, in the prestate period individual communities are no longer anonymous. Names such as Vislane, Goplanie, Slenzanie, and many other ones were known to the Byzantine and Frankish authors who connected them with some episodes of European political history. Bearing in mind the reservations mentioned above, we consider the tribal names used below mainly as conventional terms used to denote larger communities (ethnic groups according to the denition from modern anthropology), inhabiting concrete territories in a denable chronological interval.3 The basic, although not the only, source of knowledge about the earliest history of the communities inhabiting Polish lands is the work from the rst half of the ninth century known as the Bavarian Geographer. It contains a list of the peoples inhabiting the areas to the east of the Elbe and to the north of the Danube and states how many civitates (strongholds? territories?) each of the named groups have. Attempts are made to identify the peoples mentioned on the basis of the similarities of the names with those known from other sources and their place in the list. For Pomerania the names of: Uelunzani (Wielunczanie? Wolinianie?) and Prissani (Pyrzyczanie?) are mentioned. The occupation of that area has been well testied by archaeology, although it is hard to accept the

tradition or the chroniclers’ records or studying the extent of the territories of ethnic groups is for many researchers of secondary importance. However, the problem is more complicated. So far the archaeologists’ conclusions have been based on the results of empirical research of modern ethnic groups inhabiting various parts of the world (more on the subject in: Kobyliqski and Olsen 1991; Jenkins 1997; Jones 1997; with further literature). Therefore it is difcult to transfer the conclusions, which do not make up a coherent theory yet, onto ancient communities inhabiting the Polish lands more than 1000 years ago. These are the reasons why in this book the traditionally applied term ‘tribe’ is used. Here it is mainly a synonym of regional and local communities living in the Polish lands between the 7th and mid-9th century with names established in written sources and/or identied by the results of archaeological investigations. The possibilities of recognizing local communities, so-called ‘small tribes’ by the use of archaeological methods were indicated many years ago (cf. Hilczerówna 1965; with literature). 3 More about tribal geography of Polish lands: Hilczerówna 1965; cowmiaqski 1958; 1973; Labuda 1988; 1996; Leciejewicz 2000; Zaj[czkowski 1962; all with further literature.

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70 civitates assigned to these peoples by the writer. Surprisingly, the list does not contain anything which might correspond to the archaeologically testied settlement groups from the area of Szczecin or the lower Pars\ta river. Neither do we learn anything about the peoples of Eastern Pomerania, where in the area of modern Gdaqsk and in its hinterland numerous settlement concentrations have been found by archaeologists and dated to the period at least from the 9th century (Fig. 32). Many researchers have stressed the differences between the development of these areas and those of Western Pomerania which was settled by the Slavs from the 6th century. In the pre-state period, the area from Szczecin to the lower Pars\ta river was dominated by two large settlement concentrations located on the Oder river and seven smaller ones

Figure 32. ‘Tribal’ map of Polish lands. Settlement concentrations identied by means of archaeological investigations are marked in black and the names of the peoples mentioned in written sources, in gray (by A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

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distinguished in the basin of the Pars\ta and Rega rivers.4 However, Eastern Pomerania was inhabited, as it seems, by 6 to 8 small territorial groups. And although links of Western Pomerania with the Polabian Slavs are visible in the material culture, the cultural depending on borders between respective parts of Pomerania look quite differently whether they are drawn by the historians, archaeologists, or linguists. The main debate concerns the cultural afliation of the Szczecin region. The main question is whether in the pre-state period Szczecin was the main town of an independent settlement unit or was the area belonging to it inhabited by the Wkrzanie, mentioned in the written sources. This question concerns also the afliation of the areas on the lower Oder river located on the border between the Veleti, Lutize and Pomeranians. In Great Poland, separated from Pomerania by a belt of the forests on the Notem river, the problems have a different character. First and foremost, it is not known why the Bavarian Geographer’s list does not mention the Polanie, who eventually created the Piast state, but instead lists the Goplanie (Glopeani? ) with more than 400 civitates, who for unknown reasons disappeared into obscurity. After many years of research there are still no data allowing to locate these people precisely. There thus arises the question if the Polanie and Goplanie may be two names (an earlier one and a later one) referring to one people, and if so, what factors then caused (or enforced) the change of the name? When did it happen? If, however, these were two different entities, then the what was the fate of the Goplanie who in the 9th century had the greatest number of strongholds and what were the circumstances of the appearance (where from?) of the Polanie in history? Was this name invented to denote Mieszko’s state? If so, why was it the same as the one used in the same period but in reference to one of the peoples in the Kievan Rus? It is also curious that the number of the civitates given by the Bavarian Geographer for the Goplanie is incomparably larger than those he mentions for the other ones. Does this reect the actual rank of that mysterious people or perhaps, as some believe, these are reminiscences of an old legend? The suggested legendary trace becomes more evident when we try to locate the seats of the Goplanie. Traditionally we locate their indigenous territory around a lake of with a similar name (Lake Gopdo) and their center was in the stronghold of Kruszwica on its shores.

4

cosiqski 1982.

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Although in that area there are traces of earlier settlement, the origins of Kruszwica itself date back to the late 10th century and the reasons for the appearance of this center were quite different (cf. Chapter 9). Finally, it should be added that the more recent analyses of settlement evidence does not support the assumption of the existence of either a powerful people of Goplanie or Polanie in the pre-state period.5 In the area of Great Poland, there is considerable archaeological evidence for a settlement concentration on the upper and middle Obra river, although there is no name for it in the Bavarian Geographer. The name ‘Obrzanie’, however, appears in the toponymic material from Moravia, at the moment it can not be established if it denotes the population that moved there from the Obra river area, as some believe,6 or should be interpreted in another way. The Bavarian Geographer does not mention either any settlement concentration for Early Medieval Mazovia. However, archaeological investigations have clearly revealed that before the Polish state appeared in this region, there were at least three clearly distinguishable territorial units, conventionally labeled by archaeologists the ‘Pdock’, ‘Drohiczyn’, and ‘c\czyca’ ones;7 moreover archaeologists have also distinguished several local groups in the Bzura and Narew river valleys and on the Vistula (Fig. 33). The huge potential of the ‘tribes’ living there is clearly indicated by the fact that in the early 10th century, and thus before the Polish state was established, across the considerable areas which they were occupying, they developed an intensive action of building strongholds.8 Who initiated it and who posed the danger for Mazovia at that time has not been established univocally. The origin of the tribal name ‘Mazovians’, which rst appeared quite late (namely in the Russian Primary Chronicle with reference to events of 1041), is also unknown. Who, when, in what circumstances and with respect to which territorial group used it for the rst time still remains a mystery. For the territory of Little Poland the names of L\dziane and Vislane appear in several sources. It is not clear, however, which parts of the region were occupied by these peoples and what part they played in creating the Early Medieval settlement structure of Little Poland. They may be used here as an example of the difculties that may be 5 6 7 8

Cf. Kurnatowska 2000; 2002. Cf. Modzioch 2000. Dulinicz 1999; cf. also Tyszkiewicz J. 2003. Dulinicz 1997.

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Figure 33. Main settlement concentrations in Mazovia in the pre-state period (after M. Dulinicz, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

experienced reconstructing the territories of groups known from the written records used in conjunction with the archaeological and other evidence. Some researchers believe that both the Cracow and Sandomierz Lands belonged to so-called State of the Vislane. Others are of the opinion that before the appearance of the Polish state, the area of eastern Little Poland (including the Sandomierz Land) was the native territory of the L\dziane (or L\dzanie) whereas the Cracow Land was inhabited by the Vislane.9 They stress that in later times the region was divided into two separate parts, the Cracow and Sandomierz Land, and this is further testied by the fact that Gallus Anonymous, mentions that Little Poland had two main capitals in Cracow and Sandomierz, and this division may have occurred much earlier. It is also worth noting that in the 12th and 13th centuries there were no organizational and

9 More on the subject: Lalik 1967; Labuda 1988; cowmiaqski 1973; Zaj[czkowski 1962.

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political bonds between the two lands and the Sandomierz and Cracow princes had separate titles.10 The name L\dziane and its derivatives appeared, among other places, in the work De administrando imperio by the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, from the rst half of the 10th century and in the text of the Bavarian Geographer mentioned above. The latter states that the discussed people had as many as 98 civitates; it is hard to determine now if these were true strongholds or rather settlement centers. It was also assumed that presence of the L\dziane in south-eastern Poland is testied by the work by Porphyrogenitus who put them on the list of the peoples neighboring with Kievan Rus and paying tribute to it, so being its dependent. According to Gerard Labuda11 the L\dziane mentioned in the source from 981 were in the 10th century an independent tribe, having a tributary relation to Rus. It was also assumed that their main territories were the areas on the upper Bug, San, and Wisdoka rivers and the Carpathian Plateau. The territory of the L\dziane therefore would have been the region extending to the Vistula river in the area of the lower San river, and thus the area of the Sandomierz Upland was believed to belong to the Vislane. The hypothesis according to which the territory of the Vislane extended across to Sandomierz has some weak points. First and foremost it does not take into account the differences in the historical traditions of the Cracow and Sandomierz Lands, which are strongly stressed by many historians dealing with the Medieval period. The archaeological evidence from both areas also reveals some diversities between them. The fundamental differences in the settlement patterns of the tribal period between the Witlica Land (understood as: belonging to the Vislane) and the Sandomierz-Zdota concentration to the west were noticed many years ago. There is a wide gap in the distribution of known settlements of the period running across the area between the Cracow and Sandomierz Lands in the pre-state period. This blank area in the settlement pattern corresponds to the belt of the Staszów forest, traces of which can be found between the Holy Cross Mountains and the towns of Podaniec and Koprzywnica; its modern remains are locally named Rytwiaqska and Szyddowska Forests. They denitively

10 11

Cf. Lalik 1967. 1996.

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separated the Sandomierz Land from Witlica Land even in the 16th century. Among the settlements of the Sandomierz Land there were no strongholds of the type which characterize the Cracow Land, that is the so-called ‘great strongholds of the Vislane’ (Wielkie grody wiularskie). It is also worth noting that these strongholds are characterized by the mass appearance of the so-called Cracow White pottery, while these vessels are very rare in the Sandomierz Land. From the anthropological point of view, the population series from the cemeteries in Witlica and Sandomierz Lands are incomparable if a common ‘Vislanian ’ component is sought. Finally, there is a perceptible lack of pre-state strongholds on the left bank of the Vistula to the north of the Nida river valley. The Cracow and Sandomierz Lands are therefore in many respects completely different.12 On the other hand, there are many arguments for locating the original territory of the L\dzianie to the south west of Sandomierz. Toponymic analyses indicate that in the area of Przemytl there are place names which originally represented the language of the proto-Polish ethnic substrate overlain by Ruthenian names.13 This suggestive evidence may be a trace of the presence of West Slavic tribes in the areas on the upper Bug, Dniester and San rivers. Archaeological excavations have conrmed the existence of strongholds from the pre-state period in these areas and in Przemytl itself there is one of the monumental Little Polish mounds (cf. Chapter 7). Thus if the territory of the L\dzianie is shifted from Sandomierz to the south east and the lands of the Vislane to Cracow Land, then a new picture of ‘tribal’ geography of the region will be obtained. Sandomierz and Lublin Lands would together make up a separate group of territories limited on the north by the Radom Forest and the territories of the Mazovians, to the northwest by the Polanie, on the west by the Vislane and on the south-east, L\dzianie. In Lublin Land, the core of the settlement comprised most probably the settlement clusters around Chodlik and Lublin itself. In Sandomierz Land, in turn, at least four settlement complexes can be distinguished in the pre-state period. These concentrations of settlements and cemeteries are typical examples of borderland settlements with evident traits of territorial distinctiveness. The settlement group in Sandomierz Land, occupying the area from the town of coniów in the south-west to that

12 13

Cf. Buko 1998, 24ff. Nalepa 1991.

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of Zawichost in the north-east and the Kamienna river in the north, occupied the territories adjoining the north-western periphery of the L\dzianie. The ‘Sandomierz’ settlement group located at a distance from the central lands of the L\dzianie and separated by a forest from the land of the Vislane in the north, probably retained autonomy characteristic for the borderlands.14 Stanisdawa Hoczyk-Siwkowa15 in her recent analysis allows for the possibility of distinguishing not four but even thirteen settlement concentrations in Little Poland. In most cases they were identied on uplands but also in valleys between the uplands and in depressions. The main settlement axes were middle-sized rivers and other water courses. These territories were spaced about 30 km away one from another. In this context there arises the question if it is justied to distinguish just two ‘small’ and two ‘large’ territorial communities. It can not be excluded that their actual number within a region was originally larger although at the current stage of research it is difcult to venture any univocal answers to these questions. However, the opinion that each settlement concentration distinguished by the archaeologist is equivalent to a ‘tribal’ unit does not seem justied. In the case of the Sandomierz and Lublin concentrations there appear at least several additional elements which make them different from the other ones. First and foremost these are the mysterious ‘umigrody’, which make up the territorial bulwarks of Sandomierz and Lublin (Cf. Chapter 5). Furthermore, in these lands, in contrast to the other areas, there appeared the leading political and administrative centers of the early-Piast state. While in Little Poland recent debate has focused on the interrelations between the Vislane and L\dzianie and the part played by so-called ‘small tribes’ located between them, in Silesia the situation is different. In contrast to the other regions there exists the most complete list of “tribal” territories conrmed by various sources. The Bavarian Geographer mentions by name four Silesian ‘tribes’ (Sleenzane, Dadodesani, Opolini, Golensizi ), Thietmar’s Chronicle mentions the Diedesizi and Silensi, and the so-called Prague Document (the foundation charter of the Prague bishopric written in 1086) talks about the Zlasane, Trebouane, Pobarane and Dedosize. The identication of the majority of these territorial communities does not inspire any controversies. The Dadodesani

14 15

Buko 1998; with literature. 1999.

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mentioned by the chronicler are most probably Dziadoszanie, located in the Gdogów-Barycz area and the Sleenzane (Silensi) are Slenzanie, bordering with them from the south and inhabiting the left bank of the Oder river and the area of Mount sl\va; the Bavarian Geographer states that they had fteen civitates. It has not been yet agreed if the settlement concentration identied in the basin of the Kaczawa river should be linked with the Trzebowianie (Trebouane) mentioned in the Prague Document or their territory should be rather included in the domain of the Slenzanie. There are, however, no doubts that to the west of them, that is at the source of the Lusatian Neisse, was the territory of the Besunzane (Bievunczanie) mentioned by the Bavarian Geographer. Still further to the south were the Opolanie (Opolini ) with 20 civitates and in the area of the Moravian Gate there were probably the territories of the God\szyce (Golensizi ) to whom the Geographer ascribed as few as 5 civitates. The interpretation of the Prague Document from 1086, and so a source later than the Bavarian Geographer, still remains a problem. Besides the ones already known, there appear names which are a subject of controversy (Fig. 34). These include the mysterious Poborane, traditionally identied with the Bobrzanie located on the Bobr river. The problem is that no clear archaeological indications of “tribal” settlement have been found on the Bobr until as late as the 12th century, which makes it impossible to locate a separate territorial organization there. According to Sdawomir Mo
16 In the long-lasting debate both the historians and the archaeologists have been expressing their opinions. Its results so far do not give any hope of agreement (cf. Modzioch 2000; Tyszkiewicz L.A. 1993; all with literature).

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Figure 34. Early Medieval settlements in Silesia and their relationship to the ‘tribes’ known from written sources (after S. Mo
in Polish lands in different places and at different chronological periods or whether even the earliest ones are relatively late and refer, as some believe, to the developed pre-state period. It is known that in the early Slavic culture the Slavs erected defensive structures in Polish lands (cf. Chapter 3). However, the number of the examples that have been identied is surprisingly small in comparison to the general number of archaeological sites from that period. It is not known why the Slavs, despite knowing how to build strongholds, made use of that skill very seldom. It is commonly assumed that the lack of strongholds and the presence of open settlements is one of the features distinguishing the Slavs’ egalitarian material culture in the period when they were

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occupying new territories. It was also proposed that the strongholds became common among the Slavs after the Avars had been defeated by Charlemagne, that is from the 9th century. The assumption was that strongholds were erected on the initiative of the military leaders who managed to gain production surpluses and loot from military expeditions and then organize the local population and get them to work collectively to construct these complex monuments. In this way, at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries a new stage of erecting strongholds in a coordinated way began in Polish lands and there appeared supratribal organizations based on chiefdom systems of a new, different quality.17 In the light of the available archaeological data this thesis, however, seems to be too narrow, rst and foremost because it does not take into account the fact that in Polish lands there are no testimonies either of the Avars’ presence or their activities, the traces of elements of their material culture in the form of single nds are testied only for a few sites, mainly from Little Poland. For that reason this factor could not have been signicant. It is also quite clear that all across Europe the situation was not the same in this respect in all the places where the Slavs appeared. In Polish lands of the pre-state period also, the time when strongholds were built seemed to vary according to the local needs (cf. below). The hypothesis of the late appearance of strongholds among the Slavs has returned in recent years as a topic of debate owing to the new datings of West Slavic strongholds of the so-called Tornow type. These were small in size but strongly fortied wood and earth constructions called after the eponymous settlement complex at Tornow near Calau in Lower Lusatia. The earliest stronghold here was originally thought to have been built in the 7th century, then successively rebuilt, lasting till the 9th century. However, the verication carried out by Joachim Henning18 in the 1970s proved that both the settlement in Tornow and the whole group of sites of similar type appeared in the late 9th century at the earliest. From Polish lands examples of similar structures are known from Lower Silesia and southern Great Poland (Pop\szyce, Gostyq, Bonikowo, Klenica) and other regions. However, some authors believe that an early (6th–7th century) dating is not very probable. This is indicated

17 18

Urbaqczyk 2000, 95. 1998.

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both by the high level of technology of the pottery and other artifacts found there, which include ornaments dated at the earliest to the 8th century. It has been agreed that in certain cases some of these sites are much later, dating even from the times of Mieszko I.19 However, in such a situation there appears the question of when and by whom such fortications were built in the area of Poland, as these structures occupy a discrete area and they are quite uniform. Thus their cultural and political afliation are difcult to determine and it is not surprising that, due to the scale of the controversy, some researchers do not believe in the new dating and even in recent publications sites similar to those described here are referred to the earlier phases of the early Middle Ages.20 In recent years, the datings of some strongholds from other regions of Poland have been changed. New results of research on the earliest horizon of strongholds in Mazovia proved that the majority of the earliest Mazovian strongholds were built in the late 9th and early 10th century, so just before the Polish state was formed. The investigations conducted at ten lowland strongholds in ‘Old Mazovia’ allowed the excavators to establish that at Wola Szyddowska the wood used to build the stronghold was cut in 882–901/902 and the repairs were made until 911. The stronghold was burnt in unknown circumstances, probably already in the 10th century. At Mokrzk the wood from the strongholds was dated to 904 and at Sdupno to 908–909; the fortications of the settlement in Raciav were dated to a similar time (909). Also the dating of the well in the stronghold at swi\ck-Strumiany in eastern Mazovia indicated that the wood used for making it was cut in 903, 914 and 970. These and some other data clearly indicate that at the beginning of the 10th century there appeared in Mazovia a group of strongholds which were built in the same time horizon, just after 900.21 In contrast to the regions discussed before no multi-phase development has been recorded. It is thus hard to establish what was happening in Mazovia between the 7th and 8th century and yet the earliest fortications from the early Slavic period were found in this region, in Szeligi near Pdock, the origins of which can be referred to the earliest period of the early Slavic culture; a stronghold dating from the early Slavic times was also discovered in Hamki in Podlasie (cf. Chapter 3).

19 20 21

Cf. Dulinicz 2001. E.g., Leciejewicz 2000, 147. Dulinicz 1997.

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The strongholds of Western Pomerania are assumed to have had their origins at the turn of the 7th and 8th century; this is the date which Wdadysdaw cosiqski has assigned to at least six structures located on the lower Pars\ta river (Fig. 35). These are relatively large upland structures with an area often larger than 1 ha, resembling the strongholds of the Feldberg type built by the Veleti. They make up a compact concentration in the area of modern Kodobrzeg. Some of them (e.g., at Godaqcz Pomorska) were replaced in the early “tribal” period by new ones, for example at K\drzyno and Bardy. A major turning point in the pattern of building strongholds in that area took place in the last quarter of the 9th century. At that time there appeared rather small but very strongly fortied structures evenly distributed across the whole area.22

Figure 35. Spatial distribution of Early Medieval strongholds on the Parseta river (after W. cosiqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

22

cosiqski 1996.

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Pomerania differs from other regions of Poland in its earlier urbanization. As early as in the 9th century, there appeared crafts and trade centers such as Wolin, Szczecin and Kodobrzeg (cf. Chapter 10). The pace of life in them was determined by trade and long-distance exchange and their infrastructure had early urban features. Another group was made up of open crafts and trade settlements created by specialized craftsmen and merchants, most of whom were not local people. A specic feature of centers of that type, identied, for example in the area of Bardy and swielubie, is their multiethnic character. The origins of their population were identied by examination of the cemeteries discovered in the hinterlands of these settlements, where the grave goods indicated the presence of people from Scandinavia (Chapter 15). However, in the majority of cases these sites disappeared from the settlement map as early as in the 9th or mid-10th century. From the point of view of the processes of urbanization, their existence was quite episodic and thus did not have any valid inuence on the following settlement processes.23 The strongholds from the pre-state period in Great Poland are, as in Pomerania, multi-phased (cf. Chapter 9). It is also hard to consider them as uniform in size, spatial distribution, date of origin, and length of use. Some of them are connected to the earliest period (the 7th–8th century) and they may represent an archaic form of strongholds sometimes called fortied villages or refuge settlements. Others are more advanced in military terms and probably served as military centers. It is assumed that at least some of them, e.g., Bonikowo, Daleszyn, or Siemowo, changed their form and functions in the course of time whereas the other ones existed only in the earliest phase. The next group of strongholds was built as late as the 9th century. According to Zoa Kurnatowska24 the turning point in this respect occurred at the end of the 8th or early 9th century when part of the old centers fell into decline and the new ones were often built in completely new places. A different picture was obtained by investigations in Kuiavia and Chedmno Land. The origins of the strongholds there are now assigned to the 7th /8th to 8th century. The strongholds were quite small: from 0.05 to 0.5 hectares. There were no medium-sized ones characteristic for the other regions of Poland, and especially noticeable is the lack

23 24

cosiqski 1996; 1997. 1991, 2000.

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of large ones. The strongholds were usually single enclosure ringworks, circular or oval (or rarely of other shapes, e.g., horseshoe-shaped or with an opening in the walls—such as at Gronowo). They were usually located in naturally defensive places, often on peninsulas or islands, and a location in an upland area was especially preferred in the pre-state period. In the Krajno and Stargard Lakelands the continued existence of the strongholds was testied by archaeological excavations and the beginnings of these settlements go back to the 7th and 8th centuries. In the Chedmno Lakeland their construction ceased in the 9th century and were not being built even in the mid-10th century when, for some unknown reasons no strongholds were built in the whole ChedmnoDobrzyq zone.25 In the earliest phase, the central place in the micro-region was occupied by the stronghold at Gronowo located in the basin of the lower Drw\ca river. It is assumed to be the main center on which the life of the local community was focused. It lasted until the end of the 8th century when in many parts of the region the existing “tribal” communities disintegrated into other ones exploiting smaller ecological niches. These processes were not identical across the whole region. It has been observed that in the 9th and mid-10th century in the areas to the west of the Vistula river there occurred a reverse process: the existing territory was successively enlarged, which is illustrated by the history of the fortied center at Gruczyn. These phenomena, according to Wojciech Chudziak,26 may indicate some important changes in the social organization which took place after the 9th century. Thus in this area there are no archaeological premises for suggesting the progressive centralization of power in the pre-state period. The issue of dating the earliest phase of the strongholds in Great Poland, Pomerania and the Chedmno Land has not been ultimately settled yet. Some researchers are convinced that they denitely originated at a much later date, even as late as the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries. They base their opinion on the datings of the pre-state strongholds from other regions and the fact that the earliest phases of the strongholds have not been veried by means of the dendrochronological method. On the other hand, it is worth noting that for the different phases of

25 26

Chudziak 1996. 1996.

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the strongholds from the pre-state period, ceramic materials of quite different quality were discovered, which has not been demonstrated in other regions. So far in Little Poland no strongholds from the earliest phase have been found. At most ten such sites are dated to the 8th century and as many as 25, to the 9th–10th century. In contrast to Great Poland and Pomerania, the written sources do not mention strongholds which could be linked with the times before the mid-8th century. It may be said that in Little Poland fortied settlements appeared at a relatively late date in comparison to the other regions of Poland. Their distribution in the region reveals a concentration along the line of the foothills of the Carpathians, in the eastern part of the Cracow-Cz\stochowa Upland and in the vicinity of Cracow and Miechów. There are, however, no strongholds on the left bank of the Vistula to the north of the Nida river valley. It is also surprising that none of them have been found in the basins of the Soda, Przemsza, and Skawa rivers. Only a few strongholds from the pre-state period are known from Sandomierz Land.27 One site at Chodlik in the basin of the Chodelka river between Sandomierz and Lublin has been the subject of discussions. It was excavated by Aleksander Gardawski in 1952–1968 and was initially dated from the 6th to 9th centuries. The earliest dendrochronological dates obtained recently from a wooden well discovered in the courtyard indicate, however, that the site was occupied no earlier than the rst half of the 8th century. At the same time, there are no reasons to assume that this huge circular enclosure with three rings of ramparts with an area of more than 7 hectares could have functioned after the origins of the state.28 The unprecedented quality and wealth of decoration of pottery from this site excites our admiration. The assemblage has given rise to the term ‘Chodlik-type pottery’ (cf. Fig. 15) which has been used for many years to describe similar material. A peculiarity of Little Poland in contrast to the other regions are so-called ‘Great strongholds of the Vislane’. This phenomenon was noticed and described many years ago by Andrzej uaki29 and then

27 28 29

Poleski 1996. Hoczyk-Siwkowa 2004. 1974.

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investigated by Elvbieta Dabrowska.30 There are 10–20 sites assigned to this group (at least half of them need further verication). They are usually located in uplands, most often on the slopes of hills, which in itself is an interesting exception to the general pattern of location of strongholds in Poland. All of them are fully enclosed by their ramparts. They have various forms and patterns of internal layout: there are both single and multi-enclosure examples. The fortications had internal timber reinforcement of either the ‘caisson’ or ‘grill’ type, but the latter is more frequent. As a rule, they are large (3–5 hectares) or very large (up to 10 hectares) in area. Interestingly, in many cases there are no traces of internal structures within the walls although sometimes (Szczaworyv, Stradów) traces of sunken oored huts have been discovered. It is hard to establish the activities carried out by the inhabitants but it is assumed that metallurgy of iron and colored metals played an important part in their lives. The function and dating of this group of strongholds remains debatable. Initially it was believed that at least some of them, for example the largest at Stradów, might have been built as early as the 7th century. The scope of the undertaking is amazing. What were the real reasons for making such huge enclosures? Their size is not justied either by the demographic potential of the neighboring population or, the more so, by the structures inside, which are quite scarce in comparison to the area of the stronghold. Moreover, how numerous would the troops have to be to defend the area along the walls (Fig. 36)? It may seem that structures of this kind, not very numerous in the region, served rst and foremost as the manifestations of power; it can not be excluded that they may have had another, symbolic meaning. In times of danger they may have been used as refugia for the local population and their livestock. The multi-enclosure stronghold at Stradów with a complicated arrangement of the ramparts (Fig. 37) has for a number of years been the subject of excavations. The ramparts were erected with the use of the ‘caisson’ type of timber reinforcement, combined with the stockade technique, but no traces can be found of the drystone wall construction techniques in use at that time in Great Moravia. The pottery and other evidence discovered in the more recent investigations of the 1990s revealed that the main stronghold (1.5 hectares in area) and one of its

30

1973.

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enclosures (so-called Barzyqskie suburb) existed until as late as the second half of the 11th century. The fortications of the main part of Stradów were however used for a relatively short time: from the second half of the 10th century till the second half of the 11th century.31 Such a dating undermined the chronological concept of these sites being the characteristic strongholds of the Vislane. However, according to the most recent dendrochronological dating the origin of the fortications of one of the enclosures (so-called suburb C) should be put in the 9th century.32 What conclusion can be drawn from the current attempts at dating the complex? First and foremost, in this case we are dealing with a complex of multi-phased fortications of diverse chronology; part of the fortications belong to the pre-state period and other ones, including the so-called the central stronghold, was built after the state had been formed. The earthwork site we call ‘Stradów’ embraces chronologically and (probably) functionally diverse phenomena. This may explain why the complex occupies such a large (more than 25 hectares) area, not all of which was in use perhaps at the same time. It may be also assumed that the so-called central stronghold, dated to the early Piast period, was not the earliest part of Stradów. This issue is connected with another interesting observation that several Little Polish strongholds from the pre-state period still functioned in the 11th century, that is, after the formation of the state. The best investigated is the one at Naszacowice, which was established in about the mid-8th century as a multi-enclosure site with a large area. The center was rebuilt at least four times, as the investigations by Jacek Poleski33 indicate, and the latest phase is dated to the late 10th or the second half of the 11th century. The stronghold at Zawada Lanckoroqska was much smaller (ca 1 hectare) and was built most probably at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries. In time it became a two-enclosure site with an area of 9 hectares. Its last phase is determined by the time when a hoard of coins was hidden there after the mid-10th century. The strongholds at B\dzin (the 9th century) and Trzcinica on the Ropa river (the end of the 8th century) also most probably functioned till the end of the 10th century; in the last-mentioned case it is assumed that even until as long as the 1020s.34 31 32 33 34

Maj, Adamikowa 1992. Kr[piec 1998. 2004. Kr[piec, Poleski 1996.

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The chronology of the earliest stronghold of the Vislane on the Wawel Hill in Cracow has not been unraveled so far despite the longlasting research. The dendrochronological dates obtained so far are late and concern fortications built after 1016. Also in the light of the existing publications, the majority of the structures on the Wawel Hill, including the earliest monumental ones, date only to the late 10th century (cf. Chapter 10) so little is known about the Wawel’s topography in the pre-state period. There are no clear traces of the use of the site by the Bohemians or the more so of the Great Moravians. So far the earliest fortications in Cracow are in the area of Okod, where they are linked with the period after the year 973. A nd of a hoard of axe-like currency bars dated to the second half of the 9th century has come from Okod (13 Kanonicza Street). It consists of 4212 items weighing altogether more than 4 tons (Fig. 38).35 Its size, weight and place of deposition indicate, according to some researchers, a welldeveloped scal system in the area of modern Cracow as early as the 9th century.36 The large strongholds of Little Poland were built in the centers of the settlement concentrations. Some researchers see similarities between these strongholds with those known from the area of Great Moravia. However, the similarities concern only the size, but all the other elements are not really comparable. It is assumed that the Little Polish strongholds could have been the centers of military and administrative units. It has not been established, however, who ruled them and what their broader historical meaning was. As they have been excavated only to a small degree and because of the above discussed difculties in interpretation, after several decades of research, they still remain a fascinating mystery and also a characteristic feature of the pre-state architecture of the southern Polish lands. An interesting contribution to the studies on the strongholds from the pre-state period can be made by archaeology where there had occurred a catastrophe and the sites had been destroyed. A few cases of such

35

Zaitz 1981. According to Kazimierz Radwaqski this assumption is suggested, besides the size of the nd (the largest known in Europe so far), by the fact that the currency bars were arranged in bunches; each of them had from several to more than a dozen specimens. This may indicate that these ‘bunches’ were part of a tribute paid to the local leader. In this context the broader meaning of the nds is underlined, especially the presence of the huge Krak and Wanda Mounds in Cracow dated to the same period (Radwaqski 2003). 36

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a

b

Figure 38. Hoard of axe-shaped currency bars from Kanonicza Street in Cracow: a—stratigraphy of the hoard, b—arrangement of the bundles of bars in the top layer (after E. Zaitz, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

an occurrence have been noted, especially in sites located in the borderlands between the tribes of God\szyce and Vislane, for example at Lubomia near Wodzisdaw, Mi\dzytwiecie near Skoczów or Kamieniec near Pyskowice. Characteristically, the degree of destruction is high (res) and traces of intentional damage done to the fortications can be observed, with no sign of later attempts at reconstruction. Additionally, some of these sites were being enlarged just before the catastrophe. According to Jerzy Szyddowski37 these phenomena may be connected

37

1998.

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with the attempts made in the second half of the 9th century by the Moravian prince Sviatopluk (869–94) to occupy Silesia and Little Poland and the resulting migration of the groups of Moravians to the gained territories. It is not known, however, why this population did not leave any traces in the material culture. In Silesia, the areas where the rst Early Medieval strongholds were located are often connected with the zones settled at the end of Antiquity.38 It is assumed that the earliest may have been built in the 7th century. In the lowland part of Lower Silesia, small structures, oval in shape, of the area of 0.05 to 0.1 hectare with buildings located near the walls are the most common. Thus these structures are similar to the ones from Chedmno Land and Kuiavia. Their dating, however, urgently requires verication. A considerable amount of evidence indicates that such constructions resemble the Tornow type strongholds; if they belong to the same group they should have a much later date, even the turn of the 9th/10th century. The largest concentration of Early Medieval strongholds has been recorded for the north-western part of Lower Silesia. In the southeastern part, in the area of Mount sl\va, fewer open settlements and strongholds have been discovered and there are only a few earliest sites such as Niemcza, Strzegom, or Lubomia. In this area however there are large and very large strongholds with areas between 1 and 5 hectares. These traits make them to some extent similar to those known from Little Poland and Bohemia. The Silesian strongholds include those with features not found elsewhere, such as wood and earth ramparts with stone faces or even stone-wooden-earth ones. More than a dozen such strongholds occur in the southern and eastern part of Lower Silesia.39 The ramparts with stone faces were more than 4–6 m wide and 3–3.5 m tall in the earlier phase. The later walls are generally bigger. The wooden and earth parts of the fortications were built with the use of the ‘grill’ and ‘caisson’ techniques. They were joined with the stone part in different ways. The stone face was on the external side and covered the front of the wall. The most sophisticated constructions of this type so far have been found at Niemcza and many similar constructional techniques have been discovered at the stronghold at Dobromierz.40 In that case rectangu-

38 39 40

Lodowski, Szyddowski 1991; Tyszkiewicz L.A. 1993; Movdzioch 2000. Jaworski 2005. Kamierczyk 1983.

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lar stone blocks (60 u 30 u 25 cm) were used and occasionally larger ones were used both for building the wall and the gate in it (Fig. 39). The stone was of local origin so easy to obtain. There are a few similar constructions in other regions of Poland. Their existence, not entirely explained, has been noted at sites such as Cracow-Okód, Witlica, Guciów, and recently also Gniezno. Most often this type of construction occurs in the later phase, namely the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. In Silesia, stone-faced fortications were made between the 9th and the mid-10th century. Their appearance is linked with the inuences of the techniques used to build the defensive structures in the areas to the south of the Carpathian Mountains, especially the Moravian-Bohemian ones, where they commonly occurred in the 8th–10th century. These strongholds in Silesia are supposed to have declined and been abandoned in the late 9th and early 10th century. Józef Kamierczyk41 links these processes not so much with the fall of Great Moravia as with natural disasters and/or the migration of the population who built them caused by the inux of the settlers

Figure 39. Fortied settlement at Dobromierz with stone rampart facing: reconstruction of the gate (after J. Kamierczyk). 41

1983.

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from the northern part of the region and southern Great Poland; these phenomena have been archaeologically proven for the rst half of the 10th century. Another defensive element recognized in various parts of Polish lands are a number of linear earthworks. They have some common features. Most often these are earthen embankments sometimes having elements of wooden construction which are however often difcult to dene. They have a linear form and usually are quite long (usually several kilometers). The archaeological material obtained from them is usually not very plentiful and for that reason it is difcult to date them precisely. The best known are the so-called Silesian Ramparts which run along the Bóbr river. Three pairs of parallel embankments with a system of accompanying ditches have been preserved as well as two intervalla; the maximum width of these structures in some places exceeded 47 m. It is assumed that they were built in the pre-state times and they are connected with the expansion of the Dziadoszanie towards Lusatia (Fig. 40). According to this conception the earthworks were to defend the territorial borders of at least several tribal organizations inhabiting Silesia. Researchers also accept the idea that in the early Piast period they may have been included into the defensive system of the Polish state.42 Similar structures also appear in Kuiavia and their origins, according to Elvbieta Kowalczyk, may be connected with the activeness of the

Figure 40. Silesian linear earthworks: southern line of the ramparts near Pogorzele (after E. Kowalczyk).

42

Kowalczyk 1987.

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Goplanie, although due to the problems with establishing the time of their origin and use, they may as well be linked to the period beginning during the rule of Mieszko I till the late 11th century. Similar earthworks are known from regions beyond the area covered by this publication (those which used to be occupied by the Prussians) and in the eastern borderland of the modern country, where the origins of the linear earthworks at Czermno are linked with the Ruthenian activities in the region from the late 11th–early 12th century. Thus, in the light of the research conducted so far, the linear earthworks of Poland differ in their morphology, location, and time when they were built. Although these issues have been studied for many years, they have not yet been settled. The main obstacle is the scarcity of the archaeological evidence, especially that which could be used for dating. However, the evidence indicates that these structures bear the marks of several different approaches to their construction and were not the work of a single architect. Although they are located on borders it is not certain against what danger they were to protect. This all means that these structures which are such intriguing landmarks in the landscape of many parts of Poland will remain in the focus of interest of the next generation of historians and archaeologists. 3. One or many burial rites? As in the case of the early Slavic period, where the origins of at cremation graves are unknown, for the pre-state period the circumstances of the appearance of barrow burials remain a subject of controversy. Although Early Medieval barrows are similar to those of the late Roman period, the time span which separates these two phenomena, amounting to 200 –300 years, excludes the possibility of any simple relationship between them. The greatest variety of types of barrow burials, including some constructions unique in the whole area of Poland, can be observed in eastern Mazovia, especially in the basins of the Liwiec, Bug, and Krzna rivers. Although these structures were investigated as early as in the second half of the 19th century, our knowledge about them is quite unsatisfactory. The mounds rst appeared there in the 6th–7th century, but for an unknown reason none were constructed in the 8th–9th century. They then reappeared and were constructed until the 13th century (the latter date is surprisingly late for the barrow burials and additionally distinguishes the region from others). The

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mounds identied so-far appear singly or in groups, from several to several dozen. According to Joanna Kalaga,43 more than 80 of them have been found. These barrows were medium-sized features, circular, oval or rectangular in shape, with dimensions from 3.5 to 11 m and height of 1.2–1.9 m. The burial rites were varied. There were burials under the barrows (not very numerous), those with the deceased’s bones within the mound and the most common type are those with the bones on the tops of the mounds. Also barrows with stones on the outer surface were found, which are a rarity in Polish lands. At the base of some of the barrows there were stone walls or constructions made of wood; there are also examples known which have internal divisions into two chambers or with a layer of stones inside. Although the barrows were used at the discussed area until the 13th century no inhumation burials have been found in them. A peculiarity of the burial rites from the pre-state period are burials on top of the barrow. The cremated remains of the deceased were placed at the top of the mound in an urn. Until recently it was believed that this custom is characteristic of the Eastern Slavs’ rituals; more recent research has, however, indicated that this type of burial appeared also in the areas occupied by the Western Slavs, which is exemplied by the recently excavated cemetery at Kleczanów near Sandomierz (Chapter 6). Another version of above-ground burials are so-called graves of the Alt Käbelich type. Their name is derived from the eponymous cemeteries at Alt Käbelich-Neuenkirchen in Mecklenburg. Similar burial grounds were found in Western Pomerania and in other areas of Poland, for example in Little Poland. These usually have shallow (to 40 cm deep), large, oval or round burial pits over which were built wooden chambers with both inhumation and cremation burials (Fig. 41, Fig. 42). There are two views concerning the origin of this phenomenon. According to Wdadysdaw cosiqski44 burials of this type are characteristic of the north-western Slavs from the 9th–10th centuries. Other specialists tend to believe that they represent traces of Scandinavian inuences on the burial rites among the Wolinianie and Veleti.45 An important aspect of the research on the burial rites of the pre-state period are the large barrows from Little Poland. The investigations in

43 44 45

2001. 1993. Zoll-Adamikowa 1997.

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Figure 41. Graves of the Alt Käbelich type in Pomerania and Mecklenburg (after W. cosiqski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Figure 42. Graves of the Alt Käbelich type: plans of constructions found within them (after W. cosiqski; drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

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three most representative ones, Krak’s Mound in Cracow, Salve Regina Mound in Sandomierz and Tartar Mound in Przemytl, have shown that in each case the mound has a different construction and was formed in a different way but all seem to have some connection with the attributes of power. The questions when and for whom they were built and whether they were the graves of unknown leaders, or should be interpreted in some other way, remain unanswered (cf. Chapter 7). For years there has been a debate on the complex issues concerning the passage from cremation to inhumation in Polish lands. Most often the date of the conversion is regarded as the second half of the 10th century, although some specialists believe the chronology may be quite different.46 It is worthwhile to recall in this context the debates on the possibility of an earlier adoption of Christianity initiated after the War in connection with the discoveries at Witlica and in the 1980s after the discovery of so-called tablets with supposed traces of writing from the settlement at Podebdocie (Chapter 8). So far there has been no agreement whether these tablets are products of the imagination of the archaeologists, an unimportant accident or a discovery opening new cognitive horizons. This question concerns also the possibilities of the arrival in Polish lands of people from the Christian south and their settling in the local, pagan milieux. The late pre-state period has provided well-documented discoveries of inhumation burials dated to the early 10th century. The nds from Przemytl (Fig. 43) concern the representatives of alien ethnic groups (Magyars) so they cannot be connected with the conversion after the adoption of Christianity in Poland.47 With regard to the latter, the cemetery at Niemcza (recorded as ‘Niemcza I’) has a completely different signicance (Cf. Chapter 15). According to some researchers this is probably one of the earliest Early Medieval inhumation burials in Polish lands and the pottery found in the graves is connected with the Avar-Slavic circle and dated to as early as the 7th–8th century, although such early dating is not entirely certain.48 What was the nature of these links with the Danubian areas to the south has not been investigated or explained yet. The change from cremation to inhumation, the abandoning of a barrow burial rite in favor of at burials, orienting the deceased towards

46 47 48

G[ssowski 1992. Koperski 2003. Cf. Jaworski 2000; 2005.

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Figure 43. Old-Magyar cemetery in Przemytl, rst half of the 10th century: a warrior’s burial, Grave 6 and its goods: a—tting of a purse, b—arrowheads, c –d—belt buckles, e—belt tting, f—bridle bit, g—bone element of composite bow, h—narrow bladed battle axe (czekan), i—stirrups, j, d—ttings, k—saddle girth buckle, l—scabbard tting (after A. Koperski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

the west and gradual limiting of the grave goods are generally believed to be the features reecting the great changes of ideology in the period of rejecting pagan rites and adopting Christianity. In this context, discussions have concerned the supposed connections of Little Poland and Cracow with Bohemia. However, so far no inhumation burials obviously belonging to the times from before the end of the 10th century have been found, nor (except for one possible example, Chapter 10), have remains of churches connected with the Bohemian episode of history been discovered. This lack of evidence, even though Poland formally belonged to the Christian world from the year 966, may be not so

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much due to the weaknesses of the archaeological research but to the fact that the country began to be Christianized after the administrative seats of the Church were established at the Gniezno Summit in the year 1000. There is also no doubt that the new religion only developed and became more rmly established as late as between the 11th and mid-13th century and thus at the time when the network of parochial churches was created. 4. Many questions and few answers In the studies on the pre-state period, the number of questions still exceeds the possibilities of answering them. As has been stressed above, a reliable list of the peoples inhabiting Polish lands before the state was created is still not known and in some cases even the location of their territories. Another research problem is the highly controversial issue of large and small ‘tribal’ organization especially in Pomerania, Mazovia and Little Poland in the context of the appearance of larger territorial communities. The small density of the strongholds discovered by means of archaeological investigations seems surprising when compared to the data from the written sources. The number of the identied sites of this period is in evident contradiction with the information of the Bavarian Geographer who wrote about tens or even hundreds of civitates belonging to the peoples he mentioned by name. Perhaps these were not really strongholds (defensive centers), but were, it seems now more probable, the name denoting settlement points. This is one of the questions which so far have not been discussed to a greater extent. The differences in chronology and the density of strongholds in various regions of Poland are also surprising. What caused such a disparity? It does not seem probable that this is due to the different degrees of the present knowledge about various areas. Finally, the chronology of the earliest strongholds in Poland has not been denitely established so far. Besides a few examples, little is known about the topography and character of open settlements located near the fortied centers, which is caused by the lack of research programs uniform for the whole country. It is also surprising that part of the settlements from the early Slavic period were not occupied continually in the following periods whereas other ones developed also in the Piast state. Another research problem are the reasons for the rapid rise in the 9th

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century and the subsequent decline of the large centers of the pagan cult. Were these the last attempts of the large territorial organizations at becoming part of the newly forming European states or are there other interpretations of these phenomena? Why do the most spectacular features appear only in southern Poland? Who used them and to what extent? In what circumstances and when did they fall? What is meant by the notion of the Slavic holy grove? Could these functions have been fullled also by some old pagan cemeteries? When were the monumental mounds from Little Poland made and what was their function? Why are not there any similar features in the other regions of the country? *

*

*

There are thus still many research questions and problems. Some of them will be discussed more extensively in the following chapters and illustrated with examples from the investigations of the features from the pre-state period. Particular attention will be paid to those discoveries and research issues which have remained attractive for the researchers despite the passage of time even though they still inspire contradictory assessments and interpretations.

CHAPTER FIVE

HOLY MOUNTAINS The mountain occupies a special place in the beliefs of many peoples, including the pagan Slavs.1 These elevations, especially the ones located in an open landscape, inspired the conviction that they played an important role in contacts between the heavens and earth. The top of a mountain exhibits different atmospheric phenomena from those which occur at its foot, which inspired awe and fear in people in the past. A hill clearly distinguished from the rest of the landscape was in many cases identied with the abode of a god or gods. In Poland the best known and associated with the most legends are cysa (Bald) Mountain, located in southern Poland in the eastern part of the cysogóry Chain in the Holy Cross Mountains, and sl\va Mountain, located 40 km to the south-west of Wrocdaw. Both of them (especially the latter one) have been intensively investigated by archaeologists in the past and also quite recently. However, although a lot of interdisciplinary studies have been carried out and new evidence obtained, not all the issues have been completely recognized and explained. 1. Large cult centers of the pre-state period: dysa Góra The landscape of the Sandomierz Upland is dominated by cysa Góra (Bald Mountain), also called cysiec. Seen from many places at a distance of more than 20 kilometers, the mountain is covered with rich vegetation. Its mysteriousness is enhanced by the steep rocky slopes and dense forests. It also differs from the neighboring areas because of its more severe climate. Near the summit can be observed more often than elsewhere mists, rain and atmospheric discharges. The view of clouds gathering under the summit of cysiec, which gives the impression that it is hanging in the air and the view extending to many dozen kilometers from its summit have an unforgettable impact. The

1 For more on the subject, cf.: Eliade 2000: 392ff.; Gieysztor 1982: 168f.; cf. also Banaszkiewicz 1998: 356ff.; Krzak 1986–1990.

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Figure 44. cysa Gora in the Holy Cross Mountains: view of the monastery from the south (photo: A. Buko).

very summit of cysa Góra, on which Medieval monastic buildings are located, is at and deprived of vegetation, giving it the name of Bald Mountain (Fig. 44). The cysa Góra complex is situated in a region with rich traditions of settlement in the Early Middle Ages; some of its centers date back to the beginnings of Christianity in Polish lands. For many years this has been the destination both of groups of pilgrims and of people treating the visit as a tourist attraction. The pilgrimages and tourists usually visit the Benedictine monastery whose tradition dates back to the rst half of the 12th century. The main archaeological feature visible on cysiec is a bank of stones, the remains of a rampart running on a course which is elongated elliptical in plan running around and just below the summit. It is divided into two parts (Fig. 45). The eastern one, 813 m long, is made of quartzite rocks covered with broken stones. The preserved height is today 2.5–3 m and the width at the bottom is as much as 8 m. In the enclosure there are four gaps, three of which are connected with roads leading through them and one was probably the original gate. The western part of the enclosure wall consists of two elements, a 350 m long northern one and a 150 m long southern one. This part of the

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structure is interpreted as unnished and the choice of the material and the way in which the wall was made seem to indicate that it was built with lesser care. The excavations in the area of the walls carried out by Eligia and Jerzy G[ssowski2 proved that the pottery, which was the main type of nds discovered, was of varying chronology, mostly from the 9th till the 12th century. The earliest material was found in the lower parts of the wall. In the eastern part of the structure no ancient material was uncovered. The amount of pottery collected during the excavations was quite small: from more than a dozen to less than fty potsherds. This led the researchers to believe that human groups might have stayed there only for limited periods of time, perhaps in association with some traditional holy rites. The cysa Góra complex is also characterized by the presence of stone sculptures, one of which, called the Pilgrim, stands at the foot of the mountain in the eastern part (Fig. 46), another one is in the cemetery at Sdupia Nowa.3 These discoveries are considered to represent a pagan cult center functioning from the 9th till probably the 11th–12th century. The stone rampart visible below the plateau of the summit and not making up a complete circle could not have been an efcient fortication protecting the inhabitants against the invaders, it is thus not very probable that it had a military character. It is more believable that it had a symbolic meaning: the wall enclosed an area of the mountain top which could not be entered. Inside, no traces of permanent structures were found. This may indicate that the whole area was visited only for short periods of time; this hypothesis is supported by the small number of pottery nds from such a large area and their even spatial distribution inside the walls. The debate on the meaning of the site has been going on for a number of years. According to Jerzy G[ssowski4 the fact that the most numerous pottery nds come from the 11th and 12th century may indicate that the pagan cult at cysa Góra was at its most lively during the period of the active Christianization of Poland. Historians see this

2

1970. Some opinions were also expressed about the later date of the statues and thus their lack of connection with the Early Middle Ages (cf. G[ssowska, Kuczyqski 1975; Derwich 2000). 4 1968. 3

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issue in a different way. Marek Derwich5 claims that this is contradicted by the fact that the origins of the monastery date to the rst half of the 12th century. It would be hard to accept that pagan rites were celebrated in a place where Christian monks were congregated at the same time. I believe, however, that these two opinions can be reconciled at least in part. The pottery from the late pre-state period and probably that from the 11th century found within the walls might have been connected with the rites conducted when the summit of the mountain was used for celebrating the pagan cult. Contrary to the opinion of some authors, the tradition preserved in the written sources does not indicate that at that time the monastery already existed at the top of cysiec. The later material, from the 12th and 13th century is traces of the presence of human groups but of a different type, after the Holy Trinity Benedictine monastery had been built on the top of the mountain. Then the majority of the people arriving at the summit were (at least formally) Christian pilgrims to whom the archaeological remains from that period should be ascribed, including the nds of broken vessels. It cannot be excluded that various pagan practices were conducted there in secrecy, although there are no mentions of them in written sources. As at sl\va (with the nearby sites of Mount Kotciuszko and Radunia—see below) there are other proven or supposed centers of pagan cult near cysa Góra, such as Mount Grodowa at Tumlin and at Mount Dobrzeszewska near Kielce.6 2. The mysteries of Mount tl\wa The cult function of Mount sl\va is testied by written sources. At the beginning of the 11th century Thietmar, the bishop of Merseburg and a historian wrote: “while the detestable rites of the heathen were still practiced here, this mountain was highly venerated by the populace because of its unique character and size.” (Thietmar, VII, 59). The main problem which the archaeologists have been facing for many years are the difculties in identifying the archaeological remains reecting that function.

5 6

1992, 177ff. Kuczyqski, Pyzik 1967.

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The conical Mount sl\va rising to 718 meters above the sea level looks impressive even today against the background of the slightly rolling landscape (Fig. 47). Due to this, as in the case of the cysa Góra, it has a specic climate which is caused by the condensation of air masses, resulting in more frequent rainfalls, atmospheric discharges and storms. Lack of permanent settlement on the broad slopes also added mysteriousness to the mountain. This impression was intensied by the enigmatic stone sculptures and some of them have diagonal crosses engraved on them similar to crosses found on rocks in some parts of the rocky slopes. At sl\va and the neighboring Mount Radunia and Mount Kotciuszko, remains of mysterious stone constructions were also found. It is not surprising that the local people and tourists have the impression that this place has a supernatural character. Although archaeological excavations were rst carried out on Mount sl\va in the 18th century, they were only intensied after the Second World War as part of the program of the research on the origins of the Polish state7 and the work has been continued till today. The peculiarities of the site and the controversies about its interpretation are best testied by the results of the investigations conducted so far. The interest in sl\va and its distant history, especially in the 19th and early 20th century has at times however even prevented a proper understanding of the complex. Local inhabitants and tourists from Wrocdaw frequently visiting the place were responsible for the erection of constructions imitating ancient ones near the mountain top which have hindered the work of the archaeologists and caused debates resulting from the difculties in distinguishing the original constructions and their modern imitations. The remaining part of a structure near the summit is a fragmentarilypreserved stone wall 3–5 m thick and 5 m tall, tapering slightly towards the top. It is a dry-stone wall made of well tted boulders; in places the larger stones were used to construct ‘cells’ which were lled with smaller

7

A considerable interest in this site was expressed after the War especially by H. CehakHodubowiczowa, who conducted large-scale archaeological excavations and made an attempt at interpreting the nds in a broader spatial context (Cehak Hodubowiczowa 1959, 1968). Attempts at interpreting the discoveries were also made by J. Rosen-Przeworska (1979) who saw Celtic inuence in the mysterious gures on sl\va and W. Korta (1988); (cf. also: G[ssowski 1975; Sdupecki 1992). The latest verication works were conducted in recent years by G. Domaqski. The publication summing up the state of research (Domaqski 2002) contains also a broad outline of the history of research and a wealth of literature on the subject.

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rocks. The state of preservation makes it difcult to determine whether this wall entirely surrounded the plateau at the top of the mountain. The construction was considerably damaged in the Middle Ages when stones from it were used for building local castles and churches. On the northern slope of sl\va, a 400 m long semi-circular rampart has been found enclosing three sides of the mountain, except the southern one. The stones are arranged in such a way that the larger ones make the face and the smaller ones ll in the internal part. The structure is up to 4 m wide whereas its height does not exceed 1 m above the surface (Fig. 48). In the vicinity of these structures, fragments of Lusatian Culture pottery have been found. There is no agreed interpretation of this feature. Helena Cehak-Hodubowicz tended

Figure 48. Distribution of archaeological features around Mount sl\va (after G. Domaqski, drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

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to accept its cult function due to the similarities in its form to the circles known from the nearby Mount Radunia and Mount Wievyca (Kotciuszko). Three other parallel walls, 9 to 12 m long, preserved to a height of 1 m and 1 to 5 m wide are, according to the researcher, modern constructions, although a historian, Wacdaw Korta8 tends to believe that they are of the same date as the other ones. At the summit remains of a stone gate preserved to the height of 1 m and 3 m wide have been discovered. So far it has not been established whether the gate had a military function: closing the road running to the summit in a hollow-way thus making it difcult for an enemy to reach the top of the mountain, or had a ritual function, especially as the specialists can not agree on the subject. The complex of discoveries at sl\va made so far has been interpreted quite differently and criticized by Grzegorz Domaqski,9 the director of the investigations conducted in recent years. He believes that at the top of the summit are remains of fortications of both the prehistoric Lusatian Culture as well as Early Medieval ones. The latest rampart embraced an area of c. 75 u 90 m of the meadow at the top of the mountain, this is similar to the extent of the much earlier fortied settlement of the Lusatian Culture. Traces connected with the settlement of the pre-state period have been recorded from many parts of the mountain; the ones found on the summit are considered to be the most mysterious. In trenches opened just before the Second World War and also in the post-war period, numerous fragments of pottery from the pre-state period were found. At the same time, no features with which they could be linked were unearthed. Moreover, as Grzegorz Domaqski claims, this material occurred in the same layers as prehistoric and modern pottery. This may be caused by the fact that the earlier structures and features were destroyed in respective settlement phases when new buildings were erected in the same place. Although large amounts of material suggest the intensive settlement in the area of the summit (and so unlike the situation at cysa Góra described above), its character and specic features remain a mystery. In this situation, it seems that the suggestions of a fortied settlement, an open settlement or a cult center put forward earlier, are completely groundless, except for the relatively late fortied settlement from the 13th century, fragments of whose wall have been preserved till today. A separate small

8 9

1988. 2002.

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fortied settlement, discovered in 1993, located on the eastern slope is dated to the pre-state period. It was built on a level surface made by cutting a ledge in the slope and covered with clay and stone slabs. On that surface structures of wood and small stones were made. On the west it was adjoined by a pond enclosed by a 7 m wide dyke, near the site a at ledge cut in the slope was found. The fortied settlement is dated by pottery to the 9th century and it is one of the smallest such structures known from Silesia. Its dimensions are 17 u 29 (31) m. The other early Medieval sites found on Mount sl\va do not have the character of cult sites. According to Domaqski not one but several such places are possible. The rst could have been the meadow on the mountain’s summit as the central cult site. If such an assumption is adopted then it is possible that the guardians of the place could have lived in the settlement located near the top. This could have been the small fortied settlement discussed above which has a very small size and low defensive value. There is a barrow cemetery dated to the 8th–9th century 750 meters to the south-west of the summit meadow. Finally the fortied settlement at B\dkowice located 400 m away could be linked with the complex. Some researchers believe that the destruction of that complex in the 10th century testied by the archaeological excavations may have been an attempt at eliminating the sl\va cult center. Rebuilt in the 11th century, the fortied settlement, like the whole area of the mountain survived only as the family estate of the Wdostowic family. The last episode in the history of the area happened when one of the biggest Polish feudal owners—Piotr Wdostowic, granted most of the land to the Augustinian order. However, the monastery at the top of sl\va was never nished. It is said that its construction was stopped by the exceptionally severe atmospheric conditions. The monks ultimately built their monastery at Piasek in Wrocdaw. However, archaeology has not provided any evidence at what stage the construction works were stopped because no traces of the monastery have been discovered. Other problems are connected with the interpretation of the stone sculptures from sl\va. The so-called gure with a sh has survived till our times only fragmentarily (head, lower parts of lower limbs and arms missing). It represents a gure wearing a owing gown and holding a large sh. There is no agreement whether it is a representation of a man or a woman. The rst mention of the monument comes from a document of Henryk the Bearded issued in 1209 which mentions a stone called Petrey (St Peter?). Another mysterious sculpture is the so-called ‘mushroom’, which researchers believe to be a fragment of a human gure. Two very similar

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Figure 49. Mount sl\va: stone sculpture representing a bear (photo: S. Rosik).

sculptures resemble schematic bears’ gures (Fig. 49). Another one is called The Monk and it is interesting because several legends are connected with it. To complete the list one should mention the so-called sl\va column a stone cylinder 2.4 m high and 45 cm in diameter (a unnished product?) and worked granite blocks of unknown designation. Some of these artifacts bear the signs of a diagonal cross. The interpretation of the above-mentioned nds has inspired some disagreement. The rst debatable element is the origin of the religious cult on the summit of Mount sl\va. Wdodzimierz and Helena Hodubowicz believed that sl\va began to function as a cult site in the Bronze Age and the times of the Lusatian culture. The gure with sh is associated by some authors with the area of the Balkan Peninsula or even farther, the Middle East, where sh was a symbol of fertility. The images of sh are also known in Scythian, Greek and Celtic art; the same concerns the bear which was an attribute of goddess Artemis in Ancient Greece. Thanks to the investigations carried out by Janina Rosen-Przeworska10 the hypothesis that the sculptures on sl\va are of Celtic origin became popular. It was based on the fact that nds very

10

1979.

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similar to the ones from sl\va are quite popular in the Celtic world, especially in Spain. It has not been explained, however, why they appeared in two areas so distant from each other, but with none found in the regions between them. For that reason other researchers tend to associate the sculptures with the pagan period and the Slavs.11 The sculptures on sl\va ceased to be made at the same time when Romanesque art appeared in Polish lands. Some researchers connect this fact with building the Augustinian abbey on sl\va in the 12th century. It cannot be established at present whether the sculptures and the whole sl\va center originated at the beginning of our era as a Celtic sanctuary or is a mature product of Slavic culture. Wacdaw Korta believes the sculptures from sl\va are obviously connected with the old pagan cult. After the adoption of Christianity some attempts were probably made to destroy and eliminate them (hence the damage to some). After some time, they were probably used as boundary stones, which seems to be conrmed by the diagonal crosses on some of them, formerly interpreted as manifestations of the pagan cult. Another group of hypotheses interprets the sign of these crosses as a solar symbol or an abbreviated form of the double axe or labrys known from the Minoan culture. When analyzing this phenomenon it is worth noting where the signs were made. It seems that the places were selected quite accidentally as if the signs are in no way part of the composition of the whole; this gives the irresistible impression that they were made later. For that reason the hypothesis associating the discussed symbols with boundary stones seems much more reliable. So what is the general meaning of the discoveries made so far? It seems that the most believable is the hypothesis put forward by Grzegorz Domaqski.12 In the light of the investigations conducted recently, he believes that the function of sl\va, as well as of Mounts Radunia and Kotciuszko, was determined by symbolic, refugial and economic behaviors. Doubtless, the mountain had been explored and perhaps also used in distant prehistoric periods. No direct traces of pagan cult of the Early Middle Ages in the form of any permanent structures located at the summit have been found during excavations. This prompts the question whether such structures were absolutely necessary. A cult function (or one connected with service of the cult place) could have been

11 12

G[ssowski 1975; Sdupecki 1992. 2000.

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fullled by a small fortied settlement located on the slope, which had no traces of internal structures, together with the neighboring water reservoir. The name of Mount sl\va itself (tl\z, Slenz) is connected by some researchers with the cult of water. The symbolic testimonies of human behavior of the past could have intermingled with utilitarian activities. The mountain, like the neighboring ones, was a source of natural raw materials: wood and stone. It is possible that the traces of exploitation of these materials may have hindered the identication and proper interpretation of some of the discoveries made so far. Finally, it should be stated that the sl\va complex includes two similar phenomena found on the neighboring mountains: Mounts Radunia and Kotciuszko (Wievyca). This resembles the situation described above at cysa Góra. 3. Other mountains—supposed places of pagan cult The other proven and probable places of pagan cult remain overshadowed by the two complexes described above. At the northern edge of Silesian Beskidy Mountains (south-west Poland) Mount Wapiennica is located. The range called Palenica, to which it belongs, is 5 km to the west of the town of Bielsko-Biada. The cult site is located at the top of the hill, at a height of about 700 m above sea level. As in other previously described cases there is an excellent view from the top. In the area of the summit Jerzy Szyddowski13 discovered in 1962 a 2 m tall and 10 m wide stone wall surrounded by a ditch. The researcher put forward several arguments which, in his opinion, require adding Wapiennica to the group of sites described above. These include its location on a hill, the presence of a stone-built enclosure, lack of traces of permanent settlement, and also the rarely used name ‘Palenica’ for the summit. However, all these arguments are conjectural and this is just one of many possible interpretations. In recent years, more interest has been devoted to the analysis of the mysterious phenomena from the so-called Kowalowa Góra, a small hill located near the town of Gostyq (Silesia). The site is located in a place difcult of access. Originally it was identied as a fort, possibly from the pre-state period, destroyed in a re. Access to the top of the

13

1968.

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hill is cut off by a 2 m wide and 0.70 m deep ditch. In the ditch pottery and charcoal were found; it is thus possible that res burnt here. Also a rampart was discovered in the area, yet as has been remarked by Sdawomir Modzioch,14 it is not a complete circuit and in the area it encloses there is no distinguishable occupation layer. There were however ten pits found which had atypical contents. In one of them the remains of a considerably damaged, partly burnt human skeleton accompanied by almost complete vessels were discovered. Another feature was particularly large (10 u 4 m) but did not have a hearth; and its ll contained very few nds. Another one contained, besides many different objects, an exceptionally large number of pottery fragments from which whole vessels were reconstructed. Yet another pit contained remains of a human skeleton. It would seem that the excavated site was not a burnt fortied settlement but rather a pagan center of the cult of the dead, dated to the period between the 10th or perhaps 11th–12th century, which was suggested by the pottery nds. According to that conception the burials in the pits at the top of the hill were sacrices but at the same time graves of the ancestors of the local community. The hypothesis of the cult character of the hill is apparently supported by the local tradition naming it the ‘smith’s’ (Kowalowa) hill, and thus a place connected with re. As the discoveries can be interpreted in various ways and there is a lack of analogies it is difcult to determine whether this hypothesis is true or not. On the Cathedral Hill in Chedm (south-eastern Poland), the highest chalk elevation in the area today there is the cathedral basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The northern and at the same time the tallest part of the hill (220 m above sea level), so-called Wysoka Górka (Tall Hill) has been the object of interest of the historians and archaeologists for many years (Fig. 50). The problem of the presence of a pagan cult site in that place has been repeatedly discussed in literature.15 Legends mention a pagan k[cina (shrine) with the statue of god Perkun. It was also said that a holy grove was at the top of the hill, guarded by a white bear (present in the town’s coat of arms together with three oaks), which lived in a cave at the foot of the hill. Archaeological excavations carried out in the early 20th century revealed indenite, as it was reported

14 15

2000. Cf. Natkaqski 2000; Ruszkowska 2000.

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Figure 50. Cathedral Hill in Chedm seen from the south (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

by the Russian archaeologist, Pavlo Rappoport,16 remains of a ‘pagan pyre’. During later excavation works conducted on Wysoka Górka in 2000, including by this author, however, no archaeological remains were found to make this hypothesis more probable. Nevertheless, the case is not entirely clear because the results of geological auguring conducted here in the 1960s revealed that the upper parts of the hill had undergone considerable modications. They were connected with the works on building and the reconstructions of the sacral-residential complex erected on that spot in the 13th century by Duke Danylo Romanovich.17 Thus if the hill had some pagan functions then most probably any evidence of them could not have survived till our times due to the scale of the above-mentioned construction works. The town of Chedm has its namesake located in the vicinity of the town of Przedborze on the left bank of the Pilica river (central Poland). On a wide plain there is a hill called Mount Chedmowa or Chedmska (316 m above sea level).18 Its summit has a fortied settlement with a

16 17 18

1954. Cf. Chapter 10. Kamiqska 1958.

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diameter of 42 m, surrounded with a ditch and two rows of ramparts which are up to 5 m high. Two phases of fortications have been distinguished. The earlier one is dated to the 10th century; soon afterwards the settlement was burnt and then new ramparts and a ditch were made. These structures most probably survived until the mid-11th century. The pagan tradition of this place is consistently mentioned in local legends and tales. These are both ghost stories and ones naming the hill as a seat of witches. However, in this case also there is no archaeological evidence supporting these interpretations. In recent years the pagan cult center discovered by excavations on Lech’s Hill in Gniezno (Great Poland) has been widely discussed. The investigations revealed that originally the hill had two summits: one was lower and at (at present the cathedral is located there) and the other one, taller and steep, was in the area where now St George’s church is standing. On the rst one traces of res thought to be connected with cultic use of the hill have been found and on the other one have been found the remains of a stone cairn resembling a monumental barrow with a diameter up to 12 m and also assumed to be a cult structure. The stone mound contained pottery from the second half of the 9th century. On this basis a hypothesis was put forward of the particular role played by Lech’s Hill in the period when the Polish state was originating.19 Recently opinions have been voiced that St. Lawrence’s Hill at Kaddus near Chedm (Kuiavia) could have had pagan cultic functions. Remarkably these pagan practices would be dated to the 10th century. They are linked with the articial depressions including twin ponds located at the foot of St. Lawrence’s Hill, which are fed with spring water. Wojciech Chudziak stressed their sacral function indicated by an offering altar built within one of them, dated to the second half of the 10th century. Nearby numerous traces of offerings: corn, animals and even a young man, were found.20 In the 10th century the area around the hill was sparsely populated; no fortied settlement from that period was found. According to the excavator the data indicate that the whole area had a sacral function for the local tribal community. This was probably why in this very place a monumental basilica began to be constructed at

19 These issues are discussed more extensively in Chapters 9 and 10; with literature and discussion of the context of the discoveries. 20 Chudziak 2003, 142.

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St. Lawrence’s Hill after the adoption of Christianity in Poland in the early 11th century (cf. Chapter 11). In Mazovia, recent excavations have undermined the thesis put forward by Wdodzimierz Szafraqski21 according to which there was a pagan cult site on Tumskie Hill in the town of Pdock, a hypothesis frequently mentioned in past publications written by both historians and archaeologists. In his work on Early Medieval Pdock Szafraqski wrote about the unique nds: a fragment of a 12 year-old girl’s skull found near the edge of a stone pavement (near the remains of so-called Romanesque palatium), additionally surrounded with three crushed pottery vessels. In its nearest vicinity a stone pestle used, according to the author, to kill the maiden, a phallic object made of antler, a large altar-stone at which the bloody sacrice was made, a large post hole and remains of ve pits with traces of res arranged in a semi-circle were uncovered (interpreted as being for lighting the scene of the sacrice). The nds were accompanied by traces of iron smelting, which was connected by the excavator with the magical activities of a wizard-smith. Although each of the above-mentioned nds was ascribed a certain function by the excavator, their stratigraphic context is not well-dened. Particularly acute is the lack of data about the mutual relations of the discovered objects. Thus it is not entirely known which of the nds were found in a primary deposit and which were redeposited. The associated pottery should be rather dated to the 11th century than to the pre-state period. The girls’ skull may have been connected with an Early Medieval cemetery functioning in the vicinity (part of a destroyed grave?) and the altar-stone and the pestle resemble a quite common type of corn grinder. How can this mysterious complex of nds be explained in a different way? It may not be excluded that some of these objects may be a testimony of some unknown actions of symbolic character (foundation offering?), whereas the other ones were assigned to the same context without proper justication. The site at Radzikowo near Pdock produced a different kind of evidence. The place was called in local tradition Gaik (Little Grove).22 It is a moraine hill having the form of a truncated cone with an oval base of a diameter of 40 u 60 m. The full context of the discovery

21

1983. N.B. names of this kind which still exist in folk tradition are often a reminiscence of Slavic holy groves. 22

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is unknown as there is no publication. For that reason, we can only draw conclusions from the information from interim reports of the excavations. The research conducted by Iwona D[browska23 in the early 1980s revealed that on the hill were the remains of a whole series of phenomena apparently connected with cult-religious activities. There were diverse structural elements including three large oval pits (2.4 u 3.5 m and between 0.6 and 0.8 m deep). On their bases, among burnt logs and stones, fragments of vessels dated to the early 7th century and animal bones were found. In one of the pits an iron knife was discovered. There was also an articially raised slope of the hill in which as many as six levels of wooden constructions and three large (0.5–0.7 m in diameter) post-holes were found. These burnt constructions were interpreted as the remains of a pile-construction building, 3 m long, 2.6 m wide; it is possible that these were wooden steps leading to the top. Finally, in the south-western part of the hill a huge (5.4 u 2.2 u 2.1 m) pit and 5 post-holes around it were identied. All these discoveries were interpreted as a cult site functioning during the whole period of the Early Middle Ages.24 The discoveries at Modoczki in Podlasie (Fig. 51) are also thoughtprovoking. A structure resembling a fortied settlement was discovered on a small hill among the marshes formed by the Nurzec river owing nearby. There was a ring wall with a diameter of 35 m and preserved height of up to 2 m, to which a rampart of similar height and diameter of 12 m adjoined on the inside on its west side. In the central part of the enclosed area an elevation was preserved, which adjoined the larger rampart of from the west. During the eldwork it was recorded that the central elevation was separated from the rest of the area by a ditch, the bottom of which was paved with cobblestones and some of them had traces of burning to high temperatures. These may be the remains of res burnt in pits (like those found at Trzebiatów, described below). Inside the structure, in a layer of ash an almost complete vessel dated to the 10th century was found despite the fact that the number of pottery fragments from the whole site, as the excavator Dariusz Krasnod\bski25 states, was quite small. It is also interesting that the nearest traces of human habitation: an open settlement, was identied 23

1980. These discoveries have not been fully published yet and they are only known from short reports (e.g., D[browska, Babim 1981). 25 2000. 24

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Figure 51. Modoczki in Podlasie: a presumed cult site (after D. Krasnod\bski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

as close as 50 m to this enclosure. The trial pits here were limited in scope but revealed that the site functioned from the late 11th till the late 12th century. It has not been established yet if its inhabitants used the nearby enclosure and for what purposes. In northern Poland a possible pagan cult site was identied at Trzebiatów (Zachodniopomorskie voivodeship). The complex is located on an elevation of a height of 5–6 m surrounded with marshes (Fig. 52). The very name of the place, as it has been remarked by Aleksander Gieysztor,26 indicates giving offerings (from trzeba—a pagan offering). The site was spotted during rescue excavations conducted on so-called David’s Hill. In 1931, 100 m away from the bank of the river Rega, a 10 u 13 m oval structure surrounded with a 1.5 m wide and 0.5 m

26

1982, 180.

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Figure 52. Cult Circle 1 from Trzebiatów (after W. Filipowiak, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

deep ditch with two large hearths of diameters 1.2 m and 1.3 m was discovered. Inside the oval three post-holes, triangular in cross-section, were identied, accompanied by pairs of post-holes located outside. Two years later a similar complex located 65 m to the south-west of the above one was discovered. It was remarked that the oval outline was slightly smaller (8 u 10 m) and the ditch although narrower (1 m) was twice as deep (1 m). Inside only one hearth was recorded. It had a diameter of 1.3 m and outside of the oval three large postholes (diameters 1–1.3 m) were found. The excavations also revealed that in the ditches there were fragments of pottery dated to the 9th–10th century, charcoal and animal bones. The nds from the ditches were interpreted by Wdadysdaw Filipowiak as remains of offerings. It is assumed that the res were burnt both in the hearths inside the oval and in the ditches surrounding them. The post-holes of surprisingly large diameters may be, according to the excavator, holes left by stone idols. The complex of features and their context are clearly of symbolic character yet there is no reliable archaeological evidence supporting the hypothesis of the stone idols. A similar role was probably played by the circular ramparts from Gardno near Sdupsk dated to the 9th–10th century. In the same area

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near the village of Smoddzino, on the bank of the river cupawa, there is a high hill (115 m above the sea level) with steep slopes, located c. 7 km away from the sea. In local tradition this hill (Fig. 53) called Rowokód was believed to be the holy mountain of the Sdowiqcy, inhabiting the territory in the neighborhood of Lakes Gardno and cebskie.27 Excavations conducted in the area did not yield direct evidence of pagan cults. However the researchers investigated an oval fortied settlement located on the south-eastern slope of the hill next to which there is a spring. Along the rampart, numerous hearths were arranged circularly, which resembles the situation known from Chedmska Góra near Koszalin. The artifacts collected from Rowokód, consisting mainly of pottery, come from various epochs and periods, beginning with the Neolithic until the recent times. It was established that the structure enjoyed its greatest importance in the 9th–11th century. Its worth mentioning that at the top of the hill a chapel of St. Nicholas was built in the Middle Ages and a cemetery was established around it. Its exact date is not certain. It is assumed that the chapel could have been built between the 12th/ 13th and 15th century. The structure was probably of considerable importance as numerous pilgrims came to visit it both from Poland and the rest of Europe. Was the church built on an old cult site? If not, then why was it not erected near one of the settlements located at the foot of the hill? These are questions to which no denite answers have been found.28 Another interesting site is Mount Chedmska (also called Krzyvanka) located on the terminal moraine to the south-east of the town of Koszalin. Being close to the sea (less than 9 km away) the elevation (137 m above the sea level) dominates in the area. The excavations were rst conducted in the 19th century and continued after the Second World War.29 They revealed traces of prehistoric settlement (the Lusatian and Pomorska cultures) and features and numerous nds from the Middle Ages. The Medieval phase is represented by seven hearth pits, two large res, the outline of a structure (sometimes identied with a pagan k[cina [shrine]), a damaged boat burial and numerous stray nds. The pits, which are dated to the 9th–11th century, formed a circle around the summit. In one of them a vessel full of animal bones was found, which may be the remains of an offering. Traces of a 4.5 u 2.5 m structure,

27 28 29

Grucza, sl[ski 1970. These issues have been recently discussed by T. Malinowski (2004). Janocha 1966; 1974; 1988.

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the presumed k[cina, with a small hearth in the south-western corner was discovered below the graves of an Early Medieval cemetery. It is possible that originally the structure could have been larger, even as large as 14 u 14 m. In this context the discovery of a fragment of an Early Medieval boat with the limbs of a human skeleton found inside is particularly interesting. Due to its bad state of preservation it is difcult to date the nd and to reconstruct its original form. Some researchers believe that these may be remains of a Scandinavian boat burial. Although this possibility can not be excluded, it can not be fully justied either. In the Middle Ages a chapel and then a church with a cemetery was built on the hill. The remains of both the thirteenth century chapel (mentioned in written sources after the year 1263) and of the church from the mid-15th century were identied during the excavations. According to Henryk Janocha30 there is some evidence that Mount Chedmska could have had cultic functions as early as the Iron Age. He also remarks that its heyday was in the Early Middle Ages when there could have been a pagan shrine at its top. The distinctive features in this respect are the location and form of the feature, the distance from permanent settlements and, rst and foremost, the presence of the isolated burnt structure at the top. Whether or not these are interpreted as the remains of a pagan shrine must remain conjecture due to the lack of unequivocal evidence. The hypothesis is to some extent supported by the fact that the monks were brought to this place and a Christian church was built at the top of the hill. This resembles the practices known from the large centers of pagan cult known from southern Poland discussed above. 4. The mysterious umigrody A very characteristic group, separate from the ones described above, comprises a number of upland sites which are distinguished today by place names of the umigród type and which are thought by scholars to have been places of pagan cult. In Medieval chronicles we can often nd descriptions of a terrible monster (sometimes a winged one) which most often has the shape of a dragon. The re-breathing dragon is often an invincible creature effectively defending the borders of its

30

1988.

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kingdom. In the tradition of Eastern Slavs recorded in the Russian Primary Chronicle these beings appear most often in the context of the borderlands.31 The reminiscences of the ‘dragon’s’ legends are found in Polish lands in the names of the mysterious hills of the umigród type. They appear in southern Poland and, characteristically, in the context of the borderlands.32 The easternmost umigród near Jasdo is located on the right bank of the river Wisdoka, near it, in the vicinity of the old route leading to Hungary and Ruthenia, there is Old umigród (now a village). umigród in Lublin voivodeship, situated between the wetlands of the Bystrzyca and Czechówka rivers, is to the south-east of the modern city center. In Sandomierz, the name refers to the elevation at Zawichojskie suburb in the northeastern part of the town. Less than 30 km to the west, on the high left bank of the cupawa (Opatówka) river there is the umigród in Opatów located near the Bernardine monastery. Today it is in the northern part of old Opatów and has the shape of a loess headland with an area of about a hectare, it is also called the old castle. The westernmost site is the umigród on the Barycz river, whose wetlands separate Silesia from Great Poland. Two of the above mentioned structures, the Opatów and the Sandomierz one have been investigated archaeologically and will be dealt with in greater depth below. The umigród in Opatów was rst mentioned by Jan Ddugosz, who refers to it as mons Zmigrod. Apparently there was a fortied settlement (castle) the ruins of which were visible in the times when the author was writing his chronicle. Excavations were conducted here several times after the Second World War. Their results are very modest as they have not allowed us ultimately to explain what the function of the structure was. The most useful information was obtained during the excavations of the late 1990s which provided new evidence concerning the consecutive phases of use of the hill and the changes it underwent as a result of man’s intentional activities.33 In the light of these discoveries the earliest phase of settlement at umigród in Opatów (Fig. 54) is connected with the prehistoric times (Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age pottery, the remains of pits of which only the bottom parts

31 These issues are discussed in greater depth by J. Banaszkiewicz (1998; with literature), who presented them in a broader geographic context and with the extensive use of the written sources. 32 Banaszkiewicz 1999, 439ff. 33 Cf. Florek 2000.

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Figure 54. umigród at Opatów: view of interior of enclosed area (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

were preserved). It is difcult to say anything more about the human habitation of these times. It seems, however, almost certain that in that period the elevation was 80 cm lower than in modern times. The next, Early Medieval settlement phase, is represented by the remains of a ditch gradually lled in containing a settlement level with rubbish pits. The rst early Medieval levels are dated by pottery nds to the period between the 11th and 13th century. Above it an almost one meter thick layer of humus was formed which seems to have been the result of a single leveling action. From the late Middle Ages the whole area had no structures, retaining its agricultural character until today. The question whether the ditch dated to the 11th century should be associated with a completely destroyed rampart or whether it had another function remains unanswered. The former suggestion is supported by the presence of the one-meter thick layer above the ditch which may have come from the destroyed rampart, because otherwise it is difcult to explain why such a mass of earth was brought there. Although this reasoning seems quite reasonable, we still do not know why there are no remains of the earth-wooden construction of the rampart in this layer. It can not be excluded that this is due to the symbolic (not military) function of the structure, so the construction could have had a different construction. It could have been just a simple earth bank

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enclosing a sacred space. This hypothesis, however, is contradicted by the presence of archaeological features within the area enclosed by the rampart, which may suggest that the area had a settlement function rather than symbolic one. The situation is quite different in the case of the umigród in Sandomierz. Today it is a bipartite hill with an area of c. 2.2 hectares, well distinguished in the landscape on the edge of the Vistula river ancient valley. The higher, northern, part of the hill lies 117 m above sea level whereas the southern one is 10 m lower (Fig. 55). The maximum height of the escarpments with respect to the base of the Vistula valley is as much as 25 m. The characteristic shape of headland jutting out into the valley is the result both of the action of the Vistula waters and of the location at the periphery of the Upland. Above umigród there is a water course, which collects the waters from the north-western part of the town, its outlet is near the northern edge of the hill, and as it seems, played an important part in shaping its form. In modern times the greatest changes took place in the northern part of the hill due to building and re-building of a communication junction located at its foot. Quite recently in the square where Zawichojska and uwirki i Wigury Streets meet, one could observe the remains of a loess elevation which was part of the neighboring hills (so also of umigród), which was separated by the road. The umigród Hill in Sandomierz has not become an element of the local tradition and is not mentioned in any legends. It was rst mentioned in 1568 in the Sandomierz Acta Consularia and then again in the next century. The hill was included in the program of excavations in Sandomierz as it was hoped that traces a fortied settlement from the pre-state period would be discovered, or perhaps a pagan cult site. The investigations were initiated in 1971 by the Institute of Material Culture (today the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology) of the Polish Academy of Sciences as part of the revitalization program of the Old Town in Sandomierz. At the higher elevation no traces of using the hill in the early Middle Ages were found. The material collected during the eld survey (which I know from personal inspection) was sparse and quite late; the pottery can be dated from the 13th to the 18th century; a few fragments of Early Medieval pottery were recorded during the eld survey conducted in 1969. The features uncovered in 1971 conrmed the hypothesis that the hill was settled in the Early Neolithic. In 1980 the eld work was continued by a team from the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. The investigations considerably broadened our knowledge about

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the settlement on the hill but in distant prehistory. In the light of the data published so far, umigród was rst settled in the early Stone Age and the settlement was the most intensive in the period of the socalled Lublin-Volhynia culture, which is represented in the majority of the discovered features. The last stage of settlement discovered by the excavations is dated to the Early Bronze Age, that is the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. After that there are no traces of inhabitation of the area.34 Unlike the umigród in Opatów discussed above, the excavations on the Sandomierz hill did not yield any structures from the Early Middle Ages. Does that mean that they did not exist at all? This question cannot be answered unequivocally. Let us, however, try to sum up the current state of knowledge in the light of the results of research conducted so far. First and foremost it should be stated that the attempts at solving the mystery of the umigród sites so far have not brought satisfying answers.35 Some specialists indicate their convenient location near a communication route. At the same there are no material sources supporting the hypothesis that there was a fortied settlement in the case of Sandomierz. An eminent Polish historian (specialist in the Middle Ages), Tadeusz Lalik, believed that the name of the hill (part of it, gród, means a fortied settlement) does not necessarily mean that there was a stronghold there; he suggested that structures of this kind could have been cult sites and this may explain the lack of traces of early Medieval settlement at umigród in Sandomierz.36 The results of the research conducted so far do not conrm the old hypothesis of the connection of the structure with the presence in Sandomierz of the nomadic Avars.37 There is more evidence that links the umigród in Sandomierz with the world of ancient beliefs. Let us recall an interesting detail: near the umigród there are the most efcient water courses at the edge of Sandomierz Upland and the Vistula valley. Above the hill there is a stream which collects the water from the north-west part of the town. The outlet of the water course, today owing at the bottom of a wide ravine extending from God\bice, is at the foot of the northern edge of the hill. At its foot on its south-east side the Vistula used to ow in the past.

34

Kowalewska-Marszadek 1993. These questions are extensively discussed by E. Kowalczyk (1993); with further literature. 36 Lalik 1967; 1993. 37 Cf. Kowalczyk 1977. 35

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One may make a reference to folklore and the notion of the wmij (dragon—not to be confused with wmija—a viper), the protector of the hearth, who wielded the thunder, assured fertility and fought with water monsters. This thread is particularly vivid in the mythology of southern Slavs where this bird-like or even anthropomorphic creature was the protector of the things most important for man: waters and crops. The wmij appeared in the form of a ery streak or a bird of a solar character, e.g., an eagle or a rooster. The opposite of the wmij is the dragon, a water being, which denied access to the live water and lived in it. The power which destroys it is the re or the heat of the sun. The wmij attacked dragons devouring or withholding water. Thus a umigród may be considered, according to Ryszard Tomicki,38 as an enclosed place (the gród part), a sacral area which not everyone could enter without breaking the rules. This place was in some way (?) connected with a being called wmij. An important element in this interpretation is the mountain itself: in the Slavic model of the Cosmos it denotes the center. The presence at its top of a structure connected with the cult of the wmij wielding the thunder is thus an interesting hypothesis. The evident connection of the umigrod in Sandomierz with the watery environment located at its foot makes many elements of the above conception worthy of attention. The lack of Early Medieval structures in the area of the hill makes the hypothesis that it had a symbolic (and not habitation) function the more interesting. Thus Tadeusz Lalik’s observation that the occurrence of the name umigród only in southern Poland may be connected with a local variant of the belief in the wmij seems quite justied. It is difcult to state denitely, as the researcher believes, whether there used to be a church of St Michael at umigród, destroyed during the Tatars’ incursion in 1259/1260. There are two premises supporting the hypothesis: the early (10th–11th century) denomination of the church’s patron and the particularly interesting fact that St Michael is associated in Scripture with a ght with a dragon. It should not be, however, forgotten that the location of the church is not conrmed in the written sources and no traces of it or any associated burials were discovered during the archaeological excavations. *

38

1974.

*

*

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Figure 56. Map of cult sites discussed in the book. Circles denote single features, ovals—their concentrations (drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

In conclusion, it should be remarked that the majority of the proven and supposed hilltop pagan cult sites are located in southern and northern Poland; while fewer of them are in the central zone of Great Poland and Mazovia (Fig. 56). It is characteristic that the name Mount Chedmska (Chedmowa) appears quite frequently in this context regardless of the region. It seem also doubtless that although each of the structures presented above deserves some attention, none of them is not so interesting as sl\va and cysa Góra. Inasmuch as in the majority of the discussed cases the supposed cult sites are usually single and distant from one another, the large mountains in the south of Poland, besides having a monumental form, are distinguished by having other, similar structures in the vicinity. For these reasons Silesia and Little Poland, where also the mysterious vmigrody appear, have in comparison with the other regions of Poland a unique and specic character.

CHAPTER SIX

PAGAN CEMETERY OR HOLY GROVE? 1. Open air shrines In the areas with no mountains, pagan rites were celebrated in holy groves. This is mentioned by historians in both the ancient world and Medieval times (among them Tacitus, Helmold and Adam of Bremen), referring to various peoples, the Germans, Balts and Slavs. The main problem is, however, that it is difcult to nd material remains of such sites by means of archaeological methods. What would a holy grove have looked like? Based on the chroniclers’ descriptions it should be assumed that a holy grove was primeval and untouched by the human hand and the sacral attributes of the grove would to be extended to the forest as a whole, a sacralization of the forest was the result. The trees growing in it (but also natural features, for example large stones or springs) gained supernatural characteristics thanks to the sacrices (also of human beings). In the light of the data from the above-mentioned chronicles, the grove was also a place of sanctuary in which no blood (other than sacricial offerings) could be shed. The grove had a glade which was a place where people gathered, oracles were said and the sacrices made. There was a natural link between the holy grove and a spring within it, or a nearby lake. In such an area, the gods as well as the spirits of the ancestors were present; the latter were perceived in oddly-shaped trees or stones, in other words, in various curiosities of nature.1 The existence of these wooded areas where the cult of the ancestors was practiced and also the existence of cemeteries where one may assume similar rites and commemorations took place raises the interesting question of the relationship between them. So far this has not been sufciently explored. This question concerns especially burial grounds at which for a variety of reasons the dead were no longer deposited, but which were most probably still remembered. Their external appearance, that is, location in a wood and at a distance from the settlement centers, undoubtedly had its meaning in the settlement landscape of their times. 1

Cf. Sdupecki 2000.

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Is it thus possible that in some cases such places of collective memory about the dead later became places of pagan cult and thus gained the character similar to the holy groves, and if so, in which ones? This issue has not been investigated in detail. The question however appeared quite recently during the excavations at one such cemetery located in woodland at Kleczanów, on the Sandomierz Upland in Little Poland. 2. An old cemetery and new problems The burial ground in Kleczanów is located near a national road linking Sandomierz and Opatów approximately halfway between those two towns (Fig. 57). Identied in the early 1990s and excavated in recent years it became the topic of a lively debate due to the surprising fact that several dozen barrows have survived there for more than 1000 years on a largely deforested loess upland. The area has many traces of Early Medieval settlement both from the pre-state period and later times. In Kleczanów itself, a settlement of the 9th century has been discovered around the parish church. Its features were preserved from plowing and erosion because of the considerable depth at which they were located. One of the excavated features was discovered under the churchyard at the depth of 1.5 m below the present surface.2 In the adjoining areas there are numerous traces of many burial sites, also from the pre-state period.3 The greatest concentration of cremation barrows is located in the above-mentioned Kleczanów grove, the only enclave of woodland in this part of the loess upland. It is curious that local population had no knowledge about the burial ground in this place. The locals learnt from the archaeologists about the barrows in the nearby wood, although they repeatedly mentioned the ‘little mounds’ (Fig. 58). No less surprising is the fact that even thought the barrows were quite well preserved, they were noticed by archaeologists only as late as in the 1990s.4

2 The excavations at Kleczanów were conducted as part of an interdisciplinary research project on the rural settlement on Sandomierz Upland. The complete results of the investigations are presented in: Buko ed. 1997. 3 Florek 1994. 4 They were found during eld survey work conducted in the early 1990s by archaeologists and students from the Maria Curie-Skdodowska University in Lublin in cooperation with the Conservator’s Bureau in Tarnobrzeg.

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Figure 57. Above: Kleczanów grove, marked in black; below: plan of the barrow cemetery. Features investigated by means of archaeological excavations or geological drillings are marked in black. Capital letters denote concentrations of barrows (after M. Florek and J. scibior).

Figure 58. Pagan cemetery in the Kleczanów grove: augering a barrow from concentration B located near a glade (photo: A. Buko).

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The Kleczanów barrows had circular or ellipsoid shapes. In total 37 of them were discovered (of which 14 were either excavated or soundings were made in them). Their diameters were usually 4–10 m and average height, 7 m. No internal constructions were found in the barrows. The few nds consisted mainly of heavily fragmented pottery, in some cases revealing traces of secondary burning, as well as small pieces of burnt bones. These were found in the outer layers of the mounds, which is evidence that these were burials which had been made by a specic (nakurhanowy) rite, where the remains of the dead were scattered at the top of the mound after it had been constructed. The scatterings of bones, charcoal and artifacts formed discrete concentrations on the mounds of the barrows. Most of the mounds had uniform structures and were raised from yellow loess on the ground surface. The soil was collected from the surface of the ground in an area in the vicinity of the mound. Another method was also used, namely around a part (usually on the south side), about a half or three quarters of the circumference, a shallow depression was dug on the outer edge of the mound, forming a quarry ditch at its foot. The investigations revealed that the cemetery had a heterogeneous structure. There are four clear concentrations of barrows in the Kleczanów wood. Some of them differ from the others in their internal structure: most of the analyzed barrows were made from brown loess, but the three largest ones (concentration A) were built of black humus and some brown humus was also found at the base of the mounds. The analyses revealed that within the mounds made of humus, long-lasting soil processes had taken place.5 For that reason it may be supposed that these mounds might have been earlier than the other ones. If that was the case then most probably they were early prehistoric (from the II and III period of the Bronze Age), since similar large barrows are known in the area from the Trzciniec culture. Further analyses may show whether this hypothesis is true. It would seem that the Early Medieval barrows were not all constructed at the same time either. For example, the pottery found in Mound 35 located away from the other ones on the western edge of the cemetery (cf. Fig. 57) should be dated to the 10th century, or more precisely, to the decline of the pre-state period or to the beginnings of the state period; in the other excavated barrows there occur material dated to the 9th century. Such a large cemetery must have functioned for a certain span of time. It

5

Florek, scibior 1997.

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is impossible to use for a closer dating of individual mounds the other nds found on their surface (small pieces of burnt human bones and objects of daily use of types which are not closely datable such as small knives and metal costume accessories). The deceased were probably cremated outside the area of the cemetery, as no traces of large res were found, the barrows contained relatively few fragments of human bones and a few small pieces of vessels. This means that most of the bones and artifacts remained in the place where the ritual of burning the dead bodies was carried out. Such places were looked for but without any success. It seems that some of the pottery was deposited in the barrow layers after they had been made; some fragments bear traces of secondary burning. Close to Barrow 32 a concentration of stones was found which may be the remains of a hearth. These may be traces of rites connected with the cult of the dead carried out near the burials. Among the nds from the barrows were some connected with pagan cult. Three circular plaques (one made of stone and two ceramic ones) were discovered in the area of the barrow cemetery and in the vicinity of the church. The stone disc came from the mantle of Barrow 26, where it occurred together with numerous small pieces of burnt bones and pottery (including secondarily burnt fragments). The other two, made of bodysherds of pottery vessels, were found in the vicinity of the church in the place where a settlement dated to the same period existed. Ceramic circular plaques are known from prehistoric cultures. They appear among the nds of the Lusatian Culture (Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age), including in the area of the cult circles at Mount Radunia and sl\va, and are supposed to represent attributes of ancient cults.6 Some of them are rather carelessly made and their dimensions are similar to those found at Kleczanów. They are also known from the Late Hallstatt period and Roman times. The phenomenon has not been studied in detail and it is hard to determine how often such artifacts appear on archaeological sites.7 In many cases, it seems they may be dismissed as fragments of the bodies of pottery vessel, this concerns especially those fragments which do not have even edges because they were poorly made.

6 7

Cehak-Hodubowiczowa 1959. Cf. Buko ed. 1997, 308ff.; with literature.

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Figure 59. The alleged ‘footprint of St. Stanislaw’, imprint in a piece of sandstone (marked with a black arrow) incorporated into the foundation of the chancel in the parish church at Kleczanów (photo: A. Buko).

It is also possible that a trace of the old pagan traditions (so often adapted and transformed by the Church elsewhere), is represented by the sandstone block with so-called ‘God’s footprint’ (Fig. 59), located in the foundation wall of the chancel and formerly comprised the threshold of the church, believed locally to be the imprint of St Stanisdaw’s foot.8 Such stones, which have unclear links with the pagan cult and Christianization, are often found in the vicinity of churches or in their walls.9 Let us, however, return to some other characteristic features of the ancient burial ground. One of them is a glade located among the barrows (Fig. 60). It is important because for years it has been the place where at Whitsun (so-called Zielone twi[tki ) fetes were annually held by the local people from Kleczanów. The fete concluded the religious festivities and an important element was a procession of the parish community to this clearing in Kleczanów grove. Amazingly, the tradition is not reected in any way in the church records. Neither are any indulgence fairs held at by the church at Kleczanów at Pentecost, which creates the question of why that is. 8 St Stanisdaw of Szczepanów (1030–1079), bishop of Cracow, martyred at the orders of King Bolesdaw the Bold, canonised in 1253 as the rst native Polish saint. Patron of Poland and Cracow (sharing the patronage of Poland with Saint Adalbert of Prague and Our Lady the Queen of Poland) (P.B.). 9 Baruch 1907.

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Figure 60. Kleczanów grove: a glade among the barrows: the traditional site of annual masses and folk fetes (photo: A. Buko).

3. Forgotten or living tradition? The above-described phenomena gain a new meaning in the context of the information from the written sources about the celebrations of strawa and tryzna (kinds of festivities relating to communal ritual feasting and sport competitions) which were celebrated at cemeteries in the Middle Ages and even in modern times to commemorate the dead. The Church tried to abolish them but without full success so an attempt at limiting the celebrations to certain Christian holy days was made.10 This inspires the question: can the celebrations mentioned above not be a distant reminiscence of the old festivities in honor of the dead? If this were the case then we would be dealing with a rare example of the continuity of a suitably modied custom re-enacted annually in the same place (remaining unchanged for more than 1000 years) whereas the meaning of the festivities was completely transformed, as a result of which the tradition of the ancient cemetery was entirely forgotten.

10

Cf. Dowiat 1985 p. 316ff. The custom of visiting and cleaning the graves of one’s ancestors is still practiced in Poland today on All Hallows (All Saints) Day, 1st November, part of a triduum in the Catholic Church of commemorations of the dead.

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These are not the only premises indicating the symbolic meaning of the place. The barrows are in a wood which is the only green enclave in the totally deforested loess plateau. Why did the settlers spare it? Because the wood separates two settlement zones? Or maybe it has survived for so many centuries because there are barrows in it? Or perhaps it was the opposite: the boundaries of elds and clearings respected features already existing in the landscape? The archaeological investigations conducted so far indicate that more than 80% of known barrow cemeteries have been discovered in woodland. If these mounds had for some reasons become part of arable elds they would be faced with inevitable and rapid destruction. The period between the beginning of cultivation of the land and the complete degradation of the barrows generally does not exceed 25–40 years.11 This is supported by the observations from the Sandomierz Upland. No trace has been left of the barrow cemeteries at Winiary and Trzebiesdawice excavated in the period between the two World Wars12 and now arable elds are in that place.13 The perfect state of preservation of the Kleczanów barrows indicates that the area has never been cultivated. Also the grove must have been growing in the same place at least from the pre-state period. If it turns out that the barrows made of black humus should indeed be dated to earlier periods, the grove would represent a unique permanence of land use going back to the prehistoric times. There is another thing worth noting. To the south, below the grove, some exceptionally abundant springs can be found, which at present supply with water the nearby shpond. It cannot be excluded that these springs (Fig. 61) were in the Early Middle Ages a functional element of the complex described above. If so, this would be one further element dening the sacral function of this place. Would then, this forest with the graves it contains and the springs below them merit designation as a gaj, a holy grove of the Slavs, as has recently been suggested by Witold Hensel?14 In the light of the evidence presented above, this hypothesis seems quite probable. Cemeteries have always been sacred areas, places where the ancestors were regarded as present and where their memory lived. It may be recalled that in the case of the cult center at Gostyq in Silesia, it has been suggested that the rites 11 12 13 14

Zoll-Adamikowa 1979. Nosek [1939] 1948. Florek 1994. 1999.

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forest with barrows

springs

Figure 61. Pond and springs below the southern edge of Kleczanów grove as seen from the south (photo: A. Buko).

celebrated there were closely connected with the cult of the dead (cf. Chapter 5). In our times, the sacral nature of the Kleczanów grove is reected in the Whitsun festivities mentioned above. The barrow cemetery at Winiary near Sandomierz, about 30 km from the Kleczanów wood, in which mounds were still preserved until the period between the World Wars, was located on a hill with the curious name Gaj (Grove); this might refer to the cemetery but could also be a reection of a pagan grove. It is thus quite probable that there was some justied connection between the Slavic grove and a burial ground. This might have been the case when a pagan cemetery, like the one at Kleczanów, gained, after many years of use, some secondary sacral function. What would be necessary to prove the hypothesis that there existed a holy grove in that place? A ditch delimiting the sacred area would be a good argument. Is it there? So far the answer to this question has not been found.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MONUMENTAL MOUNDS IN LITTLE POLAND 1. Monumental mounds, admired throughout the ages A peculiarity of the lands in southeastern Poland are the monumental mounds, sometimes called ‘Krakuszowiec type barrows’.1 They differ from other ones especially in their dimensions: the diameter sometimes more than 50 m and preserved height up to 10 m. They all can be seen from a distance and are characteristic landmarks. The mounds are all located in Little Poland near the old centers of pre-state and early Piast power: in Przemytl, Sandomierz and Cracow; in the last mentioned case there are multiple mounds, and this distinguishes Cracow from the other sites. The mound which gave the group its name is located in Krakuszowice near Bochnia (an oak is said to have grown on its top). It was excavated in the 19th century so only its remains have been preserved till today. No similar structures have been found in the other regions of Poland. The Little Polish mounds have fascinated both the researchers and local historians since the Middle Ages. Various, sometimes completely imaginary, functions and circumstances of origins were invented for them. In local legends and written sources the Sandomierz mound was linked with the Tatars’ invasion, whereas in the case of Cracow the tales associate the appearance of the mounds with the dynastic legends connected with the origins of the center; for the Przemytl mound (which has two names), there are two stories of its origin. As a result of this early interest, attempts at exploring the mounds were rst made many years ago. The most famous were the excavations of the Krak Mound carried out in the period between the two World Wars by the Polish Academy of Learning in Cracow. In the other cases the excavations were carried out in the 19th century (in Przemytl) and after the Second World War (Przemytl, Sandomierz). Their results shed new light on the questions of the building and functions of the mounds in 1 The term ‘Krakuszewice-type mounds’ was coined by A. uaki (1974, 120). A shortened version of this chapter has been published separately (cf. Buko 2004).

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comparison to the similar structures known from other parts of Europe. However, the main question asked by the archaeologists and historians still remains: who built them, when and what for? And although each of the structures provides some premises for creating hypotheses in this respect, attempts at nding convincing answers have not brought any denitive solutions. This view is clearly illustrated by the results of the excavations of the Przemytl, Sandomierz, and Cracow mounds. 2. Przemyseaw’s (Tatars’) Mound in Przemyul The mound is located on Zniesienie Hill (356 m above sea level). Its present relative height is 10 m and its oval bottom part measures 100 u 60 m. The mound has the plan of an acute triangle with its base oriented towards the west (from that point of view it resembles ‘Salve Regina’ Mound in Sandomierz; see below). The form, size and location of the elevation make it one of the most characteristic topographic points in the town (Fig. 62). In the 16th century a chapel dedicated to St. Leonard was built, thanks to which the structure can be seen at many iconographic representations. The monument in Przemytl is connected with several legends, and for this reason the mound has a double name. The rst tradition relates that it commemorates Przemysdaw, the legendary founder of the town in the early pre-state period (perhaps the 7th century?) after whose death this monumental mound was built. According to the other group of local traditions (not conrmed by any historical records), the mound is the burial of Mirza a leader of the Tatars who led an attack on the region in 1614. Others believed this was not a barrow but a beacon hill which, together with other structures of this kind made up a signaling network. Scholarly interest in the structure began in the early 19th century; in 1869 excavations of the mound were conducted by Teol uebrowski, commissioned by the Cracow Society of Learning. The results, however, were not very fruitful, at the summit remains of a modern cemetery were discovered as well as coins dating to the times of King Jan Kazimierz (the 17th century). One of the reasons of the failure were the difculties in getting through a layer made up of rock at a depth of about 2.6 m; this detail is worth remembering in the context of the later history of the excavations at that site. In the period between the World Wars, small scale excavations were conducted two local archaeologists, Antoni Kunysz and Andrzej Koperski. The

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Figure 63. Erosion gully on the slope of Tartars’ Mound with visible rubble (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

search did not yield many results besides some details supplementing the existing information.2 An observation made during eldwork carried out by the present writer in the 1970s seemed to shed more light on the nature of this mound. An erosion gully was visible on one of the slopes which contained rock waste (Fig. 63) which also gathered at the feet of the hill. The material exposed by this gully resembled erosion layers from piedmont areas which form as a result of erosion and degradation of the rock base. This cast doubt on whether the structure was articial, especially as in the neighborhood the main soil type from which a mound might be built was black humus without stones, with characteristics similar to the loess. These doubts could be only explained by analyzing the internal structure of the mound. Such an opportunity presented itself in the second half of the 1990s when geological drillings and archaeological

2

A review of the excavations of the mound and their main results can be found in: Kotlarczyk 1969; Koperski 1977; Sosnowska 2000; all with literature.

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sondages were conducted as well as some archival studies.3 Most of the geological drillings were interrupted by a layer of eroded sandstone. The reason was simple: the drill could not penetrate the layer of rock waste. The deepest hole, located at the foot of the hill in its western part was 3.25 m; the one at the top of the hill reached as little as 2.70 m before hitting rock. The main results of the recent investigations can be summarized as follows: in the vicinity of Przemysdaw’s Mound there are Carpathian ysch formations; these rocks are also visible on the western and eastern slope of the mound itself. Above them Quaternary loess-like powdery clays were found and still higher, anthropogenic layers. The latter consist of brown sands with pieces of eroded sandstone and brick, sometimes separated by lenses of yellow sand. On the southern and northern slopes the layers consist of rock waste consisting of sandstone, pieces of brick, mortar, slag, ash and pottery fragments; these layers are situated not very deep from the surface. On the east slope of the hill are black clay layers containing fragments of sandstone, charcoal and lenses of yellow sand, All these formations are covered with surface materials. The sondages have indicated that under the layer of eroded material the bedrock occurs everywhere. In a sounding made on a path leading to the top of the mound under a 20 cm thick layer of sand and loose rock waste the sloping face of a rock outcrop was found. Another trench yielded more than a dozen fragments of Early Medieval pottery dated to the late 12th to the rst half of the 13th century; in this layer burnt pieces of sandstone were found and underneath lay eroded sandstone and rock waste. On the southern slope of the mound, below a layer of sand, at a depth of 60–70 cm, rock waste was uncovered. The pottery obtained in these trenches was the earliest archaeological material from the site. New archival studies carried out by Ewa Sosnowska have revealed the previously unsuspected fact that (as in the case of the Krak Mound in Cracow, see below), around the Przemysdaw’s Mound there used to be other, smaller mounds. If these could be shown to be Early Medieval barrows, would they be proof that a tribal center of the L\dzianie was located there? This issue must for the moment remain a hypothesis.

3 The excavations were conducted in 1997 (cf. Sosnowska 2000) within a national program of investigations nanced by the Committee for Scientic Research commemorating the thousandth anniversary of the Gniezno Summit (cf. Chapter 1).

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At present, however, it seems very probable that Przemysdaw’s (Tatar) Mound is primarily composed of a rock core. At an undetermined time its upper part was raised, which seems to be shown by a characteristic break half-way up the slope.4 On the basis of the existing evidence it cannot be established if this work was done when the chapel was built on the summit or at some other time. The investigations conducted so far allow us to state that the mound in Przemytl had various functions in the past. From the 16th century at its summit there was St. Leonard’s chapel with a cemetery around it; its origins are still unclear. From the 19th century the local population made pilgrimages to the place on the second day of Easter. There is also a legend linking the sepulchral origins of the mound with the early history of the town; both versions of the legend consistently stress its function as a cemetery but the question still remains: where was the place for the deceased if the core of the mound is made up of solid rock? 3. Supposed monumental mounds in the Przemyul region Besides Przemysdaw’s Mound researchers have been for many years interested by the structures at Sólca and Komarowice (the latter one is now in Ukraine). The former (Fig. 64) is c. 50 m in diameter and has a preserved height of 6 m; the latter is much smaller (diameter 38 m, height 9.5 m). Both are located close one to another and are characterized by depressions up to 3.5 m deep at the summits. Neither of these mounds has been explored to any degree by archaeologists.5 From the interior of both mounds however Early Medieval material has been obtained. There are many problems in their interpretation. The mysterious depressions in the summits may suggest that they were not sepulchral, because such features do not occur in the structure of a barrow mound. Perhaps they are very small ringworks (but the extremely small area of the central space seems to rule this out). Perhaps they are some form of pagan cult places similar to the ones found in the other regions of Poland.6

4

Sosnowska 2000. Cf. Kotlarczyk 1969. 6 In this context one recalls the small enclosures similar to the one discovered at Modochki in Podlasie (cf. Chapter 5). 5

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This mound is located in the south-eastern outskirts of Sandomierz (in Krakowskie Przedmietcie district), on the edge of the Vistula river valley near Salve Regina Street running in a hollow way. It has the characteristic form of a regular prism, preserved till today, with a diameter of 40 m and height of 11 m with visibly attened triangular slopes, the bottom parts of which have a sharp break with the ground around it (Fig. 65). At the top there is a 19th century stone statue dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every year in May the local inhabitants gather around the decorated statue and celebrate a special service. On the northern side of the mound there is a semi-circular inscription SALVE REGINA cut in the turf (Fig. 66), which, according to the local opinion has been here forever and, what is more, is never overgrown with grass.7 For more than one hundred years Salve Regina Hill has been considered one of the peculiarities of Sandomierz. The nineteenth century local historian, Father Melchior Buliqski,8 (1810–1877), wondered about the form of the landscape feature which looked ‘as if it were made by the human hand.’ It may be thus assumed that at his time the knowledge about traditions connected with the hill, its name and peculiarities were well rooted in Sandomierz. Simultaneously, no one contemporary to Buliqski was able to determine its original function and for that reason the author of the monograph only said that in the old times the hill might have been a place where pagan rites were celebrated and the present name was given to it after the adoption of Christianity in order to cover up the former religious practices. Another group of hypotheses suggests that it was a monumental barrow from the pre-state period. These suppositions attracted the attention of historians and archaeologists. The differences of opinion concerned not so much the function of the mound but the time when it was erected. Its origin was linked with the Early Bronze Age or to the pre-state period. In the latter case it was supposed to be the tomb of the legendary founder of

7 The inscription refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Cz\stochowa) as Queen of Poland a title bestowed on her in 1656 during the Swedish Wars by King Jan Kazimierz. The feast of Our Lady Queen of Poland is celebrated on May 3rd (P.B.). 8 1879, 11.

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the town, Sudomir; according to Tadeusz Lalik’s hypothesis9 a Czech (or Moravian) who in the period of Czech domination (the early 10th century) or even Moravian (the second half of the 9th century) might have arrived here with his retinue and founded the town. After his death, in order to commemorate the event, a monumental tomb was made for him and the town was given his name. Local legends also link the structure with the Tatars’ incursion of the year 1259; in this case this was to have been a collective burial of the Dominican monks from the nearby St James’ church, murdered by the invaders.10 The idea of conducting archaeological excavations at Salve Regina Hill was considered in the early 1970s when a complex interdisciplinary program of rescue excavations was implemented in the Old Town quarter of Sandomierz. It was hindered by technical difculties connected with excavating such a large feature and the impossibility of reconciling of so many research priorities. Attempts at obtaining some data about the feature by means of the geophysical prospection did not allow the establishment of the character of the mound or its function. This work however determined that the feature has a complex internal structure consisting of many layers. In time the research was enriched by geological techniques. Auguring of the structure was carried out along its longer north-south axis and in its vicinity. It was established that the layers inside the mound were formed by the natural processes of sedimentation in the old Vistula river valley (the lowest level of layers of sands and silts) or processes connected with forming of the loess and climatic changes at the end of the Eemian interglacial. These data, combined with such observations as the lack of traces of intentional human activity in the samples and the horizontal arrangement of the layers with clear traces of sedimentation processes, indicate that Salve Regina Hill originated naturally and is not man-made.11 There still remained the question if any traces of former human activities survived in the upper parts. In order to nd the answer archaeological excavations were carried our on the summit near the stone gure. Their results were surprising: remains of a cist tomb made of stone slabs were uncovered. Inside there was a concentration of the bones, the remains of an animal and scattered bones of at least three humans. 9

1993. The topic was discussed both by archaeologists and historians. Its key elements are presented in: Buko 1983, 1998; with literature. 11 Buko 1983. 10

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The feature was dated to the mid-3rd millennium B.C. On this basis it was determined that Salve Regina Hill had been settled at the end of the Late Stone Age, almost 4.5 thousand years ago, and its summit was used for making a burial of the so-called Zdota culture.12 So far this is the only archaeologically documented premise concerning the function of the place. It remains however undetermined when and why the sides of the hill were intentionally shaped by man. Was it done in the pre-state period when the spot was assigned a symbolic function? Or is it the monumental base of a burial where the remains were deposited on, rather than in the mound? These issues will be discussed in the conclusion of this chapter. 5. The Mounds of Krak and Wanda in Cracow Cracow is exceptional among these centers in having not one, but three giant mounds, two of which, Krak’s Mound and Wanda’s Mound have survived until today, and the third one (Esterka’s Mound) has been completely destroyed in the past. Krak’s Mound, the largest of the three (Fig. 67), is located in the Krzemionki Hills on an elevation called R\kawka (271 m above sea level). On a second, slightly lower hill called Góra [The Hill] (but also Benedict’s Hill or Lasota’s Hill), a church dedicated to St Benedict is located. The mound, which has the form of a truncated cone, of diameter of c. 50 m and height of 14 m, obtained its present form after the reconstruction made in the 1950s. This was necessitated by the state the feature had been left in by the excavations of the 1930s (Fig. 68). It is assumed that originally the structure was more than 16 m tall and had a diameter of as much as 63 m. Archaeologists do not agree if the excavations carried out before the Second World War were properly conducted. However, the investigations were preceded by consultations in the competent milieux. At the Polish Academy of Learning a special committee composed of eminent scholars representing the humanities and natural and technical sciences was established. The research team was directed by recognized specialists: Józef uurowski and after his death, Roman Jakimowicz. The results were published after the War by Rudolf Jamka.13 The excavations were carried out using the following 12 13

Cf. Buko 1998; with further literature. 1965.

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Figure 67. Krak’s Mound in Cracow (photo: A. Buko).

Figure 68. Excavations of Krak’s Mound in the 1930s: the upper part of the mound already excavated (after R. Jamka).

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technique: rst the modern structures (parts of Austrian fortications) were removed then the upper part of the mound was excavated to the depth of more than 5 m (that is, approximately 1/3 of its height). Horizontal levels 25–50 cm thick were explored and documented as they were removed (cf. Fig. 68). At the depth of 1 m a damaged child’s skeleton was discovered. Below, at the depth of 2 m the roots of a large oak and remains of a birch were found: these traces were seen until the depth of c. 5 m. The researchers could not agree how this nd should be interpreted. Some believed that these were remains of a holy tree planted on the top of the mound in the pagan period and cut after the introduction of Christianity in Cracow. As the age of the tree was estimated to be about 300 years, the mound was dated to the 7th century and the remains of the birch were even considered to be remains of an old cross. From a depth of about 3.50 m traces of a wattle construction and traces of a post were discovered. The remains of wattle fences were also visible at lower levels. Below 5.33 m (from the top of the mound) a new technique began to be used: instead of exploring horizontal layers the so-called funnel technique was applied gradually decreasing the area of the explored surface. At the depth of 10 m, traces of a post 40 cm in diameter surrounded with stones was seen; the traces were visible to the depth of 15 m; at the very bottom the lowest part of the structure was identied: it was a layer of sand. The data gathered allowed the method of constructing the mound to be determined. On a layer of postglacial sands covering the JurassicCretaceous bedrock, a mound of sand was made of a diameter of c. 15 m and height of 1 m. This was covered with a two meter thick layer of silt, and the diameter of the mound increased to 30 m and the height to 3 m. Another layer of sand of thickness of 12 m increased the diameter to 60 m. The highest part of the mound was made of a layer of chalk rubble, clay, silt and soil. The mound was stabilized internally with wattle fence constructions with a central post. During the exploration pottery, metal and int artifacts as well as bones were collected. There is a hypothesis that the majority of them came from settlements which had existed on the site from where the material for building the mound was taken. The chronological span of the materials is wide from several prehistoric culture groups (Mesolithic, Neolithic (mainly int tools), Lusatian, Pomorska, and Przeworsk Cultures). This material is mixed haphazardly in the layers of the feature. Finds of the late Middle Ages were also unearthed; they are assumed to have come from looters’ pits. Artifacts of various

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periods, including modern coins, were located immediately below the turf. The most important nd for dating the mound is a characteristic propeller-shaped bronze belt tting of Avar type dating to the late 8th century. This object (Fig. 69) was discovered at a depth of more than 15 m from the summit. The other dating nd is a silver Bohemian denar of Boleslav II (972–999), uncovered at the summit at a depth of c. 50 cm below the humus layer. These two artifacts determine the broad time span in which the mound was made: between the late 8th and the late 10th century. To the great disappointment of the excavators, the excavations did not recover a primary burial under the mound. It was assumed that this failure was caused by the fact that the bottom part of the mound was excavated with the use of the funnel method, which made it impossible to explore the whole area. It should be, however, remarked that the funnel was successively expanded and as a result almost 80% of the base of the mound was in fact uncovered. Another possibility ought to be taken into account, however, and that is that the reason the burial was not found was because it was not there in the rst place; this issue will be discussed below. The second of the large Cracow mounds (Wanda’s Mound) is located c. 9 km to the east of Wawel Hill, at the place where the river Ddubnia ows into the Vistula (on its left bank, thus on the other side of the river from the Krak Mound). At present this area is part of the town of Cracow (the Nowa Huta district) but formerly it belonged to a village called Mogida (a name which means ‘tomb’); it is commonly believed that the village was named after the mound; if this was the case, it should be assumed that its function and origin in the Middle Ages were still remembered. The height of the mound is 14 m and its diameter reaches 45 m. Its form has been affected by a number of changes, including Austrian military fortication works from the 19th century (Fig. 70). Wanda’s Mound has never been excavated, but it is known that in its nearest vicinity artifacts from the Late Stone Age were found. The assumption that the mound comes from the Early Middle Ages is based on associating its form and legendary tradition with Krak’s Mound. According to Medieval legends the structure was the grave of Wanda, the daughter of the mythical Krak.14

14

Zoll-Adamikowa 1977; with literature.

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Still less is known about the third of the Cracow mounds, namely Esterka’s Mound. It was situated on the Rudawa river, more than 3 km to the northwest of Wawel Hill in the gardens of the royal palace at cobzów. The mound was excavated at the end of the 18th century on the initiative of King Stanisdaw August Poniatowski. It was expected to contain the Medieval burial of Esterka, a concubine of King Kazimierz the Great (who ruled 1333–1370). The investigations ended in failure as the mound turned out to be empty. In the 1950s the mound was completely destroyed during the construction of a sports stadium. On the basis of the preserved iconography it can be ascertained that the mound was 8 m tall and had a diameter of c. 30 m at the base.15 6. Other monumental mounds in Little Poland Several other mounds are known from the region of Little Poland which are of a size much greater than the average dimensions of the mounds from the cemeteries of the pre-state period. They are clearly smaller than the examples discussed above, but denitely larger than the hundreds of mounds known from barrow cemeteries in Polish lands (the diameters are usually much smaller than 10 m and generally range between 4 and 7 m). These larger structures are in eastern Little Poland; the greatest number of them has been identied in the Sandomierz region.16 The mound at Leszczków near Sandomierz (Fig. 71) though partly destroyed by plowing still looks impressive. It is almost 7.7 m tall and has a diameter of 22–24 m at the base; it seems that originally the diameter was denitely greater.17 The collapsed soil on its sides has yielded materials from various epochs, from the Neolithic to the Roman period Przeworsk Culture. If this mound is not of Roman date, it may be dated to the Early Middle Ages. No local legends or traditions are connected with this monument. There are, however, some tales about

15

Radwaqski 1999–2000. The Sandomierz mounds, including the ones discussed below, were investigated in detail by M. Florek (1994); cf. also J. G[ssowski 1969; both publications with literature. 17 The feature, located in a private eld, is successively plowed around during every season. Its diameter is thus decreasing, which is aggravated by erosion of the slopes. Unless an urgent conservator’s intervention is made, the feature may be facing complete destruction. 16

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Figure 71. Eroding mound, Early Medieval barrow(?) at Leszczków near Sandomierz (photo: M. Florek).

the so-called Kwacad’s Tomb at Zdota near Sandomierz. The earthwork has a diameter of 14–16 m and a height reaching 2.5 m and is located on a loess elevation thanks to which it is well visible from a distance. It is interesting not only because of its name, indicating the burial function but also including the name of the mysterious Kwacad buried in it. It cannot be established denitely whether this is a memory of a local leader from the pre-state period, or whether the origin of the name is different. The mound is located in a place for which the tradition of burying people of high social status existed. At the edge of the mound the burial of an adult man from the Early Bronze Age was found. It is the richest burial of the Mierzanowice culture population from the Polish lands. The presence of the barrow (?) is connected with the tradition of so-called R\kawka which has been recorded by the wellknown specialist in the Sandomierz region, Roman Koseda.18 This was a Slavic rite connected with the cult of the dead celebrated on the day of spring equinox. The rites included throwing various foodstuffs (a similar custom, going back to the times of pre-state Poland, is connected with the area of the Krak Mound in Cracow). So far, however,

18

1939.

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excavations have not conrmed the presence of an Early Medieval burial in Kwacad’s Tomb. In swi\cica near Sandomierz, there are two large mounds. The rst one has a diameter of almost 24 m and the height of 4 m. Partly damaged by erosion it probably dates from the Bronze Age. The second one is much smaller (the diameter at the base is c. 9 m and the height is 2 m) and was investigated in the 1970s by Andrzej Kempisty. It is dated to the Roman period and in its second phase to the Early Middle Ages (the 7th century?). The later burial probably dug into an earlier barrow existing at that place (Fig. 72). No more details can be ascertained because the results of the excavations have still not been published. At the village of Husynne in Hrubieszów district (southeastern Poland), a mound known locally as the Moon Grave has been preserved till today. It was excavated in the 1950s. It is 5.5 m tall and the diameter at the base is almost 27.5 m (Fig. 73). The mound contained material from various periods, the latest material is from the pre-state period (the 9th century). At a height of c. 3.5 m above the base of the mound, a

Figure 73. Early Medieval barrow at Husynne near Hrubieszów, 9th century (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

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hearth with several dozen unidentied bone fragments was found. The function of the feature has not been denitely determined.19 7. The European context In the other regions of Poland, no equally large mounds have been found. Similar structures can be found in different parts of Europe, often ones quite distant from Little Poland. The large mounds of Kievan Rus are the nearest; their presence relates to the ‘Varangian’ episode. A detailed description of the burial rites thanks to which the huge mound was created was described by an Arab traveler, Ibn Fadlan, who witnessed the burial of a rich Rus (Scandinavian). The events took place in the 920s somewhere on the Volga river. The main elements of the burial was a large boat and the deceased dressed in his best clothes. The boat was pulled to the land and various offerings were put in it: food, drinks, animals. One of his women-slaves who chose death of her own will also participated. All the gifts were burnt on the pyre and in the nal stage a large mound was made on the spot and at its top a post with the deceased’s name was erected.20 Some of the best known mounds are the Chernigov ones found in the tribal territory of the Severjane (Chernaya Mogila, Gulbishche, Bezymianny) and the complex of necropolises of Gnezdovo near Smolensk. For the issues discussed here the Chernaya Mogila at Chernigov (height 11 m, diameter at the base: 40 m) is particularly interesting. As in the case of the Krak Mound, the construction began with a small mound raised of sand. The main difference is that in Chernaya Mogila at the top of the barrow the dead and their grave goods were cremated and the remains were discovered during the excavations. In the context of our discussion we may also mention the sopki, multiple burials in barrows which are characteristic for the area of Novgorod; some of them have diameters reaching 90 m and heights of 10 m. They are numerous in the area of Lake Ilmen, and on the rivers Volkhov Lovat, Msta and their tributaries. The large Ruthenian 19 uurowski, Mikodajczyk 1955. The excavations were conducted as part of the Millennium program. The mound (which I know from personal inspection in the summer 2002), is now badly damaged. Due to the large craters it seems as if it had not one but three summits. This is probably the result of not lling up the trenches (?) after the previous excavations; it cannot be excluded that they are looters’ pits. 20 Cf. Lewicki 1955.

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barrows are connected either with the local power elites or (especially in the early phase) with the Varangians.21 In Sweden the so-called royal barrows are known mainly from Old Uppsala where they are dated to the 6th century, although according to the Swedish researchers, the process of monumentalization of the center began in the 5th century; the nal stage was ended with a re in the 9th century.22 There are more than 250 such large barrows, dated most often to the period of Great Migrations or the Viking period, and 50 of them are considered to be royal barrows. Their greatest concentration is in Uppland, the central part of the country.23 In this context the monumental mounds from Jelling in Denmark should also be mentioned. The southern one resembles Krak’s Mound in structure (with the central post and internal constructions); the Danish structures are dated to the mid-10th century.24 Many monumental mounds had been constructed in Denmark from the Early Bronze Age onwards but then they ceased to be built in the Iron Age ( Jastorf Culture). The tradition returned in the Viking period. In Norway there are the famous ship barrows from Vestfold, which was the domain of the Ynlinge dynasty. The best known ones, from Oseberg and Gokstad, excavated in the 19th century contained, besides the splendid Viking boats, valuable grave goods. A complex of large barrows can be also found at Borre located to the north of Oseberg. The majority of these nds is dated to the Viking period (the 9th– 10th century).25 In the above-mentioned territories the monumental early Medieval barrows differ in chronology, structure, and origin from the ones in Poland, although their formation is connected with the territorial centers of power. Despite expectations, the remains of the dead were not always found in each of them or even indirect testimonies of the sepulchral function of these structures. Their only common feature is the size and form which serve a symbolic aim, to commemorate the people or events from the past.

21 From the wealth of literature of the subject the following can be recommended: Samokvasov 1874; Godubieva 1949; Sedov 1970; Bul’kin 1975; all with literature. 22 Linquist 1936; Duczko 1998; Sjöberg 2000. 23 Arrhenius 1995. 24 Dyggve 1948; Krogh 1993. 25 These and many other similar structures presented in a broader spatial context are discussed by: Vvan de Noort 1993; Müller-Wille 1992; 1997; all with literature.

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8. The Great Mounds of Little Poland: when and why were they raised? The names of Krak and Wanda, which were given to the Cracow mounds, appear already in the chronicle of the Medieval historian, Wincenty Kaddubek. In the following centuries, other chronicles also take up the issue. The circumstance of raising the mound and the course of prince Krak’s burial were briey presented by Jan Ddugosz (1415–1480 in his Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae Book I) who stated that the population: according to the custom of the time buried him with due honor and grief on Lasota’s Hill, which is facing Cracow. In order that the grave were more durable and permanent and so that the descendants would not forget about it, Krak’s two sons, following the special instructions which their father had given them when he still lived, articially raised the mound cleverly adding sand to it so that the summit, where the body was deposited, dominated over all the surrounding hills.

The custom of rewarding the eminent Cracow rulers so that the descendants would remember them is conrmed by the fact that Lech, Krak’s son, who killed his own brother, did not get a mound, but on the contrary, he ended badly, removed from power. His sister, Wanda, however, who took the throne after him, was given a huge mound-barrow to commemorate her heroic gesture (having taken the vows of chastity she rejected a German prince Rytygier and after having vanquished him, gave her life to the gods, jumping into the Vistula). Ddugosz called her mound equally ‘noble’ as her father’s. After that the settlement in which the mound was raised was called Mogiea (tomb). This supposed ‘tribal’ dynasty recorded by the medieval chronicler can be quite probably associated, according to some specialists, to the brief but stormy episode of the state of the Vislane, whose center is said to have been in Cracow. In this context both the lack of Krak’s legendary ancestors and the fact that the dynastic legend ended with the person of Wanda, the mythical daughter of the ruler, are considered signicant. Thus the monumental mounds in Cracow dated to the late pre-state period are, as Kazimierz Radwaqski has recently stated,26 material testimonies of that stormy epoch. The mounds of Krak and of Wanda are 8 km away from each other but within sight, could be a reection of their symbolic role, mainly connected with the strong

26

1999–2000.

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center of power (this is to some extent evidenced by the nd of the exceptionally heavy and large hoard of axe-like currency bars from Kanonicza Street discussed in Chapter 4). Krak’s Mound, like the Kwacad’s Tomb in Zdota Sandomierska described above, is associated with the so-called R\kawka mentioned above. The name R\kawka, was preserved in old iconography and as a synonym of the name of the hill. Kazimierz Radwaqski does not exclude the possibility that this is why the church located there is dedicated to St. Benedict, as this saint’s day is celebrated on March 21st. Wanda’s Mound, in turn, is associated with the pagan Midsummer’s Eve celebrations (the festival known as sobótka and the oating of wreaths in the river) and also the solemn celebration of Wanda’s day by the monastery at Mogida dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Thus the situation may be similar to that of Krak’s Mound: the old pagan customs were replaced by elements of the Christian cult. So far attention has been drawn to the similarities of the monumental Little Polish mounds to the royal barrows from Scandinavia. In this context we should recall the iconographic sources which testify to the original presence of numerous small tumuli around the Cracow and Przemytl mounds which are no longer in existence today. This situation to some extent resembles that in the area of the Scandinavian royal barrows in Old Uppsala. In an engraving from the early 19th century to the right of Krak’s Mound, some smaller ones are visible. Like the eld surrounding them they were subjected to plowing, which resulted in their ultimate destruction in the past.27 Also the wattle construction and especially the central post discovered in the center of Krak’s Mound have analogies in Scandinavian barrows (the western mound in Old Uppsala, the southern mound in Jelling). In turn the way of raising the mound, including making a small mound at rst, reveals considerable similarities to the Chernaya Mogila in Chernigov in Ukraine. It is difcult to make statements about the other Cracow mounds as they have not been excavated. Should thus the origins of Krak’s Mound, and perhaps also the other structures from Cracow be linked with the Viking tradition?28 This hypothesis is quite attractive but not very probable. There are no premises to believe that Cracow or 27 Were these really articial mounds (barrows) or only anomalies of the morphology of the land? This can not be denitely stated on the basis of the uncertain data. A group of ‘barrow-like’ structures is still visible in the vicinity of Krak’s Mound. 28 This possibility was suggested many years ago by Roman Jakimowicz (1934).

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the rest of Little Poland were settled by Scandinavians. Besides, if the Little Polish mounds were to be some kind of a ‘sign’ of the presence of Scandinavian arrivals to the Polish lands then why there are no such phenomena in the regions where the Scandinavians’ presence has been testied, that is in Pomerania, Kuiavia or Great Poland? In the case of the Salve Regina Mound in Sandomierz the situation is even more complex. In fact, besides the local tradition (of unknown duration) there are no premises to accept its Early Medieval origins. Although the local tradition associates this mound with the Tatars’ threat, there is no material evidence indicating the period in which it was formed. The excavation of the mound did not yield any ultimate explanation of its origins and function because in its basic shape it is a natural loess hill. Yet in the past the structure was subject to man’s intentional intervention as a result of which its original form was considerably changed. The slopes gained steeper escarpments and the mound obtained the form of a regular prism. It is also worth stressing two elements: the collective human effort which resulted in shifting large masses of soil and the power which inspired that activity, which was, it would seems some form of organized ‘tribal’ power. Was it built as an imitation of the Cracow Mounds? In our interpretations we should take into account rst of all the similarity of the dating of Krak’s Mound and of the monumental mounds from other parts of Europe. From that point of view the location of Salve Regina Mound is also important, as in the case of Cracow and other places it was raised in a location for which we have testimonies of signicant centers of pre-state (tribal) and early state power. The situation is different in the case of the Przemysdaw’s (Tatars’) Mound in Przemytl. Its double name suggests the possibility of different datings: one concerning the birth of the town (Przemysdaw’s Mound) and the other, the nomads’ incursion (Tatars’ Mound). The time of its creation and its function are equally complicated. Early medieval material (which I know from personal inspection) was found in the layers on the side of the hill, but should be associated at the earliest with the secondhalf of the 12th century and thus a much later epoch than expected. No far-reaching conclusions can be drawn from this fact as the material comes from layers close to the surface and their location near replaces (?) may only indicate that at that time res were made on a mound already in existence and into which the remains of broken vessels were thrown. The question of the construction of the structure is also complex. Studying the archival data about the

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excavations conducted by Teol uebrawski, I saw the notes in which he wrote that it was impossible to penetrate the layer of rock which appeared in the trench as little as 3 m from the top of the mound. On this basis he made a drawing which indicates that the mound was raised only in its upper part and inside has a rock outcrop. The recent investigations by Ewa Sosnowska29 seem to conrm the conjecture: inside the mound is lled with eroded rock material and on one of the slopes, solid rock is located directly under the turf. Thus in the case of the Przemytl structure we are dealing with a construction method between that used for making the Cracow mound which was entirely built by man and the Salve Regina Mound where an already existing natural hill was modied. The Przemytl mound has one more feature in common with the Sandomierz one: the triangular base, whereas the Cracow mounds have bases similar to an oval. However, in Cracow there were as many as three large mounds. In Sandomierz and Przemytl we have a category of large mounds of a type which cannot be found in the Cracow region. Assuming that in all the cases discussed above we are dealing with symbolic structures from the pre-state period, there arises a question whether the Little Polish mounds, like the other European mounds, had a sepulchral function? There is no single answer to this question. Unlike the best known mounds inside which either the remains of the dead (e.g., in Chernigov) or elements of grave goods (e.g., in Old Uppsala), the Little Polish monumental mounds were ‘constructed’ in such a way that they have no room for a burial chamber in the middle of the interior. In the Cracow example, this space is lled with the wattle construction with a central post in the middle, in the Sandomierz mound, because it is a natural loess hill and in the Przemytl one, because it is a rock outcrop. Thus their symbolic function seems to have been the most prominent. However, even in the case of the Scandinavian mounds, as the research conducted so far has indicated, these functions are not contradictory but rather overlap. In the case of barrow burials from the Slavic countries the burial rite where the remains were deposited on top of a mound appeared the most frequently in the pre-state period. This type of burial was testied for the burial rites both of the eastern and of the western Slavs. Thus it is possible that, if they had originally had a sepulchral

29

2000.

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function, such a type of burial was used at the monumental mounds. Does that mean that in Cracow, Sandomierz and Przemytl only the bases of the burials, that is, the monumental mounds have survived, whereas the most crucial part (the remains of the dead) located at the top was destroyed? Undoubtedly, such a concept of burial entails the short existence of its original form (cf. Chapter 6). At the rst pretext, such as for example military action, the remains of even the most eminent ruler were desecrated and destroyed. Yet the base of such a tomb remained unchanged and owing to that had the chance to survive till modern times. Among the existing interpretations of the Little Polish mounds, there is also the theory of their Celtic origin which has been fostered especially by Józef Kotlarczyk. According to him, the orientation of the pairs of mounds (Krak-Wanda and Sólca-Komarowice) at the same angle with respect to the parallel latitude, and also the mound located to the east is in both cases smaller than the one on the west. He drew attention to the azimuths linking these pairs of mounds which are in accordance with the azimuths of the sunrise at certain times of year. He concluded that these monuments could have determined the beginnings of the Celtic seasons and other Celtic rites.30 This hypothesis, however, does not seem acceptable because it does not take into account all the Little Polish monumental mounds and their broader contexts and it is in discord with the fact that Early Medieval material was found inside Krak’s Mound, which makes it impossible for it to have an earlier dating. What should be the next step in studying the Little Polish monumental mounds? First of all, Wanda’s mound ought to be investigated as a matter of urgency and its relation to Krak’s Mound established. Such investigations should consist of several stages, rst geophysical surveys should be made as well as drillings. The latter method, as the investigations of the Salve Regina Mound have shown has two considerable advantages; it allows the researcher to get an overview of the stratigraphy of the structure and to obtain samples of its layers which can undergo detailed multidisciplinary analyses. It is a mystery why there are no similar structures in the other regions of Poland. This concerns especially Great Poland, the region where the Piast state was formed. It is also surprising that there are no

30

Kotlarczyk 1969.

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Figure 74. Map of distribution of monumental and large mounds in Little Poland presented in the book (drawing and digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

monumental mounds in Pomerania, the region where archaeological investigations have been revealing direct traces of the Scandinavians’ presence. The monumental mounds in Little Poland (Fig. 74) should thus be considered as one of the regional peculiarities connected with the formation of proto-state structures in various parts of Europe.31 Attempts have recently been made to link the appearance of monumental mounds with the process of centralization of power in Slav lands after the collapse of the Avars. They have thus been treated as the material evidence of the creation of systems of so-called chiefdoms including rivalry for power.32 It is difcult to agree with this opinion,

31 Leszek Sdupecki (1998) came to similar conclusions a few years ago in his analysis of the Krak and Wanda mounds of Cracow in their wider comparative context. 32 Cf. Urbaqczyk 2000, 64.

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especially since the appearance of these monumental mounds is associated only with Little Poland, while the model mentioned above would mean they would appear in other regions too, and above all in Great Poland where the Polish state emerged. It would be interesting to learn if these mounds were inspired by new arrivals, for whom the idea of such monumental structures was familiar or perhaps they were inspired by local tradition (or imitation) of the customs seen elsewhere and remembered. At the present stage of research either of these options is equally probable.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE EARLIEST MEDIEVAL SCRIPT IN POLAND? 1. A fascinating discovery PodebÜocie, a small village 100 km south of Warsaw, became part of history thanks to the discovery of three modest looking pieces of red clay called by archaeologists the ‘tablets of PodebÜocie’ which aroused a huge scientic controversy. They were found in 1986 during excavations directed by Professor Jerzy G[ssowski of Warsaw University in two features of an Early Medieval settlement dated to the 7th/8th century (Phase I) and the 9th–mid-11th century (Phase II). At least one of the features where the nd was made was dated to the prestate period whereas the other one is still a subject of analyses. All the objects discussed below had a common feature: they have mysterious signs resembling a script on their surfaces. The complex at PodebÜocie, lies several kilometers away from the course of the Vistula river. It consists of a fortied settlement on a promontory (Fig. 75), three adjoining settlements, a cemetery of cremation barrows and another cremation burial ground in the nearby Stasin.1 Although the stronghold was discovered in 1971, systematic archaeological investigations began in 1984. The excavations of the settlement where the tablets were found were completed in 1992 after eight seasons of eldwork. The discovery of the tablets themselves was made in 1986 during excavations in the northern part of the complex, on the site of the open settlement No. 3, just below the stronghold. The most interesting of the discovered features here was one of the sunken oored huts which contained fragments of pottery vessels decorated with gural ornament—rare in the Early Middle Ages—and two of the clay tablet fragments with the signs resembling the letters of the Greek alphabet. A fragment of the third tablet was found in a pit located in the neighboring trench.2

1

Cf. Marczak 1995. The description of the site, the nds and their archaeological context can be found in the numerous works by E. Marczak, included in the bibliography, especially: Marczak 1993, 1998, 1999; Cf. also Barford, Marczak 1992. 2

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Feature No. 10 (Fig. 76) where the two tablets were found appears to be the remains of a sunken oored hut with an occupation level c. 40 cm below the ground surface. In the north-western corner of the feature there were remains of an oven. Besides the two fragments of tablets, as many as 1420 pottery fragments were found there, including ones covered with solar and zoomorphic ornaments. The other nds from the feature were not special in any respect. These are: an iron knife, a semi-nished bone chisel, a clay spindlewhorl, and a fragment of an arrowhead. Among the (numerous) animal remains cattle bones were the most common. Thus, besides a few artifacts, the nds were similar to those from the other features in the settlement. Feature 13, in which the third tablet was found, was similar in shape to a 1 u 3 m rectangle. The occupation layer inside it was 40 cm thick. Besides the tablet the pit contained: a fragment of an iron tting, 166 fragments of pottery and animal bones. These items, however, will not be discussed further in this text, which will focus on the above-

Figure 76. PodebÜocie, settlement 3, Features 10 and 13 where the tablets and pottery with the solar and zoomorphic ornament were found are indicated. Features marked in gray represent settlement Phase I (after E. Marczak, by A. Buko and M. Trzeciecki).

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mentioned tablets, which have been the subject of the avid interest of many researchers. 2. What was found on the tablets from Podebeocie? The rst tablet (Fig. 77) is regular in shape, similar to a rectangle with sides 47 u 27 mm, and 12–15 mm thick. Its upper surface is smooth and at whereas the lower one bearing characteristic irregularities was probably broken off. The nd has a different fabric from the other two (the clay is paler in color and small grains of sand are visible). This attribute should be borne in mind because it will be mentioned in the later part of the discussion. On the at surface signs in the form of regular incisions, made with a sharp tool in wet clay, are visible. The signs make up two lines. The second tablet is 40 u 32 u 25 mm and has an irregular shape; its original edges were damaged and then partly eroded, which is indicated by the rounded edges of the nd. As in the former case, one of the surfaces is at and smooth. It has two rows of signs made with a sharp tool in wet clay. The signs are fewer than on the rst fragment, but they are larger and clearer (Fig. 78). The third nd has triangular form (70 u 75 mm) and was part of a larger object, which is indicated by the irregular and partly eroded edges. On the at and smooth surface there are 13 signs in two rows. Some of them, located on the edge of the fragment have only been partially preserved (Fig. 79). The discovery and the initial interpretation of the signs divided the scientic milieu. In a debate presented in the magazine Kultura in 1987 many scientists expressed their opinions. Some of them were ready to accept the importance of the discovery with all the resulting consequences. Others considered the signs as accidental imprints of plants. A third group suggested that all these objects were products of a cunning fabricator who managed to deceive the archaeologists. I remember one scientic meetings at this time at which some of the assembled scholars seem to have considered the taking of sides for or against one of the concepts as a test for scientic reliability (or naivety) of those present. Such a negative approach was partly caused by the fact that the debate developed before both the artifacts and the contexts in which they were found were properly analyzed. So why did these mysterious signs inspire such a controversy?

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Jerzy G[ssowski3 tended to believe that they represented samples of the earliest Medieval script in Polish lands. What is more, he proposed the presence of groups of Christians in Polish lands before the new religion was ofcially adopted. Tadeusz Wasilewski,4 a specialist in Byzantine history, went even further: he assumed that the signs on tablets 2 and 3 were letters of the Greek script (symbols: I X C H), which, according to him, were an abbreviation (in Latin transliteration) I(sus) CH(ristos) N(ika)—Jesus Christ Conquer. Edward Tryjarski,5 a Turkologist, interpreted one of the tablets in a quite different way. The signs (an attempt at deciphering only one tablet was made), could—he said—be read as runic signs of the Turkic alphabet. The inscription was deciphered as: Pay back the debt! Cheat. The researcher, however, added that due to various reasons (the Turks wrote down also texts in other languages, e.g., Iranian ones) his proposed reading did not have to be the only right one. 3. The tablets in the light of the most recent analyses After the emotions of the late 1980s, which were expressed mainly (but not only) in the press and in unofcial discussions, the debate was discontinued. In the 1990s, owing to a grant from the Committee for Scientic Research (KBN) obtained by Ewa Marczak from the Institute of Archaeology at Warsaw University, various experts’ reports were made in specialist laboratories. The results proved to be very interesting. The analyses conducted in the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Polish Police in Warsaw have proved beyond any doubt that the signs visible on the tablets are not, as had been suggested, accidental imprints of plants but were intentionally made with a tool using a scratching movement in wet (soft) clay, that is before the objects were red.6 Still more fascinating are the results of the petrographic analyses conducted at the University of Science and Technology in Cracow by Maciej Pawlikowski. The analyses revealed that the tablets were made of different fabrics. Two tablets, Nos. 2 and 3 (cf. Fig. 78, 79), were produced from similar raw materials and show many resemblances

3 4 5 6

1987, 1991. 1987. 1987. Marczak 1998.

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to the fabrics of the clay used as daub in the walls of the houses at PodebÜocie. However, according to the researcher, the third tablet (cf. Fig. 77) was made of clays not to be found in this region of Europe, which makes it petrographically different from the other ones. The observable features of the raw material and thermically transformed silt minerals are typical for the weathered soils of the terra rosa type, which occur on the Mediterranean lime stones. The conclusion of the petrographer is clear: one of the discussed plaques was imported to PodebÜocie, most probably from the south.7 Another step in explaining the mysteries of the clay tablets from PodebÜocie is the suggestion of how the inscriptions should be interpreted, put forward by Tomasz PÜóciennik.8 He profoundly criticized the existing attempts at reading the signs. He also stated that the original drawings which many had based their interpretations on were imprecise and in reality they look slightly differently, which has a considerable inuence on their reading and interpretation (Fig. 80). According to PÜóciennik it is characteristic that the inscriptions on tablets 2 and 3 differ only in the shape of the last sign (No. 4) resembling, respectively, letters I and H. Both these signs, called in Byzantine Greek iota and eta have the same phonetic value: that of vowel i. Thus if the script were read backwards (this is a situation sometimes met in Medieval epigraphy) both tablets present the Greek monogram of Christ: ICXC. He noticed also some other details. The imprecise rendering of letter C (the Greek sigma, sign No. 3 on the tablets), seems to indicate that the person who was making the inscriptions was illiterate and was reproducing the signs from memory. It is quite obvious that this interpretation does not differ considerably from the one earlier suggested by Tadeusz Wasilewski: in the latter case the script was understood as an exclamation and in the former, a monogram. However, the deciphered subject is the same: in both cases we deal with the world of Christian beliefs and there is a direct connection with Christ’s name. To complete the existing knowledge about the tablets, one circumstance which went unnoticed in the earlier discussions should be remembered. Namely, together with the two tablets some interesting pieces

7 8

Marczak 1999. 1999.

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Figure 80. Two interpretations of the form of the signs from Tablets 2 and 3. Veried forms of signs are on the right (after T. PÜóciennik).

of pottery with a specic kind of decoration were found. These were fragments of vessels with solar and zoomorphic ornaments discovered in the same feature as the two analyzed tablets. In the pre-state period, the typical ornaments on pottery were horizontal and wavy lines in various congurations. The representations of the sun, and engraved gures (Fig. 81) or zigzags with circles inside deserve a detailed analysis. Only a few examples of gural representations are known on Early Medieval pottery from Polish lands. Still rarer is the ornament of circles resembling the sun. The decorations found on the pottery from PodebÜocie are unique for that period not only in Mazovia but also in the other regions in Poland. I have seen a similar type of ornament, i.e., concentric sun rays, on some vessels coming from the Carolingian period found in the western Balkans and they were dated to the 9th

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century.9 Who, and why in this place, had come up with the idea of decorating clay vessels in such a way remains a mystery. Thus not only the tablets but also the above-described decorative motifs make the nds from PodebÜocie special. It is worthwhile mentioning one more mystery connected with PodebÜocie, namely the results of the analyses of the animal bones discovered in the stronghold. According to the archaeozoologist, Alicja Lasota-Moskalewska, we see here a model of consumption rarely seen in Polish lands of the Early Middle Ages. It is characteristic of a steppe (nomadic) population, and is manifested by the specic structure of the herds of animals raised (and also consumed). Its specic feature is the high proportion of sheep/goat together with a smaller proportion than is usual of bones of cattle and pigs. These data may indicate that the settlement complex at PodebÜocie was inhabited by a culturally diversied population. And although this hypothesis has been criticized10 for, i.a., the small size of the analyzed assemblage, it is worth noting. So what is currently known about the tablets? First and foremost, it should be stated that the complexes from PodebÜocie are characterized with a signicant number of nds unique in the whole of Poland. The problem of the tablets cannot be considered separately from these other nds. The greatest difculty is posed by their precise dating. The stratigraphical data suggest that feature 10 where two of the tablets were found should be included in the earlier (pre-state) phase. Feature 13 (with one tablet) cannot be dated because it was considerably damaged.11 The results of specialist examinations indicate that the features on the described discoveries cannot have been accidental. Do the tablets represent the traces of the earliest Medieval script found in Polish lands? No ultimate conclusion can be made now as the discovered material is still being analyzed. It is however justied to say that the analyses conducted so far make the hypothesis more and more probable. So why do other researchers react so emotionally to the discovery? Probably partly because of the fact that the discoveries similar to the presented

9

Knic 1999, Fig. C9. Barford 2000. 11 The attempt at dating a horse bone found in feature 10 made at the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at the Silesian Technical University yielded a date ranging from the late 6th till the late 7th century. Such an early date cannot be directly linked with the remaining elements in the feature’s lling. 10

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one are quite exceptional. The Polish lands at the discussed time were pagan, yet before the mid-10th century anonymous Christians traveled in various regions of our country so their direct contacts with the local pagan population were quite probable. Their new religion, however, though typical of the neighbors from the west and south could not have been accepted in the pagan world. A change of the system of beliefs, that is the rejection of the ancestors’ faith, would have meant the collapse of the centuries-old social system. It was, however, possible that in some places anonymous Christians (for example slaves, prisoners of war, travelers or settlers) left traces similar to the ones described above. Even if this was the case, the phenomena had marginal effect and did not nd any reection in the existing beliefs. The great conversion began after the year 966 when the beginnings of the Polish state were rst formed. This date, however, does not denote a rm watershed, the Christianization of the country took a long time and was hampered by many difculties, and in its course the Church and its institutions adapted the Latin script.

CHAPTER NINE

HOW POLAND CAME INTO BEING 1. Between archaeology, dynastic tradition and legend The rst to write about the origins of the Polish state was the chronicler known as Gallus Anonymous who compiled his narrative in the early 12th century.1 In his text he mentioned the legendary ancestors of Mieszko I, the rst historical ruler of Poland. He gives a very precise account of the hospitality offered in his mean hut in Gniezno by the wheelwright Piast (originator of the Piast dynasty) to two mysterious guests, but then makes only brief mention of Mieszko’s predecessors. According to his narrative, Piast’s son Siemowit is said to have achieved the most; having gained power with social, and probably also God’s, approval, he deposed the bad king Popiel and his offspring, they were banished from the kingdom (but it is not known where they settled). It is related how the tyrant ended his life: sent to an island he perishes, eaten by mice. Siemowit (according to the chronicle the real founder of the dynasty) owing to his hard work and knightly deeds became remembered by the future generations as the one who considerably expanded the kingdom (but we are not told what new territories he gained). His successor Lestek, the narrative continues, equaled his father in his military prowess, goodness and courage. There is, however, no information allowing us to assess his contribution in forming the territorial base of the state (perhaps everything been already done in that respect). The stress laid by the chronicler on Lestek’s knightly valor perhaps allows us to believe that the ruler at least effectively defended his inheritance. Still briefer are the mentions concerning Mieszko’s father, Siemomysd, who in the chronicle is described as the one ‘who increased the glory of his ancestors three times both in his birth and dignity’. At best it may be guessed

1 The conventional name for this epic narrative of great historical and literary importance written in Latin in the court of the Polish ruler Bolesdaw Wrymouth between 1112 and 1116 derives from the fact that its anonymous author is believed to have been a Benedictine monk, most likely from Provence. In recent years the debate about the identity of its author has however been reopened. The text mainly glories the gesta of Bolesdaw Wrymouth, but mentions his predecessors to put this in context (P.B.).

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that his rule was a time of peace, for the chronicle does not mention any military matters. At the same time, as Gallus Anonymous remarks, it was a period in which the country ruled by Siemomysd was sunken in pagan blindness: this is how his story about Mieszko’s regaining sight at the age of seven can be understood, just as the boy miraculously gained sight during a pagan feast, so the nation he was one day to rule was to gain its spiritual sight when it accepted Christianity.2 The above-discussed text presenting the origins of the state and dynasty suggested to scholars that the history of Poland should be considered as beginning not so much with the pivotal year 966, that is the date of adopting Christianity, but at least three generations earlier. The attempts at nding archaeological justication for the hypothesis of the early origins of the state were rst made before the Second World War and then after it within the boundaries of the research program on the origins of the Polish state, which embraced dozens of sites all over Poland (Fig. 82). The key aim of these investigations was to nd the earliest ‘tribal’ phase of the leading centers. However, the problem turned out to be a complex one and the archaeological interpretations carried a high risk of error from the very outset. Often any traces of pre-state settlement in the earliest Polish towns were identied as testimonies of the rst phase of the fortied center. However, in many cases such nds may only indicate that there was some settlement in the investigated area in the pre-state period. Combining these uncertain, often not scientically justied, claims with the content of written sources resulted in the belief, harbored for many years, that the state formed in the period from the 8th till the early 10th century. According to this conception the state was the outcome of slow internal socio-economic and cultural development, including the political ‘maturing’ of ‘tribal’ communities. At the same time the towns were evolving from the nuclear forms of the pre-state period to developed early urban-stronghold centers of the Piast times. In this approach the earlier (‘tribal’) strongholds were treated mainly as a stage at which the town-shaping processes were initiated and then accelerated as a result of the origination of the early Piast state.3

2

Gallus I, 4. These conceptions are reected in many publications of that time both by historians (cf., cowmiaqski 1973; Mitkiewicz 1976) and archaeologists (e.g. Hensel 1963, 1964, 1974; Leciejewicz 1972). 3

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Figure 82. Main archaeological sites investigated in Poland during the Millennium period (after W. Hensel; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Another widely discussed problem were the circumstances in which the state originated.4 According to the dynastic legends, the area from which the territory was expanded in the pre-state period was Great Poland. For that reason before the Polish state originated that region must have gained the highest degree of political, economic, and territorial integration. This is in contradiction with general knowledge and information from the written sources which seem to indicate that in the 9th century the area with the greatest potential for forming the state was Little Poland. However, according to the dynastic legend, the new dynasty formed in the second half of the 9th century not in Little Poland but in the state of the Polanie. 4 These issues were analyzed by Polish Medieval historians many times (cf. Labuda 1988; cowmiaqski 1973; Mitkiewicz 1976; Potkaqski 1965; Strzelczyk 1992, 2000; Samsonowicz; 2000, 2001; with literature).

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chapter nine 2. Where Poland began: Great Poland just before the rise of the state

In contrast to the neighboring regions, Great Poland did not have to face any external threats in the pre-state period. This not only improved the long term stabilization of settlement but also helped the development of supra-tribal political and economic structures. The process of forming the region was a long-lasting one and connected with the creation of centers of hierarchical power. Archaeological methods allow the recognition of the construction of new strongholds (cf. Chapter 4). The early 10th century saw the fall of the ‘tribal’ strongholds on the Obra river, most probably after their conquest by the Polanie. More strongholds ceased to function in other parts of Great Poland. The research has proved that among dozens of them located in this region a considerable majority was destroyed in the rst half of the 10th century.5 This drastically changed the settlement structure especially in the western and south-western part of the region. At the time when the Piasts appeared on the stage, the population became less dense and in some areas disappeared altogether. The situation was different at the Poznaq-Gniezno area. There a considerable development of the settlement network can be observed: there was up to 10 people per square kilometer, that is, much more than the average assumed for the whole area of Polish lands of that time.6 It is supposed that these phenomena were the result of displacements of large masses of people. Of the c. 90 strongholds in Great Poland of the pre-state period, only 13 were redeveloped and still used in the times of the origination of the state. The remaining ones were forgotten (Fig. 83). In the discussed period, it is also possible to see the diversication of the areas in the density of population and the distribution of strongholds. The core of the Gniezno state, less densely populated in the previous period, came to the fore. The concentrations of complex strongholds with huge fortications and elements of monumental architecture recorded for the area originated, according to recent dendrochronological analyses, from the 930s and 940s and the second half of that century. Particularly favorable conditions of settlement appeared around Gniezno, Poznaq, Ostrów Lednicki and Giecz, and resulted in an increase of the population. For that reason the strongholds were built quite close one to another; often the distances

5 These issues are now better understood thanks to numerous excavations but especially new dendrochronological datings (cf. Kr[piec 1998). 6 Kurnatowski (1994) 1995; Kurnatowski Z. & S. 1997.

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Figure 83. Pre-state and early state strongholds in Great Poland: 1—pre-state strongholds destroyed after the origination of the state, 2—pre-state strongholds which survived and existed in the early Piast period, 3—strongholds build in the early Piast times (after Z. Kurnatowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

between them did not exceed 30 km. Besides the main ones, centers of a smaller rank surrounded with a network of new settlements were built. As a result of these processes, at the time of Mieszko’s rule the strongholds shifted from south-western Great Poland to the central part of the Gniezno state. The most recent results of dendrochronological analyses indicate that all the fortications of the center of Gniezno were made between 940 and 1025 and thus in the times of Mieszko I and Boleslaw the Brave. In Santok and Mi\dzyrzecz all the defensive ramparts were almost completely rebuilt in the same period. For two other fortied centers: Ostrów Lednicki and Moraczewo, which may be assumed to have existed before the times of Mieszko, their broad relations to the other early Piast strongholds (chronological and functional) still require an explanation.7 7 The problems of settlement transformations in Great Poland in the state-forming period were analyzed in depth by S. Kurnatowski ([1994]1995 and Zoa Kurnatowska (1991, 2000; 2002); with literature.

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Besides the Gniezno zone, intensive building activity was carried out in the Kalisz Upland. Within a radius of 30 km, 24 strongholds have been identied around Kalisz, which in itself is an unusual phenomenon. Nineteen of them functioned in the early Piast period and only one came from the pre-state period. The majority are located in river valleys. All are circular in shape and have a relatively small area although some had huge ramparts similar to the most advanced ones built in the early Piast state. To raise them, soil on one or both sides of the rampart was taken, as a result of which ditches were formed. Wells were dug in the central parts of the strongholds, and there were usually some structures along the inside of the ramparts, but usually not many. Strongholds were either built from scratch or established in places of earlier settlements. The concentration of the Kalisz strongholds is associated with the early state period. It is assumed that the program of building them was initiated by the ruling circles.8 Characteristically, in the area between the Gniezno concentration and the Kalisz one only a few defensive structures were built. These undertakings are explained in various ways. They could have played a military role with respect to Kalisz itself, in other words, they were designed to prevent the enemy from reaching the main center of state administration in that part of Great Poland. Whereas the new research has shed some light on the rank of Kalisz at the beginning of the Polish state, the same can not be said about c\czyca, located to the north-west. At present it is known that in the 6th–8th century there was a settlement enclosed behind some kind of fortications (?), although according to Andrzej Abramowicz9 the evidence is scant and not denitive. In Phase II (which lasted until the 10th century) the settlement was surrounded by a wood and earth rampart; an external settlement was built just outside it. In Phase III, dated to the late 10th or early 11th century, the stronghold was redeveloped and surrounded by three rings of fortications. Soon afterwards it was burnt in unknown circumstances. It was rebuilt and lasted for a surprisingly long time, that is, to the mid 14th century.10 However, there are many doubts concerning both the origin, phases

8 9 10

Teske 2000. 1989. Abramowicz et al. 1989.

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of development, and the function of the center. These issues can be only solved by more research. Interesting evidence has been collected about Kruszwica, the leading center in the Kuiavia region. The research by Bovena Dzieduszycka and Wojciech Dzieduszycki11 proved that the center formed relatively late, in the last quarter of the 10th century. It is believed that it was built for the purposes of further expansion of the state and Christianization missions to Pomerania. Before that the main stronghold in the area seems to have been that at nearby Mietlica. The founding of Kruszwica meant the end of prosperity of the existing ‘tribal’ centers. However, as the archaeological investigations have proved, these processes were gradual. Hence it should be allowed that certain earlier centers co-existed with the ones built by the Piasts in this part of Kuiavia. In about the 11th century the population from the old areas was either moved or scattered and the area of the tribal community was depopulated for about 100 years. These phenomena may indicate a strong organizational or ‘tribal’ (?) tradition at the areas around Kruszwica, which for unknown reasons the Piasts did not dare completely to eliminate at least in the initial phase. The origins of the stronghold in Poznaq and its place (political, religious) in the topography of the earliest town have not been fully explained yet. This concerns, for example, the details on how the rampart in the main stronghold on the island at Ostrów Tumski was built (dated to the second quarter of the 10th century, but the dating is not yet based on unequivocal evidence) as well as the more recent interpretations of some of the discoveries. In this context also the broadly understood relations between that center and Gniezno are also debated (Chapter 10). Attention was also focused on the connection between the network of strongholds built at the time of the rst Piasts and the water routes, for example the ones along the Warta, Oder, Notem rivers and then along Gopdo Lake to the estuary of the Vistula river.12 They determined the trade routes and directions of exchange both at the local and at the interregional scale. This arrangement enhanced the economic development of the region and creation of a permanent network of roads (Fig. 84), which was a necessary condition for obtaining raw materials and goods

11 12

1993. Kurnatowscy 2001.

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Figure 84. Main centers of early Piast Poland in the context of the road network of the 12th–13th centuries (after T. Lalik; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

through local and long-distance exchange.13 The archaeological evidence indicates that at the beginning of the state, Great Poland went through a period of economic prosperity, in which many new structures were built and great political and cultural transformations were taking place. These changes were most probably inspired by the members of the new Piast dynasty. There is also increasing evidence which allow us

13 The time when monetary trade economy appeared in Great Poland is a subject of debate. Recent analyses by S. Suchodolski (2000) indicate that local minting did not develop in the times of Mieszko I, as it was formerly believed, but in the times of Boleslaw the Brave. The economic relations between Pomerania and Great Poland are a separate problem. According to W. cosiqski in the former area money may have been introduced in the early 9th century whereas in Great Poland such processes were initiated much later (cosiqski 1996). Various aspects of exchange and early trade in Polish lands may be found in: A. Buko (in print); with literature.

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to determine the period when the Piast revolution entered its decisive phase. Not so much attention, however, is devoted to the place where it began. 3. Where did the Piasts come from? Gallus Anonymous did not have any doubts in this respect; according to him, the dynasty originated directly from Gniezno. The chronicler Wincenty Kaddubek (from Cracow) is silent about the site of one of the dramatic legendary events he describes (when mice eat the bad ruler Popiel and Piast becomes king). The reader is left to infer that this happened not in Gniezno, but in Cracow, since it was from here that the descendents of Lestek came from.14 Jan Ddugosz unequivocally placed the origins of the dynasty in Gniezno. The choice of the place for the capital of the state of the Polanie, as he says, was preceded by a long search and consultations with the locals. This was, says the chronicler, the rst difcult strategic decision taken by the new ruler: . . . having easily become the prince of his generation and his tribe, he looked around and went around, he often discussed with the ones closest to him what place would be suitable to set up his abode and make the prince’s residence. Having found at lowlands with fertile soils and mellow climate, which had many natural lakes and rivers owing from them like from the parents’ bosom, rich in healthy shes; [Lech] made his camp and so, upon the decision of Prince Lech himself and also all the elders who were under his command, the place was designed and chosen as the rst seat of the kingdom, the capital and town. [Lech] devised and gave it a Lechite, or Polish, name, Gniezno, which in common language means nidus [nest].

Ddugosz therefore does not have the slightest doubt that the origins of the Piast dynasty and their native domains should be looked for in the area of modern Gniezno. In Polish historiography the dynastic legends, critically assessed by whole generations of researchers, have been approached in various ways, ranging from uncritical acceptance, through partial negation to acknowledgement that they reect only the main values of a certain

14

Cf. Labuda 1988, 25.

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group in society, including acting as a means of gaining power by the new dynasty.15 Recent dendrochronological dates of the earliest monumental structures of the Gniezno state indicate that the great breakthrough leading to the creation of the state began during the reign of Mieszko’s father and gained real momentum when the rst historical ruler of Poland came to power (cf. Chapter 10). The second trend in the debate is whether the Piast dynasty is of local or foreign origin. Historians point to two circumstances. Many European states, including the Slavic ones (e.g. Ruthenia, and earlier the so-called Samo’s empire of the 7th century) were formed with the contribution of people of Germanic origins. An example of this are the Varangian troops of Scandinavian origin, whose traces can be seen among the artifacts discovered in Poland (Chapter 15). The other factor that has been cited in this debate is the hypothesis that the rst historical ruler of Poland appeared in the document known as Dagome iudex (from the late 10th century, it submitted the Polish state to the protection of the Holy See), under a Scandinavian name, Dago or Dagr. Although there is another opinion according to which the abbreviation denotes Mieszko’s Christian name, Dagobert, the former idea has for many years inspired both Polish and foreign researchers. Research into the question of the origins of the Piast dynasty was for a long time avoided by Polish archaeologists, mainly due to the formal difculties in research. How can the discussed issues be discovered, described, and nally analyzed on the basis of the archaeological sources? Yet is archaeology in a hopeless situation? If according to archaeological evidence it can be shown that Gniezno was formed during Mieszko’s reign, then the chroniclers’ statements that it existed already at the time of Mieszko’s predecessors are quite improbable. Also the extent of destruction of the old tribal centers caused by the creators of the new dynasty is amazing. It is thus quite understandable that archaeologists would ask the question: where should one look for the homeland of those who established the new rule in the times when Gniezno and Poznaq did not exist on the map of Poland?

15 The dynastic legend about Piast and Popiel has been analyzed in depth by J. Banaszkiewicz (1986). The names of the princes of the earliest Polish dynasties were extensively discussed by G. Labuda 1988, 5–82; with literature.

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I suggested in one of my earlier articles16 that this place should be sought in the area which had a suitable potential of already existing strongholds before the Polish state originated. However, the problem is that in the areas with a greatest density of them there exist the most evident traces of destruction. Did the Piasts destroy the strongholds because they belonged to their enemies? A well-known military way of establishing power is to create competitive centers, often in completely new places. This hypothesis is supported by Sandomierz in Little Poland (Chapter 10) where the rapid growth and development of the center in the 970s was accompanied by the abandonment of the older centers in Zdota and Zawichost-Podgórze. However, in that case it is known who caused these events, most probably invaders from Great Poland who can be identied owing to two independent groups of data: archaeological and anthropological evidence. In Great Poland the situation is much more complex. It is hard to link the origins of the dynasty with ethnically alien newcomers because this is not supported either by the written sources or the archaeological evidence. It is equally improbable that the Piasts originated outside Great Poland, simply because the most dynamic changes of the late pre-state period involving strongholds can be observed in that very region. Also dynastic tradition locates them there. It might be assumed that the destruction was caused by mutual invasions of small local settlement communities. This, however, would not indicate the appearance and stabilization of elites of ‘tribal’ power but an unimaginable organizational chaos just before the creation of the state in Great Poland. If the Piast dynasty were strangers in the area it would be expected that the existing political structures, which are materially manifested in ‘tribal’ strongholds, would be statistically evenly distributed in the whole region. However, this is not the case. There are areas where the traces of destruction are particularly pronounced and other ones with few or no such traces at all. In this situation it seems justied to state that among the many pretenders to power the best organized (economically, politically and militarily) Piast family came to the fore in the rst half of the 10th century. Where could their original seats have been? Although it is difcult to answer this question, it is possible to formulate the conditions which should be fullled by their family domain. It should be rst of all be manifested as

16

Cf. Buko 1999.

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a region with no traces of destruction dating to the time of the stateforming breakthrough. Besides, these should be the areas (or an area) where at least one high rank (political, administrative, religious) center from the pre-state period has survived. The material culture of such a center should have higher status material culture than the other ones. The area should be also exceptional in comparison to other parts of Great Poland in important (economic, military, spiritual) investments such as stronghold construction. A good starting point to confront these assumptions with the archaeological realities would be to compare the maps of strongholds in Great Poland from the pre-state and early state periods. A detailed analysis of the data indicates that there are no reasons to look for the Piasts’ domain in south-western Great Poland because the older centers in that area were systematically destroyed just before the origins of the state (cf. Fig. 83). What is more, in the rst period of the Gniezno state there was an evident stagnation in the population increase. Finally, there were no strongholds from the pre-state times which existed also in the early state period. The situation is similar in the area of Poznaq, especially to the west of the town. The modern town is virtually surrounded with completely destroyed strongholds from the pre-state period, which is especially curious as it has always been accepted that Poznaq itself originated quite late in the early state period. It is worth considering whether this dating was not in some way wrong, and that Poznan was a strong pagan tribal center in which the Piasts met the strongest resistance. In this context the most recent results of the investigations by Hanna Kóoka-Krenz, which indicate earlier origins (in the ninth century) than had been previously assumed for the Poznaq stronghold (cf. Chapter 10) should be taken into consideration. If these suggestions are conrmed it would be understandable why at the junction of the Warta and Cybina rivers, at a territory difcult in political and ideological terms but of crucial strategic importance for the Piast state, there appeared not only the most important center of the state but also the rst missionary bishopric. Such actions were not only the most effective method of pacifying of the ‘old order’ but also a manifestation of the power of the new dynasty. Its material manifestation (as in Przemytl located in the borderlands) was in the form of the recently uncovered residence of the prince (cf. Chapter 10). In the Gniezno region, there are old centers which survived in the early state period. There are also ones built by the rst Piasts (the most numerous) as well as ones which they destroyed. Some of them, such as

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Moraczewo, Jankowo, or Mietlica ceased to exist, as the archaeological evidence indicates, in unclear circumstances soon after the Piasts took power. Other ones, including Santok, Mi\dzyrzecz, or Nakdo on the Notem river, survived, but most probably because they were frontier forts, their existence earlier and later on determined by strategic reasons. The situation is completely different in south-eastern Great Poland. In the light of archaeological evidence and dendrochronological dating, Kalisz is probably one of the few fortied Great Polish centers from the pre-state period which did not suffer the fate of the other ones when the Piast dynasty took power. There is much evidence that the stronghold built in the Piast times was on the same site as its ‘tribal’ predecessor.17 Was it a direct continuation of an earlier settlement the reconstruction of which was enforced by the change of the hydrological conditions (the level of river Prosna became higher) or is there another interpretation? The fact remains that also during the period of the rst Piasts the stronghold at Zawodzie in Kalisz, located in the center of the state, played an important part. Finally, it is curious that the founders of the Gniezno state undertook such large-scale investments in that area. To recapitulate: in a short period of time during the rule of Mieszko and Bolesdaw the Brave several completely new fortied settlements were built from scratch around the one in Kalisz. This was accompanied by an intensive colonization of the areas around. In the Kalisz stronghold, unique remains of the earliest wooden church of the 11th century were discovered. That (cf. Chapter 10) clearly indicates the high rank of Kalisz in the state-formation period, according to all scholars the earliest missionary outposts were the earliest links of the church organization. Building in Kalisz one of the rst churches in Poland (and one of the two known from Great Poland from that period) should be considered in context of the important symbolic part played by the stronghold at Zawodzie. As the earlier excavations18 revealed this is where an early Slavic cemetery with a stone barrow is located. According to Gallus Anonymous when Kalisz was captured by Bolesdaw Wrymouth during his conict with his brother Zbigniew who sought refuge in the town it became a sign of his political success; this was the place of residence and also nal rest of Mieszko the Old (dux totius Poloniae 1173–1202) and his son Mieszko Mieszkowic.

17 18

Cf. Baranowski 1998. Cf. D[browski 1962; Baranowski 1998.

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It may seem that the described phenomena is telling proof of the enriching (also in military terms) of their own family domain, poor in strongholds, in the time when the Piasts could afford such actions. Thus perhaps it is south-eastern Great Poland and its main stronghold, Kalisz, that was the origin of the Piast dynasty in the period preceding the origin of the Gniezno state. If this were the case, then establishing the capital in Gniezno would be a logical attempt at a ‘compromise’ acceptable both by the Piast invaders and the conquered population. Before the inception of the Gniezno state, in that place had been a sacrum of the local community(?), a pagan religious center whose function was clearly strengthened after the conversion to Christianity in 966 by the formation an episcopal see there in the year 1000. The dynastic legends indicate that one of the most important decisions made by the new dynasty was to take over the holy places of respective tribal communities. In time, these places became centers of the new power.19 There is also another interesting aspect. Recently remains of a sofar unknown stronghold have been identied in the district of KaliszWydarte. If the initial chronological and functional diagnoses of the discovery are conrmed then it would be a very rare case in Polish lands, making the place additionally unique. Was the stronghold of Kalisz and Kalisz Land the place where the Piast revolution began? It is impossible to answer this question in this book, as there still remain many questions to answer. Some authors do not agree about the dating of the earliest stronghold at Kalisz-Zawodzie. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that the successive dendrochronological dates for the earliest phases of that settlement consistently refer to the second half of the 9th century. Zoa Kurnatowska has recently formulated a competing proposal according to which the main place in the Piast demesne was occupied by the site of Giecz. This is suggested by the recent discoveries, especially the latest dendrochronological datings of the earliest phase of the stronghold referring to the pre-state period. According to Gallus Anonymous Giecz was also an important place on the map of Poland for it provided Bolesdaw the Brave with 300 armored warriors (that is, cavalry) and 2000 shield-carrying warriors.20 Besides, Giecz had one of

19 These issues are discussed in greater detail by J. Banaszkiewicz (1986a; 1986b; 1998); with literature. 20 Gall, I, 8.

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the few palatia of the early state period, discovered many years ago in the southern part of the stronghold (Chapter 11). This discovery is no less important because of the fact that, as it is believed, the construction was never nished. In recent years other important discoveries have been made in Giecz.21 One of them is a huge basilica located in the northern part of the stronghold; a proof of the high rank of the place (Chapter 11). An important argument is provided by the latest dendrochronological datings suggesting that the stronghold was built in the pre-state period, that is in the 2nd half of the 9th century. Could that not mean that it was Giecz that was the Piasts’ family domain? According to Zoa Kurnatowska22 this hypothesis is supported by the fact that Giecz is the only one of the ve strongholds in the Gniezno Land which goes back to the pre-state period and which retained its importance when the state was being formed. This hypothesis certainly deserves attention. However, as in the other cases there are some debatable issues. The advantage of Giecz over Kalisz is based, among other things, on the implicit premise (which has not been proved) that the latter is chronologically later.23 There are some other issues. Unlike in the area of Kalisz, in the vicinity of Giecz there are examples of strongholds from the pre-state period which were destroyed in the early state period (why and by whom?) but there are no traces of investments similar to those in the Kalisz region (except for Giecz itself ). Finally, in the context of the hypothetical family domain at Giecz, it is a mystery not only why the construction of the prince’s residence was abandoned but also why the stronghold itself was neglected and abandoned in the Early Middle Ages. Was it only caused by the depopulation of the center after 1039 due to the invasion by the Bohemian prince Bretyslav I, who is said to have moved the population to Hedoany in Bohemia? How would we explain the fact that the Piast dynasty forgot so quickly about its family nest? As we can see there are still many problems to solve. There is also the possibility that there could be more than one place connected with the

21

Krzysztoak 2000. 2000, 64. 23 The ‘rejuvenation’ of Kalisz may be observed on the maps of fortied settlements in publications by Z. Kurnatowska issued after the year 2000; in the earlier works of that author it was consistently marked as dating from the pre-state period. The early origins of the site are clearly supported by the archaeologists investigating that center and their suppositions are based, among other things, on the numerous dendro dates from Kalisz-Zawodzie (cf. Baranowski 1998; Baranowski Krapiec 1998). 22

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early Piasts’ family domain. At the moment it may be only said that at the current stage of research, Giecz and Kalisz, the supposed centers of the Piasts’ family domain (like Poznaq and Gniezno in times after the origination of the state), are a pair of sites ‘competing’ for primacy. 4. From Great Poland to Little Poland: the rst step of expansion of the Piasts It has been frequently stressed that the idea of unication did not come from Little Poland, a land rich in natural resources and earlier organized politically, but from a region of a clearly lesser economic potential, and which appeared on the political map of Central Europe relatively late, that is, when the Gniezno state originated.24 There are at least two reasons for such a state of affairs. Firstly, Little Poland had never been a single territorial, cultural or political unit. The division into Cracow and Sandomierz Lands has been noted above. Secondly, at the period when the state was formed, the two regions had different ranks. Little Poland was subordinated at that time at least to two separate political entities. The Cracow Land became subordinated to Great Moravia and then, from the early 10th century, to the state of Bohemian Premyslids. Its eastern part, as Constantine Porphyrogenitus says in his work De administrando imperio, belonged to the group paying tribute to Kievan Rus, and thus was politically dependent on it as late as in the rst half of the 10th century.25 In the late 9th century, Little Poland moved from the stage of organizational and economic prosperity to political catastrophe. The fall of the political rank of the L\dzianie and Vislane, the main communities of the region, was accompanied by the increased investments made in Great Poland. Their material testimony are tens of strongholds built in the 10th century, which resulted in an unprecedented deforestation and cutting down the most valuable species of trees. Most probably Little Poland with Cracow was from the very start an area desired by the founders of the new dynasty. However, also the Bohemian Premyslids had similar aspirations and what is more, in the period when Mieszko’s state was being created, they already had gained Cracow and at least the western part of the region. That is why the basic task of the Piast dynasty was to create 24 25

E.g. Lalik 1967. Cf. Labuda 1988, 206.

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a strategic outpost there. Such functions could have been fullled by a center which would take over the main political and administrative functions of the Gniezno state in the region, at least until Cracow was gained from the Bohemians. The archaeological data seem to indicate that the area of modern Sandomierz was chosen. In the 10th century in Sandomierz Land changes following a pattern surprisingly similar to the ones in Great Poland can be observed. The burnt older strongholds in Podgórze near Zawichost and farther to the east in Lublin (Staromiejskie Hill) are most probably testimonies of the dramatic changes to which the old tribal territories were subjected at the beginning of the Polish state. As in Great Poland, the new administrative and political centers were built in the mid-10th century in places different than before: instead of the tribal stronghold at Zawichost-Podgórze the center of royal authority of the Piasts was built in Sandomierz.26 One new center, even of the highest rank, however, was not enough to defend the frontiers with the strong Kievan Rus neighbor behind it. It is thus highly probable that at the same time as Sandomierz (or soon afterwards) there appeared on the map of Poland the new political and administrative centers in Lublin and Przemytl. Most probably the triangle outlined by the three strongholds was to serve as administrative and military support of the Gniezno state in Little Poland (Fig. 85); further research is necessary to determine if the easternmost ones completed the of the system of defense of the frontier between Poland and Kievan Rus, the core of which seem to be the still mysterious Cherven strongholds.27 In contrast to Sandomierz, in the area of Lublin there had existed an earlier stronghold surrounded by two ramparts of pre-state date located on the northern part of Staromiejskie [Old Town] Hill. Together with a complex of accompanying open settlements on Czwartek Hill and defense points (?) at Motycz and umigród, it was an administrative and political center of an earlier settlement concentration. The establishment of Piast power in that area may be associated with two phenomena. The rst comprises traces of a great re which destroyed the stronghold in Lublin. Furthermore, for over a hundred years the area became empty. The population returned to that place in the second half of the 12th century due to a newly formed settlement belonging to the archdeacon,

26 27

Buko 1998. Buko 2000 with literature.

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Figure 85. Hypothetical scenario of the Piast expansion in eastern Little Poland. Places where the earliest sacral structures were discovered are marked with crosses (after Z. Kurnatowska, modied by A. Buko & M. Trzeciecki).

when the area on the northern part of the hill was settled for good.28 Was this place treated by the Piasts as one ‘contaminated’ by ‘tribal’ tradition? Was the aim to wipe out the memory of the importance of the Staromiejskie Hill as the domain of the local tribal community? What was the role of the Lublin-umigród in this context (cf. Chapter 5)? It thus seems certain that after the fall of the tribal stronghold, the earliest Piast stronghold was built in another place. Many authors share the opinion that to the north of the Czechówka river, a new economic and administrative hinterland was developed during the time of the rst Piasts. One of its elements was the earlier stronghold on Czwartek Hill where after some time the rst parish church of St. Nicholas was

28

Rozwadka 1997.

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built. There is no agreement, however, whether the rst Piast stronghold was located on Kirkut (Grodzisko) Hill or it existed all the time on the Zamkowe [Castle] Hill.29 Many similar issues connected with the town-forming mechanisms were raised by the excavations of medieval Przemytl30 although there is not enough evidence to identify a pre-Piast fortied center. Perhaps it was on Trzech Krzyvy [Three Crosses] Hill, where during recent excavations remains of stone and earth fortications have been discovered, but it has been almost surely established that the earliest Piast stronghold was built on the Castle Hill before the end of the 10th century. In the same place, at the periphery of the state, remains of monumental structures: a rotunda and a palatium erected in the late 10th or the rst quarter of the 10th century, were identied. These two buildings were clear manifestations of the power of the state and the new religion (Chapter 10). The origins of Chedm located in the Polish-Ruthenian borderland still remain a mystery. From the 11th century an intensive increase of population can be observed in the Chedm Land.31 This concerns the regions of Kunów and Uhaq to the south and on the right bank of the Bug river the settlement concentrates around Lubomla. There are also concentrations along the Uherka river (the area of Chedm) and on the Huczwa river. It may be inferred that at least part of that settlement was sited along trade routes such as the one on the Bug river leading towards Ruthenia. According to the recent archaeological investigations, the ethnic and cultural character of the population kept changing. It may be assumed that in the 11th and 12th centuries it comprised both Polish and Ruthenian elements. In Chedm the main problem is the mysterious shift of the settlement concentration from Chedm-Biedawin, located in the marshy valley of the Uherka river, to the modern Old Town (Cathedral Mount), which took place in the 10th century. In the former area there are traces of settlement both from the Late Roman period (the Przeworsk culture) and of the earlier phases of the Early Middle Ages. In the center of the modern town, in turn, no traces

29 The case is difcult to solve because each of the Polish specialists dealing with these problems has a different opinion (cf. Hoczyk-Siwkowa 1996; Rozwadka 1997; Kutydowska 2003). An extensive review of the literature on the origins of Lublin may be found in the work by A. Rozwadka quoted above. 30 Cf. Kunysz 1981; Sosnowska 1993. 31 Buko 2004; with literature.

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of settlement earlier than the 10th century have so far been found. The investigations focused on the top of Cathedral Hill, especially its northern part known as Wysoka Górka (Chapter 10). This is the place where the origins of the town have been sought for several decades. At the present stage of research there exist several hypotheses. According to the rst, the palace of the ruler of Halich-Volynia, Danylo (Daniel) Romanovych was built in the rst half of the 13th century on the ruins of a nearby stronghold, the origin of which is not quite certain. There are also opinions that Chedm was one of the Cherven strongholds, on the ruins of which the prince Danylo (crowned in Drohiczyn in 1253 with the agreement of Pope Innocent IV as the king of Ruthenia) built a new stronghold and moved there the capital of his principality from Halicz in 1239. Thus, as Andrzej Poppe believes, it is highly probable that Chedm might have existed already in the 11th century. In this model, the information about Danylo’s new investments in the town and building the stronghold may mean that the ruler not so much erected as just redeveloped the fortress which had gone into decline in the 12th century. A Russian archaeologist, Pavlo Rappoport,32 stated, when discussing the results of the excavations conducted in Chedm at Wysoka Górka in 1910–1912, that Danylo’s stronghold was built over an earlier one. Others believe, however, that Chedm came into existence much later. Jerzy Kdoczowski says that both the stronghold and its associated open settlements developed as late as the 13th century, that is, during the king Danylo Romanovych’s rule in the Halich-Volynia principality;33 these issues are discussed in Chapter 10 below. There are similar problems concerning the earliest phase at Zawichost near Sandomierz (Chapter 11), and Opatów, still poorly known today, but with umigród located in its vicinity (Chapter 5); so far it has been established that their origins most probably go back to the 11th century. If this is true, then in eastern Little Poland, as in Great Poland, it would seem there were deep structural changes connected with the appearance of the centers of the Piast power. There was a profound change of the existing settlement structures, in particular the intensive urbanization of eastern Little Poland. This resulted in the creation of at least several urban centers ranking high in the system of the early Piast state and which have remained towns till today. The described

32 33

1954. Kdoczowski 1958.

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events were initiated by the Polanie, as the archaeological evidence from Sandomierz indicates (Chapter 10). It is no accident that one of the main political and administrative centers of the state and at the same time a strategic base of attack to the south-east and west was formed in Sandomierz Land. There are many premises indicating that like in Sandomierz, also in Lublin and Przemytl, the Polanie were the driving force. The choice of Sandomierz as the main center of the state provided a unique chance of controlling, along the valley of the San river, the territory of the L\dzianie and the whole borderland. These processes most probably began before the year 981 when, according to the HalichVolynian Chronicle, Vladimir, duke of Kievan Rus took Przemytl and the Cherven strongholds from the ‘Lachs’ (Poles). The expansion of the Polanie into this region was certainly encouraged by the unclear status of these areas around the mid-10th century. To some extent this resembles the situation of the year 1002 when Bolesdaw the Brave occupied the area of Moravia, which had been deserted after the fall of the Great Moravian state, and built strongholds there designed to be long lasting. This example is also important for another reason: as in Sandomierz, in Moravia pottery having the stylistic features typical of Great Poland and occurring only in the strongholds connected with Bolesdaw the Brave’s expedition, is the indication of his military and demographic expansion.34 The creation of Sandomierz may be thus treated as an element of a strategic plan of building the Polish state and also forming a new region for the Civitas Schinesghe.35 The newly formed center was located in an area relatively easy to conquer (a political periphery occupied by the settlement community of the ‘Sandomierzanie’) but also strategically important. It was easy to occupy these lands not only due to the military potential of the Gniezno state but also because of the weakness of the neighboring ‘tribal’ organizations.36 There still remains the question how far to the east the Piast expansion reached in Little Poland. Some historians associate the name Peremyshl, used in the reference in the Russian Primary Chronicle to Vladimir’s expeditions

34 These issues have been investigated by Czech archaeologists for a long time. They were broadly discussed by C. Staña (1991; 1998); recently they have become the subject of a broader research project (oral communication by Dr. Rudolf Prohazka from Brno, 2004). 35 This name is used in the document Dagome Iudex (see below) to refer to an area which most scholars accept was the extent of the state of Mieszko I (P.B.). 36 Buko 1998, 83.

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against the Lachs in 981 with Peremil on the Styr river.37 Although the issue has not been ultimately resolved it should be noted that there is, as yet, no archaeological evidence supporting this hypothesis. 5. Towards the north: the Piasts on the Bay of Gdarsk The expansion of the Piasts to the southeast in the 970s was probably the earliest but not the only episode of this type. There is much evidence that suggests that alongside the above-described events, there was also an expansion of the Piasts to the areas near the Vistula river estuary. In this case their aspirations were clearly more modest, for they only built (or took over) the coastal site of Gdaqsk, which, however, ensured effective control over the coast. In this understanding Gdaqsk, like Sandomierz in Little Poland, might have been the main point supporting the new power. It is however, curious, that whereas in the former case new important centers were built in the borderland, in Eastern Pomerania archaeology has not revealed a similar phenomenon. A fuller knowledge about the origins of Gdaqsk would provide answers for many of the existing questions. However, the interpretations of recent discoveries are unclear, and thus can serve as a basis for formulating various, often contradictory, hypotheses.38 In the earlier archaeological literature it was postulated that Gdaqsk originated in the last quarter of the 10th century. Yet the wooden elements of structures discovered under the Town Hall, dated to the 930s have inspired other hypotheses about the earliest (pre-state) stronghold, earlier than so-called ‘ducal stronghold’, erected to the north on the Motdawa river.39 Wdadysdaw cosiqski even considered the possibility that these are traces of the Piasts’ interest in Eastern Pomerania even before the mid-10th century.40 The problem thus concerns a basic issue: did the Piasts build a completely new center or was it created alongside another one, existing from tribal times? In the latter case the new stronghold, competing with the other one, took over more and more the prerogatives of the old center, which was bound to lead to its decline. This is not the only issue connected with

37

Cf. Kuczyqski 1955. Cf. Javdvewski 1961; Zbierski 1978; Lepówna 1998; Paner 1998. 39 The issues outlined in this chapter have been broadly discussed in many publications (cf. Chapter 10). 40 cosiqski 2001. 38

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the establishment of Piast power on the Baltic; these questions will be discussed more extensively in Chapter 10. Another problem making the reconstruction of settlement situation at the outset of the state more difcult is the poor state of research in the Gdaqsk region. In fact it is not known which of the local centers were founded by the early Piasts. A good example are the origins of Puck located c. 50 km to the north of Gdaqsk. There is a well established view that the center appeared relatively late, at the end of the Early Middle Ages, whereas the discoveries in the Bay of Puck of old wharfs associated with archaeological material dated to the pre-state period as well as signicant pottery assemblages collected from the area of the town and dated to the 9th century indicate that this view should be urgently reconsidered.41 It is quite possible that Puck existed earlier than Gdaqsk as a crafts and trade center serving the local hinterland. In contrast to the other early coastal centers there are no imports connected with the zone of exchange in the Baltic littoral.42 If that was the case then Early Medieval Gdaqsk was not only competition but could have posed a threat to the very existence of Puck or even be the cause of its fall in the 10th–11th centuries. It is possible that there are three periods in the early history of Puck: the oldest (‘tribal’) one, indicated by the discoveries mentioned above, a period of decline when the town might have been even deserted, caused by the appearance of the Piasts in the Gdaqsk Bay (there are no nds datable to that period) and the revival of the center at the end of the 13th century (Early Middle Ages), represented by many archaeological nds. The word ‘revival’ does not indicate that there was any direct connection between the settlement center from the late pre-state period and the one of the end of the Middle Ages. I mean here only the reuse of a location favorable for settlement. If that was the case, it should be assumed that the unprecedented development of the whole Gdaqsk agglomeration of the 11th and 12th centuries stimulated the development of a network of settlements on the Gdaqsk Bay. A possible effect of these complex and overlapping processes might have been the reappearance of the town of Puck in the 13th century, this time for good.

41 Especially the Early Medieval pottery (known to me from personal inspection) which was produced by the investigations of M. Auch a few years ago (2001). 42 The issues concerning the origins of the earliest crafts and trade centers on the Baltic Sea littoral have been recently discussed from many aspects by M. Bogucki in his doctoral dissertation (2005).

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Figure 86. Settlement network in Eastern Pomerania in the period of state formation (after L.J. cuka; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

One more question which should be urgently veried is the settlement distribution in that part of the Bay. According to Leon Jan cuka43 before Gdaqsk originated, in the area of modern Gdaqsk, Gdynia and Sopot there existed a dense network of settlements; strongholds connected with them have been identied in the area of modern Sopot and GdyniaOksywie (Fig. 86). cuka believes that the earlier system of settlements went into decline when the stronghold was built in Gdaqsk. This may indicate that it took over the functions and prerogatives of the earlier tribal centers on the shores of the Gdaqsk Bay. Some indirect indications concerning the chronology of these events have been provided by the recent excavations at Janów Pomorski, the assumed crafts and trade center of Truso, located on Lake Druvno in the territory of the

43

1978.

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Prussians. The archaeological material, including numerous imports collected in that settlement suggests that between the 9th and early 11th century this was a vibrant center.44 The rst settlers, however, may have arrived earlier (the second half of the 8th century?) and the ultimate decline of Truso, which took place in the mid-11th century, was preceded and caused by some unknown events. They may have been connected with the Piasts’ expansion towards the estuary of the Vistula river, which ended with building Gdaqsk. The appearance in the 970s of a strong rival in long distance trade, additionally politically and militarily supported by the Piast state led to the decline and ultimate fall of Truso in the 11th century. If that was the case, the situation would be similar to that of Puck, which, however, after a decline (?) in the early Piast period began to exist again, although was not able to compete with Gdaqsk again. Due to the poor state of research any further statements, and the more so, conclusions, seem quite risky and without any evidence to support them. One can only state that when the Piasts were occupying Eastern Pomerania, they used a completely different strategy from the one used in Little Poland. They invested in building one economically strong coastal center and did not try any further urbanization of the region. 6. ‘Forgotten’ Mazovia or a strategic territorial reserve? While in the majority of the regions in Poland the state formation process seen in the light of the archaeological evidence forms a logical sequence of well-denable events, in Mazovia, any attempts at linking the origins of the region with the processes occurring in the other parts of the country seem quite risky. It is impossible to apply the schemes of interpretation presented above to the process of incorporation of Mazovia into the Polish lands.45 Some of the Mazovian strongholds which have dendrochronological datings, such as Wola Szyddowska, Mokrzk, Sdupno, Raci[v and some other ones, appeared on the map of ‘tribal’ Poland relatively late, that is, in the late 9th or early 10th century. These settlements are scattered over a large area of Mazovia. They

44

Jagodziqski 2001. In the historical syntheses it is assumed that the process of incorporation of Mazovia in the Polish state began early (the 9th century) and had several stages [cf. Gieysztor, Samsonowicz (ed.) 1994]; with further literature. 45

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originated quite late for the tribal period and too early to consider them as coming from the early state time.46 These data may indicate that in the Old Mazovia there existed a well-organized system of strongholds built c. 900, thus before Mieszko’s rule. This may be treated as material archaeological testimonies of power centers being created there just before the Piast revolution in Great Poland. The late ‘awakening’ of Mazovia had a mysterious and dramatic end. Part of the strongholds existed for a very short time, not exceeding one generation. Why were they built at such a late date and why were they destroyed so soon? Were they built in order to gain political autonomy in the face of the threat coming from the west in the shape of the neighboring Polanie? If that was so, then the attempt proved to be a failure, which is indicated by their short duration and rapid, dramatic end. These may be the traces of the Piasts’ eastward expansion of as early as the c. mid-10th century and the opinion that Mazovia was incorporated into the Gniezno state by the Piasts at quite an early date may be justied. This hypothesis is in accordance with the written sources, especially the text by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub and the document Dagome iudex47 which clearly state that Mieszko’s country bordered to the north with the Prussians. The neighbors were probably tiresome, which seems to be suggested by the remains of linear ramparts along the Mazovian-Prussian frontier, similar to the ones identied in other regions of the country (Fig. 87).48 Surprisingly, no early foundations of state centers have been uncovered in Mazovia and the Pdock bishopric was erected at quite a late date (the second half of the 11th century). Here we touch on another key issue, which is the earliest dating of Pdock—the principal center of the region. In the light of the recent investigations, it is clear that the stronghold was built on uninhabited land no earlier than the late 10th century (Chapter 10). However, if the Piasts appeared here in about the mid-10th century, where then was the ‘Pdock before Pdock’? In the literature there are several hypotheses. According to the rst one, the earlier center could have been located in Proboszczewice in the near neighborhood of the town, where traces 46

Dulinicz 1997, 1999. A summary of an ofcial document no longer extant but which seems to have been drawn up in the early 990s. It is found in a register compiled by a curial cardinal during the papacy of Gregory VII, c. 1080. The document is named after the rst two words, and it describes the boundaries of the Shinesghe civitas, most probably the realm of Mieszko I (P.B.). 48 Kowalczyk 2003 and Fig. 87. 47

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Figure 87. Linear earthwork (the so-called Swedish wall) at Zimna Woda, part of the zone of fortications on the Mazovian-Prussian border (after E. Kowalczyk).

of a massive stronghold apparently pre-dating Pdock were found. The archaeological excavations conducted there have not yielded the data to support this hypothesis; attempts at establishing a dendrochronological date ended in failure.49 Another topic of research are the relations between Pdock and the town Wdocdawek, a little further down the Vistula. The latter gained particular importance in the light of a hypothesis put forward by Jan Powierski.50 This hypothesis suggests that in the 10th century there existed a ‘tribal state’ in Mazovia, headed by a ‘Wdodzisdaw’, an alleged party to a treaty made between Kievan Rus and Byzantium in the mid-10th century. In this model, Wdocdawek (Wdodzisdaw’s town) would have been the earlier capital of Mazovia. It is in such terms that Gallus Anonymous refers to the place while stressing that its military standing was similar to the leading centers of the Gniezno state. The problem is interesting and deserves additional research but it is problematic

49 50

Dulinicz 2000, 147ff. 1995.

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that the existing dates for the earliest phase of the stronghold do not go back beyond the second half of the 10th century. The advantage of Wdocdawek over Pdock is that as early as the mid-9th century there existed an open crafts settlement here at the junction of the Zgdowi[czka and Vistula rivers.51 Thus the stronghold in Wdocdawek was built in a place where a settlement concentration existed in the pre-state period. It is not known yet why the open settlement was burnt in the mid-10th century and a stronghold was built in its place. There is also a view that the importance of Wdocdawek which the written sources seem to reect, is due to the fact that the Piast expansion to the east began there and ended (even before Pdock was founded), in the creation of the strongholds in Wdocdawek and Kruszwica. The question, however, cannot be settled as the hypothesis that Wdocdawek is earlier than Pdock has not yet been sufciently supported by the material evidence. It should be, nevertheless, assumed that Pdock came to be as a result of a political act of the Gniezno Piasts. The center appeared quite suddenly and was built from scratch. This way of forming state centers is known both from Great Poland and Little Poland (see above). It cannot be determined yet when it happened. The pottery cannot be dated closely enough to state whether the 980s are in question or the end of the century. Neither is the current state of knowledge about the dating of the inhumation cemeteries in Mazovia helpful in this respect. However, the written sources concerning Mieszko’s state, including the document, Dagome iudex, which says that Mieszko’s state had borders with the Prussians and Rus (Ruthenia), seem to indicate quite clearly that the process of incorporating Mazovia into the Gniezno state must have ended before the last decade of the 10th century. It is surprising that the degree of urbanization of Mazovia (cf. Chapter 10) is so low in comparison to the other regions of Poland under the early Piasts. The rst mention about the castellan stronghold in Ciechanów appears as late as 1113–1124. It is, however, quite probable that the settlement complex in the valley of the cydynia river might have formed already at the end of the 10th century because of the trade routes leading from Mazovia to Prussia and towards Kievan Rus. The importance of the area is also indicated by the silver hoard dated to the 970s discovered in Ciechanów.52 The case may be similar

51

Krut-Horonziak 1998, 108. This very interesting assemblage of nds has been recently published (cf. Nowakiewicz 2003). 52

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Figure 88. Main settlement centers and discoveries in Mazovia: 1—centers of secular power, 2—centers of ecclesiastic power, 3—production structures and workshops, 4—places inhabited for a longer time by various cultural and ethnic groups, 5—custom houses from the 11th cent., 6—nds of single coins in archaeological layers, 7—nds of scales or weights, 8—port (after M. Dulinicz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

in Sierpc, the castellan stronghold, recorded with the date 1065 in the so-called Mogilno Forgery,53 as there are intensive traces of earlier settlement in the area and the center was located on the trade route leading from the center of Mazovia to the north and north west. The same document mentions also Wyszogród, a Mazovian center which, unlike the other ones, developed continually from the 7th century.54 As in Little Poland, the settlement pattern in Mazovia is quite diverse (Fig. 88). Besides Old Mazovia (also known in the literature as ‘Pdock Mazovia’) there is the area of eastern Mazovia (modern Podlasie) which had a different culture,55 and to the south west are the ‘c\czyca’ and

53 A document purporting to list the foundation grants of the Benedictine monastic house at Mogilno of the times of Bolesdaw II the Bold. The document is however regarded by most scholars as a compilation of the 12th (?) century (P.B.). 54 Dulinicz 1999. 55 Cf. Tyszkiewicz J. 1974.

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‘Czersk’ regions. There is also a discrete settlement concentration in the area of Grodzisk on the Liwiec river. Each of these units developed at a different pace, which results in different problems to interpret. Eastern Mazovia exhibits archaeologically conrmed differences in material culture, which lasted during the whole 11th and 12th century. It is manifested in, among other things, the production of characteristic vessels of the Drohiczyn type. More recent excavations conducted in the 1990s revealed some other elements, such as the existence in close vicinity (from several to more than a dozen km apart) of strongholds such as Krasna Wiet, Modoczki, Paszkowszczyzna and some others, which, although located at the same territory had different histories. In many cases there was a settlement continuity from the beginnings of the Early Middle Ages until the 12th century (e.g., Klukowicze or Hamki). According to Dariusz Krasnod\bski56 the longevity of settlements and strongholds might have reected the long-lasting process of settling these areas by the population coming from Volynia at the beginning of the early Middle Ages. Thus the earliest strongholds in eastern Mazovia may have formed a network of outposts on the trade route leading from the Caspian and Black Seas to the territories of the Western Slavs and the Baltic Sea. According to the archaeological evidence the period of important changes in settlement structures began to appear in Podlasie quite late, that is, at the end of the 11th and especially in the 12th century. At that time the centers which had been functioning for several centuries were ultimately abandoned and new strongholds were built at a distance of several kilometers away. Around the new fortications was created a network of open settlements functionally linked to them. It should be determined in the near future whether the ‘new’ strongholds in modern Podlasie were traces of the expansion of Kievan Rus or that coming from Mazovia. To the south of the discussed areas archaeological eldwork has been conducted in the basin of the Liwiec river in recent years. Traces of a small settlement enclave were discovered, which was formed in the late 9th or early 10th century. According to Wojciech Wróblewski57 the initial population arrived from the areas to the east of the Bug river. The next population groups which began to come in the late 10th century had closer cultural bonds with the areas of Old Mazovia and

56 57

2000. 2001.

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the territory near the town of Czersk. There followed a long process of settling these lands, in which a major role was most probably played by the stronghold in Liwiec (Grodzisk on the Liwiec river) built in the 10th century. This site, together with the whole territory, was incorporated into the Piast realms most probably in the early 11th century. From that time the area of Grodzisk on the Liwiec became the focal point for the communities in this part of Mazovia. Even at the very beginning of the existence of the state, Mazovia differed considerably from the other regions. Why did the reminiscences of different burial rites last there through the 11th and even 12th century? Why are the traces of the Piasts activeness so poorly represented for the state formation period? These phenomena may have different explanations. The formal incorporation of Mazovia (at least its western part) into the Gniezno state may have happened relatively early, around the mid-10th century, which is indirectly indicated by the recent dates for the burning of strongholds of the pre-state period. At the same time, it seems that the Piasts’ main interests during the early stage of the functioning of the state were not focused on Mazovia but on the regions of eastern Little Poland and Eastern Pomerania. The ‘Mazovian’ territories devoid at that time of any state-forming incentives and substantial investments were perhaps rather a potential area for further use. The location of Mazovia, in close vicinity to the center of the Gniezno state, was favorable for exerting military and political control over the region. However, it retained, as it is indicated by the archaeological evidence, many characteristic elements of its traditional culture. The change in perception of the place of Mazovia in the structures of the Polish states may have occurred in the last decades (or even the last decade) of the 10th century when the decision to build the stronghold on Tumskie Hill in Pdock was taken. However, it seems that for many years the vast areas of Mazovia resembled the ‘borderland’, an area where refugees and the oppressed from Great Poland took shelter after invasion of the Bohemian prince Bretyslav I and the pagan reaction of the 1030s.58 Thus it was a region where various cultural traditions survived and mixed. This hypothesis is supported by the mysterious phenomenon of graves with stone constructions (Chapter 15) which was present there during the whole 11th and 12th centuries, and, in its easternmost part, in the area of Horodyszcze, almost all forms of

58

Gallus Anonymous, I, 19.

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the Early Medieval burial rites lasting well into the 13th century have been archaeologically documented. In the context of poor urbanization and lack of a separate diocese until the second half of the 11th century all these factors seem to indicate that in the early phase of the state Mazovia served as a kind of ‘territorial reserve. For that reason the Piasts did not pay so much attention to the development of that region in comparison to the other ones. Such a policy must have led to the formation and consolidation of the tendencies towards autonomy of Mazovia. This view is supported not only by the phenomenon of so-called ‘Miecdaw’s state’59 from the mid-11th century but also by the archaeologically recorded cultural mosaic and the long-lasting co-existence of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ in the material and spiritual culture of the region. 7. From the Baltic Sea to the Sudeten Mountains: Silesia and Western Pomerania As we have seen there are many premises for dating the Piast expansion into eastern Little Poland and Pomerania in the 970s. In the next decade, that is the 980s, the Piasts’ attention seems to have been focused on creating and strengthening the western frontier of the state, that is, on the territories located along almost the whole Oder river: from Silesia to Western Pomerania. The written sources mention the Gniezno Piasts’ activeness in these regions. Widukind, a monk from Corvey, wrote about ghts between Mieszko and the Wolinianie allied with the Saxon count Wichman; the latter, who rebelled against Otto I, found allies among the Slavs. The struggle ended favorably for Mieszko and with a defeat of both the Wolinianie and Wichman, who was taken prisoner. Thietmar’s chronicle, in turn, mentions a dispute of 985 between the prince of the Polanie, Mieszko I, and Boleslav I, the Bohemian one. The events described by the chronicler60 took place somewhere in the territory of the Sdupianie, as Mieszko’s auxiliary troops, offered to him by Empress Theophano, made a camp there. The Bohemian troops must have been stationed quite near as one of the German knights and then 59 In 1034 during the chaos following the death of Mieszko II, Mazovia split temporarily from Poland under Miecdaw an independent ruler (the former cup-bearer of Mieszko II and governor of Mazovia). Miecdaw was defeated by Kazimierz the Restorer in 1046 (?) with help from Kievan troops (P.B.). 60 Thietmar, IV, 11–12.

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others were caught by them. On the Oder river there also appeared Boleslav I from Bohemia, who sent envoys to Mieszko with the proposal to return the occupied territory called by the chronicler regnum ablatum. Mieszko’s agreement over this was the condition set by the Bohemian for freeing his German allies. Although there is no agreement about what can be meant by the chronicler’s enigmatic term, archaeological evidence allows us to identify it with the territory of Silesia. 8. Bohemian or Piast Silesia? There are several main issues in the study of the place occupied by Silesia in building the territorial base of the Polish state. The rst concerns the cultural and political environment of the region at the end of the pre-state period and in the times when the state was being formed. Many authors mention the similarities and differences in the patterns of development of settlement in Silesia with respect to Little Poland adjacent to it on the east. Both regions neighbored on the north with Great Poland, the place where the Piast state originated, and with the state of the Bohemian Premyslids to the south. The latter was an important political factor inuencing the two regions. There was also a curious difference in the number of the settlement communities existing in the period immediately before the origins of the state: as many as seven in Silesia and two mentioned in the written sources for Little Poland (Chapter 4). According to Lech Tyszkiewicz,61 the older pre-state (tribal) centers in Silesia became in time the seats of Piast administration. This was not, however, a rule; some of them for example were located at the peripheries of the later state. It has also been remarked that many of the Bavarian Geographer’s civitates did not obtain the status of strongholds in Mieszko’s and Bolesdaw the Brave’s state. Although the written sources show the existence of many settlement communities in Silesia in the pre-state period, surprisingly there was no tradition of creating centers of power, so typical of Little Poland. In Silesia, however, there is the mysterious fortied complex at Niemcza, which may have originated as early as at the turn of the 8th and 9th century.62 Yet, even though phenomena unique in Polish lands can be found there, e.g., the rst Early Medieval inhumation 61 62

1993. Domaqski 1993.

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cemetery (Niemcza I), or defensive ramparts faced with stones from the pre-state period, it was not Niemcza, but Wrocdaw located 40 km to the north that became the main center in early Piast times. Was it due to the fact that the settlement complex at Niemcza developed in connection with the events taking place in the south, in the territory of the Great Moravian and then Bohemian state? If this was the case then the creation of the Piast sedes regni principalis in Wrocdaw should be treated as a political counterbalance, effective in the long term, to the political inuence from the south. The large centers of pagan cult (Chapter 5) can be found both in Silesia and Little Poland. Could it be so that they were built as an ideological reaction to the spread of Christianity, which may have taken place even in the pre-state period? Interestingly, in both regions attempts at creating centers of Christian cult were also made: the Augustinian monastery on Mount sl\va and the Benedictine one on cysa Góra. Silesia and Little Poland are also similar in that it is in these two regions (and nowhere else) there occur mysterious proper nouns of the umigrody type, which have been subject to many specialist analyses for many years. Were these, as Tadeusz Lalik63 believed, the northernmost reaches of the belief in the Slavic vmij (cf. Chapter 5)? It cannot be determined whether the arrivals from the south played any part in settling these territories and what it was. Possibly, as Krzysztof Wachowski64 believes, the appearance of inhumation burials in Silesia is the result of the Great Moravian inuence, although the chronology of the graves is still not very precise due to the lack of clear dating elements. Silesia occupies the second place after Great Poland in the number and importance of early urban centers (cf. Chapter 10). Such a signicant number of thousand-year-old Silesian towns may be due to the fact that some of them, like in Great Poland, were borderline strongholds. They were built near fords and important trade routes connecting Silesia with Great Poland (Milicz), Little Poland (Racibórz), Bohemia (Strzegom, Legnica), and the German Empire (Bolesdawiec, Krosno Odrzaqskie). It was under their protection that Wrocdaw and Opole ourished, places which have retained their status till modern times.

63 64

1967. 1975.

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The extent of Bohemian inuences on the earliest Wrocdaw is a widely debated issue. The material premises are at present the datings of the earliest rampart which might have been built, according to the dendrochronological analyses, as early as in the rst half of the 10th century and thus before that center was incorporated into the Piast state.65 If that was the case, then it is difcult to explain why the rampart contains elements which exhibit the so-called hook-construction66 so typical of the strongholds built by the Piasts. What is the meaning of the other dendrochronological dates obtained from the rampart which indicate that the fortications were made in the 980s? Are these traces of an earlier stronghold or, as is equally probable, only an indication that wood for building the rampart was taken from some earlier structures? These are not the only problems in interpreting the results of archaeological excavations in Silesia. Sdawomir Modzioch questions the commonly accepted claim that Silesia belonged to the Bohemian state. He contradicts the early (Bohemian) chronology of Wrocdaw with the opinion that there are no small nds from that period, and the thesis of early Christianization of Silesia with the presence of a pagan temple built in Wrocdaw in the 1030s. The latter discovery would indicate that Christianity had not taken deep root in Silesia then. The difference between the region and Bohemia is also underlined by geographical factors, direct contact between the two regions was very different, Silesia is separated from the Bohemian Basin by a mountain chain with few passes. There were also economic differences. From the 10th century in Silesia silver was deposited on a much larger scale than in Bohemia.67 This line of thinking, however, leads to some other problems. For if the traces of a pagan shrine from the stronghold at Wrocdaw may prove the supercial Christianization of the local communities, then how should one interpret discovery of the remains of one of the earliest churches in Polish lands made by Edmund Madachowicz and his team in the crypt of Wrocdaw cathedral (Chapter 10)? An early Christian church seems quite natural in the Wrocdaw stronghold but a supposed pagan shrine can be considered as an ephemeral structure which could

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Jaworski, Rzenik 1998. The use of forked branches to anchor timber elements of the rampart facing to the body of the rampart, regarded by Polish archaeologists as a characteristic feature of the early Piast stronghold construction (P.B.). 67 Modzioch 2000. 66

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have had no real signicance in a region which had been Christianized at an earlier date. Unlike the situation in Great Poland, in Silesia there are no traces of drastic changes in the settlement structure at the outset of the Polish state and the leading urban centers are at least several years earlier (the mid-980s) than their rst appearance in the written sources (the pages of Thietmar’s chronicle). It looks as if they were built as part of an intentionally organized action, which is indirectly conrmed by the very similar dendrochronological dates (the mid 980s) obtained for the earliest phases at Wrocdaw, Opole, and Gdogów. Were these centers (and perhaps a few other ones?) part of the great investments conducted in Silesia by the rulers from Gniezno? The results of the excavations conducted in Opole by Janina Bukowska-Gedigowa and Bogusdaw Gediga68 indicate that the features from the pre-state period found here should be associated with the levels preceding the stronghold at Ostrówek. The rst fortications and thus the fortied center are associated with the 980s. The case of Niemcza is also characteristic; pottery from two chronological phases, the period between the 7th and mid-10th century and from the second half of the 10th century till the 13th century, was found there. The stronghold, as Grzegorz Domaqski69 stresses, was built between the mid-10th century and the year 990. From the very beginning it played an important administrative and military role. However, Niemcza never became an urban center. In this context the question arises of the relationship between that center and Wrocdaw, located 40 km away. Was the latter intended by the Piast rulers to become a counterbalance to the center in Niemcza, representing perhaps different cultural traditions? The archaeological evidence indicates the mid-980s as the time when the main centers in the region were created. This may suggest that the mysterious conict between Mieszko and Bohemian Boleslav I (935–972) might have been a dramatic attempt at saving the Bohemian domain in Silesia, perhaps existing in name only and which had rather loose links with the Bohemian political center since the Piasts could build their own centers of power in a ‘foreign’ territory. In contrast to the other regions, building new strongholds in Silesia was not accompanied by burning and destruction of the earlier centers. This resembles in

68 69

1986. 1993.

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some way the situation known from the Cracow Land where in the late 980s the Piasts made a successful attempt at winning Cracow and other strongholds of western Little Poland from the Bohemians (cf. below). 9. Western Pomerania: ‘urban republics’ and old ‘tribal’ territories Whereas it may be said that in Silesia new centers of power were built and established, in the state formation period in Western Pomerania rst and foremost attempts at incorporating and rebuilding ones already existing were made. Besides, in the pre-state period the development of the Pomeranian centers followed a different course. The location on the sea coast and trade relations fostered the early development of crafts and trade centers following their own rules and retaining in the Piast times their own specic character. This concerned both ideology and economy, including exchange. According to the results of recent investigations, Western Pomerania achieved a high level of monetary trade economy earlier than in the other regions of the state, that is, in the pre-state period.70 The earliest ‘towns’ on the Baltic coast were primarily centers of intensive trade exchange and quickly developing crafts. The main element of their topography was, besides the stronghold, the port (Fig. 89). Besides its role in the long-distance exchange it had many other, equally important, functions. The development of the earliest crafts and trade centers was also enhanced by the multiethnicity of their inhabitants, which was reected both in the written sources and in the material culture.71 In the archaeological literature one may nd opinions that the early Piast crafts and trade centers in Western Pomerania are specic because they developed from earlier centers of the ‘tribal’ period.72 They probably played similar roles as the later crafts and trade centers but also had important political functions. It may be thus said that during almost the whole 10th century it was not the Piasts from Gniezno but the north-Polabian and Pomeranian Slavs and the Scandinavian arrivals that decided on the trends of development of economic and political life in these territories. In such conditions not only technical skills in

cosiqski 1996, 1997. The origins of the towns in Western Pomerania located on the Baltic Sea have been subject of many analyses (for more on the subject cf. Chapter 10; with literature). 72 cosiqski 1996. 70 71

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the scope of material culture but also the customs and the sphere of social behaviors were transferred. This hypothesis can be illustrated by the example of Wolin, described in the next chapter, which developed continually from the late 7th century, starting as an agricultural and-shing settlement, through a crafts and trade center to become a settlement complex having early urban features.73 Szczecin, located to the west of Wolin, developed in much the same way. The earliest stronghold there dates back to the late 8th century. Its occupation by the Piasts from Gniezno in the 980s created a comfortable starting point for further expansion to the west: to the territories of the Veleti and Obodrites. In the western part of the region, Kodobrzeg (Fig. 89) played a key role at the outset of the Polish state. The earliest stronghold was built to replace another tribal center at Bardy located on the right bank of the Pars\ta river. Before the arrival of the Piasts, its inhabitants were involved in shing, animal husbandry and crafts. They also made salt from sea water, using the nearby salines. The compactly arranged homes in the stronghold and well-developed crafts indicate that already in the 10th century the earliest Kodobrzeg and the neighboring settlements had the character of a crafts and trade center and after the fall of Bardy it served as the main tribal center in the area. The situation continued until the second half of the 10th century when it was entirely redeveloped. The ramparts were rebuilt, in part reusing beams taken from an earlier construction. According to the recent dendrochronological analyses, the rampart of the stronghold was built in the 980s with the use of the ‘hook construction’ characteristic for many such structures of the early Piast monarchy. Kodobrzeg must have played an important role in the policy of the rst Piasts. It is therefore not surprising that the above-described investments were accompanied by many changes in crafts. This nds expression, for example, in a more advanced mode of pottery production. These changes may indicate important transformations in the social structure of the inhabitants when the center was taken over by the Piasts. The importance of Kodobrzeg in the newly formed organization of the state of the Polanie was established for good when a bishopric was created there at the Gniezno Summit in the year 1000.74

73 74

Filipowiak, Gundlach 1992. Leciejewicz, R\bkowski 2000.

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The Piasts seem to have found unsuitable for their purposes the ‘cosmopolitan’ center of Wolin, the best known center in the region which had already reached the peak of its greatness before the rise of the Piast state (Chapter 10). This is perhaps why the neighboring Kamieq, located only 6 km away from the Baltic Sea, developed so rapidly in the next decades. It originated in the 9th century, initially it was a shing village and from the 10th century it was a settlement in the Wolin agglomeration.75 In the pre-Piast period it quickly became an independent urban center with a stronghold built close to the coast in the 11th century. It had favorable conditions for agriculture and shing and was located on the water route leading from the north to the south (its axis was the Oder river and the Baltic Sea) and on the route to Hamburg through Wolin and towards Novgorod. Near Kamieq there was also a junction of sea and land routes leading towards Kodobrzeg, Gdaqsk and Szczecin. The town began to develop intensively from the 11th century owing to the growth of local market. The natural resources in Kamieq included the deposits of amber and the salines located near the town; there also developed local trade in the salt from Kodobrzeg. In its eastern part a port (with a customs house) was built and along the river Karpina, numerous shing villages. In its western part, in the area occupied later by the medieval chartered town, from the 11th century there developed a large fortied settlement. Outside the ramparts there was St. Nicholas’ church with a biritual cemetery dated to the 9th–12th century. Before 1188 a bishopric was founded there.76 Other centers developing in the region, such as Biadogard, Pyrzyce or Stargard originated in the 9th century as fortied centers taken over and rebuilt by the rst Piasts. This development was due to their importance within the old “tribal” territorial units (and later castellanies) and to their location on the routes from Great Poland to the Baltic trade emporia.77 The turn of the 10th and 11th centuries brought about changes and a pronounced development of the settlement network in Pomerania. Characteristically, the growth in numbers affected primarily the open settlements. Only a few of the large tribal strongholds survived and the other ones were incorporated into the system of the early Piast state.

75 76 77

Filipowiak 1959. Filipowiak 1959. cosiqski 1996.

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It has been also recorded that only 8 per cent of barrow burials corresponded to the areas inhabited in the late pre-state period. The presence of such necropolises in the former settlement voids is treated as a proof that the previously empty areas were settled. This process is especially evident in the 11th century. According to Wdadysdaw cosiqski, the assemblages of grave goods in barrow cemeteries with no military equipment indicate that the deceased differed in their social status. In turn the barrow cemeteries from the 11th century may be interpreted, cosiqski believes, as cemeteries of free peasants. The fact that such people were settled at the periphery and in areas between the local communities is considered as a manifestation of opposition to the new faith; in this understanding the peripheral settlement zones settled in the 11th century served as refuges. This settlement might have been stimulated by the new rulers. The fact that in most cases the cemeteries are small may indicate that the settlers made up small groups and thus their villages consisted of at most several homesteads. These settlers clearly represented a lower demographic potential than the population buried at the same time at at cemeteries.78 According to the archaeological evidence, Western Pomerania and its main centers, formed before the birth of the state, constituted valuable economic capital for the Piasts. However, their inhabitants had a sense of their own power and strength. For that reason the ght for Pomerania was so dramatic at Mieszko’s times. The incorporation of the region into Poland, like the early Christianization testied by establishing a bishopric in Kodobrzeg as early as 1000, did not eradicate the pagan beliefs existing there nor did it form a lasting bond with the Gniezno state. This is shown by the later history of Pomerania which split away from Poland within a few decades and especially the secondary Christianizing mission conducted in the 12th century by Otto of Bamberg. These activities were accompanied by the (re)conquest of these lands by Bolesdaw Wrymouth, who also encountered considerable difculties. 10. Cracow Land: the last stage of the state formation process Cosmas of Prague’s Bohemian Chronicle provides evidence suggesting that the action aimed at regaining Cracow from the Bohemians had

78

cosiqski (1980) 1981.

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a military character.79 However, the archaeological evidence does not indicate any dramatic military actions in the region. On the contrary, they rather suggest that in the late 980s, most probably between 987 and 989, a peaceful transformation took place in Cracow Land, yet its details are outside the scope of archaeological observation. First of all, there are no traces that the appearance of a new power in Cracow Land led to any basic changes in the settlement structure. No new political or administrative centers were built and these functions were taken over by the existing strongholds of the Vislane. This concerns especially Cracow, Stradów and Naszacowice.80 It is possible that there were more such centers in Cracow Land. Why did the Piasts spare not only Cracow, the supposed capital of the state of the Vislane, but at least three other strongholds crucial in the tribal period? It is possible that they survived because at the moment of the Piasts’ conquest of Cracow Land they already belonged to them. This claim contains, however, a contradiction, because according to the written sources Cracow and western Little Poland were incorporated about 989 or at most one—two years earlier.81 If we assume that Bolesdaw the Brave resided in Cracow earlier82 then it is possible that the spared strongholds had crews loyal not to the Bohemians but to Mieszko’s son. In that case it was not necessary to kill them after Cracow was taken over, which is clearly indicated by the archaeological data. It is possible that the land of the Vislane had well-organized economy and the resistance of the local centers of power was minimal (which resembles the above-described case of Silesia) so there was no reason to destroy the existing structures. An issue which has not been settled yet is the dating of the earliest remains of the pre-Romanesque architecture on Wawel Hill in Cracow.83 As the discoveries are ambiguous in meaning and fragmentary, little can be said about that. There also remains the question if some of these structures could have been built already around the mid-10th century

79 According to the Chronica Boëmorum: Nam dux Poloniensis (Mesco), quo non fuit alter dolosior homo, mox urbem Krakov abstulit dolo, omnibus quos ibi invenit Boemiis extinctis gladio (after: G. Labuda 1988, 268; with a description of the events and analysis of the context). The chronicle was written between 1119 and 1125. 80 Radwaqski 1976, 1998; Poleski 1996. 81 Labuda 1988, 292. 82 This is how many historians interpret the document Dagome Iudex in which two other sons are mentioned, they also draw attention to the fact that Cracow is named as one of the territories forming the boundary (i.e., apparently a separate neighbor of ) the Shinesghe civitas which the document concerns (P.B.). 83 Pianowski 1999.

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and thus in the times of the Bohemian domination. This problem will be discussed more extensively in Chapter 10. The situation in Witlica to the east is more complex. During the recent excavations, no traces of ‘tribal’ or early Piast Witlica were found.84 From the earlier periods only redeposited fragments of vessels dated to the 9th century have been uncovered. However, although there are no well-documented discoveries, it is quite improbable that Witlica did not exist in the stateformation period (Chapter 10). The former strongholds of the Vislane such as Stradów, Naszacowice or Zawada Lanckoroqska most probably functioned well into the 11th century85 and gradually disappeared due the changes in the organization of the state which took place during the 11th century. Surprisingly their disappearance was not accompanied by the building of any new centers. Curiously at the beginning of the Polish state, the Cracow Land had a low level of urbanization, which is particularly noticeable if we compare it with the situation in the eastern part of the region described above. 11. Summing up Archaeological excavations conducted in various parts of the country have revealed a similar but not identical scenario of events which took place in Polish lands in the 10th century. As a result a dramatic, sometimes even catastrophic fall of many existing centers took place. These events were accompanied by a permanent or temporary depopulation of the former settlement zones around them. Soon afterwards the Piast centers were built in new places, thus beginning the one thousand year long history of the nation and state. The scenario of these events is not equally evident for various regions. It is most clearly documented in Great Poland, Mazovia and eastern part of Little Poland. In Cracow Land, the last region incorporated into the Polish state, more frequently we nd that the old centers were taken over and lasted for some time (e.g., Naszacowice or Stradów) or permanently (e.g., Cracow-Wawel). In Silesia the leading centers seem to have appeared several years earlier (the mid-980s) in comparison to the time when the written sources tell us that Silesia was incorporated into the Polish state. This may suggest 84 85

G[ssowski 1997, 2004; Gliqski 1998. Kr[piec, Poleski 1996; Poleski 1996.

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Figure 90. Supposed course of events from the second half of the 10th cent., associated with the incorporation of areas in the Gniezno state (by A. Buko & M. Trzeciecki).

that the areas were successively being occupied already in the 980s. In Pomerania the patterns according to which the fortied urban centers appeared were diverse. Either they were built from scratch, replacing the existing settlement structures (Gdaqsk) or attempts of differing degrees of effectiveness of incorporating pre-existing arrangements in the state organization were made, which was typical of Western Pomerania. At the present stage of research, one may at best tentatively outline the stages by which the territorial basis of the state was created (Fig. 90). In the light of recent archaeological evidence and dendrochronological datings, it may be assumed that by the late 960s the Piasts were organizing the core of the Gniezno state. Furthermore, it is possible that at that time (the mid-10th century) they also occupied the western part of Mazovia. Such a scenario is indirectly supported by the disasters which befell the tribal strongholds located there. Their fall may have happened as a result of a quick, well-coordinated action of the Gniezno rulers who effectively stopped the growth of their eastern neighbor. However,

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if that was the case, the Piasts did not afterwards become involved in the process of creating the organization of the state in that region, which is indirectly testied by the lack of investments from the 10th century. On the contrary, Pdock, the main Piast stronghold in Mazovia was built in the late 10th century at the earliest. If that assumption is correct then until the end of that century Mazovia was a second-rank territory in the policy of the Piasts from Gniezno. At the same time it was a region where the urbanization appeared the latest, and also, in its eastern part, so did Christianization. This hypothesis may provide the reasons why the cultural picture of Mazovia in the early state period was different from the other regions and also explain the complex processes of the mixing of various cultural trends in this area. The second turning point in building the territorial basis of the state was in the 970s. It should be associated with the activeness of the Piasts in the ‘eastern wall’ made up by the areas of eastern Little Poland and Eastern Pomerania adjacent to Mazovia. It seems that at that time the earliest towns in Little Poland such as Lublin, Przemytl and, especially, Sandomierz, the main Piast center in that part of the country, were built. In the north the main effort of the Piasts was concentrated on taking over or building the Gdaqsk agglomeration. In this way the expansion extended from the sources to the estuary of the Vistula.86 In the light of the existing archaeological data it seems justied to state that in both regions, like in Mazovia, activities of military character prevailed. The 980s were, as the archaeological sources indicate, the time of building the ‘western wall’ of the state. The available dendrochronological data suggest that in the middle of the decade strongholds in Western Pomerania and Silesia were built. This required large scale military operations which are mentioned in the written sources of the period. Whereas in Western Pomerania the Piasts attempted to incorporate the zones of the existing centers into their state organization, in Silesia they built the main centers from scratch. The period of forming the state was crowned by the Piasts taking the town of Cracow and Cracow Land from the Bohemians in the 980s. The best starting point for such an attempt was the well-developed Sandomierz Land with its central town of Sandomierz, most probably ruled by the Piasts at that

86 This is not quite accurate, in reality the territory extended from the upper Vistula to its mouth, the source of the Vistula lies in the Carpathian foothills well to the west of Cracow, the author is using gurative language (P.B.).

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time. It may be possible that Sandomierz, a town located at a strategically crucial point, was so well organized because of the expected military action in Cracow Land. It is also worth noting in this context that in western Little Poland there are no traces of destruction of earlier settlement centers. On the contrary, the main strongholds of the region, headed by Cracow, continued developing after they had been taken over by the Piasts. In the times of Mieszko and Bolesdaw the Brave Poland, in the modern understanding of that expression, was a country in which profound structural changes took place. All the main state centers obtained defense systems of strongholds and many of them were built from scratch. On the state frontiers, large investments were made to create the systems of permanent defense in the form of linear earthworks, traces of which survive in the landscapes of Silesia, Kuiavia and Mazovia and which survived in the toponyms such as brona (the term dervives from broninto defend) in Little Poland. Although in the last-mentioned case the earliest references date to as late as the rst half of the 13th century, many researchers believe that these defensive structures (unfortunately not yet identied archaeologically) might have existed already in the state-formation period. This supposition is indirectly conrmed by the context of in which permanent elements of territorial defense such as linear earthworks and the zasieki (expanses of deliberately felled forests creating obstacles to passage) appeared in other regions of the country (cf. Fig. 87). According to Elvbieta Kowalczyk87 brony could have been individual points of defense of important routes, including the ones located in narrow Carpathian valleys. The large investments connected with constructing strongholds and the buildings inside them required huge amounts of wood. This resulted in considerable changes of the natural landscape, in particular, deforestation of large areas of land.88 The processes of fortifying the country and of early urbanization were accompanied by demographic changes perceptible thanks to the studies on the settlement zones in the area of Ostrów Lednicki, Kruszwica, or Kalisz. The new demographic situation also manifested itself in the population shifts, which has been identied for example at the cemeteries of Piaski-Rochy or Early Medieval Sandomierz (cf. Chapter 15). These data shed new light

87 88

2000. Tobolski 2000.

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on the part played by the rst historical ruler of Poland. The scale of changes which took place at that time reect the eminent position of the ruler who had at his disposal an apparatus for managing the state and a well-trained, professional army. There arises the question whether the army of 3000 armored warriors mentioned by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub was composed of the subjects of the prince of the Polanie or did he use foreign mercenaries? The second possibility may be indicated by the excavations at some cemeteries which apparently contain graves of Scandinavian warriors (Chapter 15). They were probably elite (in the understanding of that time) units for special purposes. These tasks doubtlessly included a rapid pacication of the areas incorporated into the Gniezno state. Possibly this is the context in which the anthropologically different male population believed to be the arrivals from Great Poland identied at the Saint James cemetery in Sandomierz should be considered, or the cemetery of Scandinavian warriors (?) in cubowo near Ostrów Lednicki. In the latter case, the hypothesis is supported by the fact that the greatest archaeologically recorded concentration of Scandinavian type weapons has been found there (Chapters 11 and 15). The successful Piasts’ conquests, probably begun before Mieszko gained power, were justied by the fact that the settlement structures of the 10th century and their political organizations did not have chances of survival in the light of the events taking part in Europe such as the creation of the Christian states. This concerned the military sphere. Military power was based on a levy of the population and not a welltrained, professional army. It also concerned the ideological one because regional leaders could not depart from the holy faith of their ancestors, which was the source of social consciousness without the danger of losing power (and probably also their life). In the economic sphere an important limiting factor was the insufcient productive potential of individual peoples which did not have an efcient economic apparatus. Finally, in the political sphere an insurmountable barrier was formed by the fragmentation of old local communities and the inevitable conicts connected with it resulting from the individual aspirations, quarrels and rivalries. This weakened their military power and was taken advantage of by more advanced early state structures to realize their own purposes. The events which took place in Poland at the times of Mieszko I cannot be considered separately from the situation in the 10th century

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in Central Europe.89 In the south Great Moravia had fallen after the Magyars’ invasion in 906 and was succeeded by the Bohemian tribes. Although there were often bloody rivalries within their ‘tribal’ organization, the Premyslid dynasty soon emerged from the chaos. Its representatives effectively eliminated their greatest opponents, the Slavniks. In the rst half of the 10th century the Bohemians occupied Moravia and Slovakia, they also gained Silesia and at least part of Little Poland. In this way the Premyslid state became one of the most powerful of the Slavic states in the 10th century. At the same time in the east the Kievan state was at its peak. During the rule of Sviatoslav it had achieved a high level of internal consolidation and also conducted successful military expeditions, including those that resulted in the elimination of the Khazars, the conquest of Bulgaria and invasions of Byzantium. The country was to adopt a new religion soon, which was indicated by the presence of many Christians in the court, including Princess Olga, Sviatoslav’s mother. Still more spectacular events were occurring beyond the western frontier: in the kingdom of the Eastern Franks where the successive rulers of the Saxon dynasty gained an epoch-making success: the coronation of Otto I as the Emperor in 962. In this way a completely new political situation appeared in Western Europe. The Frankish Empire was considered as a symbol of an international state referring to the ancient traditions of Rome. This was the background to the changes which occurred in Polish lands during the reign of Mieszko I, they were part of a more general trend of state-forming processes in Central Europe. The profound structural changes and political and ideological transformations of regional settlement communities were a condition necessary if the Lechici, the later Poles,90 were to retain their cultural and ethnic identity in the community of European nations.

89 Comprehensive reviews of the situation in Europe at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries can be found in many earlier and more recent publications, for example Manteuffel 1994; Zientara 1996: Strzelczyk 2000; Samsonowicz (ed.) 2001; Samsonowicz 2002; Urbaqczyk (ed.) 2001; with literature. 90 Until the end of the 10th century the name ‘Mieszko’s country,’ civitas Schinesghe, Sclavinia and a few other ones (cf. Strzelczyk 1999, 84) were used to denote Poland. The circumstances in which the name Polonia (Polska) was rst used, which appeared in the written sources as late as in the early 11th century, have not been fully explained. A German historian, J. Fried, believes that this could have taken place at the Gniezno Summit in the year 1000 (cf. Fried 1998, 2000).

CHAPTER TEN

TOWNS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION The formation of the territorial basis of the state was accompanied by the appearance and rapid development of strongholds: main or local centers of territorial power. This in turn stimulated regional economic development. In the main centers, known in the written sources as sedes regni principales, the rst sacral structures were built and church administrative system was organized. They formed the centers of the economic and public life of local societies; these processes were highly accelerated as the monetary exchange and the institution of the market developed in the course of the 11th century.1 Dozens of auxiliary settlements developed around the centers; their inhabitants’ duty was to produce the goods necessary to fulll the needs of the ruler (cf. Chapter 12). The stronghold centers became also the places of exchange, development of crafts and for collecting and storing the tributes given to the ruler by the local communities. These important economic functions increased the importance of many of the centers and fostered population growth. Owing to this more and more ancillary settlements with various functions appeared immediately adjacent to the fortied centers. During the 11th and 12th centuries the stronghold complexes, founded by the rst Piasts, increasingly took on the attributes of early urban centers.2 For many decades, the results of the Millennium research project of the 1950s and 1960s were the main source of knowledge about the origins of Polish towns. In the light of the concepts of that period, the

1 These issues have been a subject of debate for many years. The opinions of the authors who believe that the circulation of money used as a means of payment, began early but mainly in Pomerania (cosiqski 1996: 169) are contradicted by the view according to which bullion became common on the internal market on a national scale even before the end of the 10th century (e.g., Kiersnowski 1960: 426ff.; Suchodolski 1971). A denitely later time, that is the 11th century, or, more precisely, its second half, is suggested by S. Tabaczyqski (1987, 207ff.); all quoted works with literature. 2 A review of the problems connected with the origins of the earliest urban-stronghold centers in Polish lands as seen in the light of archaeological data may be found both in earlier (e.g., Hensel 1963; Leciejewicz 1962; cowmiaqski 1973), and more recent works (e.g., Mo,zdzioch 1994; 1999); all quoted works with literature.

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Slavic town of the early Middle Ages was perceived as a culmination of the slow socio-economic and political changes which had been taking place in central and eastern Europe for centuries. A condition of their creation was a sufciently high degree of development of the agrarian and livestock-rearing economy, capable of supplying sustenance for population groups not directly occupied in agriculture. The predecessors of the early urban settlements were craft and trade centers. The direct connection of the stronghold and the ancillary settlements immediately adjacent ( podgrodzie) often also fortied, thus formed a new type of settlement. It was assumed that various factors were involved in creating towns although it was generally believed that a decisive role was played by crafts, development of the market and exchange, political determinants and those connected with the cult. The rst phases of the earliest towns were called ‘proto-towns’ (zalËawki miast) and their origins were dated to the pre-state period, usually to the late 8th or 9th century.3 The progress in research and especially the more extensive use of dendrochronology (for dating) which took place in the 1990s resulted in a critical re-evaluation of many of these assumptions. There are, indeed, examples of early crafts and trade centers, mainly from Western Pomerania, or from Cracow in Little Poland, the origins of which go back to the pre-state period, but in the majority of cases Polish towns began after the appearance of the state, that is from 2nd half of the 10th century. Some of these urban-stronghold centers (this is the appropriate name for the phase of urban centers prior to the rise of Medieval chartered towns) played a key part in the process of creating and strengthening the state and many of them have retained their high standing till today. However, not all the early Piast strongholds became towns, although the importance of some of them (e.g., Giecz, Ostrów Lednicki, Czermno-Cherven) during the rule of the rst Piast monarchy is obvious. There are also examples of early urban centers such as Kruszwica, Chedmno-Kaddus or Witlica, which did not keep their high standing till modern times. According to the geographical location of the earliest centers in the Polish lands (excluding the territories occupied by the Prussians), some characteristic features can be distinguished. The greatest number of early towns can be found

3

Hensel 1963.

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Figure 91. Polish towns with a history of a thousand years. Early urban centers whose origins are determined by archaeological evidence are marked with black circles; the centers which require further verication are marked with white circles. Bishoprics created at the Gniezno Summit are marked with crosses (after A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

in Great Poland where 16 towns out of the total of 47 have a history going back one thousand years to the early Piast period.4 The other extreme is Mazovia, where only 4 such centers may be identied. In all the other regions the number of towns is similar and oscillates between 8 and 10 (Fig. 91). On the Baltic Sea coast the earliest towns appeared in two concentrations: the west- and the east-Pomeranian; the latter one is clearly

4 The gures given here are only approximate. In the case of some of the sites included in this discussion the dates of the origin of the centers have not yet been satisfactorily established.

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less numerous. The Cracow land was urbanized to a small degree as besides Cracow, only Witlica can be taken into account. The map (cf. Fig. 91) also shows large areas which were not urbanized in the early stages of the state. They include a wide zone in Pomerania, between the Baltic coast and the areas on the Notem river, the area of central and eastern Poland (southern Mazovia, Podlasie), and the piedmont areas located in the south of the country. If the high status of the town in modern Poland is to be used as a criterion in the classication then in all the analyzed macroregions pairs of such towns can be distinguished. In the Baltic zone these are Gdaqsk and Szczecin, in Great Poland and Kuiavia, Poznaq and Bydgoszcz, in Little Poland, Cracow and Lublin, in Silesia, Wrocdaw and Opole. Let us note that no urban metropolis (in the modern understanding of the word) existed in Mazovia in the Early Middle Ages. The center which gained the most in the recent millennium is denitely Lublin, and the ones that lost the most are Wolin, Puck, Kruszwica, Gniezno, Sandomierz, Zawichost, Witlica and Niemcza. Other ones (e.g., Pdock, Kalisz, Kodobrzeg) today occupy a position which is incomparably low in comparison to their rank in the past. There are also centers which for many Poles are not monuments of our history, although they have existed for a thousand years; these are Pszczew, Bnin (at present part of the town of Kórnik), Nakdo, srem or Pyrzyce.5 Archaeological investigations bring many new elements helping to learn more about the origins and the earliest stages of development of historical Polish towns. The results obtained do not always provide denite answers. In this chapter will be presented examples of urban centers where recent excavations have provided the greatest surprises, revealing many important but also controversial and unclear discoveries. 1. The capitals of the Gniezno state: contested priority The above title refers to the outdated debate—one still alive among researchers—about the priority of the main centers in the Gniezno state. Most often the rank of the capital is granted to Gniezno. This is where Gallus Anonymous places the events connected with Siemowit’s feast at which his blind son gained his sight, which occurred according

5

Buko 2001.

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to dynastic legend in Piast’s hut. Gniezno is where the rst archbishop’s seat was located, which was decided during the Gniezno Summit of 1000 A.D., it is where the relics of the rst martyr, St. Adalbert, were deposited, it is there that Bolesdaw the Brave received emperor Otto III. Finally, which is for some historians the decisive factor, the document Dagome Iudex submits civitas Schinesghe, that is the Gniezno state, to the protection of the Holy See. The rst Polish coins have the same name as the place of mintage: Gnezdun civitas. According to Gallus Anonymous Gniezno provided the greatest number of warriors to Bolesdaw the Brave’s military forces (army) and had many other important assets, mentioned in the literature on the subject.6 However, there are arguments also in favor of Poznaq having the dominant role. Even before the Second World War, Witold Hensel noticed that the area enclosed by the defensive ramparts in Poznaq was much larger than that in Gniezno. He suggested on that basis that after the baptism of Poland in 966 and establishing in Poznaq the rst missionary bishopric (in 968) Mieszko I moved the capital from Gniezno to Poznaq. Only after his death, that is after 992, did, he suggests, Gniezno became again the capital city.7 It was Poznaq, as Thietmar recorded in his chronicle, which was the seat of Jordan ( the rst missionary bishop). According to the recent archaeological discoveries, the center was created by Mieszko’s predecessors. Some specialists also believe that there are not only the remains of the earliest church in Poland here but also those of a baptistery dating to the times of the conversion of Poland to Christianity. In the earliest cathedral in Poznaq, as some researchers believe, the rst (historic) Polish rulers, Mieszko I and Bolesdaw the Brave, were buried. Finally, the recent excavations at Ostrów Tumski by a team led by Hanna Kóoka-Krenz have revealed the remains of the prince’s palatium, apparently of Mieszko I. The debate about the priority of these two centers has excited the academic milieu for some time. And although it would be more proper to talk not about one capital in the late 10th century but about the main centers of the state,8 the debate has been enriched by the increasing number of discoveries made in the two centers.

6

Cf. Labuda 2000. G. Labuda (2000) reviews the debate conducted for many years both by the historians and archaeologists. Cf. also: Wójtowicz 2000. 8 Cf. Mo,zdzioch 1999; Urbaqczyk 2001. 7

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Figure 92. Cross-section of Lech’s Hill in Gniezno with the most important discoveries (after T. Sawicki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

2. From the legendary Lech to Mieszko I In the light of the earlier9 as well as recent10 investigations, Gniezno was the place where the initiatives aiming at creating the state were concentrated. According to the legends it goes back to the times of Lech, the tribal ancestor of the nation, who, standing on a hill later named after him to commemorate the event, decided to set up a town on that spot. As late as in the 19th century this legendary gure was still believed to be the founder of a stronghold postulated as having stood on the site of the later cathedral. According to legends it was surrounded by a rampart and a pagan shrine was built nearby. Lech’s Hill in Gniezno distinguishes itself in the lowland landscape of Great Poland with its atypical and steep-sided form. Originally it had two summits, a taller and steeper side on the north (the area of the later St. George’s church) and a broader one on which the cathedral now stands (Fig. 92). The whole complex, resembling an elevated island, towered over the landscape consisting of lakes, marshes and lowlands. The nds from the earliest phase of settlement at Lech’s Hill are difcult to interpret. Under the modern cathedral, remains of a large

9 10

Kostrzewski 1939; Mikodajczyk 1972, 1973. Sawicki 2000; Kurnatowska 2004.

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hearth were identied quite a long ago. It was a 80 u 100 cm quadrangular structure paved with stones set in clay with sides faced with wood. The feature was associated with thick layers of ash, which, according to the discoverers, suggested that it was used for a long time. The whole area was not built over, which inspired the conclusion that it had a cult function. At the same time, i.e., before the year 940, on the higher part of the hill a mound of cobblestones, resembling a barrow and with a diameter of c. 12 m was raised. Its remains were identied at a depth of 1.2–2.10 m below the existing ground surface. It has not been ultimately established if these were remains of a barrow or rather of a stone bank enclosing an area. It was, however, recorded that the construction was separated from the other part of the elevation with a ditch. The feature was below the remains of the foundations of a masonry building dated to the beginning of the 11th century. In the gaps between the stones, pottery fragments dated to the period between the late 8th and mid-10th century were found; this is the time span when the construction was probably used. Underneath it was a layer of burnt material overlying the bedrock. Lack of any functional connections between these discoveries, their mysterious form (barrow? bank?) and the fact that they were separated from the rest of the hill by a ditch are, for some researchers, premises indicating their symbolic (cult) function.11 This interpretation gains some support from local legends and tales which suggest that both the cathedral and St. George’s church stand on the remains of old pagan shrines. The end of pagan cult site on Lech’s Hill is marked by the construction of the earliest stronghold in the place where the cathedral is today and the building of a church on the higher part of the summit where the pagan structures supposedly were (cf. Fig. 92). The second important structure identied by archaeologists in this area is the stronghold built on Lech’s Hill. In the earlier publications the defensive structures investigated in the period before the Second World War by a team supervised by Józef Kostrzewski were dated to the late 8th century.12 More recent excavations conducted by Tomasz Sawicki have yielded a different chronology of the layers of the stronghold. It should be explained that the new chronology is based on more than a

11 12

Sawicki 1999, 20ff. Cf. Kostrzewski ed. 1939.

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Figure 93. Developmental phases of the fortied settlement at Lech’s Hill in Gniezno (after T. Sawicki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

hundred dendrochronological dates obtained from samples taken from various parts of the fortications. The earliest phase when the stronghold consisted of two parts and had ramparts of earth-and-wood constructions with the faces strengthened by the so-called ‘hook construction’ was identied in the place where the cathedral is standing today; the fragments of the rampart of that phase were identied 25 m to the north of St. George’s church. The fortications made with the use of the timberwork in the so-called ‘grill’ (rusztowa) construction have a characteristic feature in the form of a stone face; constructions of that type did appear in the 8th century but mainly at the areas to the south of modern Poland. In Gniezno this fact is quite surprising as it

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represents a unique case of applying this technique so far to the north. It has been impossible to establish whether this is a trace of Bohemian inuence on local construction techniques (as some believe coming to the court through Mieszko’s Bohemian wife, DËabrówka) or a local invention of those who built the stronghold. The dendrochronological evidence demonstrates that the earliest complex of fortications was built in c. 940 and existed till c. 980.13 In the next phase the area was expanded; this concerns especially an extension of the enclosed area to the northern part of Lech’s Hill. The development of the stronghold was completed in the rst quarter of the 11th century (Fig. 93). Thus the program of building Gniezno, the rst capital of the state, was not only consistently carried out but also completed during the lifetime of the rst two historical rulers of Poland. A problem for researchers is the lack until now of concrete remains of any masonry buildings indicating the rank of the center at the time of the Gniezno Summit in 1000 A.D. when Otto III came here. The geomorphological investigations indicate that the culmination of Lech’s Hill was rather small in area. For that reason during every redevelopment of the existing structures, any traces of previous ones may have been completely destroyed. In the vicinity of St. George’s church a fragment of a stone wall with gypsum mortar tentatively dated to the 10th/11th century has been recently discovered. It is possible that these are the remains of a sacral or palatial structure associated with the Gniezno Summit. The scale of destruction during the consecutive phases of development of Lech’s Hill is best indicated by the fact that in the place where the cathedral is standing today, some remains of pre-Romanesque architecture have been found but their state of preservation makes it hard not only to recreate the plan of the building of Mieszko’s time but even that of the later cathedral established at the Gniezno Summit in 1000.14 Until recently it was believed that a gypsum tombstone is what remained of the earliest church. The Latin inscription on it says that in this place the mortal remains of three brothers were deposited. Sadly, it is impossible to determine whether the tomb marks the place of rest of the remains of the eremites known

13

Sawicki 1998. This is the church to which Emperor Otto III made a pilgrimage and in which lie not only the remains of St. Adalbert, but also, as tradition has it, of DËabrówka, Mieszko’s rst wife. 14

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from the ‘Life of ve Brothers’ murdered at Mi‰edzyrzecz in 1003 or whether the inscription has a different meaning.15 Another unsolved problem is where the relics of the martyred St. Adalbert were deposited in Gniezno. Due to the lack of remains of the earliest cathedral in Gniezno, in part due to the high degree of disturbance due to later rebuildings, a number of hypotheses have been proposed, but they all lack support in properly documented archaeological evidence. The written sources, including Thietmar’s chronicle, indicate that during Otto’s III pilgrimage to Gniezno the relics of the martyr were placed at an altar specially built for that purpose. Most probably this was a kind of Medieval confessio, that is a reliquary attached to an altar. As part of the Millennium project of the 1950s and 1960s much of the area inside the Gothic cathedral was investigated, and the most recent re-analysis of the results of the old excavations has indicated that in one of the trenches in the nave of the cathedral there were remains of two mysterious structures. Although they were badly disturbed, it was possible to outline their hypothetical form. The rst, according to Tomasz Janiak,16 had the shape of a simple rotunda. To this had then been added a northern and a south-western annex. The latter (if correctly reconstructed) is of extremely unusual form, in plan like the segment of a circle, with a axial gable wall (Fig. 94). This atypical structure is interpreted by Janiak as the place where St. Adalbert was buried immediately after his tragic death among the Prussians in spring 997. Did Otto III visit the saint’s grave located in this rotunda? This question can not be given a clear answer. Some specialists allow for another interpretation. According to this concept, the construction of a huge aisled basilica was started before the year 1000. This was to function as a memoria of the cult of its patron. Its construction was subordinated to the earlier confessio of St. Adalbert, adjusting the plan of the later building to its geometric center. Thus even before Emperor Otto’s visit, the earliest confessio would have been dismantled and replaced with a new church with an altar and a rectangular burial chapel underneath it. The weakness of such a hypothesis is due to the fragmentary preservation of the structures and lack of a sufciently strong basis for dating them. Only the stratigraphic position of the discoveries and their relations to the later layers are certain. For that reason such hypotheses should be treated with caution. 15 16

Cf. K7rbis 2000. 2002.

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Figure 94. Remains of the earliest church, rotunda under the Gniezno cathedral—presumed to be St. Adalbert’s rst grave (after T. Janiak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

3. A strong contender for primacy Poznaq became one of the centers of the Piast state in different circumstances than Gniezno. The focus of the Early Medieval complex was the area of Ostrów Tumski [Tumski Island], at the junction of the Warta and Cybina rivers. Initially it consisted of two small elevations separated by a marshy ditch and was settled perhaps already at the beginning of the 10th century. This characteristic landscape was noticed and fully utilized by the builders of the stronghold which was erected in the northern part of Ostrów Tumski. The location excellently tted the communication network of the region: it was close both to the water and the land route. For that reason this center played an important part in expanding the Piast domain in almost all directions.17 The results of the excavations conducted since 1999 by the team directed by Hanna Kóoka-Krenz have indicated that under the Psalterists’ Residence (a late Gothic building near the cathedral) and in the trenches to the north of the Gothic church of the Blessed

17

Kara 1998.

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Virgin Mary at a depth of 6 m from the surface the base of a defensive rampart was located. This earliest stronghold could have been in existence, the excavators believe, as early as the end of the ninth century, and about the middle of the 10th century it was rebuilt.18 Thus this rampart would have been earlier than the remains discovered in previous excavations in the trenches under the cathedral and in the cathedral yard, so far dated to the second quarter of the 10th century. It can not be excluded, however, that in fact the two parts represent one rampart surrounding the site on which now stands the church of the BVM. Therefore it is possible that around the mid-10th century a small stronghold enclosing an area of approximately 40 m in diameter was built on the elevation in the northern part of the island. The latest dendrochronological dates obtained for the feature indicate that the terminus post quem for its constructions is 892. It could have existed until about the mid-10th century when it was considerably rebuilt. In that period the fortications were changed and in some places even completely dismantled. Part of the demolition material was used to ll in areas of boggy ground (Fig. 95). At that time the interior of the stronghold was re-planned: the eastern part had a sacral function (this is where the cathedral was located later) whereas in the western one the prince’s palace and chapel were erected. The most interesting discoveries have been recently made near the church of the BVM. The structures were rst seen in restricted excavations in this area soon after the Second World War, during the Millennium project excavations, however, the most recent studies conducted by Hanna Kóoka-Krenz have demonstrated that they should be dated not to the 11th century, as was originally believed, but to the times of Mieszko I. The nds in question are remains of considerably damaged but still recognizable foundations running parallel to the church wall. Their total width together with the foundation offset, visible on the eastern side was as much as 2 m. In some places only the robber trench of the wall was found with remains of white and pink gypsum mortar, probably coming from the above-ground parts of the structure. The rectangular palace building had a N-S orientation and its walls were 11.90 (11.20) u 27.25 m (western wall). It rested on the foundations of small rocks of different origins (mainly granite and gneiss) alternating with layers of soil with lumps of raw clay. The walls

18

Kóoka-Krenz 2000; Kóoka-Krenz, Kara, Makowiecki 2004.

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Figure 95. External facing of the stronghold in Poznaq with a stone reinforcement of base, tentative reconstruction (after B. Kostrzewski).

were made of stone slabs with gypsum mortar; they were plastered on both faces. Lime mortar was used to make the oor on a foundation layer of broken stone and also to provide a hard surface to the surrounding area on the outside. The entrance to the palatium was in the west wall. On the southern side remains of a room (8.80 u 5.80 m) were discovered. The dendrochronological analysis of wooden reinforcement of a sand layer making the underlying ground rmer has indicated that the timber was cut between the years 910 and 941. On the basis of the archaeological and stratigraphical data the remains of the palace building were dated to the second half of the 10th century. It is assumed that the described building had a chapel the remains of which are thought to be under the chancel of the Gothic church of the BVM. The structures most probably made up a complex similar

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Figure 96. Plan of the remains of a structure identied near the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary church on Ostrów Tumski in Poznaq identied as a palatium (after H. Kóoka-Krenz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

to the one known for example from Ostrów Lednicki (Fig. 96). It is assumed that the complex was built by Mieszko I after his baptism.19 The high standing of the complex is indicated by the recent discovery (2002) of a goldsmith’s workshop adjacent to the palace building. Numerous gold ornaments and production remains were found in it, which is unique for that period, as the main precious metal which was used at that time, known, e.g., from the hoards, was silver.20 The discovery seems indirectly to conrm the importance of the structure

19 20

Kóoka-Krenz 2000. Cf. Kóoka-Krenz, Kara, Makowiecki 2004, 24.

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Figure 97. Baptistery (?) in Poznaq at the moment of discovery (after K. Józefowiczówna).

as such a workshop could have functioned only in the nearest vicinity of the prince’s court. It is tentatively suggested that the complex was destroyed about the middle of the 11th century during the invasion of the Bohemian prince Bretyslav I. A discovery in Poznaq which has for many years remained the subject of controversy is a feature interpreted as the remains of a baptistery. In 1952, under the nave of the cathedral, relics of a circular lime bowl with a diameter of c. 4 m lying on a base of broken stone were discovered. The bowl was made of a layer of a lime mortar, at in section, with a thickened and raised edge. From the original structure about a quarter of the perimeter has been preserved. In the middle a trace of a quadrangular post 23 cm across was identied. Outside the bowl traces of stone settings, apparently connected with other posts belonging to the same structure (Fig. 97) were found. Krystyna Józefowiczówna21 considered this feature to be the remains of a baptismal font, serving for mass baptisms of adults, dated to the second half of the 10th

21

1963; 1967.

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century. According to that interpretation it was a relic from the times of the missionary bishop Jordan. The construction with a central post which supported the roof and wooden posts around the bowl, fencing off the place where liturgical rites were performed, was thought to be the earliest baptistery in Polish lands. Although this opinion was shared by some researchers, others were skeptical. They inclined to the view that such features are remains of workshops connected with erecting the sacral buildings and used for preparing the mortar. The bowls were places where lime was mixed and the central post was part of a treadmill.22 In recent years, however, the debate about the Poznaq discovery has been reopened. The most negative and also the most extensively-argued opinion about the possibility that it could have been connected with the rites of baptism was expressed by Teresa RodziqskaChorËavy.23 She rejected the possibility of the above interpretation as the Poznaq features differ from the baptisteries of that period in their construction, e.g., they did not have a roof with a central post, wooden steps leading to a depression that was too shallow and many other ones. She stressed that the typological features, construction and the context of other such discoveries in Europe do not allow for such possibility. Zoa Kurnatowska24 saw these issues in a completely different light. She reanalysed the documentation from the excavations of the Millennium research project and came to the conclusion that under the Poznaq cathedral there were remains of a square building with a baptismal font inside. Such structures were typical for the missionary areas and thus for Great Poland under the bishop Jordan’s jurisdiction. The supposed baptistery building would thus be attached on the east to a so far undiscovered sacral building. According to this interpretation the baptistery was in the central part of the rst cathedral (Fig. 98) and its origin should be associated with building the rst missionary station in Poznaq. In time, when the bishop’s cathedral was built, the baptistery, partly dismantled, was included in it.

22 This discussion has a long history; the topic was broached also by Krystyna Józefowiczówna (1967). In the 1990s these issues were taken up by the new generation of researchers who criticized the attempts at associating these devices with the rites of baptism (cf. Urbaqczyk 1995; Rodziqska-ChorËavy 1997; Kóoka-Krenz, Kara, Makowiecki 2004, 147). 23 1997. 24 1998.

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Figure 98. Plan of the probable baptistery in the context of Poznaq cathedral (after Z. Kurnatowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Thus the interpretation of the discoveries is quite complex. Are we dealing with the relics of a separate building of the earliest baptistery or should the remains be interpreted in a different way? This can not be settled at the moment in the light of such a great discrepancy of opinions. It is not clear whether the assumed baptistery functioned along with an existing church whose traces have not been discovered so far, or whether the context of its existence in the landscape of Early Medieval Poznaq was quite different. Equally mysterious is the issue of the masonry remains of the tombs in Poznaq cathedral, initially identied as the graves of Mieszko I and Bolesdaw the Brave (Fig. 99). The rst one, of which approximately half was preserved, had the shape of a tumba raised above the oor of the church with a ceiling and a oor of lime mortar over a base of broken limestone. The tomb was dug into the oor of the earliest preRomanesque cathedral so it was later than the rst church. The other tomb lay to the east, and only the remains of the stone casing were preserved. As in the former case, there is a layer of poured lime mortar forming the base of the grave and remains of a limestone slab which was the cover. Around both tombs traces of a quadrangular enclosure in the form of a low wall with an entrance on the northern side were discovered. It is assumed that originally there could have been an altar between the two tombs. Both burials had been exhumed some time in

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Figure 99. Presumed tombs of Mieszko I and Bolesdaw the Brave in Poznaq cathedral (after Z. Kurnatowska, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

the past. At the moment of discovery in the 1950s they contained only traces of rust and corroded iron, interpreted as the remains of cofn xtures. The tombs are believed to be the place where the rst historical rulers of Poland: Mieszko I and Bolesdaw the Brave had been laid to rest.25 Other scholars, however, do not accept this hypothesis. The most extreme standpoint was expressed by Antoni GËasiorowski.26 He believes that the presence of a central burial raised above the oor and located in the nave in an 11th century cathedral is quite improbable. This opinion, especially the part concerning the external form of a burial located in such a place seems quite justied. In early Christian Europe the burials in media ecclasiae were usually located under the oor of the church in a special crypt. Their place was marked inside by an altar raised above the oor. A raised tumba in the main aisle of the church would differ considerably from the generally adopted pattern. It is also necessary to identify the people buried in the tombs. Antoni GËasiorowski27 indicates that Mieszko died in 992, so would have been buried before the year 1000, and yet this grave was cut through the

25 26 27

Kurnatowska 2000, 19ff. 2000, 114ff. 2000.

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oor of the cathedral. In the case of Bolesdaw the Brave he stresses the lack of any stronger ties of that ruler with Poznaq. For that reason the natural place for his burial seems more likely to have been the cathedral in Gniezno which he had founded and, what is more, where his friend the martyr St. Adalbert was buried. Whose remains were therefore deposited in Poznaq in the monumental tombs and what did the grave originally look like? Were these burials of the rst rulers of Poland or rather of the bishops of Poznaq, Jordan and Unger? In that case, however, the form of the graves would seem inappropriate to their functions in life. Also if these were the burials of bishops, we must wonder why there is a lack of the graves of their successors in the near vicinity. For these reasons the question of the identity of the persons originally resting in these tombs will certainly be one which will not go away. 4. Kalisz: The Stronghold on the Amber Route There are few towns in Poland that provoke as many questions and hypotheses connected with the early urbanization of Polish lands as Kalisz. One of them is connected with the long-lasting debate about Ptolemy’s Calisia on the Amber Route. According some interpretations of that text, the origins of Kalisz should go back to the times of this second century A.D. Alexandrian geographer. Although it is hardly possible to prove the direct connection between the Przeworsk Culture settlement which existed in the area and the later town, the myth of a town which has a history of almost 2000 years is still alive. Obviously the trade routes were one of the reasons why the place had such a high standing from the very start and the numerous hoards from the Early Middle Ages dated to the 10th–11th century indicate that the Kalisz route played an important part also at the beginning of the Polish state. An interesting phenomenon are the strongholds forming a circle around Kalisz, which were established at the beginning of the Polish state (cf. Fig. 83). Most of them were built from scratch and settled by a population brought from elsewhere. In some cases, e.g., at Piaski (Baszków) these were, as the archaeological investigations revealed, prisoners of war of Pomeranian origin (Chapter 15).28 The debate on

28

Teske 2000.

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the concentration of strongholds around Kalisz is not over yet. The hypothesis according to which they are proof of strengthening of the Gniezno state and points of military support for the invasion on Silesia and Little Poland planned by the Piasts is contradicted with another one stressing the functional connection of the phenomenon with the Piasts’ earliest domain (cf. Chapter 9). Kalisz itself has also yielded archaeological discoveries of high rank. One of them is the cremation cemetery at Kalisz-Zawodzie with a stone barrow located in the place where later a fortied settlement and a church were built. Such places, embedded in the new reality of the Piast state and proving the continuity of the settlement, may mark the earlier centers of “tribal” communities. Such phenomena are encountered both in leading centers of the Piast state (Gniezno) and of the Bohemian Premyslids (Prague). The pagan cemetery functioning between the 6th/7th and 8th century was located on sandy islands or the original bank of the Prosna river. Its main element was an oval-shaped stone barrow with a diameter of c. 2.5 m and height of at least 1 m. On the stones and under them traces of re and remains of burnt bones have been preserved. The cremation burials in the cemetery contained fragments of clay vessels representing archaic forms and techniques of production. Directly above the burial ground the remains of the earliest fortied settlement were found (Fig. 100). It was discovered by Iwona and Krzysztof DËabrowski in the 1950s and 1960s; the discovery was conrmed by Tadeusz Baranowski in the 1990s.29 Detailed analyses have proved that the frequent changes of the form of the fortied settlement were caused by the changes of the bed of the Prosna river. When the rst fortications were built, the long axis of the sandy island on which the stronghold was located was no wider than 75 m. The site was protected from the inuence of water by wooden piles and stones of large dimensions brought there intentionally for that purpose. In this way the river bed was gradually moved away from the fortied settlement towards the west. The earliest stronghold at Kalisz is dated by means of pottery and dendrochronological analyses to the second half of the 9th century.30 The discussion on the subject can be divided into two threads. The rst concerns the tribal organization which inhabited the area at that

29 30

Cf. Baranowski (ed.) 1998; Baranowski 2004. Cf. Baranowski 2004, 288.

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Figure 100. Stronghold, Fortied settlement at Kalisz-Zawodzie during the excavations, in the foreground remains of St. Paul’s Cathedral can be seen in the trench (Archive of the Polish Academy of Science Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology in Warsaw).

time. According to some author (Stanisdaw Trawkowski for example) they were the Wiercianie (Verizane according to the Bavarian Geographer) whereas others (Henryk cowmianski among them) include the areas on the Prosna river in the domain of the Goplanie. The second theme of discussion is the issue whether the earlier fortied settlement existed at all. At the present stage of research there are no substantial arguments justifying the need to modify the hypothesis about the 9th century origin of the fortied settlement in Kalisz. This view is additionally supported by the most recent discovery (from the fall of 2002) made in Kalisz-Wydarte. During a eld survey fragments of clay vessels, lumps of burnt clay and charcoal were found.31 The analysis of the area where the material was scattered revealed that there is a still visible large oval-shaped feature with preserved earthworks 1.5 m high. Many factors seem to indicate that these are the remains of a second

31 This material (which I know from personal inspection) represent both the late pre-state period (so-called Phase C of the Early Middle Ages; A.D. 850–950) and the early Piast period. Among the pottery I inspected, the more numerous were nds from the rst group.

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and previously unknown fortied settlement in Kalisz.32 A ‘tribal’ crafts and trade settlement located nearby investigated in the 1970s yielded many valuable nds, including a gilded bronze Merovingian ornament unique in Polish lands. It still remains to be proven if the settlement had functional connections with the possible stronghold at Kalisz-Wydarte. It cannot be, however, excluded that in Kalisz-Wydarte we are dealing with a second center in which the Early Medieval town was formed, and this in itself is a phenomenon deserving deeper analyses. In Kalisz-Zawodzie, in turn, the older fortied settlement is under the fortications of the Piast one, dated to the 10th and 11th century. The chronological gaps between the stages of construction of the fortications create problems in interpreting them (Fig. 101). It is possible that the numerous improvements and developments of the fortied settlement were caused by the changes of the river bed which made it necessary to rebuild the ramparts on different lines. The 11th century phase yielded several interesting discoveries. One of them is a wooden structure within which a barrel was found with, among other things, a horse skull inside and several others next to it. There were also many other nds, including ones connected with trade, e.g., a RuthenianByzantine lead seal representing a knight with a spear, and a gure in the attitude of an orans on the reverse. The most interesting are the remains of a wooden church of post-frame construction identied within the remains of St. Paul’s collegiate church. It was aisle-less with a rectangular chancel (Fig. 102). The structure, unique in Poland, is dated to the rst half of the 11th century.33 The crisis of the late 1030s did not harm Kalisz. The town remained an administrative center, rst as a castellany and in the 12th century, in the period of fragmentation, as the capital of the duchy and residence of Mieszko the Old. The most spectacular discovery of that time are the remains of the stone collegiate church of St. Paul (cf. Fig. 102). It is similar to a group of aisle-less churches with a shallow apsidal chancel. In comparison to other churches known from Great Poland from that period it is characterized with a rich plan and a wealth of decorative details. Not much of the 12th century church has been preserved until our times: stone foundations, architectural details of the walls, and parts of the decoration, that is, stained glass. The above-ground part of the structure was most probably built from ashlar blocks. The marshy

32 33

Baranowski, K‰edzierski 2002. Baranowski 1998, 52.

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Figure 101. Extent of the respective phases of the stronghold at KaliszZawodzie (after T. Baranowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

ground was made more stable by piling, which indicates a high level of engineering skills and is not known in any other sacral buildings of that time. During the research of the 1960s in the central part of the apse of the collegiate church, two badly disturbed features were found. They are interpreted as the graves of Mieszko the Old (buried in 1202) and his son, Mieszko Mieszkowic (died in 1193). The rank of the deceased buried in the rst grave is indicated by gilded ornamented plaques, silver coins of the 11th century and two other coins from the late 11th and early 13th century. In the second one the remains of a wooden cross covered with a gilded bronze sheet was found.34 However, it is not certain

34

Baranowski 1998.

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Figure 102. Plan of the earliest wooden church in Kalisz, the early 11th century superimposed on the plan of St. Paul’s Collegiate Church of the 12th century and their reconstructions (after T. Baranowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

whether this if that is the place where the two princes were buried or even if that was the original location of the two tombs. In the 13th century, Kalisz became the center of an archdeaconry; the same century saw the end of the fortied settlement at Zawodzie, which was captured and burnt by Henryk the Bearded during the struggles for succession after the death of Wdadysdaw Spindleshanks. As a result in the second half of that century the town was moved to a fork of the Prosna river and the center in Kalisz-Zawodzie declined. 5. Wolin: The town with twelve gates The early origin of the main Baltic centers in Western Pomerania, which differentiates them from the ones from the other parts of the country, resulted from the fact that already in the pre-state times there appeared

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a large zone of exchange embracing the whole of the Baltic littoral and, more broadly, Europe. Among them Wolin played a particularly important role. Ibrahim ibn Yaqub wrote of the Vetlaba people: They have a huge town on the Ocean, which has twelve gates. It has a haven for which they use tree trunks cut in half. They ght with Meszko and their military strength [is] huge. They do not have a king and do not allow one [ruler] to dominate them; they are governed by the elders.35

The description clearly shows that in Mieszko’s time Wolin and its inhabitants—for it is thought that this text refers to the Wolinianie— were independent and probably ruled by a council of elders. The center was thus probably an urban republic with its own authorities. We may also guess that the afuence of the town was based on longdistance maritime trade, which can be deduced from the existence of the landing place mentioned by the traveler. The town retained its importance for a long time, Adam of Bremen (11th century) refers to it as a nobilissima civitas. Scandinavian tradition names this town as the seat of the legendary Jomsvikings who performed heroic military deeds in the Baltic. Here in Jumne, says Adam of Bremen, the Danish king, Harald Bluetooth, sought refuge in 986 during the period of unrest in his country. As bets such a cosmopolitan center, Wolin has several different names in the written sources and the earliest Scandinavian sagas. There is the above-mentioned Jumne, but also Wineta, Jom or Jomsborg (though it is believed that the last one is an articial form which was created as late as in the 12th century).36 The long history and wealth of “tribal” Wolin became the basis for often incredible stories about the mythical Wineta, which, due to the conceit of its inhabitants, disappeared under the sea like Atlantis. For even in the Middle Ages it was hard to associate a center of that standing with the declining Wolin. Already in the 19th century archaeological excavations were conducted there in order to uncover the remains of the Baltic center mentioned in the chronicles and sagas. The research, initially conducted by German archaeologists, led to the conclusion as early as in the 19th century that the legendary

35

Quoted after: Labuda 1999, 148. These issues have been extensively discussed both in earlier and later literature (cf., i.a., Koczy 1932; Labuda 1954; among the more recent publications, especially: Halldórsson 2000). 36

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Wineta is modern Wolin. The eld work was continued before the Second World War and then after the War. So far it has been established that Wolin developed by the end of the 8th century on the estuary of the Dziwna and swina rivers (the area of the modern Old Town) as a shermen’s village.37 Soon afterwards, in the 9th century, it became an important trade emporium located on the routes leading to the territory of the Baltic Prussians and Novgorod in the east, and Haithabu and Starigard to the west. At that time a densely built-up settlement covering an area of 6 hectares, surrounded with a palisade was built. It existed until the 12th century. The earliest dendrochronological dates indicate that the wood used for the buildings located in the area of the Silver Hill was cut in the years 838–902.38 The 10th century was the time of the greatest prosperity for the town. New districts came into being, as did a redeveloped port with large storage houses, and a 300 m long wharf. The constructions in the port were built of oak logs fastened to the banks of the river by wooden ties with hooked ends. The successive phases of development of the port took place from the north towards the south. The wharfs had jetties whose respective levels have been dated from 900 till 995. The wolin agglomeration contained several distinct districts with different functions. In the northern part on the Silver Hill there was a settlement of shermen and craftsmen; in that place also hoards of silver dated to the 11th century were discovered (thus giving the hill its name). Farther to the south, along the river Dziwna numerous settlement centers 100–300 m wide extended along almost 3 km of the shore. The whole arrangement was surrounded by cemeteries. A barrow cemetery, dated to the 9th–11th century was situated on the Hangmen’s Hill to the south. On ‘Mdynówka’ Hill to the north was a biritual cemetery functioning from the 10th till the 12th century (Fig. 103). It has been estimated that in the period between the 10th and 12th century the whole agglomeration was inhabited by 5 to 10 thousand people. The diversication of the burial rites in Wolin probably resulted from 37 So far there has been no monographic publication of the excavated evidence from Wolin; only the pottery has been successively analyzed by B. Stanisdawski (1997, 1998) for several years. This part of the chapter is mainly based on material presented by Leciejewicz 1962; Filipowiak, Gundlach 1992; Filipowiak 1995. Several articles concerning the investigations in Wolin can be found in a festschrift dedicated to W. Filipowiak [cf. Wilgocki et al. (ed.) 2001], cf. also recently: W. Filipowiak 2004. 38 Wavny 2001.

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Figure 103. Topography of Wolin in the Early Middle Ages (after W. Filipowiak and Gundlach; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

the fact that besides the local people the place was inhabited by the arrivals from various parts of Europe. The written sources indicate that there were, for instance, Greek (Ruthenian?), Saxon and Scandinavian communities. The layout of Wolin did not change much between the 9th and 12th century. The main street ran along the east-west axis. The earliest streets of the 9th century were paved with planks set on beams. In the rst half of the 10th century the beams were transversal and the planks were longitudinal. In that century the streets were 205 cm wide and there were also narrow passages between the houses. To a

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degree not yet found at any other center in the Polish lands of that period there was a great diversity in the techniques used for building the structures here. The rst group are buildings made in wattle and daub construction most often with the dimensions 5 u 6 m in which the vertical elements were oak spars in the corners and in the middle of the walls. This skeleton was interwoven with twigs and plastered with clay. The ridged roof rested on posts and the hearth was located in the middle opposite the entrance. Such buildings usually did not have a oor and may have consisted of one or two rooms. Another type are palisade (stave-built) buildings dated to the period of the 9th and the rst half of the 10th century. In that case the walls were held together by horizontal beams; buildings of this construction were discovered in the area of the Market and on Silver Hill. Similar constructions were found in the areas inhabited by the Germans. The same cultural zone is represented by houses of frame construction where horizontal planks are placed between rows of posts. Their roofs most often rested on posts and the structures had one room (or, more rarely, two) although their oor area seems quite large (up to 15 m in length and 6.5 m in width). The hearths were located either by the eastern or western wall. The typical Slavic ‘log-cabin’ construction technique, either built from planks and logs, was relatively uncommon in Wolin. The most interesting discovery from the area of the town are the remains of a pagan shrine (Fig. 104) and a wooden idol with four faces identied with the pagan god Svantevit (Fig. 105). The multiethnic character of Wolin reected, among other things, in various traditions followed in building homes, forms of burial rites, and specialized artisans’ workshops, including the places where amber was worked, are traits which differentiate this center from the other ones. The town ourished until the second half of the 11th century when Kamieq became the main center in the area, followed later by Szczecin together with the rapidly developing Kodobrzeg. Wolin’s prosperity was ended by the Danes’ invasion in 1173 after which the town declined. The fall was accompanied with silting the bed of the river Dziwna, which made the port inaccessible for large ships. 6. Early state or pre-state Gdarsk? Whereas the origins of the main towns of Western Pomerania are quite evident, in Eastern Pomerania the situation is more complicated. This can be best illustrated by the beginnings of Gdaqsk, the largest center

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Figure 104. Stratication and selected wooden structures of the Early Medieval Wolin, remains of a pagan shrine (after Filipowiak and Gundlach; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

in the region, which, as it has been assumed for years, was created at the initiative of the rst Piasts most probably in the 970s. This interpretation was based on the results of the investigations of the ‘ducal’ stronghold situated on an elevation in a marshy area at the junction of the Vistula and Motdawa rivers. During the Millennium research project of the 1950s and 1960s, as many as 17 settlement levels were distinguished there, dated between 970–980 (the earliest level) and the early 14th century (identiable on this site by the destruction layers formed when Gdaqsk was captured and burnt by the Teutonic Knights in 1308). The main center in Eastern Pomerania was considered a classic example of a stronghold built from scratch in the early phase of the state period. According to that concept a multi-functional town with a port district was to develop around the Piast stronghold.39 There was a second concentration of Early Medieval Gdaqsk 400 m away to the west of the ducal stronghold, near the church of St. Nicholas and St. Catherine. This is where a trade route ran in the 11th

39

Javdvewski 1961.

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Figure 105. Wolin. A wooden gurine representing a four-headed god found near the shrine (after Filipowiak and Gundlach).

century. It went through Pruszcz Gdaqski, swiecie, Gniew, Tczew to the west towards Sdupsk, Kodobrzeg and Szczecin. In that place it crossed a local route leading towards Kartuzy and Chmielno; its extension was a track going to the stronghold and port (Fig. 106). This is what must have fostered the development of a market settlement. It occupied an area with a diameter of approximately 300 m and its archaeological traces were discovered by means of augering, when settlement layers dating to 980–1140 were encountered. More recent investigations in advance of redevelopment in this rapidly developing city have proved the existence in the area of well preserved settlement structures dated to the 9th–10th century located under the remains of an 11th century settlement.40 The excavations have also revealed that near St. Catherine

40

Of particular interest are the excavations conducted by the Institute of Archaeology

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Figure 106. Topography of Early Medieval Gdaqsk (digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

and St. Nicholas’ church a teeming crafts and port district was formed after some time, that is, after the founding of a chartered town according to the Lubeck law. An important element in the plan of Early Medieval Gdaqsk are the structures discovered in a trench in the crypt under St. Nicholas’ church. These are the foundations of a stone and wood construction burnt in a re, which have been interpreted as elements of fortications of with internal caisson type timber reinforcements. This structure predates

of Warsaw University in the area of the Dominican Center [cf. Godembnik (ed.) 2001, 2002a]. The most interesting discoveries of recent years are also the traces of the earliest St. Nicholas’ church and the cemetery accompanying it identied nearby on the Market Hall site (excavations of the Archaeological Museum in Gdaqsk). For the most recent results and discuission of the plan of Early Medieval Gdaqsk cf. Paner 2004; Paner (ed.) 1998; with literature.

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the building of the church, and analysis of pottery discovered there allowed the construction to be dated to before the 13th century. The researchers from Gdaqsk are not unanimous on how to interpret this discovery. Some believe that these fortications are the northern part of the ramparts of the trading village. Others claim that these are the remains of a fort located in the area of the market square. Burnt in the late 11th century, probably at the time of the ghts for Pomerania during Wdadysdaw Herman’s reign, it was never rebuilt and nally (from 1227) became a topographical point known as the Dominican Field and the Dominican Mount. To the north of St. Nicholas’ church a silted water course was located, with a section of a wharf with a part of a jetty reaching up to the market square were discovered; from the late 12th century port facilities were most probably located there. The third settlement concentration in the earliest part of the town was located in the area of the Ddugi Targ [Long Market] of the Later Medieval town, near the present site of the Town Hall. This is where the second port and trade settlement was supposedly located.41 The origins of organized settlement processes in the discussed areas are dated to the 10th century, but some specialists tend to assume that each of the concentrations was surrounded by its own system of fortications, which would be unique for the discussed period. There are also scholars who believe that each of the settlements had a different character: the one near the stronghold is claimed to be more Slavic whereas the one identied near the modern Town Hall is assumed to be connected with German colonization. It is known that the town founded in the 13th century according to the Lubeck law developed in that very area. Hence some assume that next to that center there could have been established a town founded according to the ‘Polish’ law. Others go even further: both founded centers could have been developing independently (and thus had their own fortications?) until the time when the ‘Lubeck’ part dominated over the ‘Polish’ one.42 This complex vision of the origins of Gdaqsk is difcult to verify. It is also contradicted by a competing scenario resulting from the most recent archaeological discoveries, namely of some settlement structures from the area of the modern Town Hall dated to the pre-state period. Some believe that 600 m to the southwest of the main Piast stronghold,

41 42

Cf. Zbierski 1964; 1978. Lepówna 1998.

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in the settlement located in the area of modern Dduga Street and Ddugi Targ a stronghold, separated from the main one by marshes, was built. It would have been developing from at least the ninth century and would have still been functioning in the tenth century. This interpretation is based on the observation of a small length (about ten meters) of what seems to be a rampart discovered under the Town Hall.43 Was it a direct continuation of the earlier pre-state settlement or something completely new? It is hard to determine today. However, quite surprisingly no nds typical for the early crafts and trade centers of the Baltic littoral have been found in the vicinity. Neither is it clear what the relations between the discussed stronghold and the so-called ducal stronghold was. Perhaps it was a secondary outlying fort subordinated to the latter. The possible fortications identied in the area of the Town Hall are supposed to have functioned until the end of the 12th or the early 13th century. Wdadysdaw cosiqski allows for the possibility that the remains located under the Town Hall, dated to the 930s may be in fact the remains of the rst (earliest) stronghold which would be almost 100 years earlier than the one located at the junction of the Vistula and Motdawa rivers. According to this interpretation the earliest Gdaqsk would consist of two parts: a stronghold erected in the 930s (the one under the Town Hall) and a large crafts and trade settlement with a landing place dating even as early as from the mid-9th century. The construction of strongholds, even as early as the rst half of the tenth century, would represent the time when the piasts appeared in the region of the mouth of the Vistula.44

43

Paner 1998, 2005. Cf. cosiqski 2001, 58. In the discussion of the chronology of the earliest pottery presented by that author the comments on the high technological advancement of the products made in the earliest phase of the fortied settlement in Gdaqsk with respect to chronologically comparable materials from the late 10th century from the main centers of Western Pomerania do not seem a convincing argument for dating. In Western Pomerania the situation was slightly different. The crafts and trade centers continually developed from the 9th century (archaeologically manifested by, among other things, numerous fragments of ceramic vessels) had been overlapping with the effects of the activity of specialist workshops of the early Piast period. Thus depending on the settlement phase, nds of various levels of technological advancement appear in successive layers in denite proportions. In the area in Gdaqsk where the ducal stronghold was built, there was no earlier stronghold, and thus no material relating to such a phase. This resembles the case of other fortied settlements built by the Piasts in the early state period such as Pdock in Mazovia or Sandomierz in Little Poland, where only technologically well developed pottery appeared from the very start. 44

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Clearly, there are many problems to investigate. Especially mysterious are the several strongholds (two? three?) functioning at the same time in the area of the Gdaqsk agglomeration. There are more questions: were these really strongholds, parts of some other type of constructions, or remains of fortications of various parts of the same early urban complex? And if it was one complex then why were they built at such large distances apart? What were the relationships (chronological, functional) between them? Can the discoveries under the Town Hall and St. Nicholas’ church certainly be considered as fortications? Could the Piasts really have organized, as Wdadysdaw cosiqski has recently suggested, the Gdaqsk domain already in the 930s, long before the Gniezno state was established in Great Poland? These questions cannot be answered yet. However, some things are already certain. First of all, before the Piast stronghold was built, there was dense settlement in the area. This means that Gdaqsk, like the main centers of Western Pomerania, originated earlier. It is also worth recalling that the rst Piasts, when occupying former ‘tribal’ territories, usually built their own center in a new place. This principle is reected by the location of so-called ducal stronghold at the junction of the Vistula and Motdawa rivers. Furthermore, there are no doubts that Gdaqsk with its own name (urbs Gyddanyzc) appeared on the map of Poland already in the 10th century. This is the place from where St. Adalbert, having baptized the masses of local population, set off in spring 997 to his last Christianizing mission, ended with a martyr’s death among the Prussians. 7. The origins of Peock still unknown Unlike Great Poland, Mazovia has few towns dating from the beginnings of the state. This scarcity is probably due to the constant danger from the pagan Balts (Prussians), Lithuanians, Yatvingians and even Pomeranians. The main early urban center is Pdock, located on the transit route along the Bug and Vistula rivers leading to Ruthenia and near the regional routes to Prussian territory and Great Poland, which became the capital of a principality in 1138.45 The question of the earliest structures on the Tumskie Hill, the highest point in the area

45

Dulinicz 1999.

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Figure 107. Pdock. Tumskie Hill as seen from the north (photo: M. Trzeciecki).

(Fig. 107), has not been settled till today. Here are traces not only of the earliest episodes of the history of the town but also some fascinating discoveries which are frustratingly difcult to verify. The nds in question are a group of material associated with the late pre-state period described by Wdodzimierz Szafraqski46 as proof that the hill functioned as a cult site before the beginnings of the state. The hypothesis, which has been recently veried negatively, was for many years a key feature in the discussions on the origins of Pdock. Tumskie Hill was treated by many historians and archaeologists as a place where religious meetings of the elders of the tribe used to take place, which was to result in the formation of a center of political power there. Today it is clear that this hypothesis has absolutely no support in the source material. Particularly surprising is the lack of nds from Pdock which may be earlier than the late 10th century. Was the center built from scratch as late as that? If so, why did this take place so late and why in that particular place where no traces of earlier ‘tribal’ settlement have been found?

46

1983.

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Figure 108. Topography of Early Medieval Pdock ( after A. Godembnik, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Clearly, the part played by Tumskie Hill in the process of forming the earliest fortied and urban center is crucial. A stronghold was built here, most probably in the late 10th century, on the top of a hill about 2 hectares and rising almost 50 m above the Vistula. According to Wdodzimierz Szafraqski it was built on the northern part of the Hill (where the Mazovian Museum is located today) whereas in the southern part a second fortied enclosure stood, within which a Romanesque cathedral and another masonry church were built. The results of the latest investigations suggest a slightly different picture, but are not entirely clear. Namely, it was suggested that there had been a stronghold on the southern part of the hilltop, but in the early 11th century the fortications were rebuilt, and the whole hill was enclosed by a huge wood and earth rampart. In the southern part it was erected in the same place as the old defensive wall but in the northern one it extended well beyond it, embracing part of the former residential area (Fig. 108). The authors of this conception suggested that the stone tower incorporated into the system of the fortications was built there already in the 11th century, but this seems doubtful. The structure, previously identied by Wdodzimierz Szafraqski as the remains of Wdadysdaw Herman’s palatium is in fact much later and dates to the 12th century.47 Only as

47 This hypothesis quite recently suggested by A. Godembnik (1999, 85) has been abandoned in the most recent publication (cf. Godembnik (ed.) 2002b; cf. also Godembnik 2004). The extent to which scholarly visions of the origins and development of the

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Figure 109. Pdock Cathedral as seen from north-east (photo: M. Trzeciecki).

late as in the 13th century the stone rotunda could have been built on the southern part of the hill. The hypotheses about the archaeology of this complex constantly undergo modications, which is well illustrated by the recent monograph

earliest Pdock are discrepant is indicated by two articles on the same subject issued in the same publication and prepared by two different long-term researchers of Pdock (cf. Godembnik 1998; Kordala 1998). In this context it is not surprising that the idea of Pdock as the capital of Mazovia even at the turn of the 10th and 11th century may be questioned (cf. Dulinicz 1999).

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on the origins of Pdock.48 The author assumes that in the late 10th or early 11th century on the original at upper part of the hill with two peaks (on the north and the south divided by a transverse ravine), a fortied settlement was built with one line of ramparts. This supposition is supported by the fact that there are no traces of fortications separating the ducal fortied settlement from the area with the cathedral. In this context, the presence of an eroded ravine which apparently served to drain water from the northern part of the hill until the Late Middle Ages, is thought-provoking. We know nothing about the course of any fortications which would have closed its end, so how was this side of the stronghold defended? Where was the original gate? Our doubts are raised by the exceptionally large area of the earliest fortied settlement, with one (?) system of ramparts embracing an area of more than 2 hectares. The central point of Tumskie Hill was the cathedral: the seat of the diocese founded in 1076 (Fig. 109). It probably replaced an earlier church, which is supposed to date to the beginnings of the fortied settlement. However, there are no material remains even of the later collegiate church, founded by Wdadysdaw Herman, built on the same spot and destroyed during an invasion of the Pomeranians in the early 12th century. In the mid-12th century another church founded on the incentive of Bishop Alexander of Malonne was built. Its main attraction was to be the two leaves of a bronze door decorated with reliefs representing Biblical scenes and the gure of the founder. Made in the 12th century in Magdeburg, the doors never got to Pdock; in unknown circumstances they ended up in St. Sophia’s church in Novgorod where they are called the ‘Sigtuna Door’. In Pdock cathedral there is an exact copy (Fig. 110). No traces of the original form of Bishop Alexander of Malonne’s cathedral have, however, been preserved. Recent investigations by Robert Kunkel49 have proved that despite appearances, the body of the present church is not Romanesque, but was built as late as the 16th century, resembling its Romanesque predecessor only in the location and measurements. Tradition has it that in Pdock cathedral the Polish ruler Wdadysdaw Herman was buried, while others believe that

48 49

Cf. Godembnik (ed.) 2002. 1988.

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Bolesdaw Wrymouth was interred here too. This was also the place of the ultimate rest of at least some of the dukes of the period of feudal fragmentation. Their original tombs, however, have not been located. One of the archaeological highlights of the 1970s were the excavations in the cathedral crypt (I had the opportunity to take part in them) conducted under the guidance of Wdodzimierz Szafraqski. Their aim was to identify, on the basis of the bones, the members of the prince’s family whose remains were deposited together in one cofn in the 19th century.50 In the 11th century, Pdock expanded beyond Tumskie Hill. The consecutive parts of the Early Medieval town developed to the north and south-west of the hill (cf. Fig. 108). Initially the most important was the settlement located to the north, in the area of modern Narutowicza Square, and in 1237 it became a chartered town. On the west it was adjoined by the settlement zone around St. Nicholas’ collegiate church, which served as a service area for prince Konrad of Mazovia’s residence. According to some historians this is where the canons’ school was located even before 1180. To the north the settlement was adjoined by St. Giles’ church (a votive foundation from the late 11th or the 12th century) located in the vicinity of the New Market; next to it there was a cemetery. The church has not been found by archaeologists yet. Finally within the same area from the second half of the 12th century there developed a Jews’ district. Pdock is one of the six Polish towns in which the Dominicans arrived probably already in 1225. The monastery was built in the southern part of the town on a site adjoining the market settlement and the trade and transit service area near the ford across the Vistula. Although the district began to develop intensively only in the mid-12th century, there also exist hypotheses that it played an important part much earlier.51

50 An important part in the process of identifying the remains were the physical ailments of the rulers mentioned in the chronicles, which were reected in the bones. A fragment of a spine of a 60–65 year old man stiffened with bony tissue growth was assigned to Wdadysdaw Herman, who in his last years was ailing and could not move from an armchair; and a skull of a 50–55 man with traces of mechanical injuries which had healed, to Bolesdaw Wrymouth. I remember the impression made on the participants in the excavations by a mandible with malocclusion, which was presumed part of Wrymouth’s skull. Comparisons of the data from the written sources with the details of the discovered bones were used to identify the remains of the other members of the prince’s family. 51 Cf. Godembnik (ed.) 2002, with literature.

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Furthermore, very little is known about the area of left bank Pdock, the modern Radziwie quarter. According to the written sources St. Benedict’s church, known from 1187 and given the name capella, was situated there. Wdodzimierz Szafraqski52 states that the mansion of the 11th century Palatine Sieciech was located there; some even believe that an earlier, pre-state center might have been there, but this hypothesis has not been proved so far. In Radziwie there was a port on the Vistula river (not identied yet) mentioned in the sources from the 1230s. It was an important center of trade and exchange. However, like many of the elements of topography of the earliest town it is still waiting for its discoverers. 8. Sandomierz: First large investment of the Piasts in Little Poland? The greatest discovery from the area of Sandomierz, which is also unique in the whole of Poland, is the chess set dated to the 12th century. It was found during the excavations conducted in the 1960s in a semi sunken oored hut near the church of St. James. The almost complete antler set consists of 29 pieces for two players (Fig. 111). The traces of usage visible on the pieces suggest that this exclusive game might have been known even to the inhabitants of the pre-chartered town.53 Owing to that, the archaeological nd has become symbolic of the high cultural standing of the town whose origin, despite many years of research, is still subject to debate. Sandomierz, along with Cracow and Wrocdaw, is called by Gallus Anonymous a sedes regni principalis, one of the main state centers, which raises the question why two towns of such high standing existed in the same region at the very outset of the state. The excavations conducted since the 1950s have not conrmed the hypothesis of the Bohemian (or even Great Moravian, as some believed) origin of that center. The idea sprang from the very name of the town. Researchers tend to agree that it is derived from a personal name, reputedly named Sudomir, or S‰edomir (like Wrocdaw named after Vratislav or Cracow after Krak). It is, however, hard to interpret the name Sudomir because it is not conrmed to have appeared in Polish lands in the Early Middle Ages. Curiously enough, names of similar form were used at that time 52 53

1983. Gassowska Ë 1964.

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Figure 111. Deer antler chess set, Sandomierz, St. James’ settlement, 12th century (after A. Buko).

to the south of the Carpathian Mountains, in Bohemia and Moravia. On that basis Tadeusz Lalik suggested that Sudomir might have been Moravian or Bohemian by origin and came to Sandomierz with a troop of warriors, strengthening the inuence of the rulers from the south, the Bohemian Premyslids or even Great Moravian Mojmirids.54 This hypothesis becomes more attractive in the context of the views on the history of the lands of southern Poland before the mid-10th century especially in connection with their political links with Bohemia and Moravia in the 9th and early 10th century. Its main drawback is the lack of archaeological proof indicating (directly or indirectly) the existence of such inuences. This concerns, among other things, the possibility of earlier adoption from neighbors from the south of Christianity, disseminated in Moravia in the 9th century by Cyril and Methodius and then by their disciples. The pre-Piast origins of Sandomierz were also supposed to be indicated by the existence of the mysterious Salve Regina Hill located at the western edge of the town (Chapter 7). The hill was believed to be

54

Lalik 1993, 54.

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a large barrow of the pre-state times, perhaps a burial of the person who had established the stronghold.55 Although, as we have seen, recent investigations have proved that this was not a true barrow but a natural hill which had been remodeled in the past, this hypothesis was accepted for many years. The excavations of the 1970s demonstrated that there are more arguments for linking the origins of Sandomierz with the policy of the rst Piasts (Chapter 9). The material evidence for this was rst provided by the results of the analyses of the Early Medieval pottery from Sandomierz, published in the early 1980s. In the earliest settlement layers in Sandomierz, dated to the second half of the 10th and the 11th century, numerous pottery nds similar in stylistic features and raw material to the West Slavic biconical vessels were discovered. Such products, made only of iron rich clays do not have any analogies for that period in Little Poland except for Sandomierz.56 Stylistically and technologically similar vessels appear commonly and in mass quantities, however, mainly in the areas of Great Poland. Such a phenomenon cannot be accidental. On the contrary, archaeologists assume that qualitative and quantitative changes in production techniques and styles of the vessels most often reect profound social transformations which inuence both the producers and the users. A rapid change of the methods of production or forms of the produced vessels is often a testimony of extensive social changes, including the inux of a new population. Phenomena similar to the described ones most often suggest the presence at a given area of re-settled potters who in the new place try to make their products using the same patterns as in the old one; this concerns the raw materials, technology and style. The described phenomena may thus be a material indication of the movement of groups of Polanie from Great Poland to the area of modern Sandomierz. The core population probably consisted of representatives of the Piast prince, leading a group of warriors, merchant-craftsmen (including probably potters). Obviously, in such a mixed group the last-mentioned ones were not the most important, but (unlike the other social groups which did not leave any traces perceptible to the archaeologist of their presence), the results of the potter’s work are quite permanent, due to the mass scale of production and indestructibility of the material.

55 56

Cf. GËassowski 1967. Cf. Buko 1998, 55ff., with literature.

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The second type of material evidence for the presence of migrants from Great Poland was provided by the results of the excavations in the earliest cemetery in Sandomierz located on St. James’ Hill and dated to the 11th century. Teresa Rysiewska and Henryk Rysiewski re-analyzed the human skeletal material from the burial ground and its archaeological context and decided that the cultural diversication of the cemetery is due to the fact that men who had come from Great Poland were buried there in two phases. The earlier phase of these burials (after the mid-10th century) occurred in the southern part of the cemetery and the later one (the 11th century) were in the northern part. The accompanying women’s burials were, according to their hypothesis, of the representatives of the local population whom the arrivals from Great Poland had married (cf. Chapter 15). The third premise is the character of population transformations in the 10th century archaeologically documented in the Sandomierz Land. Their mechanisms are very similar to the activities of the early Piasts in Great Poland (Chapter 9). One may even venture a claim that the origins of early Piast Sandomierz follow exactly the scenario reconstructed by the archaeologists for the territory of the Gniezno state. The layout of the earliest town is particularly compact and logically planned. Such an arrangement (Fig. 112) looks like a result of a single settlement action. Most of the pottery assemblages from the oldest phases of settlement here, dated to the second half of the 10th and the 11th century, are technologically very advanced, it is among these assemblages that the traces of the presence of the Polanie in Sandomierz was rst identied. The events connected with building the earliest Sandomierz may be quite reliably dated to the 970s. This is rst of all indicated by the results of the excavations in the earliest town cemetery located on St. James’ Hill. The analysis of grave goods demonstrates it was founded at the turn of the 10th and 11th century. If that was the case then the builders of the town must have arrived a generation earlier, that is, in the mid-970s.57 Thus only one decade after the baptism of Poland, the Piast state was active in this part of Little Poland.58

57

Buko 1998, 84. The author’s hypothesis presented in this part of the book is the most recent but not the only one which may be found in the literature of the subject. The other concepts both the earlier and the later ones, referring partly to earlier views (e.g., Tabaczyqski 1996, 483), should be taken into account in the debate, which is far from nished. 58

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Figure 112. Topography of 11th century Sandomierz: 1–3—fortied parts of the town (A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

9. Zawichost: intriguing rival of Sandomierz Located on the high bank of the Vistula river, Zawichost is surprisingly close (17 km) to Sandomierz. This is apparently (besides Western Pomerania vide: Wolin—Kamieq), the only case in Medieval Poland of two centers of such high rank situated so close together.59 Both were located at a strategic junction of roads which allowed control of a

59 This was indicated many years ago by Tadeusz Lalik, who was responsible for some interesting ideas on the interrelations of these two centers (cf. Lalik 1967, 48).

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ford across the Vistula. In Sandomierz the route led to Przemytl and Halicz and in Zawichost, towards Vladimir Volynski and Kiev. The Sandomierz and Zawichost junction played a pivotal role in controlling the routes leading from Poland to Ruthenia both at a regional and international scale. The main issue which engrosses the researchers is the relations between the two centers in the early stages of the state. There was a hypothesis that Zawichost did not compete with Sandomierz, but rather was an ‘indispensable complement’; the two towns, as Tadeusz Lalik wrote,60 formed a specic tandem blocking important fords on the Vistula, which, combined with the administrative and political functions, had a strategic character in this part of Little Poland. In contrast to Sandomierz, the information about the earliest Zawichost can be found in the written sources rather than from the archaeological evidence. Hence all the discussions of the original topography of that center can be only hypothetical. In search for the roots of Zawichost, the dedication of the vanished St. Maurice’s church (known only from the written sources) was taken into account. Teresa Dunin-WËasowicz assumed that it was the church mentioned in the written sources before 1191 which could have been built even at the turn of the 10th and 11th century. The dedication was one of the earliest and, what is more, it refers to the symbols of the Gniezno Summit of 1000 A.D. and St Maurice’s spear, a copy of which Otto III gave to the Polish ruler during the meeting.61 The fact that Zawichost was also near to the strongholds in Roztocze district also indicates it might have also been a kind of fortied bulwark of the early Piast state on the Vistula; in this case Saint Maurice, a knight and a martyr, seems to be a suitable patron for that place.62 The early chronology and high rank of Zawichost are indicated indirectly by other groups of evidence. In the late 12th century it had as many as three parishes (whereas Sandomierz until the time of its chartering in

60

1967, 48. St Maurice was revered in Burgundy as the leader of the apocryphal Christian Theban Legion martyred in St Moritz supposedly at the end of the fourth century for disobeying orders which conicted with their beliefs. His relics were installed in Magdeburg cathedral in 961. In later legend he is supposed to have carried the spear used to pierce Christ’s side, and which is the inspiration of the relic (‘Spear of Destiny’) now in Vienna’s Burghof. The spear in Cracow—purportedly that presented by Otto III to the Polish king—was modeled on the latter (P.B.). 62 Dunin-WËasowicz 1999, 256. 61

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1287 had only one). This fact is sometimes interpreted as proof that Zawichost had a far greater population. The importance of Zawichost in the 11th century may be also indicated by the fact that besides the church of St. Maurice, the collegiate church of the Ascension of the Blessed Virgin Mary is dated to the same period, that is, the times of the reigns of Bolesdaw the Bold (1076–9) or Wdadysdaw Herman (1079–1102). The community of canons founded there enhanced not only the local parish network but also made the place more important in the process of Christianization of the country. Interestingly, despite the closeness of Sandomierz, Zawichost not only retained its position as a center of a castellany, but became one of the three, together with Sandomierz and Lublin, seats of a territorial archdeaconry. An enigmatic remark by the fteenth century Polish historian Jan Ddugosz, who called Zawichost caput terrae Sandomiriensis suggested to researchers63 that the ‘tribal’ center preceding Sandomierz should be sought in the area of Zawichost and its predecessor was to be the fortied settlement identied at Zawichost-Podgórze (Fig. 113). However, this is not the only possible line of thought. In the past also the site of a castle (which lasted until the times of the Swedish invasion) on an island in the Vistula which today no longer exists was taken into account. According to some authors that place was particularly suitable for a fortied settlement. The fact that the island has been washed away by the Vistula has considerably limited the chances of verifying this hypothesis. Also Trójca, with the church with an archaic dedication to the Holy Trinity built on a characteristic elevation, located two kilometers away from Zawichost, was taken into account as the possible fortied center. A silver hoard dated to the 11th century found there many years ago may indicate the importance of long-distance exchange in the formation of the earliest center. Some researchers believe that Trójca and Podgórze, at the edges of Zawichost, are the places which were settled before the development of the Early Medieval town. The settlement complex at Trójca is also interesting due to its location at the crossing of important Early Medieval roads going towards Sandomierz and Opatów with Ruthenian routes and the one along the Vistula leading to Solec. In the 12th century, that was the main junction in Zawichost. It is thus understandable that some researchers consider Trójca and

63

Tabaczyqscy 1999.

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Figure 113. Early Medieval settlement in the area of Zawichost (after D. Wyczódkowski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

the Holy Trinity church as the remains of the earliest Zawichost.64 This hypothesis would be certainly strengthened by the discovery of a fortied settlement there. Unfortunately the geophysical surveys and archaeological soundings conducted near the church in the second half of the 1990s yielded a negative result.65 The greatest discovery of the recent years (and also the earliest Romanesque structure so far uncovered in Zawichost) are the remains of a church on the edge of the high Vistula scarp. Only the foundations remain, the rest of the church has been washed away by the Vistula.

64

Cf. WËasowicz 1967, 120ff. The geophysical survey was conducted under the direction of Krzysztof Misiewicz in the mid-1990s as part of a program of research on the Zawichost settlement complex, coordinated by Stanisdaw Tabaczyqski. 65

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Figure 115. The Zawichost tetrakonch, tentative reconstruction of the church body (after R. Kunkiel; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

The plan can be reconstructed as a tetraconch (Figs. 114, 115). 66 There is no agreement about its cultural afnities, chronology or function. Although many researchers accept a relatively early chronology of the feature, such a dating (the 11th century ?) is weakened by the nature of the archaeological material discovered in association with the church which cannot be assigned a date earlier than the middle of the twelfth century.67 The analyses conducted so far indicate that the tetraconch 66

Tabaczyqski 2000. The large amounts of pottery fragments of evidently eastern characteristics, such as the white slip on the surface, are thought-provoking. Comparable and equally abundant material is known to me from Early Medieval Chedm. In this context, the far smaller quantities of similar vessels from Sandomierz, located relatively close to 67

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Figure 116. Fragments of the Romanesque wall of the central apse under the chancel of the church of the BVM at Zawichost (photo: A. Buko).

at Zawichost is directly connected with the accompanying nds of eastern provenience. The origin of the structure, however, has not been explained. Was there a colony of population of Ruthenian origin in Zawichost and the nds are traces of that? Another research mystery is connected with the parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary located nearby, the remains of which were uncovered during the recent archaeological excavations (Fig. 116). Mentioned in a Bull of Pope Eugene III of 1148 it was granted the cagów fortied settlement among other things. According to Tadeusz Lalik,68 this is the only example of such a grant for a church in Early Medieval Poland, therefore the church must have had a special role. Although the circumstances of its origin as well as its founder are unknown, it is assumed that it may have been built in the second half of the 11th century at the latest. In the light of the recent research, the material culture of Sandomierz and Zawichost are not really comparable. To recapitulate: in Sandomierz we have a rare case of pottery vessels made according to the style characteristic for Great Poland, which cannot be found in the settlement

Zawichost, is a mystery, to which I have drawn attention in another publication (cf. Buko 1998, 55). 68 1993, 53.

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contexts of Early Medieval Zawichost. The two centers differ also in the scale at which vessels with eastern characteristics were used in everyday life. In Sandomierz there were only a relatively few examples, and in Zawichost, much larger amounts, which makes the latter similar to the assemblages from the stronghold and town of Chedm—sited close to the present Ukrainian border. There is therefore a direct, archaeologically testied connection between the material culture of Early Medieval Sandomierz and Great Poland, on the one hand, and of Zawichost and the culture of the eastern zone, on the other one. What is the reason for the existence of such an evident cultural border between the two centers? At the present stage of research it is difcult to make any denite statements. Possibly some solutions will be brought about by further archaeological investigations in Zawichost. However, even the currently available data demonstrate that the two centers followed entirely different patterns of development. Also the external inuences to which they yielded were diverse, that it can be said that the two centers in a sense ‘turned their backs’ on one another. This enforced competition and cooperation, but at the same time either of the centers retained the possibility of following its own path. 10. Mysteries of the Cathedral Hill in Cheem Located in the eastern borderlands of Little Poland, Chedm was not as lucky as the other Polish towns. Although archaeological excavations have been undertaken there many times, they were never part of a coordinated interdisciplinary research program. Those fascinated by the past of the town took interest both in various discoveries and the places connected with legends and mentioned in written sources. In this context the place called Wysoka Górka [High Hill] is particularly important. This is a characteristic elevation in the center of the town and considered the remains of an Early Medieval stronghold. It is located on the northern edge of the Cathedral Hill (Fig. 117). For decades it was connected with attempts at establishing the date when Chedm originated (Chapter 9). The key moment in the history of the town was when Danylo Romanovich (Prince of Halich-Volynia 1238–1264) located on the Chedm Hill not only his own residence but also the episcopal see (moved from the neighboring Uhrusk) with the Orthodox cathedral church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary; as early as in the 13th century the cult of the Our Lady of Chedm began to develop. The

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Figure 117. Plan of archaeological sites in Chedm (by M. Auch and M. Trzeciecki).

holy icon brought to Chedm in unknown circumstances before 1260 has been a holy relic of the Ruthenian, Polish and Ukrainian nations for 800 years.69 This Patroness was to have protected the town against disasters, especially the Tatar invasions of 1240, 1256, and 1260. The majority of so-far unidentied Early Medieval churches, of St. John,

69 The painting made on three cypress planks, lost in 1915 when the Russians were withdrawing from the town and found almost 100 years later in the museum in cuck, was painted, according to Volodimir Aleksandrovich (2001) possibly as early as in the 11th century ordered by the highest ruling circles in Constantinople.

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St. Cosmas and Damian, and of the Holy Trinity, go back to the times when the town became Danylo Romanovich’s capital and abounded in elements of Ruthenian-Byzantine culture. The basilica of the BVM which is still standing at the top of the Cathedral Hill today, after many transformations, still functions as the main church in Chedm (but is now a Roman Catholic church). According to the written sources70 this is the place where the remains both of Danylo Romanovich and his brother, Vasilko, and their successors, are resting. The area of Wysoka Górka, located to the north of the basilica has been excavated three times. In the early 20th century, Russian archaeologists attempted to uncover the walls of the prince’s residence. The results of the investigations of the Archaeological Commission from St. Petersburg were published in the 1950s thanks to a Russian archaeologist, Pavlo Rappoport.71 In the 1960 researchers from Cracow and Lublin conducted excavations directed by Wiktor Zin. They yielded some new information about the architecture of the palaces and revealed the remains of a rectangular tower from the times of Kazimierz the Great embedded in the wall of the palace (Fig. 118). The complete results have not been published yet so only some interim reports prepared by the author of the excavations and his collaborators are available.72 According to them at Wysoka Górka there was a monumental palatial building adjoined from the east with a sacral structure identied with the Orthodox church dedicated to St. John Chrysostom. Some knowledge about the interior decoration may be gained from the rich architectural details taken away by the Russians and deposited in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Many researchers agree that the prince’s palace was built on the ruins of an earlier fortied settlement existing before the times of Danylo. Wiktor Zin reported that these were wood and earth ramparts of earth-lled timber boxes. The Russian researchers who conducted the investigations in the early 20th century noticed something more, the earliest phase of the site was apparently a pagan cult site with a sacred re, the traces of which they discovered during their excavations at Wysoka Górka.73 Although no full publication of these discoveries has ever appeared, they recall local

70 71 72 73

Sielicki 1987. 1954. Cf. Zin, Grabski 1967; Gurba, Kutydowska 1970. Cf. Rapoport 1954.

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Figure 118. Elements of monumental architecture at Wysoka Górka with old trenches, in gray and trenches from 2001, in black (after J. Gurba and I. Kutydowska; by M. Trzeciecki and M. Auch).

legends, which mention a pagan holy oak grove guarded by a white bear living in a chalk cave at the foot of the hill (cf. Chapter 5). More details about the layout of structures at Wysoka Górka were provided by ‘verication’ investigations conducted by the present author and a research team from Chedm in the summer of 2001. For the rst time the remains of palace wall has been planned and described in the context of the stratigraphy of the southern escarpment of the hill. It has been recorded that the above-ground part of the building is in a good state of preservation and its foundations based on the limestone bedrock, go almost 4 m beneath the present ground level. The width of the top of the wall in the explored section was 2.20 m (Fig. 119). It has been established that the residential complex consisted in its second

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Figure 119. Fragment of a wall of Danylo’s palace uncovered in 2001 (photo: A. Buko).

and third phases of at least three elements. It was a huge 38 m long and 22 m wide palatial-sacral structure oriented on an east-west axis resting on the original bedrock of the hill and raised c. 3 m above the present summit of the Chedm Hill. It seems probable that after some time the area of the palace was redeveloped (for unknown reasons) on its southern side. On the escarpment were terraced stone constructions consisting of at least three steps, each 1.80 m long and up to 70 cm high. There were the foundations of a rubble-lled timber box construction,

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possibly a rampart. The lower part of the escarpment was faced with a layer of stones taken from the chalk bedrock and adjoined the moat of up to 15 m wide. In this way the Chedm residence complex became an architectural complex characteristic for urban centers and unique in this part of Europe, although from the historical point of view it was only a short, episode only several decades long, in the one thousand years of the existence of the town. During the excavations, no traces of an earlier stronghold or of the supposed pagan shrine, were found. It was impossible to establish whether this was because the trench was too small or whether there are no such structures. In Danylo’s Chedm there were favorable conditions for the mixing of various cultural traditions. Particularly important in this context is the information recorded in the Hypatian Codex that when developing Chedm, Danylo ‘began calling in Germans and Ruthenians, foreigners and the Lachy.’ This information has been suggestively reected during the recent investigations in one of the districts of the town of Danylo Romanovich’s time. The settlement was identied in the mid-1990s in the area to the south of Cathedral Hill in the grounds of the secondary school at Czarnieckiego Street.74 During the excavations, many remains of habitations and features connected with production and other activities were explored and documented (Fig. 120). The western part of the settlement was considered as a zone in which production was concentrated because of the numerous remains of metallurgic workshops (smithing hearths) and features connected with iron smelting found there. In the eastern part of the settlement the densely-spaced buildings are assumed to be the traces of houses of various constructions and sizes. Among them there are large above-ground structures made of wood, probably of residential character. The houses were located within specic plots, the borders of which, marked by the trenches for beams visible in the chalky bedrock, have been identied in the western part of the site. In the settlement layers also fragments of glazed vessels were found as well as numerous objects of bronze: rings, belt buckles and a fragment of a traveling icon, a nd unique in Poland, as well as a mould (Fig. 121) for making golden kolty (headdress ornaments of Byzantine and East Slavic type).

74

Rescue excavations were conducted there by archaeologists from Chedm directed by Stanisdaw Godub in cooperation with the present author; the initial results of the excavations have been presented in: Godub, Dzieqkowski 2002.

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Figure 120. Chedm, Site 144, district of the town from Danylo’s time, exploration of industrial features (photo: A. Buko).

The archaeological evidence from these sites indicates that Chedm in the time of Danylo’s rule is a key center for understanding some episodes which are still poorly-understood in the early history of Polish and Ruthenian statehood. It still remains to be determined when and in what circumstances the earliest town originated.75 75 An area particularly interesting for archaeologists is the territory of Chedm-Biedawin where in recent years rich traces of both prehistoric and Early Medieval settlement have been discovered (cf. Ruszkowska 1990 and Chapter 9 of this book).

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11. Przemyul: The center at the periphery Przemytl, lying close to the modern border of Poland, is situated at the periphery. For that reason, as in the case of Chedm, it has yielded discoveries for which no analogies can be found in other parts of the country. The town is sited at the mouth of the so-called Przemytl Gate, a depression 60 km wide between the edge of the Carpathians and the range of hills known as Roztocze providing an easy route between the San and Dniester basins which already in the pre-state period played a pivotal role in long-distance trade, for example with the Byzantine Empire and the Arab world. We have seen (Chapter 7) that one of the Little Polish monumental mounds is located in Przemytl itself, its presence suggests that a center of ‘tribal’ power associated with the west-Slavic Lachy-L‰edzianie was being formed here. In recent years an inhumation cemetery of nomadic Magyars, dated to the early 10th century was found (cf. Chapter 4). The fact that besides burials of mounted warriors, graves of women and children were discovered may indicate attempts at settling permanently in the area. One of the problems that has been repeatedly taken up by archaeologists is the location of the earliest fortied settlement. Despite many attempts, its traces have not been found. One of the suspected locations is the Hill of Three Crosses (Fig. 122). Yet, although during recent investigations, the remains of stone and earth constructions were discovered there, there was a lack of dating elements which would allow its origin and function to be denitively established.76 Przemytl entered Polish political history in 981 owing to a short remark made in Old Ruthenian chronicles. The Russian Primary Chronicle under the date 6489 (981) says: W leto 6489 ide Volodymer k Lacham i zaja hrady ich Peremyshl, Cherven i iny hrady [In the year 6489 Vladimir went to the Lachy and occupied their fortied settlements: Peremyshl, Cherven and other fortied settlements]. For almost fty years this remark has divided the scientic milieu; I leave aside the discussion whether the name ‘Lachy’ used by the chronicler concerns the L‰edziane or Lachy-Polanie, which in recent years has been a subject of separate analyses. Some researchers tend to say that the name

76

Cf. Sosnowska 2000.

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Peremyshl denotes Przemytl whereas others believe that it may be also Peremil on the Styr river, located further to the northeast.77 Assuming that it is indeed Przemytl (this view is shared by the majority of the scientic milieu) the remark in the chronicle would be proof that a center of power of the Polanie had been established there by Mieszko I before the year 981. Wherever the earlier stronghold had been, the Piast stronghold was built on Castle Hill and thus in the place with no traces of earlier settlement. Such a location, as we remember (Chapter 9) ts the scenario of building the main centers of the Gniezno state testied archaeologically in Great Poland and eastern Little Poland. The date of 981 seems to be acceptable also as a caesura in the history of the development of the town. As the investigations on the origins of Sandomierz have indicated (cf. above) the main Piast center in eastern Little Poland was formed most probably in the 970s. According to this concept, the formation of the next centers in the eastern borderlands of Little Poland, including Lublin and Przemytl, would have taken place at a similar time, making up the consecutive elements of one process (Chapter 9). The high rank of Przemytl in the early Piast state is conrmed by the monumental buildings which have survived there till today. The stone palatium with a rotunda, built most probably at the turn of the tenth and eleventh centuries in the times of Bolesdaw the Brave, resembles the constructions known from the main centers of the Gniezno state (Fig. 123, 124). This an example of the unication of building programs across the whole territory of the Piast state. However, the entrance to the church did not lead from the palatium, as in the other cases, but from the open area in the center of the stronghold. This may indicate that the structure functioned not only as a palace chapel but also as the church of the fortied settlement.78 This hypothesis seems to be supported to some extent by the form of the church: a simple, one-apse rotunda, and thus a church of missionary character. The layout of the sacral-palatial complex in Przemytl may be interpreted as a manifestation of the ruler’s might reecting the rank of the center at the very outset of the Polish state.

77 More on this, Skrzypek (1962); with a broad discussion and literature of the subject (cf. also: Labuda 1988: 167ff. and Chapter 9). 78 Sosnowska 2001.

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Figure 124. Przemytl, two possible reconstructions of the palatium (after E. Sosnowska).

In recent years intensive investigations have been conducted in another rotunda in Przemytl, dedicated to St. Nicholas (the dedication is testied by the documents from the late 13th century), the remains of which are under the chancel of the cathedral church. The structure was discovered during the excavations of 1961 but the recent ‘verication’ works have brought some new facts. The structure was determined to have been a simple rotunda with a semi-circular apse. The most interesting result of the recent investigations, however, are the remains of a circular raised gallery inside it. This hypothesis is based on the remains of foundations visible within the nave which have been interpreted as a base of

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a colonnade. Zbigniew Pianowski and Michad Proksa have suggested79 that the structure had an additional practical advantage: in case of danger it would have provided shelter for more people; it is hard to determine to what extent this hypothesis is justied (the more so that it is not certain that its builders had the defensive aspect in mind). The dating of the church is also an important problem. Depending on the adopted interpretation, the proposed dates fall between the extremes of the mid-12th and the early 14th century. The model for the architecture has been sought in the style of sacral buildings in western and southern Europe (Italy); and it has been suggested that settlers from these areas inspired the building of the church. Another valuable discovery is the potters’ village found in the area of Zasanie. This is one of the few archaeologically investigated Early Medieval potters’ workshops with a service background in Poland. Workshops of this kind were usually established, due to the re hazard, outside the city walls and densely built-up areas. That is why it is very difcult to discover them during archaeological investigations. The workshop in Przemytl consisted of 12 two-chamber updraught kilns. Next to each of them there were accompanying features, most often in the form of pits of various functions. The analysis of production waste from the pits next to the kilns has proved that various products were made there, including korchaga amphorae, generally considered as imports from the area of Kievan Rus. The potters’ village at PrzemytlZasanie functioned from the 11th till the turn of the 13th and 14th century.80 In the early 1030s, Przemytl was occupied by the Ruthenians and from 1087 it became the capital of the west-Ruthenian duchy the rst ruler of which was Ruryk Rostislavich. At that time in the town there appeared buildings characteristic of the eastern cultural zone, among which the most opulent was the Orthodox church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary built by prince Volodar (1092–1124). Throughout the Early Middle Ages, the standing of Przemytl is indicated by the nds suggesting broad external connections. In this context one should mention a huge hoard of 700 Islamic silver coins from the second half of the 10th century, glass beads and imported textiles. The importance of Przemytl is also supported by the mentions of the site in written sources such as the account of the 12th century

79 80

2001. Kunysz 1981.

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Arabic geographer Al-Idrisi. Most probably the most important contacts were those with Byzantium. In Przemytl a Byzantine cameo of chalcedony, unique for this part of Europe (Fig. 125) was found; another artifact worth noting is a Byzantine seal from Nicomedia dated to the 11th–12th century. The Ruthenian-Byzantine cultural zone is also represented by the green and silver glazed vessels found in Przemytl. The multidirectional exchange was fostered by the Jewish merchants whose district at the area of the town is testied already in the 11th century in the written sources; so far no archaeological traces of it have been discovered.81 12. Wislica: in the shadow of a pagan prince Today a small village in swi‰etokrzyskie voivodeship in the south of Poland, it rst appeared in the written sources in 1224 as Vislicia. In the period after the Second World War, it gained a greater fame than many leading centers of the Polish state. This was due to two elements. The rst one is a brief but important remark in The Life of St. Methodius, where a similar name appears in a story concerning an anonymous pagan prince who, in the second half of the 9th century, made life so very difcult for the Christians (inhabiting his own land or his neighbors’ from the south?) that he attracted the attention of his contemporaries. His actions worried Bishop Methodius, who at that time had his seat in (not dened place) Slovakia, so much that he decided to bring him to reason. The events and their conclusions are duly related in the hagiographer’s text: He had the gift of prophecy and many of his prophecies came true; we’ll tell one or two of them here. A very powerful pagan prince, who had a seat at Vislech [on the Vistula] mocked the Christians and did them much harm. [Methodius] sent a messenger to him who was to tell him: ‘It will be good for you, son, to be christened of your own will and in your own land, lest you will be forcibly christened in captivity and in someone else’s land; mark you my words . . .’ And this is what happened.82

81 A description of that and many other important discoveries made in Przemytl can be found in the monograph by A. Kunysz (1981); with earlier literature. 82 A detailed analysis of the quotation with a broader historical context and a review of literature has been presented by G. Labuda (1988, 125–166).

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The name of the prince’s seat at Vislech mentioned in the Chronicle is associated with Witlica by many researchers. However, the text does not indicate if the name denotes a town and not, e.g., the river Vistula. Notwithstanding, it is not very probable that the name of the prince’s seat should be the name of a river. Therefore the idea of identifying the name with Witlica seemed promising. There was another reason for which the scientists’ interest focused on the above-mentioned center. Quite a long time ago an opinion was expressed according to which Witlica was to be the capital of the ‘tribal state’ of the Vislanie. This view was shared by one of the most eminent specialists in the Middle Ages, Karol Potkaqski, who in his work, Kraków przed Piastami, [Cracow before the Piasts] published in the late 19th century, placed great emphasis on the part played by that center.83 However, there were no data to make the hypothesis of its early origin probable. The opportunity appeared when Witlica was included in the ‘Millennium’ program of research into the origins of the Polish state.84 One may imagine how stressful for the research team were the expectations of a positive verication of the above quoted mention from the Chronicle; at the beginning of the eldwork it seemed that the researchers would be lucky. Few other centers could boast of such spectacular discoveries; not only their number but also quality were amazing. For how can one explain the presence of two fortied settlements of different dates (?), two rotundas with adjoining palatial structures, remains of several churches, including one whose plan resembled the archaic ‘Great Moravian’ architecture, a magnicent oor slab with gural engravings discovered in the crypt of the collegiate church, and especially a so-called ‘baptismal font’ with an adjoining platform, on which the bishop giving the baptism would stand? All these spectacular nds made Witlica famous.85 Four sites were chosen for excavation. The rst one was the prominent earthwork site with an area of about 2 hectares, located approximately 500 away from the modern town on the ood plain of the Nida river (Fig. 126). Despite great expectations it did not yield spectacular dis83

Potkaqski 1965. The eldwork was initiated already in 1948 within the newly formed Center for the Research on Polish Middle Ages at Warsaw University and Warsaw Technical University. The leading part in that team was played by archaeologists from Warsaw: Wdodzimierz Antoniewicz and Zoa Wartodowska; the latter then directed the research at Witlica (cf. Chapter 1). 85 Cf. Antoniewicz 1961, 1968. 84

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Figure 126. Stronghold on the Nida river at Witlica: an aerial view (photo: K. Trela).

coveries, especially in the context of the presumed early origins of the center. It has been established that the fortications were of two main phases. The stronghold of Phase I had a timber reinforced earthen rampart (the so-called grill-technique) and in the enclosed area eleven huts of log-cabin and wattlework were found. The whole complex had apparently been destroyed by re. At the gate fragments of the burnt wallwalk were found. However, the attention of the researchers focused on two discoveries. The rst one was a antler (knife?) handle with the representations of 6 busts of young women (Fig. 127). The excavator Zoa Wartodowska86 assumed that this object was connected with the pagan cult, she concluded that the female busts were water sprites (wiey) and the island on which the stronghold was located had been a pagan cult site.87 The weakness of this reasoning lies in the fact that an interpretation of one object was used to determine the function of the whole site. The second important nd from this phase of use of the

86 87

1962. Wartodowska 1962.

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Figure 127. Stronghold at Witlica, antler knife handle with female busts (after Z. Wartodowska).

site was a hoard of silver coins (more than 500 items), and the date of its deposition was determined as the end of the 11th century.88 In the rampart of the fortied settlement of Phase II, mysterious walls of gypsum rock set in mortar were discovered. One of the buildings inside the fortied settlement also had stone foundations. Most probably the inhabitants of the fortied settlement repeatedly suffered from ooding of the river Nida; this is indicated, among other things by the traces of frequent repairs of the walls and repeated raising the levels of the oors in the structures inside the stronghold. This phase of the fortied settlement was roughly dated by its excavators to the mid-13th century. As a result between the two periods of function of the fortied settlement there appeared a gap, lasting almost 150 years, which was difcult to explain.89 The above issues were approached in a different way by the archaeologists who in the 1990s carried out smaller-scale investigations to verify the conclusions reached by the excavators of the Millennium project, the results of which had never been fully published. According 88 89

Suchodolski 1960. Wartodowska 1963.

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to Waldemar Gliqski90 in the stronghold on the ‘island’, not two, but three settlement phases can be distinguished. Phase I, from the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries till the 1180s; Phase II dated from the rst half of the 12th century till the time of the invasion of the Polovtsy and Ruthenians (they are believed to have destroyed the town and the fortied settlement in 1135), and Phase III from the time after the invasion until the mid-13th century. The excavations proved that the remains of the wood-and-earth rampart built with the use of the grille technique is cut through on the inside by the foundations of a massive stone wall in which material from the turn of the 13th and 14th century was found. This has been interpreted as traces of some unknown rebuilding of these fortications. The excavators connected this with the wars that were taking place in the early 14th century between the Bohemian king Wenceslas II with Wdadysdaw the Short, who was trying to bring the area under his control as part of his efforts to reunite the Polish kingdom after the period of feudal fragmentation. The collegiate church at Witlica was also fortied at this time. During the ‘verication’ excavations conducted in 1997 in the rampart of the eastern part of the stronghold, remains of a dry-stone wall (i.e., built without the use of mortar), with an external face, were found. It was assumed that this wall was earlier than the stone wall described above. In that area there were no traces of the grill construction of the earlier rampart.91 What is the meaning of this discovery? Does it conrm the existence of an earlier ‘stone’ fortied settlement, and if it does, then what was its chronology and origin? Is it an unknown indication of the inuence from the south, where such constructions are quite frequent? If that was the case then how can the lack of archaeological material from the pre-state period in the occupation layers of the stronghold be explained? These are questions to which no answers have been found so far. The second fortied settlement at Witlica is located on an elevation on the west side of the island in the town, that is, the so-called Regia. The name, coming from the times of Jan Ddugosz, refers to the place where a castle built in the times of Wdadysdaw the Short or Kazimierz the Great had been situated (Fig. 128). According to the original excavator, Zoa Wartodowska92 the earliest fortied settlement on this site

90 91 92

1998. Gliqski 1998. 1963.

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Figure 128. Topography of Witlica and archaeological sites in the area of the town (after W. Gliqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

was oval in shape and was 140 u 100 m. Inside it a smaller, interior rampart was thought to enclose an area 60 u 50 m. The end of the complex was assumed to have been associated with Sviatopluk’s invasion of 879. The ‘verication’ excavations of the 1990s have, however, indicated that this chronology cannot be maintained. The stronghold had two phases, which allows the period in which it functioned to be referred to a much later period, that is, the 11th–12th centuries. There was no material whatsoever that would allow the existence of a stronghold here in the pre-state period. It is still necessary to establish what the relationships between and functions of the two fortied settlements were in the period (the 11th–12th century) when they existed simultaneously in a single center. Why were two fortied settlements built approximately at the same time (the early 11th century?) and then functioned at least to the second half of the 12th century? Perhaps the stronghold on the island is earlier and the one at the Regia was built by another (competing?) center of power? But if that was the case, then why was the earlier fortied settlement maintained for such a long time? These issues have not been analyzed in depth yet. Due to the presence

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Figure 129. The palatia and rotundas in Witlica (after Z. Wartodowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

of pottery from the pre-state period in the materials from the Regia,93 it seems that this mysterious episode from the history of Witlica has not been settled denitely. Directly above the remains of the fortied settlement at the Regia there are mysterious remains of masonry structures. They form a complex unique in the Polish lands especially due to the doubling of the structures there, that is, of two palatia each with accompanying rotundas. The rst one, Zoa Wartodowska suggested, was partly situated overlying the lling of the moat of the earlier stronghold. Both structures (Fig. 129) had, according to their discoverers, two wings. The northern wing consisted of a rectangular structure 9.8 m wide and 28 m long with adjoining it on the east a rotunda 12 m in diameter with internal conches. The latter was built from broken stone set in lime mortar. The eastern wing also comprise a bipartite rectangular structure with dimensions of 12 u 26 m. Next to it there was a rotunda with a diameter of 9.8 m and an apse with a radius of 4 m. In this case the rotunda’s walls had a lime mortar, but in the southern part, with gypsum mortar. The yard in the angle between the two structures was cut by burial pits dated by Zoa Wartodowska to the 11th/12th 93

I know the materials from personal inspection.

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century—13th century. Some of the graves are contemporary with the period of functioning of the ‘multi-conch rotunda’. This is conrmed by their characteristic orientation: the burials form six circles surrounding the rotunda. The complex was dated to the 10th and 11th century and the whole was interpreted as the residence complex of the Cracow bishops. It was thought to have functioned until the second quarter of the 12th century when it was destroyed by Ruthenians and Polovtsy led by Boris Kolomanovich. These discoveries were interpreted differently after the ‘verication’ excavations of the 1990s. According to Waldemar Gliqski94 these structures are stratigraphically later than the fortied settlement dated to the 11th to second half of the 12th century. Hence this is the date which determines the terminus post quem for building the structures discussed above. The complex was interpreted as the residence of Kazimierz the Just who ruled the Witlica Duchy created for him between 1166 and 1173. This does not, however, solve the problems connected with the interpretation of the discoveries. The residential complex uncovered at Witlica seems to parallel the Rhineland architectural traditions of the Ottonian period and analogies to it can also be found in Giecz and Ostrów Lednicki, dated to the late 10th and mid-11th century. Why are the discoveries from Witlica so much later? For whom were such architectural forms erected? Why are there two sets of them? These questions also cannot be given a denitive answer.95 The third site excavated by Zoa Wartodowska is the area adjoining the chancel of the collegiate church at Witlica. On Batalionów Chdopskich Street was discovered a complex of mysterious features connected by her with the prophecy recounted in The Life of Saint Methodius mentioned above. The most important is the feature which was for long regarded as a baptismal font. This was a 37 cm deep depression with the diameter of more than 4 m with a characteristic clay oor on its southern side was called. The structure abuts (is cut by) the wall of St. Nicholas’ church. The discovery (Fig. 130) inspired vivid debates and arguments especially when it was announced that it was a baptismal font dated to the 9th century and connected with the Cyrillo-Methodian rite. The depression was to have held the holy water for baptism, and the clay oor at its edge was supposed to be the

94 95

1998. Cf. also Rodziqska-ChorËavy 1998.

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Figure 130. St. Nicholas’ church and the so-called baptismal font in Witlica (after various authors, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

remains of a podium for the bishop performing the rite. In this case the dating was based on the nd of a fragment of a pottery vessel with a high footring (so-called ‘cup with an empty foot’), which according to the present knowledge can not be assigned any precise chronology and neither does the material used for making the ‘podium’. Taking into account the humidity of the surroundings this kind of material does not seem suitable for the assumed functions. In the subsequent discussions on the meaning of the discovery, other solutions have been suggested. The ‘font’ was considered as a place used for mixing mortar made when the church was being built. However, this hypothesis also has weak points, as no traces of lime mortar have been found in the depression. Besides, the foundations of the church annex cross the center of the depression, which excludes a direct functional connection. It is also possible that the depression is of natural origin (so-called karstic bowls) but, as the stratigraphic investigations indicate, there is a layer of soil between the depression and the natural gypsum surface. It was also suggested that the depression served as a container for water used for some everyday purposes. The most recent investigations, however, have not indicated that the depression had any continuation within the church. This observation ultimately leads to the conclusion that the whole feature owes its existence to the ‘creativity’ of the archaeologists.

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The ‘verication’ excavations carried out by Joanna Kalaga96 allowed the establishment of the date of the feature—whatever it was—to be the second half of the 11th century as under the depression remains of a settlement layer dated to the 11th century were found and directly above it there are the foundations of St. Nicholas’ church. The latter (which had originally been dated to the 10th century), was most probably erected as late as the mid-12th century, as the recent verication analyses indicate. It was a small aisle-less church of an archaic form with a 5.85 u 3.15 m semi-circular apse and an attached burial chapel on the south. Outside the church on the south was a cemetery of which 60 graves have been excavated. It is thus possible that the church was connected with these burials. The fourth investigated area was the collegiate church.97 The most spectacular discoveries were made under the church oor. The foundations of two Romanesque churches were identied there. The rst one with dimensions of 16 u 7.2 m built of limestone ashlars in a gypsum mortar dates to the mid-12th century. The church had a two-level chancel, and in its crypts, besides a damaged altar, a gypsum oor decorated with gural engravings was found. It is a unique discovery in Poland of that period (Fig. 131). The decoration is divided into two square elds lled with gural engravings the contours of which were lled with black paste and in the bordures there are representations of mythical animals, palmettes and oral motifs. The two main elds contain representations of six praying gures. In the bottom square the center is occupied by a man wearing a tunic and a short coat; also a young man standing behind him is wearing a tunic. The woman that accompanies them is dressed in a long gown and a coif. In the top eld there are also three gures. In the middle there is a man with a tonsure (probably a priest); in front of him a bent old man and a young boy in a short tunic are standing. All raise their heads and arms upwards. Along the upper and right edge of the eld there runs a partially preserved inscription: HI CONCULCARI QUERUNT UT IN ASTRA POSSINT ET PARITER VE { . . . .}, which can be read as ‘those who wanted to be trodden so that they could rise to the stars one day { . . . .}.

96

1997. Interdisciplinary research was conducted there; the research team was headed by an architect, Andrzej Tomaszewski; the results were published in: Tomaszewski (ed.) 1965. 97

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Figure 131. 12th century oor slab from the Romanesque church uncovered in the crypt of the collegiate church in Witlica (after M. Walicki).

The style dates the oor to about 1170. There still remains the question of the identity of the people who wanted to be trampled to gain redemption. Most commonly it is believed that these gures represent the rulers connected with Witlica: Henryk of Sandomierz and Bolesdaw the Curly or Kazimierz the Just with their family. Some go even further, according to them in the top square are Henryk of Sandomierz, Kazimierz Mieszkowic (Kazimierz the Just’s son who died young) and an unknown priest, and in the bottom one are represented Kazimierz the Just, his wife, Helena, and his son, Bolesdaw. It is, however, also possible that these are representations of the family of one or other

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mighty Polish comes.98 All these suggestions are based on indirect assumptions so they are hard to justify. It is only possible to conclude that the Witlica oor is a clear testimony to the creative development of native art during the period of feudal fragmentation. Due to the instability of the ground on the site of the earliest church in which the oor was placed, at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries a new Romanesque basilica had to be built. It was 30 m long, had a rectangular chancel and two towers on the western facade. The building survived until the mid-14th century when the present collegiate church was built. The two towers are the only remains of the church from Phase II which are still standing above-ground (although rebuilt during the renovation works in 1923). In the vicinity of Witlica there is a concentration of names of service settlements, which is an indication of the standing of that center before the 12th century.99 The process of establishing them ended most probably at the time of Bolesdaw the Bold, that is, in the second half of the 11th century. Finally, it is worth mentioning one more issue. Whereas in many Polish towns it is difcult to determine where the fortied center was located (and still harder to spot the part containing the elite residence) in Witlica we have an over-abundance. Is this an accident or a proof that the center had a high standing already at the early stages of the state? Any answer to this question is burdened with a great risk of making an error. This justies the opinion that a new program of verication investigations should be urgently formulated and carried out.100 13. Cracow, Wawel and archaeology Cracow is one of the few Polish towns (and the only one in Little Poland) which has been developing continuously from before the mid10th century and which has retained their high standing in the structures of the Piast monarchy. What is more, at the time of the birth of the Piast state, Cracow had already become a metropolis on an European scale. Ibrahim ibn Yaqub seems to suggest that it was considered, 98

Kalinowski 1963. Dabrowska Ë 1965. 100 A broad presentation of the earlier and more recent investigations in Witlica, including the discoveries and hypotheses, are in the post-conference volume: Grzybkowski (ed.) 1997; a more recent publication: cf. GËassowski 2004. 99

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together with Prague, as the most important town under Bohemian rule. Archaeology, however, has so far shed only a limited light on the origins of the town.101 Cracow developed on fertile loess soils, in an area rich in natural raw materials such as saline springs, deposits of iron ores (or lead and silver in the area of the town of Olkusz) and quarries of stone suitable for construction. It lay on trade routes of international and local importance. During the formation of the Piast State Cracow was incorporated in Mieszko’s domain in the late 10th century. Its standing in the early period of the Polish state was increased by one of the four bishoprics established at the Gniezno Summit. In the plan of the urban center preceding the street layout of the Medieval chartered town102 there were three settlement zones (Fig. 132). The southernmost is Wawel Hill where a dense cluster of houses were built at least from the 9th century. At the outset of the state, Wawel became a place where numerous structures, both sacral and secular determined its symbolic function dening the status and authority of the ruling elite. For that reason, the main settlement area moved to the lower-lying area to the north where the intensive settlement at so-called Okód developed along modern Grodzka Street. The earliest settlement horizon in that part of the town goes back to the rst half of the 9th century. At the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries a settlement surrounded with a palisade was built. The next habitation structures appeared during the rst half of the 10th century. At a later date (the early 11th to mid-13th century) the settlement was surrounded

101

This state of affairs is partly due to the maintenance even today of an old division of research competence, namely there is a clear division between the work of the group investigating ‘Wawel Hill’ and that dealing with ‘the town.’ The comprehensive reconstruction of the layout and changes of the Cracow center (except for Wawel) has been the work for many years of a team from the Archaeological Museum directed by Kazimierz Radwaqski. This cannot be related to the studies (valuable in their own right) made by the investigators of Wawel with their strong emphasis placed on architecture which were initiated many years ago with the work by Andrzej uaki and successfully continued by Zbigniew Pianowski’s team. These are two organizationally and separate teams which thus do not have a common strategy and who, as it seems from their publications, share information only to a very small degree. This state of affairs has resulted in (as is inevitable in such cases) lack of a coherent vision of the origins of Cracow. In the case of Wawel particularly regrettable is the lack of publications on the settlement and layout of the area before the inception of the great building works of the second half of the 10th century. 102 The layout of Cracow before the foundation was earlier investigated by Kazimierz Radwaqski (1975).

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Figure 132. Topography of Early Medieval Cracow (after K. Radwaqski and A. uaki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

by a timber-laced rampart of stone and earth with an external ditch. At that time several Early Medieval churches existed in the area, the earliest of which, St. Andrew’s church, was most probably built in the late 11th century. To the north of the Okód, in the area of the Late Medieval market square, at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, the church of St. Adalbert was built. This is the only church of such an early date which is not sited on Wawel Hill. Only the remains of the oor and

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outer walls remained of its earliest wooden construction. It has been established that the rst church was a small (6 u 9 m) structure with a rectangular chancel, an almost square nave and a narrow narthex. In the next decades the church was successively rebuilt and enlarged. At the same time, in the area of the later chartered town there were also other settlement concentrations which developed near St. John’s church, in the area of so-called Gródek, and a later one, of the 12th century, near St. Stephen’s church close to the northern end of Floriaqska Street and in the area of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the main questions concerns the ‘tribal’ origins of the town and its importance in the pre-Piast period. Cracow is considered as having been a leading fortied settlement of the proto-state organization known for many decades in literature as the ‘state of the Vislane’.103 There are at least several premises supporting the claim that the center had a high standing. It has the monumental Wanda and Krak Mounds unique in Poland, the origins of which, according to a long-lasting tradition, date to the pre-state period (cf. Chapter 7). The discovery of a hoard of iron like-axe currency bars (hryvna) at the foot of Wawel Hill at 13 Kanonicza Street (Chapter 4) was an archaeological sensation. Excavations also provide examples of imports indicating the links Cracow had in the pre-state period with the Avar Khanate and the Magyar cultural zone (Chapter 9). In comparison to other centers in Poland, Cracow has an exceptionally large number of stone buildings connected with the early stages of the state.104 At Wawel as many as 7 structures considered as preRomanesque (Fig. 133) have been found. They were rst excavated in the late 19th century and the work has been continued from 1948 till today. Not all the earliest structures, however, have left material traces. The palace and the cathedral from the times of Bolesdaw the Brave have been completely destroyed. Zbigniew Pianowski believes that the large amounts of broken stone slabs reused in the foundations of the Romanesque palatium and the so-called Herman’s basilica derive from it. The earliest palace complex, in turn, is associated with the so-called quadrangular structure with a corridor. It is assumed that initially it was part of a detached storage building. In its vicinity remains of other structures, interpreted as a chapel with a cruciform plan and remains of

103 104

Cf. Widajewicz 1947. Zaitz 2001.

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Figure 133. Plan of the rst Early Medieval structures on Wawel Hill: 1— quadrangular structure, 2—remains of cruciform chapel, 3—tetrakonch church dedicated to St. Felix and St. Adauctus, 4—fragments of pre- or early Romanesque cathedral, 5—pre- Romanesque rotunda-baptistery, 6—two-apse rotunda “B”, 7—pre-Romanesque church of St. Nicholas, 8—corner of a preRomanesque structure, 9—early Romanesque palatium, “Hall with 24 Posts”, 10—Romanesque basilica dedicated to St. Mary the Egyptian, 11— chapel (?) of the Romanesque palatium, 12—defensive tower, 13—Romanesque cathedral, 14—chapel with a rectangular chancel, 15—Romanesque rotunda, 16— Romanesque chapel with an apse, 17—Romanesque church of St. Nicholas (after Z. Pianowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

a dwelling house, were identied. The complex of the earliest prince’s residence probably also included a four-apse rotunda, dedicated to St. Felix and Adauctus, uncovered in the early 20th century. Initially it was probably a two-storey building and it survived, as it seems, because it was incorporated as a chapel into the Gothic castle. To the west of the residential part, the cathedral complex was located. The only remains of the early Romanesque church are a fragment of the corner of the transept and a side apse. Next to the northern side of the cathedral a one-apse pre-Romanesque rotunda was discovered. Its function has not been entirely explained. It is supposed that it could have been a burial chapel or a baptistery. On the southern side of the hill a twoapse rotunda was discovered in 1966. Inside it under the western gallery

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there was a sarcophagus made of ashlars containing the remains of a woman with a deformed skull. The remains of St. Nicholas’ church located on the central part of the Hill and St. George’s church are dated to the pre- or early-Romanesque period. A corner of yet another pre-Romanesque structure was discovered near the western edge of the Hill in 1953; as the possibilities of further investigations are limited, its form and function remain unknown. Besides the ones mentioned above, Wawel Hill contains many other Romanesque and later structures.105 The number and quality of discoveries of monumental architecture on Wawel Hill dated to the Early Middle Ages is impressive. No other town in Polish lands can be compared to it. At the same time, however, little is known about the topography of Wawel Hill not only in the times of the Vislane but also in the state-formation period. Was it a monotonous, gray, rural landscape, as Andrzej uaki106 suggested, or a functionally diverse center with a distinguished defensive part on Wawel Hill and numerous suburbs forming together a well-designed spatial arrangement? There are other, equally important questions: did Wawel Hill have no monumental structures until the last decade of the 10th century? At present such a possibility is accepted only with respect to the so-called Structure A the remains of which are imprints of a clay and wood foundation base under the north-eastern part of the cathedral. According to Zbigniew Pianowski107 this was an insulation layer for an above-ground wooden building. Most probably it was a sacral structure consisting of a relatively short chancel and an elongated, square, or rectangular nave. This structure may be associated with the period before Mieszko occupied Cracow, but as very little has remained of it, it is difcult to justify this supposition. Andrzej uaki108 evaluates the architectural potential of the earliest Cracow quite differently. He believes it is hardly probable that the four earliest Wawel structures (Rotunda A, quadrangular structure, Rotunda C, Rotunda B) were built by one generation. According to him it is much more likely that they were erected successively between the year 960 and 1020 and thus in the Bohemian and Polish times. An interesting aspect of excavations in Cracow are the discoveries of tombs of individuals of high social status. Their rank is determined, 105 106 107 108

Pianowski 1994. 1994. 2001, 68. 1994.

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for example, by nds such as a gold ring and a gold pendant with rock crystal from graves located near the rotunda of Sts Felix and Adauctus, or the assemblage of nds from the grave of Bishop Maur in St. Leonard’s crypt, which included a gold ring, a silver goblet, a paten and a lead tablet bearing the name of the buried person (cf. Chapters 2 and 13). Such burials were placed in masonry tombs inside churches and they often had relief slabs at the top. It is, however, surprising that no burials of warriors have been found, nor the elements of weapons known from the other regions of the country. The only exception is the burial ground at Zakrzówek, which was used from the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries till the mid-13th century (Chapter 15). A single burial considered to be a warrior’s grave has been recently discovered at the area of Planty Street in Cracow. The buried man (aged 50–55) died because of a head wound, which is indicated by a hole visible in the occipital part of the skull. The deceased had a knife, a resteel, a battle-axe and a vessel which was located next to his left foot. The body had the head oriented to the east, that is, not according to the Christian custom, and was deposited in a wood-lined grave, resembling the ones known from the other regions of Poland. The burial, dated to the 10th—early 11th century, is so far a unique nd for the area of the city of Cracow itself.109 14. Who built the earliest Wroceaw? In recent years the discussions about Wrocdaw, the main center of the early Piast Silesia, have been dominated by three issues. The rst one is the question about the origins and the earliest phases of the fortied settlement, the remains of which have been identied at Ostrów Tumski [Tumski Island]. The second one are the recent discoveries made in the crypt of Wrocdaw cathedral which revealed the remains of the earliest place of Christian worship on that site. Finally, the third discovery which has focused the researchers’ attention are the elements of wooden constructions associated with the remains of a pagan shrine which is thought to have functioned there as late as in the 11th century. The fortied settlement in Wrocdaw was built in the center of a dense settlement complex associated with the tribal territory of the Slenzanie.

109

Myszka 2000.

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Figure 134. Topography of the earliest Wrocdaw ( after S. Mo,zdzioch; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

It was situated on a broad sandbank with an area of 6 hectares in the river Oder (Fig. 134). As a result of the repeated settlement, the level of the area was raised by about 6 m in comparison to the original one. The beginnings of Wrocdaw, which was mentioned as one of the sedes regni principales in the text of Gallus Anonymous, are associated with archaeological material which cannot be denitely interpreted.110 Józef Ka,zmierczyk111 believed that in the pre-state period (the 8th–9th century) a rural settlement existed on the island. The rural character of the population was supposedly conrmed by the traces of plowing preserved under the ramparts with reinforcement of hooked tie-beams of the early Piast fortied settlement. Other researchers believe that these traces made in an area not entirely suitable for agriculture were of symbolic character or are simply the remains of leveling the area before the rampart was built. The earliest phase of the fortied settlement is a rampart probably built in the rst half of the 10th century.112

110 111 112

Mdynarska-Kaletynowa 1992. 1991. Jaworski, Rze,znik 1998; Mozdzioch , 2004.

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The poor degree to which the area has been archaeologically investigated makes it impossible to reconstruct the topography of the earliest stronghold. The main problem is its dating, preceding the rule of the earliest Piasts. Was the fortied settlement thus built not by the Piasts but the Bohemians? This hypothesis is being discussed in connection with the recent discoveries made by Edmund Madachowicz in the Wrocdaw cathedral (cf. below). It is, however, contradicted by the scarcity of material from the earliest layers of the town which would relate to the Bohemians. Besides, the hooked tie-beams used in rampart construction are considered to be a characteristic of Piast strongholds. There is also another possibility of solving the problem. The wooden elements of the rampart which produced the dendrochronological dates may have come from dismantling some unidentied earlier structures hence some dates may be earlier than the construction of the stronghold. The described constructions were rebuilt in the late 10th century. At that time new ramparts were built and the fortied area was expanded to almost 6 hectares, and comprised two elements. The smaller one, located in the north-western part of the island, was the residential part whereas in the south-eastern part St. John’s cathedral and the bishop’s seat were built. The personnel of the stronghold, clerks and, perhaps, guests, were also housed here. It is supposed that these phenomena may be associated with the information from written sources concerning the incorporation of Silesia into the Piast state in 990. At that time, Wrocdaw gained the rank of a sedes regni principalis, one of the leading centers in the state. This change was accompanied by a considerable increase of the role played by the town in the church administration: one of the four bishoprics erected in 1000 A.D. at the Gniezno Summit was located there. In the early 11th century the rampart surrounding the settlement was leveled, this has been associated with the so-called pagan reaction of the 1030s leading to expulsion of the Wrocdaw bishops from the town. The wood obtained from the rampart was used to build a mysterious 9 u 4.5 m structure faced with a palisade to the west of St. Martin’s church. Near one of the walls of the structure, a plank coming most probably from that church was found. The time of cutting the tree from which it was made indicates the period between autumn 1032 and spring 1033. The form of the plank with characteristic indentations, its size and shape resemble the elements of pagan shrines known from the areas occupied by the Polabian Slavs. The structure is distinguished by the presence of a foundation offering in the form of a horse skull

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Figure 135. Remains of a pagan shrine of the rst half of the 11th century uncovered in Wrocdaw (after S. Mo,zdzioch; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

under the foundation beam, vessels found under another beam and, especially, the wealth of nds from the interior. These included remains of linen and silk cloths as well as cloth of gold. Sdawomir Mo,zdzioch believes this resembles the interior of the shrine in Arkona.113 Strips of cloth were found inside the building in two concentrations. The place where they were discovered suggests the presence of curtains dividing the building into smaller rooms. The area of the mysterious building was separated into four parts (Fig. 135). In the southern part there was most probably a 2.5 u 4 m hall with the entrance located on the eastern side. The next room was a narrow chamber separated with curtains from the sacral area; the latter was divided into two equal parts. In the center of one of them there was a wooden post and in the second one, the statue of the deity itself. In the corner of that room a hearth was identied. Inside the supposed shrine one more room was discovered, which, as it is assumed, was where the tributes were stored or it was used by the people serving the cult place. The dating of the beam

113

2000.

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Figure 136. The plans of the earliest churches preserved under the Gothic cathedral in Wrocdaw (after E. Madachowicz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

of the shrine suggests the existence of a strong pagan milieu at that place in the 1030s, which indicates the shallowness of its Christianization. This would be, as Sdawomir Mo,zdzioch believes, a strong argument against the claim that Wrocdaw, and, more broadly, Silesia, belonged to Bohemia, which was christianized already in the early 10th century. This argument gains a completely different meaning if the discoveries made by Edmund Madachowicz in the Wrocdaw cathedral are taken into account. They suggest that an earlier sacral structure was located there: a chapel of the 10th century with cruciform plan (Fig. 136), dating to the period of Bohemian domination. It was a church which preceded the rst cathedral from the times of Bolesdaw the Brave. Only a few traces of this earliest church have been preserved, namely a fragment of the foundation wall, inlled foundation trench for the apse walls identied in three places, a fragment of the southern wall of the chancel with southern face and an offset near the apse, and a fragment of the foundation and the face of the southern wall of the transept. The church walls, made of small stones in lime mortar were 1.1 m thick. The church had a cruciform plan with a transept or lateral annexes of dimensions 24 u 18.5 m—and therefore of considerable size for that period.

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It is difcult to determine whether the church had the plan of a Greek or Latin cross, although most researchers tend to accept the second possibility. Searching for analogies, scholars focused on the palace chapel at Vyfehrad and the court chapel at Libice. In Wrocdaw, the Libice model seems a closer analogy; on that basis the structure is dated to the third quarter of the 10th century. There is also the question of who founded the church. Edmund Madachowicz perceives here the involvement of the Bohemians, a model related to the early dating of the rst fortied settlement at Ostrów Tumski. According to him, this would be the church of the elite of the stronghold, or a Bohemian ofcial, erected most probably in the 960s. Researchers also considered whether the church could have been the rst Wrocdaw cathedral. However, even if that was the case, it must have been a temporary one, for it is hardly probable that the proper one was built before the year 1000. The same researchers suggest that the remains of a post construction supporting a roof over a local spring (?) found under the remains of the earliest structure may be, in the light of the legend, treated as a pagan offering site, over which a Christian church was later built.114 These interpretations have some weak points. First of all, apart from the stratigraphical relationships, there are no clear elements dating the church and the poor preservation of its remains limits the chances of their proper identication. Furthermore, it has not been explained who built the earliest church and when, and what its function was. It is not certain if the Libice example is apposite to suggest either chronology or function. In the 11th and 12th century Wrocdaw became one of the key towns in Polish lands and its strategic value was enhanced by the international and regional trade routes it lay across. To the north of Ostrów Tumski, a settlement (Odbin) developed on the right bank of the Oder, where the seats of the magnates (including Piotr Wdostowic)115 and a Benedictine abbey were located. On the left bank a crafts and trade center developed in the 12th century. It gave rise to the Medieval chartered town. *

114

*

*

Madachowicz 2000. Piotr Wdostowic, powerful magnate and Count Palatine under Wrymouth, owner of lands in Wrocdaw and around Mount sl‰eva, founder of many churches. Died 1135 (P.B.). 115

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Studies on the origins of the earliest Polish towns yield a diversied picture but also one not devoid of important gaps in our knowledge. In the light of the data, it cannot be doubted that they followed different paths in their formation and development. At the outset of the Polish state, some of the urban centers were built from scratch but some existing ones were redeveloped. In exceptional cases (the example of the capital, Gniezno, is the most characteristic) the future towns were located at former cult sites. The search for the earliest phases of Polish towns and their structures, and thus establishing which model was followed in respective cases, is a very hard task. It is difcult to make a correct identication due to the density of constructions in these towns. As a result of later redevelopment, the old structures were destroyed by the new ones. This concerns especially the cases when the areas of the old fortied settlements were transformed into the centers of historic towns in modern times. Only in the places with no intensive processes of urbanization and changes of spatial arrangement accompanying them or when a given structure retained for centuries its sacral and residential function (e.g., Wawel Hill in Cracow) is there still a chance of increasing the existing amount of evidence available for study. The examples of the discoveries discussed above indicate that archaeology still has an important research potential. The successively uncovered cultural heritage not only enriches the existing body of evidence to be drawn upon, but also inspires the need for a continual critical verication of hypotheses.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

OTHER CENTRAL PLACES There are many types of stronghold, not all of them became towns; many of the important ones known from the written sources existed only for a short time during the early stages of the development of the state and then their signicance declined. In this chapter, I want to present several other sites of this type which have been examined in the past and are still the subject of discussion. Many such strongholds can be seen as earthworks and are one of the most specic features of the Polish historical landscape. Despite this they are often anonymous; no mention about them can be found in the written sources, there is no historical memory; conversely it is also the case that strongholds known from the written sources are still waiting for identication. A good example of the latter are the sites of Cherven and Volyn mentioned in the written sources, but whose identication has been the subject of much debate. The large earthwork enclosure and mysterious ruins on the island at Ostrów Lednicki have already been mentioned, the function of this complex is however unclear and we will see that debate has concerned whether it had an episcopal or residential function. According to the most recent evidence the site at Giecz had both the residential and military functions, whereas Kaldus (Chedmno) has recently been recognized as a sedes regni principalis. The Pultusk stronghold (dated to the early 13th century) is notable due to the amazing state of preservation of the wooden structures inside the enclosure. Finally, the masonry tower in Stodp has for years remained a mystery as to its chronology and function. 1. Cherven and Volyn: central places in the eastern borderlands The so-called Cherven Strongholds mentioned in the Russian Primary Chronicle have a central place in the complex history of the Early Medieval Polish-Ruthenian borderlands. The area (later called Red Ruthenia) is rst mentioned in 981 when Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus annexed it in his westward expansion. In 1018 Bolesdaw the Brave retook the area on his return from Kiev, but in the political troubles

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in Poland of the 1030s (the chronicle says it happened in 1031) Rus annexed it again. Finally in 1340 Kazimierz the Great of Poland recovered it. Despite long debate among historians about the location of the stronghold of Cherven mentioned in the Russian Primary Chronicle, one can only suggest that it is likely that the stronghold in Czermno on the Huczwa river was its site. But even if this were true, it does not explain why the chronicler wrote of these strongholds in the plural, while there are no traces of other strongholds in the area around it.1 Another huge stronghold dominating the borderland landscape close to the place where the Huczwa river ows into the Bug river is Gródek Nadbuvny (Figs. 137, 138). Its steep slopes sharply descending towards Huczwa River make the interior difcult of access, attention is drawn to the size of the area enclosed which is considerable for a stronghold of the early state period. It is assumed that it is related to the site called Volyn in the written sources. The name appeared for the rst time in the context of Bolesdaw I the Brave’s expedition to Kiev (in 1018) in the description of the episode when Polish and Ruthenian warriors were standing before the battle on the opposite banks of the Bug river. In the Russian Primary Chronicle this episode is described as follows: Yaroslav [….] arrived at Volyn and they stood on both sides of the Bug river. Yaroslav’s bodyguard and vojevoda called Budy began to revile Bolesdaw saying: ‘with this spear we will pierce your fat belly,’ for Bolesdaw was big and so heavy that he had trouble sitting on horseback, but he was crafty.2 At this, Bolesdaw said to his warriors: ‘if those insults do not offend you, I will fall alone.’ Then mounting his horse he jumped into the river and, together with him, his warriors. Yaroslav had not yet had time to prepare his troops and Bolesdaw overcame Yaroslav.3

The name of the Volhyn stronghold appeared also in the History of Poland by Jan Ddugosz in the context of the later incursion of Boleslaw the Bold into Kievan Rus in the year 1075. According to the written sources before they captured Volyn, the Polish warriors besieged it for six months. The chronicle considers Volyn, together with Chedm

1 The problems concerning the location of Cherven Strongholds and their role in the earliest history of Polish-Ruthenian borderland have often the subject of many detailed investigations (cf. Poppe 1958; Skrzypek 1962; Labuda 1988). 2 smyslen in the original, this can mean ‘crafty’, ‘clever’ as well as ‘prudent’. The most frequently cited Polish translation gives the word the latter sense, but it seems the Medieval author wanted to say that by treating Budy’s provocation as the call to start the battle, Bolesdaw had forced his opponent into action before he was ready [P.B.]. 3 Sielicki 1987, 93.

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and Vladimir [Volynski] as the most important military fortresses in the territory of Volynia. Historians have paid special attention to the name of the stronghold which denotes also a territory (Volynia) and a people (the Volynians, formerly the Busani) living in the upper Bug river area. According to A. Poppe4 the written sources certainly relate to the structure located at Gródek Nadbuvny. This hypothesis is supported not only by the topographical data but also by the enormous dimensions and strategic position of this stronghold. That is why from the beginning of the Polish Millennium project (cf. Chapter 1) this stronghold was one of the crucial sites to be excavated. However, it should be said that several decades afterwards we still know very little about it because of the lack of a nal publication of the results of the investigations.5 2. Ostrów Lednicki: residence of rst Piast rulers or rst Polish episcopium? The exceptional nature of Ostrów Lednicki results not only from its function as the residence of the rst Piasts. At the threshold of statehood, this center became an important place for baptisms, a necropolis for the ruling elite and a place where a retinue of choice troops was concentrated. It has produced one of the largest collections of Early Medieval archaeological nds, as well as the unique large buildings with corridor entrances. Here we nd the clearest evidence of an army of foreign (?) warriors, probably the bodyguard of the prince. This is the only archaeological site in Poland dating to the period of the early functioning of the state where the status of the ruler is so clearly expressed in the archaeological evidence. The settlement complex was noted for the rst time in 1843 by Count Edward Raczyqski (1786–1845) in his Wspomnienia Wielkopolski.6 He presents a picture of the remains of the ducal residence; in the following years these ruins became the subject of never-ending investigations for successive generations of scholars. The rst scientic investigation of this structure was conducted in the 1870s by an art historian, Marian Sokolowski,. Some years later, in cooperation with Wdadysdaw cuszkiewicz, he made the rst documentation of the

4 5 6

1958. Cf. Rajewski 1956; Rauhut 1956; Bender et al. 1957. Raczyqski 1843.

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Figure 139. Ostrów Lednicki, plan of the island, bridges and structures (after J. Górecki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

architectural remains (cf. Chapter 1). Both scholars suggested that the architectural remains relate to a sacral complex from the time of the Christianization of Poland. The rst archaeological eldwork started in the 1930s. The main subject of the investigations was an inhumation cemetery on the island and, to a lesser extent, the stronghold itself. Since the year 1948 the archaeological site was investigated within the framework of the Millennium project. The work embraced all structures and stratication preserved in this area. The site (Fig. 139) has some distinctive features. First of all, on the island there is the residential complex from the time of the origins of the Polish state, with its well preserved remains of architecture. The interdisciplinary studies carried out over a period of many years offered enormous possibilities to put into practice various scientic methods, particularly the ones relating to the changes of the natural environment, starting from the beginning of our era. Already in the mid-10th

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century, the natural landscape around the residence was similar to what can be observed today. This is due to the intensive deforestation of the neighboring area which took place already at the time when the Polish state was originating. Moreover, the whole area around the island was at the same time intensively settled. This process was stimulated by the existence of so-called service villages (Chapter 12), their names relating to the different economic and craft activities. The good quality black soils and agriculture provided a suitable basis for intensive settlement processes. There is a lot of archaeological evidence of cultivation, including pollen, grain nds, and tools. The service villages very frequently dealt with cattle breeding and shing.7 It has been suggested that Mieszko I built the stronghold on the site of an older one dating to the tribal times. The archaeological evidence of this hypothetical earlier site, its topography, and function are still not clear and continue to be the subject of investigations. A residential complex of the rst Piast rulers was situated in the center of the stronghold on the island. It consisted of a two-part structure, identied as a palatium with an attached rotunda, a circular centrallyplanned chapel (or baptistery). The form of the palace reects Ottonian and southern inuences (Figs. 140–142). From the very beginning, the discovery evoked lively discussion on its origins, chronology and function. The most prevalent opinions were those that saw this structure as a residence of the rst rulers of Poland. However, the hypothesis was questioned in the 1990s because of the discovery of two plastered depressions in the oor in the central part of chapel, with the plan of half a cross. These have been dened as the remains of a construction connected with the rite of baptism. For that reason the rotunda has been dened by Klementyna uurowska’s research team as a baptismal font.8 According to her conception, the structure was erected shortly before the baptism of Duke Mieszko. As a consequence the palatium building was interpreted as an episcopium—the bishop’s residence. Another important element of the complex is the nearby aisleless masonry church, located in the northern part of the stronghold, surrounded by a small cemetery (Fig. 143). The remains of the church consist of a 9 m long square nave with a rectangular chancel (3.3 u 5.5 m) 7 For further and more detailed data cf. Labuda 1988; uurowska (ed.) 1993–1994, 378ff.; Kola, Wilke 2000; Górecki 2002. 8 Cf. uurowska ed. 1993–1994.

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Figure 140. Ostrów Lednicki, remains of the palace chapel (photo: A. Buko).

Figure 141. Ostrów Lednicki, remains of the ducal residence (photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

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Figure 142. Ostrów Lednicki, reconstruction of phase I of the residential complex (after T. W\cdawowicz).

Figure 143. Remains of the church in the stronghold at Ostrów Lednicki (photo: A. Buko).

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Figure 144. Reconstruction of the church at Ostrów Lednicki (after J. Górecki; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

with two annexes (Fig. 144). The investigators suggested that these could be the remains of the oldest cathedral. In this way the whole architectural complex was interpreted as a central place for the new religion. According to this hypothesis in this place, in the presence of the rst missionary bishop Jordan, Mieszko and his court were baptized. Later on, in the second phase around the year 1000, the whole sacral complex changed its original function and became the residence of the Piast rulers. This hypothesis, published by the authors in the excavation report, the monumental monograph U ródee chrzeucijarstwa. Ostrów Lednicki [At the Origins of Christianity. Ostrów Lednicki] has evoked many critical opinions. They included observations that the small size of the structure precluded it from being a bishop’s cathedral. This is particularly striking if we take into consideration that a considerably bigger rst missionary episcopal cathedral with, as some authors believe, a baptismal font, was under construction in Poznaq at the same time (cf. Chapter 10). Furthermore, many nd unconvincing the argument that the earliest seat of the missionary bishop Jordan was located on an isolated and sparsely populated island, and not in an area of a high concentration of people, such as the area of the Poznaq agglomeration. For that reason, most people still gave greater credence to the earlier concept, that all the preserved structures were planned from the beginning as the prince’s residential complex composed of a palatium and a chapel with a baptismal font (which served for the court needs). The small church sited in the vicinity of the palatium and the graves inside it are associated with the earliest period of the Polish state, while the

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cemetery outside its walls appeared after the invasion of Bretyslav, that is after 1038.9 According to the most recent research, the aisle-less structure called by the excavators Church II was built at the same time as the palatium, and as such seems to be the site of the earliest place of Christian burial in Mieszko’s state. It was originally a wooden structure covered with mortar, which made it look like a stone building.10 The dead were deposited inside the church but also outside it. The bodies were placed into masonry chambers set below the aisle and in the annexes. Such a situation indicates that these were the graves of representatives of the elite. The discovery made inside the church of the skeleton of a boy a few years old and wearing a gold ring on his nger was one of the most sensational nds. Some archaeologists believed he was a member of the ruling dynasty, although we cannot name the boy. Gerard Labuda11 went even further in his conclusions. He identied the remains of the child as material evidence of an amorous relationship between Bolesdaw the Brave and Duchess P®edslava (the sister of the Kievan duke—Vladimir) who, he says, was taken as ‘war booty’ by Bolesdaw in Kiev and brought to Ostrów Lednicki, where she bore him an illegitimate son. This interpretation is supported by some archaeological nds, that is, as Labuda believes, some religious small nds relating to the Kievan milieu (e.g., encolpion crosses) which may indicate the presence of people from the Ruthenian-Byzantine cultural circle. According to Labuda, Ostrów Lednicki was built after Bolesdaw’s expedition to Kiev in 1018 when P®edslava came with him to Poland. Thus Labuda interpreted all the structures on the island as a residential center created for the Duchess who became the Polish ruler’s informal second wife. In the light of the recent discoveries this hypothesis does not seem to be very convincing. Moreover, similar nds of Ruthenian-Byzantine type are known from many other sites. That is why other scholars believe that the residential complex was built already in the time of Mieszko I. But the principal question about the identity of the child buried below the church remains unanswered.

9 10 11

Górecki 2002, 67ff. Cf. Kurnatowska 2004, 173ff. 1988, 397ff.

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Another peculiarity of Ostrów Lednicki are unusually large timber buildings with corridor entrances.12 Were they constructed as rooms for the curia personnel responsible for the prince’s court? This hypothesis seems one of the more possible ones. Special attention has been paid to the two wooden bridges joining the island to both shores of the elongated lake (cf. Fig. 139). These bridges are the longest ones in the Polish lands in this period. Both of them are sited on the strategic route going from Germany through Poznaq and Gniezno and, farther, towards Rus and Pomerania. The rst of them, called the Poznaq Bridge was 438 m long, the second one (the Gniezno Bridge) was 187 m long. According to the dendrochronological data, they were rst built during the winter of 963/964. Both of them were repaired many times. As Marek Kràpiec showed,13 the Gniezno Bridge was repaired successively in 973, 980, 1000, 1015 and, for the last time—in 1032. Their total destruction was probably caused by the re during Bretyslav’s invasion in 1038. The Poznaq Bridge came to a similar end. Underwater investigations carried out by Andrzej Kola and Gerard Wilke14 of the remains of the structure which were well preserved in the water, this work allowed the reconstruction of the whole bridge construction. The supports of the bridge were composed of posts driven vertically and obliquely into the bed of the lake; such sequences of constructive elements is repeated every 3.50 m. The horizontal logs were 6.24 m long, and this indicates the maximum width of the bridge. The structure was mainly of oak, but with an admixture of other types of timber. More then 60% of the building materials came from young (25–50 year old) trees. Underwater exploration of the area of lake bed in the vicinity of the bridges revealed a collection of weapons (ca. 300 items) dating from the 10th-12th centuries, the biggest collection of this type in Polish lands. It included an example of a helmet with nose protection of a type rare in Poland, body armor (weighing 10 kilograms), 50 spears, 5 swords (some of them produced in the Rhineland workshops of Ulfberth) and as many as 151 axes. Such artifacts undoubtedly found their way to the bottom of the lake as a consequence of battles in the area adjacent to the prince’s residence. The stylistic attributes of the weapons have many similarities to the

12 13 14

Górecki 2002, 67. 2000. 2000.

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equipment of Ruthenian and Scandinavian warriors. That is why it is regarded as very probable that the duke’s guard was composed of a Scandinavian retinue whose main task was to protect the residence of the Piast rulers. This is analogous to the organization of troops of guards in other countries, including the Byzantine empire, which were organized in a similar way. About 50 m from the western shore of the lake, the underwater archaeologists located a 10.20 m long boat made of a solid oak trunk. It had been hollowed out with a chisel and re, as charring was still visible. The size and the very high quality of the product indicate that this boat may have been part of the equipment of the prince’s court. Inside the boat some broken medieval pots, the bones of a dog and an arrowhead were preserved.15 Excavations at Ostrów Lednicki have revealed other nds of special value. A cross-shaped reliquary is of very high artistic quality. Some scholars believe that originally it contained a relic of the Holy Cross. If this were true it may have been a gift which the Emperor Otto III gave Bolesdaw the Brave when he stopped at Ostrów Lednicki on his way to Gniezno in the spring, in the year 1000. The high status of the inhabitants of the residence was conrmed by other nds: the gold ornaments (headband ornament, ring, pin and a knife set with inlaid gold crosses), and those of silver and glass. One also notes a comb made of ivory, as well as items of rock crystal, amber, the fragments of glass vessels as well as iron and bronze bowls. The presence of high status clergyman is conrmed by the gold-plated ttings of a liturgical book. From the same area there comes a hoard of Arabic and west European coins, deposited after the year 985.16 After the mid-11th century the residential complex was abandoned and was used as a large Medieval cemetery until the late 13th century. By the 19th century the island ceased to be the focus of any interest whatsoever, until attention was drawn to the mysterious ruins there. 3. Giecz: Unnished large-scale investment Giecz, situated forty kilometers to the south of Ostrów Lednicki, rst appeared in the Polish historical records owing to a mention by Gallus 15 16

Kola, Wilke 2000, 20. Górecki 2002, 148.

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Figure 145. Giecz, plan of the stronghold and structures discovered in it (after T. Krysztoak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Anonymous. The chronicler wrote that there were 300 armed horsemen and 2000 shield-carrying men from Giecz in Bolesdaw the Brave’s retinue. On this basis we may assume that the stronghold fullled an important military role in the early Piast state. The massive ramparts of this site rising from at land are today very well preserved, and have become one of the most characteristic elements of the local landscape (Fig. 145). Archaeologists started to show a greater interest in Giecz in 1949 when its excavation formed part of the Millennium project. The investigations, directed by Bogdan Kostrzewski,17 lasted with some interruptions until 1966. They embraced part of the interior of the stronghold, the market settlement with St. Nicolas’ church and some other sites. The most spectacular discovery was made in the southern area of the stronghold, where the foundations of a palatium with an adjacent rotunda were found. The researchers dated them to the time of the invasion of Bretyslav, that 17

1956.

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is from the 1030s. Another structural element excavated was an inner rampart dividing off the northern part of the enclosed area. In this part of the site the researchers found the remains of a mortared wall, identied as a part of a sacral structure. This area of the site has been dened as a duk’s residence. In the 1990s the eldwork was taken up again and concentrated on the area of St. Nicolas’ church, situated in the proximity of the medieval market settlement. Remains of the rst church were discovered dened as an aisle-less structure with an eastern semi-circular apse. It was slightly shifted to the north of the site where the later church was subsequently built. There are well-dened differences in the older church construction such as different quality of mortar and the size of stones used in its construction. According to the stratigraphical data the church is dated from late 10th-until the 12th/13th century, although Teresa Krysztoak18 believes that the building techniques applied could suggest that it was begun in the late 11th century. The most exciting discoveries were made inside the fortications. The full extent of the foundations of the palatium building with a rotunda was fully uncovered during the eldwork from the 1950s, and the remains of the church of St John the Baptist situated in the northern part of the stronghold were also examined (cf. Fig. 145). The remains of palatium are situated in the southern part of the stronghold, very probably the intent had been to create a complex with the same layout as at Ostrów Lednicki. The plan of the structures comprises a rectangular building 32 u 46 m with an attached rotunda 16 m in diameter. In the rotunda no traces of internal divisions nor of an apse were found. The preserved remains of the structure are composed of large granite stones laid in a trench without mortar and without associated datable nds. Only three courses of stones remained, and there were no traces of destruction layers. These most probable interpretation is that these are the foundations of an intended residence which had never been built. The foundation of the palatium was ascribed to Mieszko II (after 1025), and the discontinuation of the construction work explained by the invasion of the Bohemian duke Bretyslav in the late 1030s. That chronology is viewed quite differently by a historian of architecture, Teresa Rodziqska-Choràvy19 from Jagiellonian University

18 19

1998. 2000.

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in Cracow. She noted that the general plan of the Giecz palatium looks very similar to the one from Ostrów Lednicki dated much more earlier, that is to the second half of the 10th century. Both structures followed the general pattern typical of the tradition of Late Antique provincial residences which appeared also in Early Medieval times. This observation brings about an important question: was the palatium from Ostrów Lednicki duplicated about forty years later at Giecz (or perhaps the opposite: the unnished earlier plan of the Giecz palatium was copied at Ostrów Lednicki)? There is little to choose between these hypotheses based as they are only on the formal similarities of both structures.20 Moreover, if we accept that the Giecz palatium was earlier, it is not clear how to explain that it was never nished while the church (see below) located next to that residence was completed at the same time. The remains of St. John the Baptist’s church were found in the northwestern part of the courtyard of the stronghold. Its remains were rst identied in the early 1960s. However, the small extent of the investigated area and the ambiguous evidence of the archaeological context of the uncovered structure allowed it to be dated broadly (as at Ostrów Lednicki) to a date range from the second half of the 10th to the early 12th century. In the late 1990s the area of church became again the subject of archaeological investigations as part of the new Millennium project commemorating the Gniezno Summit (cf. Chapter 1). The result of this work not only revealed the remains of a monumental edice, but also the formulation of questions to which archaeologists and medieval historians are unable to nd clear answers. The church is distinguished by its surprising monumentality bearing in mind the place where it was built (Fig. 146). The aisles are 19 m long and c. 11 m wide. The walls of the church were constructed with the use of the opus emplectum technique. The upper parts of the walls (above the foundations) were faced with large, irregular stones; while the foundations were of stone slabs of different dimensions. In some of the trenches the oor level of the church was preserved, dened as a thin layer of pinkish mortar. On the east side a semi-circular apse 2.5 m in diameter was preserved, while a considerable portion of the apse lies below the present par20 We recall the problems with the dating of the palatia at Witlica (cf. Chapter 10). These structures were similar to the ones described above, but were ultimately dated to the mid-12th century.

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ish priest’s house. In the northern part of the basilica there is a very damaged entrance to the crypt constructed under the altar. Five steps were recorded down below the oor of the aisle to the oor level of the crypt which was preserved c. 1.2 m below. Its form, the so called ‘corridor crypt,’ is unique in the whole Polish lands and indicates that its function was connected with the cult of relics (in Carolingian and Ottonian architecture this form of crypt was later replaced by the ‘hall’ type). A special feature of this structure is the westwerk composed of two semi-circular side towers (probably stair towers) and a quadrangular central tower. There are also many other elements of architecture at the time of writing not fully understood yet, and also occupation layers relating to the times before and after the construction of the church. The church is also accompanied by graves adjacent to the structure, two of which have been dated to the eleventh century.21 The investigators associated the form of the structure, with its westwerk and crypt with Carolingian-Ottonian inuences. It has not been established yet, however, who erected such a building there, for what purpose, and whose remains were interred in the crypt beneath it. According to analyses of nds including the pottery from stratigraphical units relating to the church, the time when it was constructed was determined as the early 11th century. The whole complex is interpreted as the remains of a ducal residence dating to the time of Mieszko II. However, there are doubts if the duke really lived there; especially when we take in consideration the fact that palatium complex was never nished. There is still no answer to the question why Giecz, one of the most important centers on the map of the early Piast state, was abandoned so early and vanished into oblivion. Recently, dendrochronological data has been presented showing the origin of the stronghold in the pre-state period (9th century). They concern the remains of the earlier rampart preserved in the northern part of the stronghold. Some scholars believe that such data, combined with architectural remains presented above, are sufcient to say that the roots of Piast dynasty (cf. chapter 9) were here.

21

Krysztoak 2000.

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chapter eleven 4. Cheemno as a sedes regni principalis?

In the late 1990s fresh information about the beginnings of the Polish state emerged from investigations in the stronghold at Kaddus (now Chedmno) located on the lower Vistula (on the border between former West Prussia and Pomerania). The stronghold has two enclosures and is situated on a headland on the edge of the Vistula valley (Fig. 147). The site was investigated in the 1960s and early 1970s. These excavations had been planned with the aim of nding here the earliest site of the town of Chedmno. The full signicance of the place was only revealed by the continuation of the investigations of the Early Medieval remains found here in 1996–1998. The most important of the results of the latter was the discovery of the masonry foundations of a large basilican church. This building, 35–37 m long and 17 m wide had a central nave with apse and two lateral aisles also ending in apses. It was constructed on an elongated headland at the foot of Mount St. Lawrence in a place which was sacred in pagan times (cf. Chapter 5). This early Romanesque church was planned, as Wojciech Chudziak22 believes, as a counterbalance to the earlier pagan religious center. The foundation walls were preserved to a height of four courses with carefully worked regular blocks on the exterior wall face. The whole structure was built with the use of the opus emplectum technique and the width of the foundations varied between 1.45 and 1.95 m. Interestingly, the stone foundations of the building were built using more than one technique. The best preserved parts are those of the south wall of the basilica and the southern lateral apse (Fig. 148). The other elements of the church structure were badly damaged by leveling work on the site in the late 12th or early 13th century. The basilica from Kaddus stylistically resembles the early cathedrals known from Poznaq and Gniezno, that is, the monuments related to the Carolingian tradition. It is assumed that, like in Giecz, the church was never nished. As Wojciech Chudziak states, there were no traces of its internal divisions or of the western end of the building including the foundations for the pillars characteristic for such ecclesiastical structures. It should be stressed that no fragments of architectural details were found in the archaeological layers and, what is more important, no traces of a cemetery or of destruction of the church. On the basis of the formal

22

2003.

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Figure 148. Early Romanesque basilica in the stronghold at Kaddus, plan (after W. Chudziak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

features and building technique, the time of construction of the church was established as the rst half of the 11th century. Its foundation is ascribed to Prince Mieszko II and the interruption of the construction (as in the case of Giecz discussed above), to the time of the Bohemian invasion of Bretyslav in the late 1030s, which involved the pagan reaction mentioned by the written sources. The researchers recorded evidence in the remains of the unnished western annex of the basilica which they interpreted as traces of pagan rites. This comprised mysterious areas covered with clay and pits with the remains of animal and human sacrices and objects which were interpreted as of ritual signicance (cf. Chapter 5). The church at Kaddus is the most northerly of the sacral buildings of the early Piast state which has been discovered at the time of writing. What one can say about its function? It construction should certainly be analyzed in the context of state formation processes and the early Christianization of Pomerania and pagan Prussian lands neighboring the Chedmno region. Wojciech Chudziak23 stressed that such a large ecclesiastical investment combined with the huge area of the stronghold 23

2000, 9.

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(c. 15 ha) and the existence of the settlements surrounding it may indicate that the complex was one of the sedes regni principales. While this concept is still under discussions, it seems more probable that this concentration of settlement activity may have been the outcome of the large-scale missionary projects and the plans of military expansion of the early Polish state. The program was not fully implemented (for unknown reasons) and the planned development of Kaddus was never put into effect. It would seem therefore that the site could never have fullled the function of a leading center in the province. Neither is it clear what the territorial extent of the region it would have governed would have been. But as a stronghold complex it undoubtedly fullled an important role in the early state system. Besides the discoveries presented above, the unique nds from the cemetery located near the stronghold should be noted. This is among the richest and the most exceptional Early Medieval cemeteries in Poland, some of the graves have analogies in Scandinavian chamber graves (cf. Chapter 15). 5. Puetusk: The stronghold below the castle In the 1970s the scientic community followed with great attention the excavations at Pudtusk (a small town, situated 60 km to the north-east from Warsaw), although in this case the reasons were quite special. The Pudtusk discoveries made a huge impression on the observer, it is only very rarely that the archaeological remains of an early center of this type were so well preserved by the exceptional soil conditions which were found here. The old castle of the Bishops of Pdock (today the so-called Polonia Center) is situated directly over the ruins of the stronghold from the end of the Early Middle Ages (Fig. 149). The earlier structure was the center of an estate of the Pdock bishopric, who in the 12th century established a castellany seat there to administer Church properties in the region. It was also one of the largest of the estates of the Pdock bishopric with 63 rural settlements, located on both sides of the Narew river, in its territory. Between 1976 and 1985 one of the most spectacular excavations in Poland were carried out on Castle Hill in Pudtusk. The eldwork was conducted as part of a general project of revalorization of the castle and its adaptation to fulll a new function. The excavations embraced about

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50% of the courtyard, including the castle cellars.24 The archaeologists expected that below the castle the remains of the earliest stronghold, from the 11th century, would be preserved. The excavations proved that the Pultusk stronghold was built relatively late, that is, in the rst half of the 13th century, furthermore it had lasted a relatively short time (140 years). Initially the stratication here was divided into six occupation phases separated by res. Further more detailed examination of the results of the investigations did not conrm this interim assessment. It was concluded that instead the site had been destroyed by re only twice in its history. According to the dendrochronological data it happened at the turn of the 13th and 14th century and in the year 1368 which destroyed the whole site. The latter date relates to the Lithuanian-Ruthenian invasion of Pultusk conducted by Duke Kieystut, which was recorded in the chronicles of Jan Ddugosz. There were then two phases, the older dates to the second quarter of the thirteenth century and the later to the second half of the fourteenth century. The internal communication inside the stronghold went along three streets radiating from the main gate in the northeastern part of the fortications which were laid out at the inception of the site and maintained for the rest of the time the site was in use. Along the streets the remains of buildings with oors, courtyards and passages (Fig. 150) were found. Their state of preservation was amazing. Due to this it was not only possible to reconstruct the form of the interior buildings of the stronghold throughout its existence, but also identify the successive phases of construction of streets and houses. It was established that houses were constructed individually, rather than in whole phases of redevelopment, and they were abandoned when in a bad state of preservation. That is why the construction works in Pultusk had a continuous character. The lifespan of a single house was not longer than 15–25 years. Each rebuilding created an opportunity to modify and repair streets and courtyards. Old buildings were pulled down to the foundation beams (which were normally left in the ground) and new ones were constructed in the same place. The remains of older

24

The results of the excavations have not been fully published yet. For the purpose of this presentation we made use of the data published in some current papers, particularly in: Godembnik 1987; Mierosdawski, Pela 1989; Godembnik, Makowski Mieroslawski 1989; Pela 1997.

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Figure 150. Remains of houses and streets in the stronghold in Pudtusk (photo: M. Mierosdawski, from the archives of the Regional museum in Pudtusk; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

buildings were reused to construct new houses. Reused elements of buildings which had been demolished earlier (recognizable by the traces of earlier working) were found in the foundations of the new buildings and the wooden paving of the streets and joists below it. The damaged surface of the streets was repaired when new houses were constructed, thus the streets were continually being renewed in short stretches. The ‘life’ of wooden streets was shorter than that of the buildings: at most it was 7–9 years. The houses were constructed with non-hewed logs, the maximal length of which was 3–4 m which dened the dimensions of the buildings. According to archaeological data their inner surface area was not more than 20 square meters. Inside each house there were clay oors and small domed stoves made of stones and clay next to the entrance. The buildings did not have chimneys; instead of windows there were small holes cut in the logs. The wooden doors were less than 1 m high.

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Figure 151. Stronghold in Pudtusk, reconstruction of a house and a service building (after M. Mierosdawski).

External lean-to ancillary structures were added to the houses, thus giving them the aspect of smallholdings. The inner courtyards, most frequently triangular, were paved with planks; each farm was separated from the other ones by a wattle fences. Two patterns of houses were identied: ones with a front hall and two-room ones with the hall in the middle. Such house construction patterns, together with the log-cabin building technique, were characteristic for the whole period of existence of the stronghold (Fig. 151). During the archaeological eldwork, the remains of 152 smallholdings were identied in the excavated area in the period of existence of the site. Around the houses, many small objects made of different materials were found in particular a large collection (around 1500 items) of very well preserved wooden artifacts. The spatial analysis of the nds showed that in plots at the periphery of the site lived mostly farmers and craftsmen. Agricultural activities of the inhabitants of the site were demonstrated by the nds of many agricultural tools, such as plough shares, sickles and scythes. Evidence of processing of agricultural goods was also found in these areas. Investigations showed that in the early phase of the site, many of its inhabitants were newcomers. This is indicated by a number of factors. Many artifacts found during the excavations (such as pottery) are different from the artifacts from the settlements earlier than the stronghold

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and located in the proximity of the stronghold. Also the analysis of animal bones showed that the inhabitants of the stronghold were used to eating mostly the meat of wild animals, pigs and horses, and ate much less cattle meat, which was the kind of meat preferred by the inhabitants of the neighboring open settlement. The decline of the open settlement in the rst quarter of the 13th century, after a big re, is thought to have been caused by the numerous military incursions, conrmed for the Mazovian region by the written sources. Maybe such events caused the necessity to build a stronghold in the time when similar constructions were becoming history in Polish lands. The discoveries at Pudtusk have revealed unique evidence of an episcopal stronghold founded at the end of the Early Middle Ages, and therefore at a period when the construction of strongholds was ending in Polish lands. It may also be said that under the castle in Pudtusk a real Medieval heritage park has been discovered in situ, in all its complexity and with well preserved medieval structures. 6. The stronghold and masonry tower in Stoepie In southeastern Poland, close to the frontier with Ukraine, lies a village called Stodpie located near Chedm. It is distinguished by a small (36 u 24 m) earthwork stronghold, and on its southeast corner a 17 m tall, ve-storey stone tower. Another feature of this complex is a small pond below the western slope of the stronghold. Many springs supply this area with fresh water. The complex is situated in a depression between two limestone hills (Fig. 152). Interest in the tower goes back to the 17th century. The GrecoCatholic bishop of Chedm, Jakub Susza believed, following the local tradition, that the tower and springs below were the remains of a pagan cult center. He also made a connection between the tower in Stodpie and the medieval monastery in the neighboring village of Podgórze located c. 1.5 km away. According to local legends the mythical Kievan Dukes Schtchek and Choriv built the tower. Already at the beginning of the 20th century the authorities of Tsarist Russia were interested in clarifying the origins and function of the monument. In 1909–1912 Petro Pokryshkin, an architect from the Imperial Archaeological Commission in St. Petersburg excavated the destruction deposits inside the tower for the rst time. Unfortunately, the results were not published and all the excavated materials were sent

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to St. Petersburg.25 The tower complex was next investigated by Irena Kutydowska from the University of Lublin in 1976–1978. The results of these excavations have not been published either, except for some short reports.26 These investigations produced more information about the construction of the tower itself (including the creation of photogrametric documentation) as well as the stronghold, which Kutydowska believes was built at the same time. The tower originally had 5 oors (the lowest one is now lled with soil). The present main entrance, situated in the western wall, was cut in the 19th century. On the same oor there are small, 30 u 30 cm, windows which widen out in the interior of the building. The third oor above it has no window openings. They appear at a higher level, in the form of three tall and narrow openings, widening into the interior of the building. On the fourth oor another entrance vaulted with a semicircular arch has been preserved. The room at this level is better nished than those at a lower level. The last oor, built on the plan of an octagon with 8 niches, is evidently bigger than those below (ca. 5 m in diameter). On the eastern side of the chapel there is a semicircular apse with the window in its central part. On both its sides there are liturgical niches for holding the liturgical vessels (cf. Fig. 152). There are also windows on the northern and southern walls. I. Kutydowska believed that there was an internal communication based on a system of wooden ladders and also an external one between the fourth and fth oor. On the last oor, as she supposes, there was originally a wooden gallery surrounding the tower. The monument is cylindrical in shape up to the height of 16 m having a diameter of 3–3.5 m. The tower is situated in a corner of the rampart (with an area of c. 420 square meters). At its lowest level it rests on a building level associated with the erection of the tower, and the wooden structural elements of the rampart lie a meter and a half above the top of the foundations. At the base of the rampart traces of a foundation offering were found, in the form of a large deposit of grain (wheat and rye), peas and beans which formed a compact layer under the rampart. In the interior of the rampart were found the remains of timber buildings,

25

Cf. Rappoport 1952. The main study of the subject is I. Kutydowska’s unpublished Ph.D dissertation (1980). There are also some general papers of very similar content, published in the 1980s and 1990s (cf. Kutydowska 1987). 26

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the function of which is unclear. The central area was empty and had a cobbled pavement. I. Kutydowska decided that the tower and stronghold had a connection with Christian cult, maybe even baptismal, and also that it was of early origin, maybe even as early as the end of the 10th century (a terminus ante quem of before the end of the 12th century was established). The early dating was suggested by radiocarbon dates of wood from the base of the rampart. The baptismal function was suggested by the form and character of the room at the top of the tower which recalled western European baptisteries. The nearest formal analogy was with the palatium complex at Ostrów Lednicki.27 She also believed that the monument was built under protection of the Roman Catholic Church on the Polish-Ruthenian border and was to foster Christianization among the peoples living in the borderland. Such a hypothesis did not nd support because of the weakness of the arguments. Moreover, there are no reasons to see formal, functional, or chronological analogies, between Ostrów Lednicki and Stodpie. Even if the early dating of the tower is accepted, there is not one but several plausible interpretations of the function of the tower. A few years ago I suggested taking into consideration another interpretation. The tower complex with the chapel on the top oor and the entrance at the fourth oor seems to be very similar to tower monasteries known from the Byzantine world of the Late Antiquity, namely the hermitage monasteries which were very common between the 7th and 14th century even far from imperial centers, located in the religious and cultural borderlands. According to this hypothesis the tower from Stolpie should be treated as evidence of the penetration of the Byzantine church tradition towards the west.28 However, also this hypothesis has one fundamental weakness, the lack of good chronological evidence. The radiocarbon dating done in the 1970s by Irena Kutydowska is difcult to trust today due to its well-known lack of precision, especially in the case of later periods. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that the name of the village, ‘Stodpie,’ derived from the word ‘post’ (or ‘tower’) was used for the rst time already in the early 13th century. That is why Irena Kutydowska is right when she writes that the terminus ante quem of the tower construction should

27 28

Cf. Kutydowska 1987, 31. Cf. Buko 2000, 158.

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be considered as the end of the 12th century.29 This excludes the possibility that the monument could have been built in the late Medieval or the post-Medieval period. Many problems of interpretation remain. In 2003 another attempt at clarifying the dating and function of this mysterious monument was made.30 Below the rampart, attached to the tower in its N-E corner, a rectangular stone platform, with dimensions of 12.5 u 25.4 m and c. 2.5 m high was preserved. In its southeastern corner there were remains of stone steps which were the entrance to the platform. The courtyard was covered with stone slabs. Only at the edges of the stone platform were traces of wooden buildings identied (Fig. 153). At the time of writing, the work is still in progress, so conclusions about the chronology and function of the complex would be premature. Sufce to say that the stratigraphic contexts explored to date have revealed pottery of stylistic characteristics demonstrating strong inspiration of the Ruthenian-Byzantine world especially the glazed and slipped pottery. There are numerous green, yellow and brown glazed pavement tiles, very similar to the ones from the Cathedral Hill in Chedm, where the remains of a monumental palace of the Duke of Halich-Volynia was discovered (cf. Chapter 10). The combined archaeological, architectural and written evidence seem to indicate that the tower at Stolpie was built before the end of the 12th century. It may be also assumed that most probably the architectural complex functioned between the late 12th and late 13th century.31 The chronological time-span and the archaeological context of the nds related to the Ruthenian- Byzantine world allow us to suggest that the most probable founder of the Stodpie complex was Duke Roman , the ruler of the Halich-Volynia principality. It also seems possible that the tower complex was designed for him or for somebody belonging to the ruling family, strongly inuenced by the Ruthenian-Byzantine culture. It should be noted in this context that the written sources give us evidence of direct relationships between the rulers of the Halich-Volynia principality (Stolpie was located on their

29

Kutydowska 1997, 28. The project, directed by the present author, was realized by the research team from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, and CNRS—University of Tours (France) in 2003–2005. 31 This opinion is based on series of datings carbon 14 (AMS method), dendrochronology, archaeological analyses of pottery and small nds in their stratigraphical contexts, written sources and architectural data. 30

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territory) and the Byzantine Empire. We also know that during the reign of his son and successor, Duke Danylo, the tower complex was rebuilt, still preserving the Byzantine features. The principal question is, why? If it is true that the Grand Duchesses [Mary (?) Anna(?)], Roman’s wife and Danylo’s mother, were not of Russian, but Byzantine origin (?), the complex at Stolpie could be seen, (as many similar 12th–14th century examples from Greece indicate),32 as a manifestation of power on a big feudal property. As Dariusz Dàbrowski remarked,33 after Roman’s death in the battle of Zawichost in July 1205, the Grand Duchess decided to spend the rest of her life in an unidentied monastery. In the same context, let us note the old tradition, going back to medieval times, of a lost monastery, located in the Stodpie-Podgórze area. Was the tower, as Dàbrowski believes, the lost ‘personal’ monastery of the Duchess? The opinions presented above illustrate only the current state of research, based on the most recent (as yet unpublished) knowledge. Due to this it is too early to answer to what extent they will (or not) be positively veried in the future. Nevertheless, there are no doubts that the masonry tower complex at Stodpie is one of the most fascinating medieval monuments not only in Poland, but also in this part of Europe.

32 33

Cf. Langdom 1995; Lock 1996. 2005.

CHAPTER TWELVE

RURAL LANDSCAPES Off the beaten track The rural settlements of the early state period in Poland have not been the subject of any separate, let alone long-term, research projects. This is despite the fact that every year hundreds of features are excavated at Early Medieval open settlements. These works are usually of rescue character and thus limited to recording the features threatened with destruction by intensive agricultural activities. The relative lack of interest in rural settlements has also other reasons. Unlike in the urban centers, where the forms and kinds of the archaeological evidence are diversied and much richer in quality and quantity, at the rural sites spectacular discoveries are quite rare. For centuries the material culture of rural inhabitants was traditional in form and rather uniform. Scattered in the landscape, Early Medieval rural settlements are difcult to identify. Many of them, most often located in arable elds, become known to the archaeologists when the process of their destruction is reaching its end. On rural sites as a rule, unless preserved by later deposits which bury them, there are no continuous archaeological layers under the topsoil. Redeposited elements of such layers, together with their cultural content are usually found mixed in the modern arable soil. Only the bases of deeper features have any chance to survive till our time. Others, including any traces of buildings constructed on ancient ground surfaces, and those ground surfaces themselves are inevitably destroyed by the seasonal rural activities, including the deep plowing. It often happens that the only material trace of a settlement are the destroyed elements of the features remaining on the surface. Unlike the urban centers, rural settlements, especially the ones composed of scattered homesteads, did not have a compact structure. Therefore isolated single features are uncovered more often than their complexes; in order to achieve the latter, open area excavations should be conducted. In Poland they are, however, quite recent and in effect really have their beginning due to the program of building the motorways begun in the 1990s.

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Unlike in western Europe, in Poland there have been no programs for investigating the rural settlements in the context of the transformations they underwent throughout the centuries.1 Hence analyses tend to be focused on selected kinds of structures (habitation, agricultural), and only in rare cases on their broader settlement context. In fact, in the countryside of the early state period (as in modern times), not only villages are important but also their surroundings, such as the arable elds and their old divisions, communication routes, cemeteries or churches. All these elements remained in denite relationships (spatial, functional, chronological) with each other so each of them can only be analyzed in the context of the other ones. Such holistic investigations of landscapes have been very slow to develop in Poland. Another problem which the archaeologists have not been able to tackle for many years is the chronology of the nds. Unlike urban centers which differ in their culture and the status (and sometimes ethnicity) of their inhabitants with a rapid penetration of new trends and ideas, time had a different character in villages. Here it is not the moment at which new products appeared and the changes in material culture which characterize rural life, but stability of socio-cultural systems, durability and invariability of settlement structures, these are the characteristic feature of many Medieval settlements. Rural timescales were regulated by the repeated natural phenomena. It had a cyclical character and its elements were determined by the daily chores of the household and smallholding, especially the work in the elds. It was to these rhythms which people adjusted their daily lives. This enhanced the stabilization or even petrifaction not only of settlement patterns but also of the elements of material culture. In rural areas more often than in urban ones we can observe Braudel’s longue durée 2 in action which was reected in comparable (in age, gender, number, diseases, etc.) features of the dead in rural cemeteries, both ancient and 1 The topic of the research of this category of evidence has been discussed by few authors. Their analyses are usually minor contributions and concern the general problems of investigating Early Medieval villages (e.g., Rajewski 1957; Hensel 1964), their morphology (e.g., Szulc 1988) and selected aspect of regional studies (e.g., Mdynarska-Kaletynowa 1967; Kunysz 1966; Rozwadka 1999). A separate group are syntheses covering specic aspects (cf. Podwiqska 1971; Dowiat ed. 1985). A valuable publication for the archaeologists dealing with the problems of the Early Medieval village is the monograph by the historian Karol Modzelewski (2000) devoted to the economic organization of the Piast state. An overview of the research problems is presented by S. Movdzioch (1997). 2 Braudel 1971.

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near-modern populations (see below). The Early Medieval storage pits cut in the loess soil uncovered in the excavations at Kleczanów near Sandomierz had their equivalents 1100 years later and less than 2 km away from the archaeological site. The hut of a poor man “made of posts interlaced with twigs and smeared with daub . . .” described in the 19th century records3 probably looked similar to the 9th century one found near the parish church. In rural settlements notions such as ‘Early Middle Ages’, ‘Late Middle Ages’, ‘modern times’ have a different meaning. In rural cemeteries or settlements there are often no traces of changes reected in material culture as it happens in towns. For decades and centuries similar houses were built, the same tools were used, and churchyard burials with similar grave goods were made. Hence in many cases the exact division between the ‘Early’ and ‘Late’ Middle Ages is not necessarily reected in the changes of the material or spiritual culture. What does this mean for archaeology? First of all, the datings based on artifacts from rural areas, considered without their context and other chronological indices, may be confusing. This concerns especially the areas where ‘new’ ideas and styles did not appear or appeared only after some delay. A good example of this is for example the results of Wdodzimierz Hodubowicz’s4 investigations on rural pottery-making in western Belarus. As late as in the 20th century in that area there existed centers where vessels were hand made on a turntable-wheel using the same techniques as in the Early Middle Ages. There were various reasons for this, conservatism in pottery-making, the tradition of passing the skills from generation to generation, as well as the fact that learning wheel-throwing required a lot of time or even a voyage to another center. Because of that, many potters preferred to improve traditional skills to learning new ones. 2. How do we envisage Medieval rural settlements? The rural settlements of the early state period in Polish lands seen from the point of view of archaeological discoveries are mostly permanent settlement structures (points) identied in the landscape. They appear singly or in clusters from several to more than a dozen (rarely 3 4

Sdupecki 1997, 37. 1950.

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Figure 154. Zones of settlement and exploitation of Early Medieval rural settlements, headland of a loess elevation and the edge of the valley of a water course, Kaczyce, Little Poland, settlement from the 11th–13th century (photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

more). Their situation took into account such elements of the natural environment as easy access to water, kinds of soils, or presence or lack of a forest. The most important for their development, were, however, favorable hydrographical conditions. This was crucial to animal husbandry, one of the main spheres of man’s daily activity. Rivers and lakes serving as convenient routes additionally provided food (sh). That is why in the Early Middle Ages the settlements were repeatedly established along the same rivers or in their closest vicinity (Fig. 154). The network of waterways thus often provided the ‘backbone’ of the settlement structure along which consecutive settlements were set up. In the Polish Lowlands, characterized by broad damp river valleys, sandy hillocks were readily occupied, whereas in southern Poland settlements were frequently situated on the slopes of the valley sides. Only a few were located in the nearest vicinity of the largest rivers: the Oder and the Vistula. This was not only due to the danger of oods but also because the soils were much better on the uplands.5 The investigations 5

Podwiqska 1971.

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carried out in south-eastern Poland indicate that, for example, in the Roztocze region mainly black humus on loess and silty podsols were preferred,6 whereas the sandy areas which predominate in the vicinity of the junction of the Vistula and San rivers were not used for agriculture for a long time. However, recent investigations conducted in the settlements located within the earliest parishes of the Lublin region have uncovered a more diversied situation. For example, in the Jaroszyn parish silty soils were commonly cultivated from the mid 13th century but in the later period also sandy and clayey soils were used. In upland parishes, in turn, for example, the ones located on the Nad\czów Plateau, the elds were located almost exclusively on loessic soils. Yet, also in that area by the second half of the 13th century other soils were also farmed. Besides loesses, sandy soils and silty soils were also used. The latter, commonly used in the 11th and 12th centuries lost their importance in the 13th century.7 Despite the diversication of local conditions, the causes of which may be interpreted in different ways (e.g., changes of settlement zones, including moving the settlements away from water reservoirs), a clear preference for the most fertile soils can be observed. In the vicinity of c\czyca, more than 70 per cent of settlements discovered in recent years were located on the most fertile soils.8 Many rural settlements of the early state period are datable broadly to within 2–3 centuries. Some structures, built one over another form complex stratigraphical sequences. This is not surprising because the structures built at that time did not exist long, on average they would have had a life of 25–30 years. It is interesting to note that the new huts were not always erected in the same place but were moved to new sites. In the settlement at Kaczyce, discussed below, surprisingly small distances of 10–20 cm between the respective structures were discovered. Assuming that when they were used the above-ground parts had larger diameters than the remains found in the subsoil (e.g., because of overhanging eaves) it seems quite improbable that all the discovered structures could have functioned at the same time. The problem becomes more important in cases when the settlement was scattered and when the discovered features are located at a certain distance from one

6 7 8

Kunysz 1966. Rozwadka 1999. Podwiqska 1971, 36.

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another, as not much can be said about the spatial arrangement of the settlements of the same phase. Within one or two generations the kinds of tools and equipment changed little (or not at all). Also the forms of pottery vessels remained similar and limited. The rural population was relatively homogenous and dealt mainly with animal husbandry and farming, supplemented with household crafts; these occupations determine the scope of standard remains of material culture. In the early state period, the most numerous group was made up of spontaneously developing settlements, and thus ones with randomly scattered structures. In the examples from Great Poland, one can observe a domination of short-term settlements and frequent changes of settlement locations, which was certainly connected with the quality of the soils but also, in the early Piast period, with displacements of people (cf. Chapter 9). In the south of the country, in turn, the rural settlements are characterized by long duration, reaching back to the pre-state period, and lack of a clear spatial arrangement. In the Sandomierz Upland (southern Poland) such a settlement complex at Zdota near Sandomierz was investigated. Its earliest phase goes back to the Prague culture. No traces of an early Piast period settlement have been found there, although a cemetery belonging to it has been identied. Jerzy GAssowski9 expressed the opinion that between the 11th and mid-13th century the population potential at Zdota was clearly lower than in the preceding periods. Additional light is shed on these issues by the results of the investigations conducted by Teresa Rysiewska.10 She indicates that the communities inhabiting Zdota and Samborzec must have kept in touch as settlers from the village on Saint James’ Hill were moved to these villages (Chapter 15). If we accept these conclusions, then we should state that as a result of these processes the zones of rural settlements underwent a profound disintegration. This may be the reason why there is no continuation of the settlement at Zdota at the outset of the Polish state, where a settlement existed in the preceding four centuries. Similar phenomena have been observed in the same region in the settlement complex excavated by the writer at Kleczanów located between Sandomierz and Opatów. This is a rural settlement which originated in the late pre-state period (the 9th century) and has existed

9 10

1969. 1994.

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Figure 155. Village church at Kleczanów, Little Poland, located on a 9th century settlement (photo: A. Buko).

till today. As at Zdota considerable changes in settlement zones have been recorded for the period of origination of the state. On the site of a ‘tribal’ settlement, a cemetery and a parish church were built (Fig. 155). It was impossible to establish where the inhabitants of the settlement were moved; the origins of the church and the parish are thus quite mysterious. The archival studies conducted by Leszek Sdupecki11 suggest that the beginnings should be dated to the Late Middle Ages; this is, however, in contradiction to the local tradition which places the origins of the Kleczanów church even in the second half of the 10th century. Although such an early date does not seem justied, there are premises suggesting that the site of the church may have had a sacral function at quite an early date. The earliest burials in the cemetery appear in the contexts of material which can be dated to the mid-12th century. Also the skeletons are not oriented in the same directions. One of them is oriented to the east, which may be a trace of the old, pagan tradition. Other premises suggest that the old barrow cemetery in the Kleczanów forest (cf. Chapter 6) might have been used after the origin of the state.

11

1997.

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In the outer layers of some of the barrows fragments of pottery vessels, which may date even to the late 10th century, were discovered. In none of the described cases was it possible to describe the specic features of the topography of rural settlement. Some interesting data were contributed by Wojciech Chudziak12 during his research on the settlements in the Chedmno and Dobrzyq Lands in north-central Poland. The data indicate that from the second half of the 10th and in the 11th century the open settlements in these lands differed in size although generally did not exceed an area of one hectare. At that time there was a strong demographic pressure as a result of which the existing settlement areas were extended. The brown soils of the morainnic plain became occupied and the settlement centers had post-built dwellings. The settlements (usually 4 to 6 of them) were combined into territorial communities exploiting areas of 40 to 60 km2; to that the forest areas should be added. During the 11th century, the Dobrzyq Lakeland and swieck Upland were settled. At the same time the forested areas in these regions decreased to 60 per cent of the whole Chedmno-Dobrzyq zone. It is assumed that one of the reasons for such dynamic changes in settlement structure were migrations of the population from the Kuiavian-Great Polish zone. At the same time more and more settlements were established in the valleys. There still remains the question of presence of numerous pits with no habitation structures. It has not been established whether these features were accompanied by groundlevel structures which have not left traces visible for the archaeologists to nd or these were uninhabited places used as service areas by the people living in the near vicinity of the strongholds. A different group is made up of villages with a linear layout of the individual smallholdings. They were set on the slopes of hills, along valleys of rivers and streams, and sometimes along an already existing route. Settlements located just outside the strongholds were also often organized according to a linear plan. At Jarszewo in Western Pomerania (Kamieq Pomorski district) traces of res arranged in several parallel rows were discovered. In each row they were at a distance of 5–7 m and the empty spaces between the rows were 15–20 m wide. As the distances between the rows were xed, it may be stated that in each phase of new

12

1996.

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buildings, the existing arrangement was retained.13 Similar data were yielded by the excavations at Jadowniki Mokre (DAbrowa Tarnowska district) where two rows of huts built on the terrace of the Kisielnica river in a settlement dated to the 11th–13th century were located 6 m away one from another.14 The settlement at Stobnica-Trzymorgi near Piotrków Trybunalski, investigated by Henryk Wiklak15 occupied a large area (although it was not stated exactly how large) the uncovered ve ground-level and semi sunken-oored huts are only a small part of the settlement complex (Fig. 156). That conclusion was supported by the fact that the nds were scattered over a large area. Villages built around a central square were much less common. As an example may serve the settlement at Biskupin (Great Poland) excavated after the Second World War. It was located on a sandy hill at the base of a peninsula jutting out into the Biskupin Lake. The hillock was kidney-shaped (160 u 75 m) and the buildings were arranged around a central open space (Fig. 157). By some of the huts remains of fences were discovered. The settlement was separated from the nearby stronghold complex (fortied settlement and an external open settlement), located on an island, by one hundred meters of water and swamp. The material remains of habitation structures at Biskupin were hearths located, on average, about six meters apart. The objects of everyday use found in them inspired the excavators Wdodzimierz and Zoja Szafraqski16 to make an attempt at determining the jobs done by the inhabitants of respective huts. Although the results of their analysis were strongly criticized, it is certain that objects found near the hearths illustrate the diversity of crafts known to the inhabitants of the settlement. This concerns especially the more than 70 pits discovered in the oval internal space. An important research problem was to establish what techniques were used to build the houses as they had left no traces except for the hearths. Since no postholes or post settings were discovered it was assumed that most probably these were ground-level structures built of horizontal logs in ‘log-cabin’ technique. The Biskupin settlement which functioned from the pre-state period till the 11th century was burnt down in unknown circumstances.

13 14 15 16

Rogosz 1965. Cabalska, Madyda 1972. ([1983] 1984). 1961.

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Figure 156. Reconstruction of rural buildings scattered across a large area, Stobnica-Trzymorgi, Great Poland (after H. Wiklak).

Figure 157. Rural settlement at Biskupin, Great Poland arranged around a central open space (after W. and Z. Szafraqski).

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At Daleszyn (Gostyq district) an open settlement was built in the place of an earlier stronghold of the pre-state period. The dwellings (buildings) were situated on former ramparts whereas the courtyard remained empty. The empty space in the center of the settlement could have had various functions: as a meeting place or a corral for keeping livestock safe at night. It could have been also used for crafts and the arrangement of houses around it provided a defensive element in case of danger.17 In settlements of long (pre-state) tradition the possibilities of establishing the original plot boundaries and location of structures are limited. As a result of numerous subdivisions of the plots and rebuilding of houses, the plots belonging to the same owners had different locations, which not only made their use by their owners difcult, but also the collection of the rent and tithes. For that reason in the 12th and 13th centuries, when the number of settlements increased considerably, necessary amalgamations were made. Despite this, in a later period too, single farms (
17 18 19

Hilczerówna 1960. Podwiqska 1971, 367. 2000.

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state property. It is assumed that the decline of the service organizations occurred in the 13th century and they ultimately disappeared at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. It is assumed that this situation was due to the changes in the system of state administration, especially of replacing the division into provinces by individual dukedoms in the ‘period of feudal fragmentation’, which took place in the rst half of the 12th century. Service villages are treated as a result of a planned actions implemented by liege lords on the basis of the instructions of the superior authority. The inhabitants of respective villages were assigned to specic services. For that reason the name of the duty performed by the inhabitants of a given settlement became in time a synonym for and nally the name of the village. Among the specializations determined from the 40 recorded in the written sources, many (e.g., wine making), exceeded the knowledge and skills of the peasants. Therefore it is assumed that to perform the non-standard duties they were trained by imported specialists. Near the main state centers a considerable number, more than 400, toponyms referring to service settlements have been preserved. Their names are most usually connected with animal husbandry (Skotniki), hunting (Sokolniki), shing (Rybitwy), household services (Piekary, Koniary, Kichary-Kuchary), broadly understood services (Szewce, uerniki, Szczytniki, Kobierniki) and other specializations (Fig. 158). Some originated in the areas of earlier “tribal” settlements. An example of that is Winiary near Sandomierz, a village whose name declares it to have been making wine for the court and for the church liturgical purposes. Near the modern village a group of cremation barrows was discovered. They should be treated as a trace of a so-far unidentied settlement. It is, however, difcult to assess to what extent the service village is a direct continuation of the earlier tradition or whether it was (demographically or spatially) something completely new. Service settlements manifested a high level of permanence which is exemplied by numerous villages which have retained the characteristic ‘occupational’ names. None of these settlements have been the subject of wider research, or any long-term research projects. There are sometimes difculties in nding material for such studies. This may be illustrated for example by the case of the village called Grotniki (‘arrowhead-makers’) in southern Great Poland—a village undoubt-

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Figure 158. Network of medieval rural service settlements (small dots) in the vicinity of larger centres in Polish lands (after K. Modzelewski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

edly connected with metallurgical production. Excavations, despite many interesting discoveries made here, have not revealed any traces of iron-smithing.20 It would be a simplication to believe that in the early Piast period the population performing various services lived only in the settlements of the above-discussed type. On the contrary, their majority lived in settlements which had nothing in common with services or did not have characteristic names. It sometimes happens that archaeology reveals examples of rural settlements which cannot be classied. This may be illustrated by the results of the recent excavations by the present author of a settlement of the early Piast period at Kaczyce.

20

Cf. Wyrwiqska 1996.

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Figure 159. Examples of remains of archaeological features at a rural settlement, Kaczyce near Opatów, Little Poland (photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

4. Mysterious villages The site at Kaczyce is located on the Sandomierz Upland several kilometers away from Opatów, on the road from Wdostowo to Go
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ornaments, a melon-shaped bead of blue frit, a glass bead covered with gold foil and a glass ring (Fig. 160). Similar objects are usually found at burial grounds as grave goods, but rarely in features and occupation layers in settlements. Both the quality and number of these nds should be considered as unique in such an untypical context. In the area of the settlement objects made of iron were also found. However, this fact is not the most important. What is particularly interesting is that almost all of them were of 99% pure iron (thus they were made of raw material almost entirely devoid of impurities), which is another feature in which the discussed settlement is special. Also the ceramic vessels found there provided an interesting contribution to the research on the Early Medieval pottery making in Polish lands. The analyses have revealed that these products are equally good in quality as the ones made in Sandomierz, the main urban center of the region. Hence we are dealing here with products of specialized workshops, located outside the village, producing highly standardized vessels.22 Still more interesting are the results of the studies of the animal bones. In the features of the settlement, the bones of small ruminants (sheep, goat) found together with pottery dated to the 11th century, were twice as numerous as those of other animals. In the assemblages with pottery from the 12th century the proportion became dominated by cattle. This is a rare phenomenon for Early Medieval Poland, found on only a few sites. According to the results of the most recent investigations, in the majority of the earliest Polish settlements in the initial period of their functioning pig bones were predominant. This is due to the low nutritive requirements of that animal and its high meat-producing effectiveness. For that reason in open settlements (especially in their earliest phases) the proportion of the pig is generally high. At Kaczyce the situation is quite atypical, which may indicate a different model of animal husbandry characteristic of the nomadic communities. The preference of these animals in the menu of the nomadic-shepherd peoples is connected, according to Alicja Lasota-Moskalewska,23 with the difcult ecological conditions and a mobile life style. The sheep, which can easily cover long distances, was for many peoples a ‘walking store of food and milk’. Only in the features dated to the 12th century the differences in this respect become blurred, which may be a sign that the population

22 23

Buko 2003. 1997, 201.

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became assimilated and adopted the model of economy based on cattle rearing. Another peculiarity of the bone assemblage from Kaczyce is the atypically high number of remains of the horse. This settlement is thus atypical in every respect. Was it originally settled by a nomadic people who came (when? where from?) to this area? This question cannot be answered although the issue of the nomads has been raised repeatedly in the context of the neighboring Sandomierz. The nomads are supposed to be the Khazars and the related Magyar Kabars. A memory of their stay in the Middle Ages is supposed to have survived in the name of a vineyard Kawiary located in one of the districts of Sandomierz, as Tadeusz Lewicki has suggested.24 However, the hypothesis of the nomadic character of population at Kaczyce is undermined by the lack of any elements of the characteristic material culture of these people. How can such culinary preferences, atypical in this part of Europe, be explained? Clearly, these are aspects of everyday life which are deeply embedded in the ideological and cultural sphere. Culinary habits reect environmental conditions and the type of economy, often inuenced by the principles and norms of spiritual and social life. Who were the inhabitants of the settlement? Was its eastern edge preserved till today a service area for a knight’s manor? Perhaps this is how the high proportion (up to 10 per cent) of horse bones recorded for the 12th century assemblages was accumulated. But if that were the case, then how can the ‘nomadic’ habits of consumption of its inhabitants in the 11th century be explained? It is also curious that there are no Late Medieval nds at the site. This may indicate the discontinuation of settlement at that place. It is hard to nd the reasons why a well prospering settlement center ceased to exist. Possibly, this was due to the transformations connected with the shaping of a new organizational system of the rural areas focused around the parishes. These processes ended approximately in the mid-13th century. At that time many villages which originated in the 11th and 12th century disappeared and new ones were founded; the processes were considerably enhanced by the growth of great rural estates. In the place of the former single farmsteads (
24

1988.

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were often founded in different places than the former ones. It may not be thus excluded that the inhabitants of the settlement at Kaczyce was shifted to another place. The existence of the settlement may have been also ended by the dramatic military events and destruction which took place in the mid-13th century due to the Tartars’ invasions, e.g., the march of the Tatars in the year 1260 from Sandomierz towards the monastery on cysa Góra in the Holy Cross Mountains (Chapter 5) which is recorded in the written sources. This may explain the fact that types of objects normally rarely occurring in settlement layers (for example jewelry), were found by the archaeologists. In this case, however, it is unclear why no traces of destruction were discovered. Clearly, there are still many problems to solve. However, the examples described above indicate that the remains of rural settlements contain not only many mysteries but also signicant research possibilities.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE EARLIEST MONASTIC COMPLEXES 1. The earliest monasteries and archaeology Archaeology plays a particularly important role in the research on the earliest monastic complexes. There are several groups of problems which are addressed by this work. The rst concerns the origins of the earliest monasteries in Polish lands; due to the scarcity of written sources this evidence can be obtained through the study of the stratication surviving in the ground and of the nds associated with them, including the datable ones. Archaeological excavations combined with the analyses of the preserved architectural remains permits us to draw conclusions about the time of origin, layout as well as trends and dynamics of changes which these structures underwent during their existence. Another subject of interest are the burials found within the monasteries. Archaeologists pay attention to several particularly important features. The rst is the place where the graves were located, this could be within the monastic church but also the zone around it, the cloisters, or the cemetery located near the monastery. In the case of the monastic church it is equally important where the burial is located (chancel, crypt, aisle), its form (burial made directly in the soil, in a wooden chamber or a stone casing), elements of the burial rite such as the presence or lack of grave goods, their specic features (presence of attributes of secular of sacral authority or the lack of them), mutual relations of the burials, their number (single burials or concentrations) and many other things.1 This is important because in monasteries more than in other places one should expect both burials of lay people and clergymen of varying social status. Both monks, including the abbots, were buried there as well as the lay people directly or indirectly connected with the monastery. In the last mentioned case these were both the people offering various services and rich donors, including the personages of the highest rank such as the prince and the members of his family.

1

For more on this issue cf.: Derwich (ed.) 1997.

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Archaeologists are also interested in the auxiliary structures in monasteries such as remains of workshops which functioned when the monastery was being built and the ones producing various goods in its service area. Also the settlements of the servants, whose lives and everyday work were subordinated to the rhythm of life of the monastic communities, were important. Due to all these reasons the earliest monastery complexes have been the subject of archaeological investigations. For the earliest stages of the development of the state there are relatively few such structures in Polish lands and the majority has been already investigated. In the period after the Second World War there have been two stages of increased interest in monastic structures. The rst one concerns the period of the Millennium excavations when the leading post-monastic complexes, including the ones going back to the times of the early Piasts were the subject of interest of archaeologists, historians and historians of architecture. The investigations of varying scope did not, however, bring clear answers to the issues connected with the origins of monastic foundations. In the 1980s and later on, research was taken up again, especially in the complexes which are crucial for studying the origins of the Polish monastic movement. Their results have brought much new information, sometimes completely changing the existing opinions about the origins of the monastic congregations in Polish lands. Several examples illustrating the complexity of the research are presented below. They concern the earliest congregations in Polish lands, that is the Benedictines and the Cistercians. 2. At the threshold of Christianization: the rst Benedictine abbeys The rst monastic foundations in Polish lands were congregations of monks of the order called the Benedictines (established in the 6th century in Italy by Benedict of Nursia).2 The earliest history of the Benedictines in Poland is still the subject of debates and analyses. It used to be assumed that their missionary activeness might have begun even as early as the 9th century. This idea, however, has not been conrmed by the archaeological evidence. Now it is believed that they came to

2 In this part of the chapter was used information about the Benedictines and their architecture taken from general studies, especially: swiechowski 1963, 2000b; Zachwatowicz 1971; Kanior 2002.

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Poland accompanying Jordan and Unger, the rst Polish bishops; they also took part in the earliest missions among the pagans of this part of Europe. It is worth adding that also St. Adalbert, before coming to Poland, had been connected with the Benedictine monastery of St. Boniface and St. Alexis on the Aventine Hill in Rome. The written sources suggestively describe the activities of the Five Martyred Brothers. The rst two (Benedict and John) came from Italy in 1001, at the request of Bolesdaw the Brave, and settled at Mi\dzyrzecz. They were then joined by members of the local community: Izaak, Mateusz and Krystyn. The robbery and murder of the brethren in 1003 did not result in closing the monastery. Rebuilt already in Bolesdaw the Brave’s times and reinforced with new members of the community it survived at least till the 1030s.3 It is believed that already during the lifetime of the same ruler the abbey at c\czyca was established. However, the earliest, half-legendary foundations (the sites of which so far have not been located by archaeologists), declined during the pagan reaction in the late 1030s. It is assumed that it was Kazimierz the Restorer, and especially Bolesdaw the Bold, who established lasting monastic centers in the dioceses. The monks came to Poland especially from Lorraine and Cologne. It is assumed that in many fortied centers mixed communities of monks and priests may have formed. After the second half of the 11th century, the position of the Benedictines was strengthened in Poland and they then manifested a considerable economic activity, which resulted in founding of more monasteries. Kazimierz the Restorer was the one with whom the origins of the abbey at Tyniec near Cracow and at Mogilno are connected, and Bolesdaw the Bold might have initiated the abbey in Lubiq and perhaps in Pdock. After the exile and death of Bolesdaw the Bold (1079) the process of founding abbeys was stopped. Only in the early 12th century, especially in the times of Bolesdaw Wrymouth, the monastery of the Holy Trinity at cysa Góra was created and the one founded at the initiative of Comes Sieciech at Sieciechowo on the Vistula river. At the same time more foundations were established in Silesia: in Legnica, Lubiàv and Wrocdaw. In the 11th and 12th centuries there were Benedictine abbeys in Tyniec, cysa Góra, Sieciechow, Mogilno, Lubiq 3 So far the archeological traces of the earliest monastery have not been found. Furthermore, researchers do not agree if the earliest Benedictine hermitage was located at Mi\dzyrzecz or elsewhere (cf. Strzelczyk 1999, 89ff.; Kurnatowska 2002, 134ff. and Kürbis 2001; the latter with a broad selection of literature).

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Figure 161. Benedictine monasteries in Polish lands (by M. Trzeciecki).

and Pdock (Fig. 161). The actual number of the monasteries was larger but it varied: churches were assigned to the abbeys. These processes gained momentum after Wrymouth’s expeditions to Pomerania. In that region the most intensive activity was conducted by the monks from Mogilno. Until the 12th century the Benedictines played a leading part in the religious and cultural life of the country. Owing to their activities, for example, many liturgical books were imported to and made in Poland. With its presence and prayers the monastery strengthened the existing church structure. The foundation of the rst sacral buildings also made the person of the ruler sacred, as he could believe that as a reward the heavenly powers would grant grace to the ruler and also his people.4 If he founded a monastery he also gained the additional grace owing to the monks’ prayers. Therefore the monks built the road leading to

4

Michadowski 1993, 164.

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redemption not only for the ruler, but also for many living people. Their duties included preparing people for higher positions in the church, working as the prince’s diplomats, and many other things. The Benedictines lost their leading position in the late 12th century as new orders (the Norbertans, the Cistercians) were established, developed, and quickly gained popularity. These processes were accompanied by the decrease in the educational role of the Benedictines, lack of new sizeable foundations and transferring the monastic orders under the jurisdiction of the bishops from the 13th century. Only a few of the earliest Benedictine monasteries, changed and redeveloped throughout the centuries, have survived till our times. Some examples of the most interesting and best investigated ones are presented below. 3. In the shadow of Wawel Hill: the Benedictine Abbey at Tyniec near Cracow The Benedictine abbey of Sts Peter and Paul at Tyniec near Cracow (Fig. 162), is one of the earliest monastic structures of the Polish Early Middle Ages. It originated in the mid-11th century, though so far it has not be established with certainty whether the monastery was founded by Kazimierz the Restorer or, as others believe, by Bolesdaw the Bold and his wife Judyta. Investigations of the Tyniec complex have been going on for more than 50 years. They were initiated by Gabriel Leqczyk5 who conducted systematic excavations there from the late 1940s. From the 1960s the scope of the research was expanded by interdisciplinary archaeological-architectonic studies. By the mid-1960s almost the whole area of the church and the accompanying monastic structures had been excavated.6 However, despite such a broad scope of investigations, all attempts at establishing the date of the origin of the structure through archaeological means have ended in failure. First of all, there were no nds which could provide decisive dating in this respect. Most of them (such as the pottery) did not allow the chronology of the site to be determined within a period shorter than 50 years. For that reason the time of building the rst monastery has been associated both with the mid-11th century and with a later time. 5 6

1955. Cf. uurowska 1971.

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The archaeological-conservation works carried out in the mid-1990s allowed the establishment of a more precise chronology of the layers in the monastery. At the same time, the rich settlement background of the site of the later monastery was identied. The thickness of earlier settlement layers extends up to 2 m there, they were initially considered as ones coming from prehistoric times and associated with the Lusatian culture. More recent verication works, however, proved that these strata were in fact formed during the Early Middle Ages. Their lack in the other parts of the area of the abbey also indicates that they are connected with leveling the area for the construction of the rst Romanesque church. For that purpose the eastern part of the culmination below the top of the chalky elevation was chosen, and the preparation of a at terrace on which the monastery was to be built required conducting complex earthworks. This led to the formation of the mixed leveling layers discovered in other parts of the site. In such a situation, the archaeological excavations of the earliest monastery have concentrated on two issues, the earliest Abbot’s church and the earliest burials found on the site of the monastery. The investigations conducted by Emil Zaitz7 determined that the construction of the Abbot’s church was begun in the late 1050s (possibly before the death of the rst abbot, Aron) or in 1075–1085 at the end of the rule of the next abbot, Anchora. From the very beginning till the 18th century burials were made in the interior of the church and the rst graves of the monks were included within the layout of the constructed church. Archaeological investigations conducted so far have yielded almost 50 burials, more than a dozen of which come from the period between the 11th and 13th/14th century. The deceased were buried in various parts of the monastic church (including the burials of two abbots have been identied); burials were also located in the chapter house and cloisters (within which three graves were uncovered, including one of an abbot). The distribution of the burials in the chapter house and within the church was diverse. For burial purposes especially the areas of the third bay of the northern aisle and of the rst bay of the nave were used. The investigations revealed that the deceased were rarely buried in cofns. The most monumental is the burial supposedly containing the remains of the rst abbot, Aron, or his successor, Anchora. A tomb without a oor with a semicircular

7

2000.

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niche for the head carved in a sandstone block was made of stone ashlars. The burials were usually without any grave goods. Only in the abbots’ graves were objects found, they have crosiers laid at the side of the deceased and in two cases also liturgical vessels (Figs. 163, 164). In three cases it was possible to establish that the deceased wore liturgical robes when they were deposited in their graves. In the grave of the rst abbot a pectoral cross also was found.8 The archaeological excavations have not provided any data about the Early Medieval settlement preceding the abbey and the material from the Early Medieval layers was dated between the mid-11th and mid-13th century. A silver cross denar of the 1030s found in Early Medieval contexts may be an indirect indication allowing the origins of the abbey to be associated with the times of the rule of Kazimierz the Restorer. This chronology may be made only slightly more precise by the dating of the nds from the earliest abbots’ graves generally dated to the 11th and 12th century. So far the excavations have not revealed the remains of the earliest sacral structure. It is believed that the monumental three-aisle basilica was erected in the late 11th century and the masonry monastic structures are still later, from the early 12th century. Emil Zaitz believes, however, that there are premises allowing to distinguish the earliest phase of the abbots’ church. He drew attention to the so-called gray oor (a poured cement layer under the oor proper) and the above-mentioned abbots’ grave (grave number 15) with a stone sarcophagus, a tombstone and a bone crosier. The said oor covered the abbot’s grave, marked in it with a stone frame. These elements suggest their relation with the earliest church. Above the gray oor there are the layers connected with the building of the Romanesque basilica and its use. The early-Benedictine (wooden?) structure may have been located in the western part of the chancel and under the aisle of the later Gothic church. The earliest abbot’s grave was probably inside it. In the next phase, dated to the last quarter of the 11th century and the 12th century, the complex of the Romanesque abbey was built. Its main elements were an aisled basilica, a refectory and the structures surrounding the cloister, which formed a quadrangle in the south-western part of the monastery. Within the walls surrounding it there were wooden habitation and service buildings. The other monastic structures

8

Kalinowski 1971; Zoll-Adamikowa 1997.

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Figure 163. Monastery at Tyniec near Cracow, abbots’ graves (after H. ZollAdamikowa; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

Figure 164. Gold chalice and paten found in burial 8 (after H. ZollAdamikowa).

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were located both on the hill and at its foot. However, work connected with modernization and development of the monastery complex was continued until the end of the Middle Ages, including the erection of a huge defensive wall in the late 14th and in the early 15th century. 4. A church and a monastery in a stronghold The Benedictine abbey at Mogilno in Kuiavia arose on a site previously occupied by intensive settlement. In the late 9th century, the settlement where the monastery was later built had been fortied with a woodand-earth rampart. Before the monastery was established, two more settlements developed to the south of the stronghold. The origins of the monastery are associated with the 1040s9 hence the monks arrived immediately after the pagan reaction of the late 1030s. The choice of site does not seem accidental either, the monastery might have provided support for the nearby Gniezno diocese and at the same time a barrier against the pagan inuence coming to Kuiavia from Prussia and Pomerania. The investigations have revealed that the construction of the monastic church lasted some time. This seems to indicate that it was built by more than one builder. Particularly important is the discovery of the eastern crypt of the earliest church. Examples from the Ottonian areas in the Rhineland and the Moselle region indicate that similar layouts became common in the 1020–1040. The earliest church with a wall length of the nave of 37 m would have occupied the greater part of the interior of the stronghold in Mogilno. The building was an aisled basilica with a transept and three apses. In its earlier phase it had a transept ended with apses in its eastern side, from which two staircases led to a crypt under the presbytery. In this way the eastern choir was c. 2.50 m above the oor of the main aisle. According to Zygmunt swiechowski10 the presence of a so-called low transept in the monastic church and the disproportional shapes of the other spatial elements place the Mogilno church among the examples of early Romanesque architecture. The structure representing the earliest phase stylistically resembles a reduced form of the Carolingian

9 The results of the research on the earliest history of the monastery discussed here were presented in detail in: Józefowiczówna 1978; Chudziakowa 1984, 1997, 2001; all with literature. 10 1984.

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Figure 165. Mogilno, plan of the monastic church of St. John the Evangelist from the third quarter of the 11th century (after J. Chudziakowa).

architecture characteristic of the Rhine and Moselle regions from the rst half of the 11th century. One of the research problems was to establish the original character of the western facade. The investigations of Jadwiga Chudziakowa11 disproved the suppositions of that the church had a facade with two towers. Besides, the uniformity of the layout of the crypt with the side aisles was stressed; this excluded the possibility of a tower located beyond the western facade. More data indicate that it was rather a tripartite, at westwerk with a straight facade in which a single tower was situated above the western crypt (Fig. 165). It has not been, however, decided whether the earliest church had a gallery or not. The archaeological excavations have also revealed that the original entrance to the church could not have been located on the western side. The western wall of the basilica abutted the rampart, which would make entering the

11

1984.

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Figure 166. Mogilno, view of the eastern crypt of the monastic church (after J. Chudziakowa).

church from this side very difcult. There are more data supporting the supposition that the original entrance was in the southern side of the church where a late-Romanesque portal built of brick was identied. This may indicate that the church may have been built according to an earlier model of the Benedictine order, one from before the Cluniac reform (after which entrances on the western side became popular and crypts gradually disappeared from the layout of churches). Another issue which is the subject of animated debate is the function of the western crypt of the church, resembling the layouts known from that period in the architecture of the Rhine-Moselle region. Jadwiga Chudziakowa12 does not exclude the possibility that for the rst period the crypt should not be considered as a place where the deceased were laid but as a capitulary hall, that is a place where the monks gathered (Fig. 166). In this context it is noted that it had a rich decoration, poorer only than the basilica. Hence the crypt could

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2001.

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have become a burial place only after the masonry monastery was erected. It must have been very expensive to build the abbot’s church, which is indicated by the lack of masonry monastery buildings. This serves as a basis for the assumption that the mission of the monastery in its earliest phase was more to conduct a rather active religious life than focus on contemplation. The excavations have indicated that in the rst half of the 13th century the monastery suffered considerable upheavals. Traces of burning from that time were found both in the area of the church and in its vicinity. At the same time the defensive rampart was burnt, these events may have been associated with the wars between the feudal rulers of the provinces of the period (such as the invasion of prince Wdadysdaw Odonic). Soon afterwards however, the whole complex was rebuilt. As the stronghold at Mogilno did not have external settlements, it is assumed that it was the monastery that inspired the transformation of the fortied center into an early urban center. The redevelopment embraced not only the monastery buildings but also the fortications. In the mid-13th century in the place of wood-and-earth ramparts the rst brick walls were built. This is probably the earliest example of brick-built fortications from the area of Poland. However, it is surprising in this context that the monastic buildings were made of wood for such a long time. According to Jadwiga Chudziakowa13 the rst brick structures in the Mogilno monastery appeared no earlier than in the rst half of the 13th century. During the excavations in the area of the monastic complex at Mogilno, 54 graves were uncovered. The earliest ones were in the eastern crypt and outside the church around the chancel. In the former case there were no grave goods or cofns. All of them were burials of men and are identied as graves of monks. In the crypt at the eastern end of the church two burials were found. One of them, located by the southern wall of the crypt contained a pewter crosier and was determined as an abbot’s grave. However, also in this case the body was deposited directly in the soil. In the eastern crypt a mysterious pit, about 4 m deep, oval in shape, was discovered. It was interpreted as the earliest place of depositing the dead monks. This hypothesis is difcult to verify as inside the pit a small number of human remains

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was found and the original contents of the feature were disturbed (in the rst half of the 13th century a brick tomb was placed over it). In the aisles of the church ve more burials were found in the earliest stratigraphic level which presumably can be dated to the Early Medieval period, though there are no nds which would substantiate this assumption. On the other hand, it is highly probable that many of the burials from the earliest period, destroyed during the consecutive redevelopments of the church were deposited in the ossaria discovered during the excavations. The persons buried within the church in the Early Middle Ages are assumed to have been monks. It is believed that the lay population was buried at a cemetery located near St. James’ church built in the 13th century.14 5. A double foundation and the controversy over a princely burial Still more fascinating results are provided by the investigations at a post-Benedictine abbey in Lubiq, a site located near one of the most important routes leading from Great Poland to Silesia. The monastery was situated in a characteristic manner: in a zone rich in lakes and also already well-settled. The area where the monastery was built embraced an elongated moraine hill. On the south it was adjoined by a lake and on the north, by swamps. The investigations have revealed that before the monastery buildings were erected, the top of the hill had not been inhabited. The nearest Early Medieval settlement dated to the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries was identied on lower lying land, in the area of the modern village of Lubiq.15 Archaeological investigations were conducted there between 1978 and 1994. They embraced the area of the monastery hill, the interior of the church and also St. Leonard’s church and the adjoining cemetery. The most interesting result was the conclusion that the rst monastic basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, began in the last quarter of the 11th century, was not nished. The earliest church has been explored to a small degree, yet it is possible to say that it was a basilica of large dimensions. This rst unsuccessful foundation is associated with the end 14

Chudziakowa 1997. More details on the monastery at Lubiq can be found in the following works: Perzanowski 1978; Skibniewski 1988; Kurnatowska (ed.) 1996; all contain a selection of literature. 15

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of the rule of Bolesdaw the Bold. According to Zoa Kurnatowska16 at least several decades must have passed between that stage and the next one, when the next undertakings were completed. It is believed that the foundation of the monastery was renewed as late as during the rule of Bolesdaw Wrymouth. It has been also established that in the second phase the original concept of the spatial arrangement of the structure was abandoned. It may be thus said that in fact it was a new foundation, initiated after a long break. From the very start (unlike the cases described above), the church was seen as part of a whole complex of buildings erected according to the model of the Benedictine order, that is of a church, the quadrangle of the cloisters and the cemetery accompanying these structures. The plan of the monastery church, built in the opus emplectum technique from various kinds of rock was considerably smaller (13 u 9.5 m) than the previous one. It was an aisle-less building with a transept, closed at the east end by three apses. In the second phase (second half of the 12th century) a threestorey western part was added. The masonry cloisters were built when the church had been nished. Its earliest phase dated to the second half of the 12th century, is represented by the eastern wing (Fig. 167). Before the end of that century, the monastery at Lubiq was inhabited by 34 monks. In the rst third of the 13th century the main apse was replaced by a buttressed chancel and the northern part of the transept was dismantled. A rectangular chapel was built between the northern wall of the chancel and chapter house. Little has remained from the Romanesque decorations; these are mainly various architectural details. Particularly interesting is a massive quadrangular tower in the western part, added in the last quarter of the 12th century with a stair turret, the width of the tower is equal to that of the aisle body. Magdalena uurek has noticed the similarity of that element to the abbot’s church at Mogilno described above.17 It can not, however, be ultimately determined whether this element of the church was planned as a part of the princes’ necropolis, as the above-mentioned author suggested. In the late 12th century new elements of the monastery complex were built. At that time, the cloister surrounding the close was completed by the addition of its western wing, also the quadrangular tower was 16 17

1996. uurek 1997.

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Figure 167. Lubiq, plan of the monastic complex from the late 12th century (after Z. Kurnatowska; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

completed (or built) which, it is believed, housed the abbot’s residence. In the late 13th century the northern wing (interpreted as the refectory) was built on the outside of the northern wall of the monastery. Other monastic buildings (e.g., accommodation for visitors) were built in the 14th century. The sacral structures were surrounded by a masonry circuit wall and a moat on the northern and part of the western side. On the south side, the remains of the wall of the church from the earliest phase were used as an enclosing element. To the west of the wall two towers were built, a semi-circular one in the central part of the southern wall and another, 4 m in diameter, one in the corner. Such towers, unknown at that time in Polish lands, are considered to be a direct inuence from west-European tradition. The whole area of the monastery was trapezoid in shape and occupied an area of 38 u 40–45 m. The area to the south of the church was occupied by a cemetery. Some of the burials uncovered there, especially the ones in wood-lined

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graves should be associated, according to Zoa Kurnatowska18 with the high social standing of the persons buried in them. The hottest debate, however, was inspired by the graves from the monastic church. The archaeological excavations have proved that the deceased were buried both in the church itself and in the monastic buildings. Altogether more than 270 graves were uncovered; numerous burials were also found in crypts and ossuaria. However, only few of them were associated with the earliest period. Initially the deceased were buried both in the monastic church and in the cemetery. Badly disturbed burials were found in the church nave; only in one case the body was accompanied by traces of wood possibly coming from the cofn. The majority of the graves originally dug in the chancel, presumed to have been of the abbots (or other church notables), were destroyed when later crypts were built. Two burials differing from the others are particularly interesting. The rst one, situated in the nave under the western emporium (gallery) is located in a quadrangular tomb encased inside with wood and covered with a slab of lime mortar reaching the level of the oor. The grave contained remains of a 30–35 year old man and was badly disturbed by plunderer’s pits connected with the period of the ghts between the Great Polish magnates in the late 14th century. According to the discoverers the form of the tomb and its location, usually reserved for the graves of founders, indicate that the person buried under the church oor was prince Bolesdaw, one of the sons of Mieszko the Old’s second marriage with a Ruthenian, Evdoksia. The duke’s age, his social status and the presence on the list of the donors of the monastery are the arguments which, according to Magdalena uurek19 substantiate this hypothesis. In a burial chapel, uncovered on the northern side of the chancel, the remains of 31 persons were found. This was a room of the dimensions of 11 u 4 m and the height of 5 m, built of stones in the shape of elongated cubes, originally closed with an apse (but after rebuilding with a straight wall). None of the burials had grave goods except for the stratigraphically earliest one which was assigned number 186. The body was deposited c. 1.20 m below the oor level and placed in a box with sides and a cover but without a bottom (Fig. 168). Only few of the bones have been preserved. The age (45–55 years), gender (male),

18 19

1997. 1997.

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Figure 168. Lubiq, burial chapel with the presumed grave of Wdadysdaw Spindleshanks (after Z. Kurnatowska, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

height (175–176 cm) and an evident asymmetry of the feet have been determined. Using the dendrochronological analysis it has been established that the wood from which the box was made was cut between the year 1220 and 1230. The debates on the identity of the person resting in the grave have not yielded a denite conclusion. As an example one might cite the variety of opinions presented in the latest volume on the Benedictine abbey at Lubiq.20 Some researchers (Izabela Kabaciqska and Michad Kara), suggest the possibility of identifying the deceased with Wdadysdaw Spindleshanks (ruled 1202–1229), others are deeply convinced that there exists a direct connection (Ryszard Kabaciqski) or deny this possibility (Maciej Przybyd). Izabela Kabaciqska has drawn attention to many factors which allow the identication of the discovered

20

Cf. Kurnatowska (ed.) 1966; with the articles of the authors mentioned later on.

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remains as a duke (and at the same time stresses that the historians specializing in the history of the Middle Ages do not agree as to the date of birth of the ruler). The possibilities of interpreting the remains deprived of the skull, which would yield many precise data, are thus not a strong argument. Michad Kara draws attention to a unique nd from the tomb, namely, a turned discoid terminal of antler with a hole with remains of rotten wood inside. This is identied as part of a wooden staff. This may be an imitation of the insignia of west Frankish rulers, but Kara suggests that besides fullling ceremonial functions, the staff could have had a practical use, considering the prince’s problems with walking. Also the form and place of the burial support, according to the above author, the claim that this was a privileged place. Ryszard Kabaciqski, who followed the same train of thought, remarks on the nd of a plaque with a representation of the Piasts’ eagle with features typical of the 13th century impressed in a copper sheet found in the rubble layer of the sacristy. Also the results of the X-ray examination of the remains are, in his opinion, another argument for associating the remains with the duke, as they indicate traces of a blood-borne inammation in the bones. What is more, in the monastery there exists a tradition that Spindleshanks was buried in a special chapel. However, despite so many positive premises for the identication of this body, there are also ones which seem to undermine this opinion. They were put forward by Maciej Przybyd who believes that the traditions both of the apparent donations of Wdadysdaw Spindleshanks to the Lubiq monastery and of his being buried there are full of contradictions and a careful analysis of the sources results in serious doubts as to the possibility of the prince’s having had his grave in the monastery. According to that author it was Spindleshanks’ brother’s son, Wdadysdaw Odonic, that was more linked with the Lubin monastery and was its actual benefactor. According to this hypothesis it was the latter that was buried in the Lubiq monastery and then some time in the past the dukes of the same rst name were confused. Maciej Przybyd also remarks that in the light of the analysis of written sources there is more evidence that Spindleshanks was 65–70 years old at the time of his death whereas the age of the buried person (50 years) is more similar to Odonic’s life span. Finally, the asymmetry of the deceased’s feet which for many researchers is a strong if not denitive argument for the claim that the remains are of Spindleshanks, may, as Maciej Przybyd believes, have belonged to any other person living at that time. And also in this case not all arguments (e.g., the one concerning the age

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of the deceased duke) are sufciently supported by the sources. Were the bones found in Lubiq the remains of Spindleshanks, as the majority believes, or of his brother’s son, as it is claimed by Maciej Przybyd? We will leave this question unanswered. As long as there are uncertainties, this problem will remain the topic of scientic discussions. A further element of the investigations carried out by the Lubiq team was the examination of a settlement located to the west from the monastic wall and used during the construction of the monastery. Remains of workshops and associated houses were uncovered there. The latter were both dug into the ground and ground-level structures. It has been established that most of the settlement was demolished after the monastery was completed in the second half of the 13th century. However, some of the structures were preserved and used by those servicing the monastery.21 6. Archaeology and the earliest Cistercian foundations The Cistercians were an order of monks established in France in the 11th century.22 Their origins are associated with the reform of the monastery life in which St. Benedict’s order was combined with asceticism and the ideals of the hermits’ life widespread in Europe at that time and the separation should be to some extent treated as a reaction to the Cluniac reform. In such conditions, in 1097, Robert of Molesmes together with a group of his disciples departed from his home monastery and created a new one called Citaux near Dijon. Soon afterwards his monastery and his order were accepted and the monks exchanged the black Benedictine habits for white or gray ones. Asceticism was introduced and the monks maintained themselves by working the land. They also returned to liturgy from the times before the Cluniac reform. From the 12th century, the Cistercians and their foundations became more and more numerous in Early Medieval Poland (Fig. 169). Their construction works were especially intensive in the 12th and 13th century. In Polish lands, the rst monks appeared in the 1140 as a branch of the abbey at Morimond in Burgundy. The earliest house of

21

Kurnatowska (ed.) 1996, 136ff. On the Cistercians in Polish lands cf., i.a., swiechowski 1963; 2000; Zachwatowicz 1971; Wyrwa, Strzelczyk, Kaczmarek 1999; Wyrwa, Dobosz 2000; Kanior 2002; all with literature. 22

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Figure 169. Medieval Cistercian monasteries in Polish lands (after A. Wyrwa; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

that liation is the abbey at J\drzejów founded c. 1140 and the one in cekno, (described below); more Cistercian houses were founded by Kazimierz the Just and located at Koprzywnica, Sulejów, and Wàchock. The abbey at Lubiàv in Silesia (1175) having numerous liations was connected with the territory of Germany, in the 12th and 13th century six Cistercian foundations were created here. A similar number of them was established in several places in Pomerania, for example at Kodbacz, Oliwa, and Buków Morski near Koszalin. In Great Poland and Kuiavia, besides the great abbey in cekno (1143), others were founded, including at Bledzewo, Paradyv, Làd, Obra, Zemsko, Wieleq, Szepetel, and Byszewo (cf. Fig. 169). The Cistercian houses had the right to the duke’s regal privilege (regale); they also had total or partial economic and court immunities. From the mid-12th century the abbeys were the patrons of many parishes. In the 13th century the process of integration of the monastery estate can be also observed. The main source

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of income at the end of the Early Middle Ages was the work of the peasants who paid the monastery a feudal rent. The monks also built monastic hospitals and ran scriptoria in which liturgical books were copied and chronicles were written down. As in the cases described above, archaeological excavations at Cistercian foundations have brought in recent years many new elements complementing the knowledge about their beginnings. The most interesting investigations conducted recently in Poland were those at the monastery and its settlement base at cekno in Great Poland. 7. The ‘little monastery’ at dekno At cekno (Paduki region) a settlement complex embracing several dozen sites from the Stone Age until the modern times has been identied. The archaeological work conducted there had from the very start an interdisciplinary character and embraced many archaeological sites, open settlements, a stronghold, and remains of a monastery.23 The most interesting of the excavated sites was the settlement complex at the site known as klasztorek (little monastery) where a settlement and a stronghold from the pre-state period, an early state period stronghold with a Romanesque rotunda, a Cistercian monastery and a multi-layered inhumation cemetery with a chapel were identied. The name klasztorek appears in documents referring to a village which has now vanished. Today only the ruins of the ancient monastery remain. It is said that by the end of the 16th century the stones and bricks from them were used for building the church at Wàgrowiec. The rst sacral structure in the stronghold at cekno was a simple rotunda with a semi-circular apse the remains of which were discovered in the north-eastern part of the stronghold immediately below the remains of the Cistercian church (Fig. 170). Its total length together with the apse was c. 12 m (interior diameter 6.8 m, diameter of apse up to 3.6 m). The foundations and surviving fragments of the aboveground walls were built of broken sandstone slabs. The archaeological evidence indicates that the structure was built before the mid-11th century. It is believed that the rotunda was dedicated to St. Peter which, according to the excavator Andrzej Wyrwa,24 is connected with the 23 24

Wyrwa 2000. 2000.

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Figure 170. Architectural discoveries at the post-Cistercian complex at cekno (after A. Wyrwa; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

earliest dedication of the monastery (The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Peter), the hypothesis however is difcult to prove in the absence of other evidence. The cekno rotunda is ascribed a large importance in the process of Christianization of north-eastern Great Poland and the adjoining areas, especially of Prussia and Pomerania. At the same time it is one of the few structures of that type in Polish lands. It was here, on the site of the former stronghold, that a Cistercian monastery was founded in c. 1153. However, according to Andrzej Wyrwa, the construction work had already begun in the 1140s. The monks came from Altenberg near Cologne and thus cekno was a daughter of that house. The abbey functioned until the 15th century when it was transferred from cekno to Wàgrowiec. When the monastery was moved away, a cemetery was set up in its place and a chapel was built. About 1620 there were no inhabitants in the area so the cemetery was no longer used and the chapel became a ruin. In modern times only memories of the old monastery have survived. The recent excavations have proved that under the rst monastic church but overlying and enclosing the rotunda, there was a small oratory. It was rectangular in plan and had a rectangular chancel with a semi-circular apse. On the west it was adjoined by a vestibule. The structure was c. 25 m long and c. 15 m wide. The existence of this

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structure suggests that there were direct temporal and functional links between the rotunda and the establishment of a monastery in the place. Clearly though the earlier church was not suitable for the functions and rules of the monastery. Between the end of the 12th and the mid13th century the oratory was successively extended to the east. At that time its vestibule and western facade were dismantled, the northern and southern elevations were extended and a new western facade was built. In this way a larger church, 42.5 m in length and 14–14.6 m in width was constructed. It functioned in the same form until the early 14th century. In the nal phase it probably became unstable as it was built not on bedrock but on features from the earlier chronological periods. As a result, it collapsed and this was probably the reason why the monastery was moved to Wàgrowiec. During the excavations, elements of various phases of monastic structures were uncovered. Some of the rooms are considered to have been the monks’ cells or chapels from the time when the cemetery was functioning. No traces, however, have been found of a cloisters which would have been the center of the monastic structures. For that reason it is assumed that the latter were probably scattered. At the same time it is suggested that the traces of stone foundations which were found during the season of 1998 may be the remains of the chapter house. During the excavations numerous architectural details of gypsum were found. Some of them are richly decorated with engravings, oral motifs, griffons, etc. According to Andrzej Wyrwa25 part of these elements come from Phase I of the oratory. It cannot be also excluded that some of them, found in a secondary deposit, may have been decorations of the chronologically earlier rotunda. The investigations described above concern one of the three excavated sites of the cekno settlement complex, hence the monastery functioned in a dense network of settlements whose main advantage was the location near a trade route leading from Gniezno and Poznaq towards Pomerania. Some of these settlements, including cekno, were founded in the Middle Ages as towns on Magdeburg law.

25

2000, 120.

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chapter thirteen 8. Wàchock: a monastery on the ruins of a palatium?

The earliest Cistercian monastery of the Morimond foundation is J\drzejów located in Little Poland. However, it was not this site, but the post-Cistercian complex at Wàchock which was the one that has attracted the researchers’ attention for many years. In the 1960s many discoveries were made there, including ones concerning the earliest, 13th century, phase of the monastery. This was, according to the results of the excavations, a three-wing complex adjoining the southern wall of the monastic church. Some of the other uncovered buildings are associated with the Cistercians from the period before the monastery was built but after the rst date when they appeared in Wàchock, that is 1179.26 In the 1970s some discoveries were made which stirred strong emotions among researchers. The nd in question were the robber trenches of previously unknown monumental structures preceding the buildings of the 13th century monastery. The most interesting of them were a sacral structure (interpreted as a palace chapel), and a rectangular structure, interpreted as a palatium. Their material traces were scant, poorly preserved and unclear. Among them were traces preserved in the eastern part of the chancel (including its foundation base), a fragment of the robbed out northern wall and the foundations of the pilasters between the aisle and nave were interpreted as the remains of a chapel. The evidence in the eastern wall was interpreted as the remains of a rectangular apse with shallow niches inside it (Fig. 171). It was assumed that the rectangular 13 u 11.80 m nave ended with an emporium gallery in its western part, and at the western end was a substantial vestibule. The structure had annexes, and on the north this had the form of a row of semi-circular apses. Krystyna Biadoskórska believes that this complicated spatial composition of the inside was accompanied by a simplicity and compactness of the external plan. The whole structure was built from local grey-yellow sandstone and seems to be an amalgamation of the plans of a classic Roman basilica and a church built on the plan of a Greek cross. In some of the ground oor rooms of the thirteenth century monastery, remains of the southern, western and northern walls of an earlier sandstone-built structure on a north-south axis were found. According

26

Cf. Massalski, Olszewski 1993.

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Figure 171. Presumed palace chapel in Wàchock (after K. Biadoskórska).

to Krystyna Biadoskórska they are connected with stairs located at right angles to it, remains of which were uncovered near the southern wall, and in that place the lower part of a doorway connected with the stairs was found. At the southern end of the structure the remains of two rectangular rooms were excavated, and at various points of their interior the remains of a oor made of sandstone slabs were identied. The whole structure, described as the remains of the duke’s palatium has, according to Krystyna Biadoskórska,27 analogies in Carolingian and Ottonian palatial complexes of western Europe. The researcher sought analogies for the above-described palace chapel in the same region. Due to the formal features of the structures and to their context, their origin was dated to the times of Kazimierz the Restorer and his wife, Rycheza, that is before the mid-11th century. The time when the two structures functioned is indirectly determined by a cemetery discovered near the chapel. It is an inhumation cemetery with graves oriented to the west, and is stratigraphically earlier than the

27

1979.

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Cistercian burials. Among the 20 graves, seven had cofns, one was in a casing of stone slabs; the remaining ones were deposited directly in the ground. One child burial was recorded. The fact that a cemetery was established in that place was considered to have been due to the discontinuation of the palatial function of the complex although the buildings were probably still standing. It is believed that after 1179 (the year when the Cistercians were brought to Wàchock) some the earlier buildings were dismantled and others incorporated in the 13th century monastery. The majority of the material from the old structures was then re-used to build the wings of the monastery, especially the western and southern one. There, however, arises the question why a new monastery chapel was built if the old one was still there. Krystyna Biadoskórska believes that this was mainly due to the Cistercian rules. As the old chapel took over some of the parish functions, including the sepulchral ones, it could not serve as a monastic building at the same time. The conception presented above was positively received by part of the scientic milieu. Appreciating the importance of the described discoveries, Gerard Labuda formulated a conception partly concerning the founders of the earliest structures. He believes that there are grounds for suggesting that the remains identied in Wàchock should be associated with the times of Wdadysdaw Herman and his wife Judith of Salicia who had a large estate in Little Poland. According to him in this period, when Cracow and Pdock were permanent residences of the ruler there occurred a special opportunity to establish in Wàchock a residence located half-way between the two. Most probably it was Judith, Herman’s wife, who had the greatest inuence on the concept and form of the residence buildings. Thus the most appropriate time for the origination of the complex was, Labuda argued, not the mid11th but the third decade of that century. However, after the ‘period of feudal fragmentation’, Wàchock was no longer a stop between Cracow and Pdock. It is not surprising that in the early 12th century it became a place where the local cemetery was created. In the early 12th century Judith left for Germany, and Wàchock became the property of the Bishop of Cracow. Hence, according to Labuda, the Cistercians were established there and a monastery was built, which for Bishop Gedka might have been an effective attempt at salvaging the remains of his old inheritance.28

28

Labuda 1983.

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These discoveries have been interpreted quite differently by other researchers, archaeologists, architects and historians of art. The basic drawbacks of Krystyna Biadoskórska’s conception are, they claim, the lack of measurements and of precision in denition of the elements of architecture, their enigmatic character and especially lack of a professional analysis of the stratigraphy performed by an archaeologist. This had led to considerable freedom both in the description and interpretation of the phenomena. According to critics, the reconstruction of the chapel and the palatium are the product of the author’s imagination rather than of the published documentation; this concerns both the formal features of the presumed structures and the suggested analogies.29 The criticicisms seem quite convincing. In the publications concerning the discoveries at Wàchock one can see the inuence of the interests of the art historian and architect, whereas the archaeological context of the discoveries plays a marginal role. The archaeologist has difculty in deciphering, not only the contexts, but also the material evidence of many elements, including ones which play a pivotal role in determining signicant issues. At the same time there remains the uncertainty that when pointing out the mistakes in exploration and documentation the baby may be thrown out with the bath water. Many of the discoveries of structures earlier than the monastery buildings presented by Krystyna Biadoskórska are quite obvious. However, it can not be determined whether they should be interpreted in the way she does.30 It may be asked whether additional data allowing the debate to ultimately be settled will ever be found. This also raises the question about the reasonability of investigating Medieval monastic structures by a methodology in which archaeology plays a secondary part. The cost of doing so may be the complete destruction of the evidence.

29 The discussion, published in several consecutive yearbooks of Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, did not really lead to any positive conclusions and the more so to solutions possible for the two arguing parties to accept (cf. i.a., Gartkiewicz, Grzybkowski, Kunkel, Widawski 1981); after many years these issues were referred to by Z. swiechowski (2000a, 20). 30 Paradoxically, both Krystyna Biadoskórska and Gerard Labuda may theoretically be right but on the basis of the published documentation it is rather impossible to prove any of these claims.

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Figure 172. Post-monastic complex in Trzemeszno: 1—rst phase, 2—second phase, 3—Baroque phase, 4—inhumation burials, 5—stone tomb with a woman’s skeleton, 6—charnel deposit (after J. Chudziakowa).

9. Monasteries still under investigation The examples presented above concern architectural complexes of selected monastic congregations. In the early stages of the state, already from the late 11th century, there were many canonries founded in Polish towns (Chapter 10), with which numerous collegiate churches are associated. In the rst half of the 12th century, the Canons Regular (monks following St. Augustine’s order) were particularly active. They are connected with the monastery at the top of Mount sl\va, which was never erected, as the recent investigations have revealed (Chapter 5). The abbey at Trzemeszno (Fig. 172) was impressive, the monastic church of the Canons Regular (of St. Augustine) dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Adalbert, was built between the late 11th and the mid-12th century. The excavations in 1949–1950 and then in the 1980s, did not yield any data about the earliest churchyard. It is supposed that the burials were destroyed or removed to another place when the Baroque basilica was built in the 18th century. The most interesting discovery were two crypts, the earlier of which with its apse

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was interpreted by Krystyna Józefowiczowa31 as the place of burial of a saint associated with the person of St. Adalbert. In this interpretation, both the crypt and the church are supposed to have been built already in the late 10th century. However, more recent excavations by Jadwiga Chudziakowa32 have not produced any evidence to support this claim, they showed that the structure could have been built in the rst half of the 12th century at the earliest. The hypothesis of the link between the discovery with St. Adalbert is still maintained as from the 12th century there existed a tradition connected with that saint. It is assumed that relics of the saint were kept in the crypt. There is, however, no direct evidence as to who was buried in the church and in which part of it. The Norbetans were also another order which was active in the Polish lands; in the rst decades of the 12th century, they had more than a dozen abbeys there. It is assumed that the earliest one is St. Laurence’s monastery at Nowa Wiet near Kalisz, built in 1129 –1136. At the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries the monastery complexes of Norbertans of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Cross and St. Procopius’ rotunda in Strzelno (Figs. 173, 174) were established. The church (in modern times dedicated to the Holy Trinity) has a surprisingly rich plan.33 Its greatest attraction are the columns separating the nave from the aisles with exceptionally rich gural decoration (Fig. 175). Outside the church, to the west and south, 38 graves have been found, including more than a dozen undisturbed ones. These were burials of men, oriented to the west, with no grave goods, deposited directly in the ground, with arms alongside the body or crossed at the breast. It is assumed that these are burials both of monks and of lay people of high secular or ecclesiastical standing. Many of the earliest burials were removed to a large charnel house built to the south of the church at the end of the transept. The layer of the skeletons there was 2 meters thick and contained the remains of hundreds of deceased men aged between 20 and more than 55 years. According to Jadwiga Chudziakowa34 these are most probably the bones of monks transferred from the earlier chancel and church aisles during its reconstruction in the 18th century.

31 32 33 34

1978. 1997. Chudziakowa 1990. 1997.

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Figure 173. Rotunda at Strzelno (after J. Chudziakowa).

Figure 174. Plan of the monastic complex at Strzelno: 1—Romanesque phase, 2—Gothic buildings, 3—Baroque buildings, 4—inhumation graves, 5—charnel deposits, 6—stone tomb in the rotunda (after J. Chudziakowa).

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Figure 175. Columns with gural decoration from the church at Strzelno (after J. Chudziakowa).

The earliest arrivals in Poland include also the Knights Hospitallers (established in Jerusalem during the Crusades in order to look after the pilgrims and the sick). They had their rst house in Poland in Zagotm where they were settled in 1166 by a participant of a Crusade to the Holy Land, Henryk of Sandomierz. Soon afterwards a monastic church dedicated to St. John the Baptist was built there.35 In the context of the Crusades it is worth mentionning also the canons of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre whose rst monastery was founded by Jaksa at Miechów in 1162. In the 13th century there appeared in Poland the monastic foundations of the Templars. *

*

*

The monastic congregations enriched and added color to the cultural landscape of Medieval Poland. During the consecutive centuries they left their traces in the form of surviving churches, parts of monastic structures, cemeteries and also remains of adjacent rural settlements, 35

Zachwatowicz 1971, 131ff.

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often going back to the time when the monastery was established. Many of these structures are for the archaeologist valuable potential evidence although in many cases it is very difcult to reach back to their earliest phases due to the numerous changes which took place during the centuries. There are also many other structures which have not been discovered yet. In the interdisciplinary research work on such complexes, the contribution of archaeology is a crucial one. They are often the only ones who can make proper identication and interpretation of many features in monasteries. An attempt has been made above to prove that interpretations of many of them made without the help of an archaeologist is often imperfect and can contain a large margin of error.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE PUZZLE OF THE CENTURY: POTTERY MARKS 1. The long history of research and ambiguous results The places of religious cult presented in the previous chapter are inalienably connected with the origins of Christianity in Polish lands. Becoming part of the local settlement landscape, they contributed to progressive limitation of the popularity and elimination of pagan beliefs. However, for a period long after Poland had adopted Christianity, we encounter many examples of magical practices, the tradition of which goes back to the pre-state times. An interesting group of material traces of such practices are the marks on the bottoms of pottery vessels. These marks, symbols usually in relief made of lines and other shapes occurring under the base of certain vessels, comprise a mysterious element of the symbolic culture of the whole Slavic world and, at the same time, of the European Middle Ages. It is enough to say that all attempts at explaining their origins and function have yielded more questions than answers. Although phenomena similar in appearance are known also from the prehistoric periods, at no point in time were they such a meaningful element of material culture as in the case of the Slavic vessels. It is thus not surprising that in the past they were treated as a trait identifying Slavic culture in their own right. However, at the same time it was not noticed that similar signs were recorded on pottery of nomadic (the Alans, Protobulgarians, Avars) and Germanic peoples, for example from Germany and northern Italy.1 In France, in the Rhône basin a group of sites has been identied where in the 11th century pottery vessels with stamped signs were predominant. Yet, western European researchers have so far not paid much attention to

1 On the subject of the marks on Early Medieval pottery from German territories cf. Hübner 1969; Gross 1991; on the Early Medieval potter’s marks from the area of Italy an interesting article has been recently published by M. Piotrowski (2004) both works with literature.

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Figure 176. Forms of potter’s marks identied on the bases of Early Medieval pottery vessels from Kruszwica (after W. Dzieduszycki).

this phenomenon.2 The distribution of these pottery marks is quite different in the Slavic countries, where they were quite common. The most common place for these marks to occur is on the outer side of the vessel’s base; they can be found only sporadically on another part of the pot. The next characteristic feature is the way the symbols were made: most often these are imprints of the wheel (where the sign was incised); in a few cases they were made with the use of a stamp or engraved on the vessel. Attention is drawn by the variety of form of the symbols, even in vessels from one site (Fig. 176). It has been suggested that usually these forms can be associated with solar symbols (circles, crosses, swastikas, and their variants) although the semantic content of many of them is unknown. The signs appeared in a specic chronological period, mainly from the second half of the 10th till the mid-13th

2 The vessels with marks are treated there as a local phenomenon and the analyses focus mainly, like in the Slavic countries, on the difculties in interpretation (more on the subject: Buko 1986; with literature).

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century. Before and after that period they are quite scarce (Fig. 177). Finally, it is worth adding that the proportions of pottery vessels with such marks varies on different Early Medieval sites in Poland. In some of them up to half of the vessel bases bear these marks but there are also cases where they comprise from one to several per cent. The rst scholar to notice and describe the phenomenon was Konstanty Tyszkiewicz.3 Already in the mid-19th century he tried to associate its appearance with the symbols of the beliefs of the old Slavs. Since that time the issue has been dealt with by consecutive generations of researchers in various Slavic countries. In Poland the investigations were taken up in the period between the two World Wars, but they gained a real momentum during the Millennium studies. At that time, that is, in the 1950s and 1960s, the greatest number of works devoted to the problem were written. Their authors either accepted or disagreed with Tyszkiewicz’s concept.4 In the second group, the most denite standpoint was taken in consecutive publications by Zoja Kodos-Szafraqska.5 Based on the experiences of Soviet authors, especially of Boris Rybakov,6 she put the main stress on the economic functions of the signs. According to this concept, some of the vessels were marked for identication and control purposes. The marked products, considered as craftsmen’s identication marks, were to designate the part of his products which the potter was obliged to give as the tribute in the feudal system. It was also noticed that many symbols followed certain regularities in their development (they evolved from simpler forms to more complex ones). It was assumed that this phenomenon was a reection of the fact that the workshop was inherited by consecutive generations of potters. Both the hypotheses: the ‘magic’ and ‘economic’ one had (and still have) ardent advocates and opponents. Attempts were made also to reconcile the two standpoints. Wdodzimierz Hodubowicz7 believed that the vessels were marked by the potters at the request of the consumers who in this way sought protection against evil. According to Witold Hensel,8 every sign was of magical character for primeval man, and

3

1868. An extensive review of the concepts formulated in the past on the subjects can be found in: Lepówna 1968; with literature (cf. also: Tuchtina 1960; Szymaqski 1968; Makiewicz 1973). 5 1953, 1962. 6 1940. 7 1965. 8 1950. 4

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therefore was a carrier of magical functions, yet due to the fact that symbols were made by specic people they became the signs of individual producers. Unfortunately, none of the above hypotheses has helped to solve the problem. If the theory of their connection with an economic or monitoring function is adopted, it is easy to notice that the marked products do not differ considerably from the other ones. Furthermore, the basic differences in the proportions of bases with the sign and the ones without it can be observed in material from various early Polish centers. Additionally, the signs on the bases appeared before the origin of the state, therefore the phenomenon is earlier that the appearance of the system of a developed feudal economy. The hypothesis of the magical function of the signs also has many weak points. This interpretation is made more difcult because of the variety of the signs, and the fact that the form of many of them does not seem to have anything recognizably in common with cult. It is therefore not surprising that after the period of relatively intensive research which is reected in a substantial number of publications of the 1950s and 1960s, in the following decades there were fewer attempts to investigate this topic. In many publications of the 1970s and later we only nd references to the earlier concepts and statements that new evidence does not contribute anything new to the discussion. While analyzing the pottery materials from Sandomierz, I noticed that the potters’ marks were legible to varying degrees, from very clear impressions (which were the least numerous) to very unclear ones, which were predominant. The situation was paradoxical if the aim of the potter was to imprint his own sign on the product but at the same time he did not care if it was legible. These observations served as a basis for a completely different hypothesis. It was suggested that many of the magical signs related not to the vessels but to the potter’s wheel, which had these symbols carved on them.9 In favorable conditions, when ne-grained non-plastic material was sprinkled onto the wheel (which for all medieval hand-built and wheel-nished pottery was the standard practice), and the sign was deeply engraved it could make its imprint on the pottery products. The case was different when there was a lot of coarse-grained non-plastic material on the wheel surface, and when the sign engraved on the wheel was too shallow. In such situations the

9

Buko 1982.

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sign even physically present and visible on the wheel, did not leave any traces on the bottom of the vessel. According to this concept, most of the pottery signs were to provide magic protection for the potter’s wheel. Hence the imprints visible on part of the vessels should be treated as a secondary phenomenon, that is, a manifestation of these practices. It has been recorded that similar practices were adhered to by potters from the Polish lands in modern times.10 The above conclusions required verication. Unfortunately no publication has been issued so far which presents a critical analysis of the concept presented above. In such a situation, some of my students preparing their M.A. theses at Warsaw University were given the task of conducting research in this respect on the basis of the study of other pottery assemblages.11 Since the results of their investigations have never been published it is worth presenting them here. 2. Signs on the bases of vessels from Kalisz and Ostrów Lednicki: an abundance of qualitatively new archaeological sources The pottery from the stronghold site at Kalisz-Zawodzie (cf. chapter 10) is a very useful assemblage of material for studies on potters’ marks. In the assemblage of material from that center as many as 529 (i.e., more than 40 per cent) of the vessel bases recovered were found to bear these marks. Thus Kalisz is one of the archaeological sites with a high proportions of marked pottery. A large part of these vessels (as much as 35 per cent) comes from the phase dated from the 13th till the early 14th century. This is quite strange as it is generally believed that the 13th century and especially its second half were the time when the number of pottery vessels bearing such marks on the bases was drastically decreasing and in the 14th century they do not appear at all. It is possible that a certain number of the nds from (bases found in) these contexts comes from earlier phases and is redeposited material. In 10

Czubala 1978, 31. So far two dissertations have been written on the subject under my guidance: one concerns signs on pottery from the fortied settlement at Kalisz-Zawodzie (Endrach 2001), the other, signs on vessel bases from the eastern bridge abutment at Ostrów Lednicki (Kostrzewa 1999). The access to the materials was granted to the students by Tadeusz Baranowski from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, and Mateusz castowiecki, from the Museum of the First Piasts in Lednica; I would like to express my sincere gratitude to them for allowing me to quote the results here. 11

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Phase VII dated to the second half of the 11th and the 12th century 20 per cent of the bases bore these marks, whereas in the rst half of the 11th century (Phase VI), there were slightly more than 13 per cent. No preference for any kind of sign has been observed for any of the chronological periods. Neither were there any premises to believe that there is any correlation between the shapes of the bases and the technological features of the vessels and the presence (or its lack) of potter’s marks on them. More than 44 per cent of the total number of the marks (this is clearly more than in Sandomierz) were determined as illegible. About 20% were regarded as well legible. Among the material from the abutment at Ostrów Lednicki the number of marked bases is smaller, yet also signicant: among the 911 analyzed examples, 120 (more than 13 per cent) had potter’s marks; the site should therefore be included in the group of those in which vessels with marks appear in moderate quantities. The analyzed items come from stratigraphic contexts dated from the second half of the 10th till the rst half of the 12th century. As far as the legibility of the signs is concerned, in almost all layers very poorly legible signs were predominant (about 67% of all the analyzed items), while again the group of very legible signs was the least numerous. The results conrm the pattern observed at both Kalisz and Sandomierz, in the analyzed assemblages marks which were of a form which is difcult to recognize predominated. Still more interesting are some details concerning the form of the signs. 3. Unusual signs The nds from Kalisz are distinguished by the diversity of the forms and by the lack of identical signs. Furthermore, despite their diversity, there are no symbols which occur only at that site. The most popular are variants of the cross and swastika, also circles and polygons are frequent. A numerous group is made up by bosses and ‘undetermined’ signs; the last mentioned category was formed because some symbols were fragmentarily preserved. In the material analyzed there was also a pot base with the imprint of a plate used for repairing the potter’s wheel which partly obscured the sign. Particularly interesting are also the traces of nger impressions obscuring the mark, which seems to be an argument against intentional marking of the products. These are not unique as there are four examples from the assemblage from

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Kalisz; a similar phenomenon was recorded on a vessel base from Ostrów Lednicki (Fig. 178). Another feature worthy of attention is the appearance in Kalisz of signs clearly connected with the vessel itself and not the wheel. Four of them were engraved with a tool and ve were stamped. This group embraces a category of symbols so far unknown to me: in all cases they have the shape of a short line.12 An asymmetric sign of a broad line impressed with a stamp (?) was identied on the external part of the base of a miniature vessel found in a grave. Its detailed analysis suggests that it was made with in soft clay. The impression has the shape of a parallelogram; one of its shorter sides is slightly damaged probably by the tool. The bottom of the sign is slightly convex which suggests that the stamp was a little concave. Also remarkable is the internal right edge of the depression where a tiny lifted layer of clay can be seen and the internal side of the line is deeper near one of the edges than the rest of the surface of the sign. This may be the trace of intentional correction (deepening) of the symbol in soft clay by means of a sharp tool (Fig. 179). The morphology of the mark suggests that this action was done in a dynamic way: the tool was stuck in the clay in the central part of the base and then moved rapidly towards the axis of the vessel where the trace is clearly shallower. The described phenomena appeared in archaeological contexts dated to the second half of the 11th to the end of the 12th century and the end of the 12th to the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. In all cases the way in which the sign was formed can be described. They were made with the use of a stamp and/or engraved with a tool with a sharp or rounded tip. In one case the stamping was repeated and then the imprint was corrected (completed?) with a scribing tool near one edge of the sign. All the signs were placed on the outside and in the center of the vessel base; all have similar dimensions not exceeding 2 cm in length. Their width is determined by the kind and size of the tool used for marking. In the case of the miniature vessel13 the context of the appearance (and the fact that the vessel was bottom upwards when it was made) are all particularly interesting as the sign of the line at the base of the vessel was visible. All these signs were certainly

12

Buko 2003. This vessel, or rather its base was found at an inhumation cemetery in KaliszZawodzie in Grave 418 (cf. Endrach 2001). 13

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Figure 178. Fingerprints on the bases of Early Medieval vessels from KaliszZawodzie and Ostrów Lednicki (after A. Buko & K. Kostrzewa).

Figure 179. Lines impressed on the bases of vessels from Kalisz-Zawodzie (after A. Buko).

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not accidental or connected with the process of production as they were intentionally placed on the wares. For that reason it is justiable to associate them with the symbolic sphere. However, these signs differ considerably from the classic denition of the potter’s mark. The ‘typical’ signs embrace a varying in form but denitely more graphically developed and diversied repertoire. They do not consist of single lines but of geometric gures of different degrees of complexity (cf. Fig. 176). What are the mysterious lines placed on the bases of some products from Kalisz? Were they made in order to mark before ring (what for?) the products which were to have some particular function? Perhaps the lines were used to mark the pots which were subject to some unidentied experiments made by the potters so as to be able to differentiate them after ring among hundreds of similar ones in the kiln? If that was the case then why they were placed in the central part of the vessel? Perhaps the lines fullled the function similar to the one of the ‘typical’ signs, which seems to be indicated by their central position? If that was the case then how can one explain the rarity of such forms? The number of questions without answer is quite big. It is also difcult to assess the actual scale of phenomena similar to the one described since they may have been unknown so far because the discoveries in Kalisz are unique or because the other researchers did not notice them.14 At Ostrów Lednicki, among the total of 120 bases with marks (out of the 911 analyzed bases) the dominating groups were the signs of the cross, swastika, a circle combined with other motifs (most usually a cross), and other ones which appeared sporadically. However, as in Kalisz, there are some signs which should be discussed separately. The ngerprints visible in the central part of the base were mentioned above (cf. Fig. 178). A nd unique in Polish lands is the sign in the form of a Celtic cross (?) drawn on the base with a at piece of wood. The preserved traces allow to determine the order in which the drawing was made (Fig. 180). Due to the way it was created, it is clear that the sign was intentionally made on the base of the vessel. The sign presented in Fig. 181, most probably stamped, should be included in the same

14 One can not exclude especially the possibility that the lines on fragments of the bases may have been in some cases treated as parts of damaged potter’s marks.

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Figure 180. Celtic cross (?) engraved on a vessel base from Ostrów Lednicki (photo: M. Gmur).

group. It is special because besides the main motif of a cross inscribed in a circle, secondary diagonal crosses between its arms.15 4. Where did the custom come from and why were the vessels marked? In the light of the analyses of the pot bases with signs from Kalisz and Ostrów Lednicki, several general conclusions can be drawn. First of all the opinion that the majority of imprints of symbols on the bases of Early Medieval vessels are the traces of marks on potter’s wheels should be maintained. This is supported mainly by the data concerning the number of completely illegible signs. In this context, the apparent practices of ‘rubbing out’ (?) of the designs by numerous ngerprints in the place where they generally appeared should be mentioned. However, the material from Kalisz and Ostrów Lednicki provided valid premises for another hypothesis, one concerning the intentional marking of the products. This applies especially to the symbols engraved on the bases or imprinted with a stamp. It has not been, however, established if the signs with a high degree of legibility imprinted by the wheel belong to this group. A group of marks which has been so far unknown (and at the moment is unique group) are the linear symbols from Kalisz.

15 This resembles to some extent a similar convention of marking known to me from south-eastern France (cf. Buko 1986; with literature).

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It would seem that the pottery from both sites has provided premises for adopting the conclusion that it was both the potters’ wheels (the dominating category) as well, to a lesser degree the products themselves. It is also possible to maintain the claim that these actions had mainly an apotropaic character. This assumption is supported by the sacrum of pottery production known from ethnology. Each step of the process of pottery-making was lled with irrational actions of magical character.16 In conclusion, it would be worth while to consider to what extent the potter’s marks are a feature characteristic for Slavic pottery. From the point of view of the intensity of the appearance of this feature the answer is undoubtedly positive. Yet both the chronological and geographical context of the nds of bases with stamps indicate that it was an interregional phenomenon known for various European peoples in the Early Middle Ages. In no place, however (the Early Medieval sites from the area of Rhône should be treated as an exception to the rule) do the signs on pottery appear with such intensity as in Slavic lands. It is much more difcult to answer the question when and in what circumstances the Slavs began to mark their wheels and products. There are no signs on the bases of early Slavic pottery. But in that period the potter’s wheel was not in use and it was this (according to the concept suggested here), which was the main subject of marking. The earliest symbols on Slavic pot bases appear to the south of the Carpathian Mountains in the 8th century. It is thus possible that this was the place where the Slavs rst adopted the custom. It is also highly probable that learning the ‘ideology of signs’ and its incorporation in the Slavic cultural repertoire might have happened through the Slavs’ direct contacts of with the nomadic peoples (Avars, Protobulgars) living in that area and also perhaps with the remnants of an indigenous (post-Roman?) population who knew the custom. However, the Slavic milieu did not simply adopt the practice. This is indicated by the scale and diversity of the described phenomenon. It may be rather supposed that the earlier known customs were transformed into a new, distinct quality of the symbolic culture of the Slavs, recognizable in the archaeological material until the end of the Middle Ages.

16

These practices are described extensively by D. Czubala (1978).

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

LOCALS AND MIGRANTS So far in this book, the people of the Middle Ages have remained in the background of our discussions, although their physical remains preserved in the ground are the subject of research. However, in Early Medieval cemeteries the individuals whose remains are excavated, no matter how eminent, are most often anonymous. Occasionally the place of burial, inscriptions or the attributes of the deceased’s rank put in the grave1 allow us to assign the bones to specic persons. Typically, however, not only the mortal remains cannot be found but there are no records concerning the places where the leading personages of the epoch, including the creators of the Piast dynasty, are buried. The situation is different when the archaeologist analyses cemeteries from the point of view of the populations buried in them as they provide a good basis for making observations on the actions and behaviors of the living communities in their concern to take care of the dead. According to the conviction which dominated during the greater part of the Early Middle Ages, the needs of the deceased did not differ much from those of the living and the grave goods reect the old pagan customs of equipping the relatives in their journey after death but also important elements of the material, spiritual and artistic culture of the epoch. Also the burial rites, including the choice of locations of cemeteries, forms of graves or the ways of preparing the deceased for the journey after death are pervaded with symbolic meanings which often can be correctly identied.2 The great turning point at the outset of the early state period was the change from cremation to inhumation resulting from the introduction of Christianity. It is also a clear indication that the new religious customs of the rst Piast monarchy had begun to form.

1 The discoveries in Bishop Maur’s grave discussed in Chapter 2 is a good example of this (cf. also Chapter 13). 2 Dàbrowska 1997.

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1. From cremation to inhumation: burial grounds of the early state period The great change in the burial rites which took place after 966 and consisted of introducing the inhumation indicates only the formal Christianization of Polish lands. It was formal because the baptism of the ruler and his milieu did not mean an immediate transformation of all pagans in Piast Poland into Christians or abandoning the custom of burning the dead and making barrows (Fig. 182). For that reason, researchers are generally skeptical about the possibility of a rapid religious conversion and about the thesis that the inhumation rite became common in Polish lands already in the late 10th century.3 These doubts are strengthened by the fact that there are numerous examples of bi-ritual cemeteries at which both forms, cremation and inhumation, continued alongside each other well into the 11th and 12th century. This concerns especially the regions where paganism lasted for a long time (Pomerania, Mazovia) or places where people of different cultural traditions were buried. Due to the last mentioned reason, inhumation burials had appeared before the origin of the state. These customs often did not have any direct connection with the Christianization of the Polish lands, which is documented by the discoveries made at the old Magyar site in Przemytl dated to the early 10th century (cf. below). In the 11th and more often in the 12th century, the standard was a ‘row cemetery’ (the name comes from the characteristic arrangement of the inhumation graves in well-distinguished rows), also called ‘rural’ or ‘non-churchyard’ ( pozakoucielny) cemeteries to distinguish them from the later ones clustered around places of worship, usually situated at a considerable distance from habitation structures.4 Such cemeteries are not usually multi-layer and contain from several to several hundred or more burials. The graves are at, which distinguishes them from the earlier burials in barrows. The row cemeteries retained many features of pagan rites, such as providing the dead with weapons, ornaments, amulets and objects of everyday use. They contain both burials oriented to the west (the deceased ‘looked eastwards’) and to the east (the latter is at present considered as a manifestation of the old pagan customs). The burial grounds were located at a certain distance from 3

Gàssowski 1992. More on the cemeteries from that period: Z. Rajewski 1937; H. Zoll-Adamikowa (1966, 1971), M. Mitkiewiczowa (1969) and K. Wachowski (1975); all quoted works with literature. 4

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the (compactly built) settlement areas because of the fear of the dead, who in this way became isolated from the world of the living. The fear was also reected by the anti-vampire practices which have been testied by the archaeological discoveries.5 It is also possible that small Christian chapels were built in some of these cemeteries as early as the 11th century. Early Medieval cemeteries are (alongside fortied settlements), among the sites most frequently investigated by the archaeologists studying this period. So far the best analyzed is the row cemetery in CracowZakrzówek. According to Emil Zaitz6 during the period when the burial ground was functioning, that is from the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries till the mid-13th century, about 120 people were buried there. Seventy six inhumation burials, two concentrations of bones and twenty two probable burials have been discovered. It has been established that more than half of the burials had grave goods. These were elements of costume and ornaments (headband ornaments, bead necklaces, ear-rings, belt buckles), objects of daily use (knives, re-steels, whetstones, a key) and only exceptionally weapons; the latter included heads of shaft weapons and (combat) knives. In twenty graves, silver coins, pottery vessels and wooden buckets with iron ttings were found. Almost 30 per cent of the burials had traces of cofns, sixteen graves possibly contained the remains of shrouds. The burials were located along an alley up to 3 m in width and lying on a north-south axis. In the central and northern part of the cemetery two places without burials were identied. In the vicinity of a square located in the central part of the necropolis the richest women’s burials and men’s graves with weapons were found. In that place, traces of above-ground structures were identied, marked by ditches and concentrations of post-holes (Fig. 183). It is possible that these are material remains of so-called houses of the dead. It is also assumed that other graves may have had permanent markers on the surface of the cemetery, which seems to be suggested not only by the traces of posts by some graves but also

5 In eastern Europe these included placing rocks over the burials or defacing the corpse, and occasionally beating a wooden peg or nail through the head or chest of the body. Other rituals including putting our in the cofn or garlic on or in the body are ethnographically attested. It has been suggested that the continuance of placing grave goods in burials has a similar signicance (P.B.). 6 2001, 148.

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Figure 183. Warrior’s grave with visible traces of an above-ground structure (postholes and slots) in the cemetery at Kraków-Zakrzówek (after E. Zaitz; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

by the circumstance that earlier graves were not frequently destroyed by the newer ones. During the 12th century, both the location and form of Early Medieval cemeteries underwent a change.7 This was connected with the appearance of churches in towns: at rst they served the strongholds and in time gained the status of parish churches. Near the church, in soil consecrated by the priest, the remains of the deceased were deposited. In this way, the next ideological change took place. Owing to the fact that the cemeteries had now ‘entered’ the towns, the world of the dead became much closer to that of the living. Due to the scarcity of place near the churches founded in early urban centers the cemeteries (churchyards), became rapidly became multi-layered, with later graves cut into the upcast and grave lls of previous inhumations and, as time 7

Zoll-Adamikowa 1994; 1997.

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went on, with more than one body being deposited in the same place. The most prestigious location was the place ad sanctos, that is, inside the church or near a grave of a saint.8 It was believed that the power emanating from the holy relics was benecial also for those buried in the nearest vicinity. However, the number of people entitled to such burials was limited to the clergy and lay notables, including those who made donations to the church, for example, the founders of sacral buildings. Also the area near the church was regarded as the most suitable place for eternal rest. This is why the greatest number of the human remains in churchyards is found immediately next to the church walls and their number decreases with the growing distance. Also in this case the privileged character of the location resulted from the folk belief that the rainwater which had contact with the holy place when falling on the ground puried the remains of the deceased buried there. Burying the dead near churches was fostered by the introduction, starting from the 13th century, of the obligation of providing universal pastoral care including the priest’s duty to take part in the burial rites.9 In rural areas the process of the establishment of such a parochial system was much slower and lasted longer. This was caused by the limited possibilities of founding hundreds of churches and the small number of clergy. Between the second half of the 12th century and the mid-13th century, however, multi-layered cemeteries became established near the rural churches too. They sometimes lasted from the early Middle Ages until the 19th century. The changes in burial rites were accompanied by the successive disappearance of the custom of giving grave goods to the dead. By the end of the Early Middle Ages the graves were usually without them. Archaeological excavations have also proved the existence of cemeteries which differed from the norm. Sometimes the causes of these differences can be identied. A good basis for such analyses are the elements of the burial rite. This reects the family, clan or “tribal” bonds formed by beliefs and customs. They are reected not only in the forms of the burials or materials used for making them but also in they ways in which the deceased’s body was treated (cremation/inhumation), its arrangement in the burial pit, and kinds of grave goods. The last-mentioned ones include, weapons, ornaments, objects of religious

8 9

Dàbrowska 1997. Dowiat (ed.) 1985, 315.

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cult or of everyday use, and allow the identication of the place and time when they were used; some of them (weapons, insignia, objects of everyday use) were the indices of social or professional afliations. Archaeologists are particularly interested in objects which allow the determination of the non-local origin of the deceased. Sometimes it is easy to identify them. However, there are also discoveries which can not be well interpreted as there are too many unknown qualities. The range of possibilities as well as problems in interpretation are illustrated by the examples presented below. 2. Pomeranians and Veleti in Great Poland? More than twenty years ago Dionizy Kosiqski discovered, explored and described an Early Medieval barrow cemetery located in the village of Rochy in the southern part of Great Poland. Its specic feature were the elements of burial rite characteristic for the north-western Slavs. So far this is the only cemetery in Great Poland from the early state period in which cremation appears. Such burials were identied in the eastern part of the cemetery whereas the western part was bi-ritual. The phenomenon is interesting as it allows the conclusion that at the beginning of the Polish state the area was inhabited by a population which employed burial rites which differed from those of the local row cemeteries. The burial ground was located c. 600 m away from a small stronghold at Piaski, at the periphery of the settled area (Fig. 184). In one of the excavated barrows, besides burnt human bones belonging to three individuals, ceramic vessels were discovered. Such wares were used during wakes after which they were left in the grave together with the remains of the pyre. The nds are particularly interesting because their forms and decoration are similar to vessels coming from the territory of the Veleti and from Pomerania (the types called Vipperov and Menkendorf ). Such vessels are rare in Great Poland and, in combination with the type of barrow cremation burial, they guide our attention to the Baltic Sea littoral as a place where both the pottery and analogous burial rites were common at that time. Similar vessels were identied in the nearby settlement at Piaski, where they are dated to the second half of the 10th century till the mid-13th century. The whole settlement complex was founded in previously uninhabited land in the 10th century and functioned until a re which destroyed it in the middle of the next century. The fall of the stronghold is associated with the

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Figure 184. Plan of a biritual cemetery at Piaski-Rochy (after D. Kosiqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

events of the 1030s, that is the invasion of Bretyslav and his ravaging of Great Poland. This was probably associated with the acute depopulation of the area, which is conrmed by the limited number of nds from the next phase.10 According to the excavators, the phenomena observed at this site should be associated with settlement of groups of Pomeranians (and possibly Veleti) in some regions of Great Poland taken up at the initiative of the Piast rulers.11 The archaeological data indicate that the settlers were given considerable freedom in the ideological sphere which is reected not only by the elements of material culture but, rst and foremost, in the cremation barrow burial rite, which was practiced at a time when inhumation cemeteries were common in the early Piast state

10 11

Kosiqski 1991. Kara 2002.

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(cf. above). It was not possible to establish the status of that population. The differences in the rite in the eastern and western part of the cemetery where inhumation burials were also discovered, seem however to indicate that that was not a culturally uniform community. There are more and more examples of similar nds, mostly dating to the second half of the 10th to the 11th century. The discoveries made in 1926 in the village of Latkowa (Milicz commune) located in the borderland between Silesia and Great Poland should be mentioned in this context. At that cemetery, burial constructions made of single rows of stones resembling a house with an entrance were built. Some of the barrows found there with stone curbs, with inhumation burials and remains of wooden cofns have many analogies in Pomerania, for example in the cemeteries of Early Medieval Wolin and Orzeszkowo in Zachodniopomorskie voivodeship. In cemeteries in Great Poland there are many similar peculiarities. Such problems were encountered by the archaeologists excavating a barrow at Zielonka (Fig. 185) and at several other places.12 How should these phenomena be interpreted? It is believed that one can now talk about the presence of zones in Great Poland with burials having analogies to those in Pomerania and the areas occupied by the Veleti. The rst is situated in the Gniezno region and the second at the border between Silesia and Great Poland. In both areas evident traces of burial rites unknown in Great Poland but well testied for the Pomeranian cemeteries and ones located farther west, in the territories of the Veleti were recorded. The enclaves form by these burial grounds on the border of Great Poland indicate in Michad Kara’s opinion13 that well-organized groups of people settled there who enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom and with distinct material cultures. Was this re-settlement the result of military expeditions as some have suggested? This question cannot be answered univocally. It may be, however, assumed that establishing newcomers with their families and household equipment on the peripheries of the Gniezno state at the very outset of its existence is evidence of a planned colonization of areas of previously unexploited wasteland. Many data indicate that this action was began before the end of the 10th century and thus

12 13

Cf. Krzyszkowski 1995; Kara 2002. 2002.

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Figure 185. Selected graves from the cemetery at Zielonka (after M. Kara; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

at the time when the Piasts were engaged in the annexation of West Pomerania.14 In the context of the discoveries described above it is worth mentioning here the recent excavations in the settlement complex at Grabek (Szczerców commune, códzkie voivodeship) where in a cremation cemetery dated to the second half of the 10th to the 11th century was found a mysterious feature, a trench dening a quadrangular area 8 u 8 m with rounded corners. In the center there was a large posthole and in the south-western side there is a visible gap (perhaps an entrance). In the lling of the feature there were numerous fragments of broken vessels, animal bones, a few ornaments and a fragment of an antler comb. Bdavej Muzolf 15 believes that originally there were rows of posts in a trench and the whole may have been covered with a roof. The interpretation of this mysterious nd and of the whole cemetery is unclear. The researchers see analogies, visible mainly in the pottery, to 14 15

Cf. cosiqski (1980) 1981. 2002.

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the Elbe regions; some of the burials resemble constructions of the Alt Käbelich type (cf. Chapter 4), some burials were located around the quadrangular structure described above. The similarities of the latter to the ones from Rowokód (cf. Chapter 5) have been noted. However, the contexts of the two discoveries are incomparable; in the latter case we are dealing with a feature functionally connected with an Early Medieval cemetery which to some extent has analogies with the discoveries at the cemetery in Cracow-Zakrzówek mentioned above. Was it a grave with a special function, the house of the dead, a sacral structure? Perhaps the whole cemetery is the reection of a group of people representing a completely alien culture? These questions have not been given an unequivocal answer so far. Identifying a population re-settled from another region of the country is nothing new for Polish lands.16 More than twenty years ago a hypothesis was put forward of the possible re-settlement of Great Polish population, which may have taken place in the 970s in the area of modern Sandomierz, this issue will discussed in the nal part of this chapter. 3. The Graves of Vikings? There is a growing number of burials, dated to the period between the 10th and mid-11th century, which are rightly supposed to contain the remains of newcomers from Scandinavia. Furthermore, a certain pattern can be observed in this respect. Whereas in the pre-state period the grave goods seem to suggest the deceased was merely a settler, perhaps involved in agrarian activities, in the early state period the graves of the arrivals dated to the period between the end of the 10th and the mid-11th century are characterized by the presence of weapons. It is assumed that the Scandinavians’ penetration to the southern coast of the Baltic Sea was connected both with merchant-trade and military aims, they were the allies of the Piast rulers at whose court they formed the framework of the duke’s elite retinue. Most probably these were the best armed and trained units and thus more efcient in combat than the other ones.17 Archaeological investigations have yielded at least

16

Cf. Modrzewska 1984. Ibrahim ibn Yaqub states that these members of the retinue were maintained by the duke: ‘He has three thousand armored warriors [divided into] troops and a 17

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several cemeteries at which, as it may be supposed, Scandinavian warriors, or perhaps the members of the duke’s retinue, were buried. In spring, 1898, at uydowo (Polanów commune, Zachodniopomorskie voivodeship) in earthmoving during construction works of a railway line, an inhumation cemetery was encountered. One of the graves contained a sword with a gilded pommel of Scandinavian origin, typologically similar to the one known from the grave at Ciepde (cf. below). The cemetery was part of a settlement complex consisting of a stronghold surrounded by several open settlements and cemeteries. They functioned between the 9th and 12th century. Two years later, in the year 1900, in the village of Ciepde near Gniew, an inhumation cemetery was found in which six burials were investigated. The burials were originally in cofns and some of them had rich grave goods. This concerns especially Grave V which has numerous analogies in the area of Scandinavia.18 The cofn was strengthened with iron ttings and the grave goods included a two-edged sword with the pommel and hilt richly encrusted in silver and bronze and a partly copper-plated iron horse bridle bit. Among the grave goods there were also fragments of stirrups encrusted with copper and silver, parts of horse trappings, the bronze beam of a folding set of scales with a set of iron weights, a bowl of bronze sheet and many other things. It is assumed that the woman buried nearby (whose grave goods included parts of a necklace consisting of one gold ornament and three silver ones, silver pendants decorated with wire, beads of semi-precious stones and other objects), was the deceased’s wife. Both burials are the earliest ones in the cemetery and are dated to the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries; the other ones range from the 11th to the 12th century. According to Wdadysdaw Duczko19 such burials indicate the presence in the Slavic milieu of representatives of the military elites from the north who cooperated with the Slavic elites. The experience they offered was probably not restricted to the military sphere. The man buried at Ciepde was probably involved in various activities which allowed him to maintain a high social status. Duczko believes that the grave goods indicate that the buried people had links with the Danish milieu from the British Isles.

hundred of them means the same as ten hundreds of other [warriors]. He gives these men clothes, horses and weapons and everything they need’ (Ibrahim ibn Yaqub relation in al-Bekri’s version. Quoted after: Labuda 1999, 148). 18 uak 1957. 19 2000.

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A badly disturbed inhumation boat burial and a bronze weight with a runic inscription discovered at the top of Mount Chedmska near Koszalin may indicate the presence of a Scandinavian community at the area. Unfortunately, the poor preservation of the nds, destroyed already in the distant past by the later settlers of the hill makes it impossible to place them in a more precise time horizon.20 In the winter of 1912, during the repair of a local road, the cemetery at cubowo (Wielkopolskie voivodeship) was discovered; it is difcult to say how many burials there were originally as the necropolis was completely destroyed before the arrival of the archaeologist. In the following year, eight more burials were investigated. The cemetery yielded a considerable number of interesting nds.21 They include iron hoops of a bucket, a spur with at strap attachments and a biconical spike, a narrow-bladed battle-axe (czekan) with a fan-like cutting edge, a spearhead with a silver-plated and encrusted with copper sleeve, as well as other objects. All of them came from disturbed burials. Their formal features indicate connections with the cultural milieu of central Sweden. It was assumed that the burial with the weapons most probably belonged to a Scandinavian warrior who was a member of the prince’s retinue. Unfortunately all the described objects were lost during the Second World War and only their sketches, photographs and descriptions have been preserved. It is worth adding that the stronghold and central place at Ostrów Lednicki is located near cubowo. It has yielded the largest collection of Scandinavian military equipment found so far in Poland (Chapter 11). It cannot be excluded that the cubowo necropolis was used by that center and also by the Scandinavian warriors protecting the duke’s residence on the island.22 Scandinavian military accessories were discovered in 1930 at the village of Skokówko (Borek Wielkopolski commune) while digging sand. Three graves were found in which a number of nds such as an iron axe with an asymmetric cutting edge, an iron spearhead and the hoop from a bucket were unearthed. The elements of military equipment dated to the late 10th–mid-11th century were assumed to be grave goods from a burial of a Scandinavian warrior.23

20 21 22 23

Janocha 1974. Kostrzewski 1921. Cf. Kara 1991. Cf. Kara 1991.

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In the spring of 1937, in the village of Luboq near Poznaq (today the district of Poznaq-D\biec) an inhumation cemetery was found during earth-moving. Twenty ve burials were identied, but of them Józef Kostrzewski managed to investigate only six. No remains of cofns were found and the graves were oriented east and west. Only one had grave goods, that is, a knife in a leather sheath decorated with a decorated sheet. The researchers’ attention, however, was focused on the part of the cemetery which had already been completely destroyed by the workmen, this had produced a rich assemblage of nds derived from the grave goods. They included elements of horse harness and weapons such as iron axes encrusted with silver and copper, a spearhead and two iron spurs. The formal features of the nds allowed their dating from the mid-11th till the mid-12th century. The destroyed burial was considered to be a grave of a Scandinavian warrior on the basis of the features of the military gear. Was it thus a place where a member of a Scandinavian retinue protecting the prince’s residence in Poznaq were buried? This supposition is indirectly supported by subsequent discoveries of elements of military gear of Scandinavian origin (a spearhead socket, a fragment of a silvered iron stirrup) found in the neighboring settlement which functioned at the same as the discussed cemetery. At the village of Sowinki (Wielkopolskie voivodeship) an inhumation cemetery dated to the turn of the 10th and 11th century was discovered during the eld survey for the Polish Archaeological Record. It had 150 graves in which remains of 158 deceased were discovered.24 In twenty three cases the dead were buried in cofns and the remaining ones, directly in the burial pits. Eighty two burials contained grave goods. They consisted of costume ttings and ornaments, objects of daily use and parts of military equipment. Two graves, No 148 and 151, had particularly rich grave goods and their burial pits were especially large. In the former, the remains of a wooden cofn were identied. The nds in it included two knives in leather sheaths ended with goldplated bronze chapes, a silver ring and an Islamic dirhem. Grave 151 was considered to be a grave of a warrior. It contained, among other things a spearhead, two iron spurs, a bucket decorated with silver-plated sheet with plant motifs, and other objects. A few other graves were distinguished by Ottonian silver coins. On the basis of the contained nds and the elements of the burial rite, four graves were determined

24

Krzyszowski 1995.

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as of Scandinavians and the majority of burials was dated to the times of Bolesdaw the Brave; the necropolis was assumed to have the closest analogy in the burial ground at Lutomiersk (cf. below). The traces of the presence of Scandinavians in Polish lands are visible both in settlement sites and burial grounds. Although traces of the presence of newcomers from Scandinavia are quite evident in large areas of Pomerania, Kuiavia and Great Poland, it should be stated that there is not much evidence that these people made up a dominating group in any of these areas, and even less that they had some leading role within local communities. Some elements of grave furniture such as a sword and merchants’ scales indicate that trading and military functions often overlapped. The graves with Scandinavian equipment, however, stand out from the other ones. They are richer, have visible traces of cofns and, rst and foremost, contain an exceptionally large number of luxury products and military equipment with analogies in Scandinavia or in Western Europe. Most often these are imports from the area of central Sweden, Gotland, Oland and Bornholm.25 There is much evidence of a Scandinavian presence in Wolin. Already in the times of Mieszko I, in 986, Harald Bluetooth is said to have found shelter there during his ghts with rebelling nobles and his own son; tradition also has it that he died there. The nds from that center indeed indicate a considerable participation of Danish Scandinavians in its earliest history. It was a different situation in the case of the complex at Bardy-swielubie (Fig. 186). According to Wdadysdaw Duczko26 the group of Scandinavians living in the area probably came from central Sweden. After the fall of Bardy in the 11th century, further traces of the presence of Scandinavians can be observed in the material culture at Kodobrzeg-Budzistowo.27 4. A large warriors’ necropolis When in 1940 during the Nazi Occupation, the tombstones were removed from the a former Jewish cemetery at Lutomiersk near cód and reused as a source of stone, probably nobody expected that an Early Medieval cemetery of unique character was also located there.

25 26 27

Duczko 2000. 2000. cosiqski (1980) 1981.

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Figure 186. Plan of a settlement complex at swielubie (after W. cosiqski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

In the few early Medieval graves uncovered at that time several nds were made, including a sword with a hilt encrusted with silver, they were immediately considered as Viking ones. The German archaeologists, interested in the discovery, began excavations in the fall of the following year. Contrary to their expectations, the work did not yield any discoveries which could be assigned to Scandinavian population. This was probably the reason why no further investigations were conducted there during the Second World War.28 From 1949, the works at Lutomiersk were included in the program of the Millennium investigations and were continued until the mid-1950s. Altogether 153 graves were uncovered in the cemetery. The burial pits of the inhumation graves had a rectangular plan with rounded corners, whereas the pits of cremation burials had irregular shapes. The

28 A complete discussion of the results of the excavations at the cemetery at Lutomiersk may be found in: Javdvewski (1949) 1951; Nadolski, Abramowicz, Poklewski 1959; the data presented in this part of the chapter come from these publications.

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differences in the dimensions of the graves are noteworthy. They range from very large ones 4 u 2 m, to graves half that size. Approximately one quarter of the graves were covered with layers of stones sometimes up to 1m thick. They were found immediately below the ground surface hence it is difcult to establish with certainty whether they had been visible on the surface. It was recorded that these layers appeared over rich burials whereas the poor ones were marked by stone curbs. The majority were inhumation graves; twelve were cremation burials; two had a mixed character. In 48 cases the gender of the deceased was determined as male, in 54, as female; it was impossible to establish the gender of the remaining ones. The graves were oriented: the men’s heads were directed to the west, the women’s to the east. The majority of the deceased were equipped with grave goods. In men’s graves these were mainly elements of weaponry such as swords, axes, battle axes, spearheads or arrowheads, and riding gear. Other ones (altogether 22) were considered as burials of foot warriors. Most often they contained spearheads, less frequently, battle axes, and sporadically, several examples of narrow-bladed battle-axes (czekan) and swords (Fig. 187). The formal analysis of the nds from men’s burials indicates that their majority was of Scandinavian origin. Others, such as some forms of swords and elements of riding gear, although not made in Scandinavia, were of types often used by warriors from that area. Together with the constructions of burial chambers these nds strongly resemble the ones known from, e.g., cemeteries in Scandinavian Birka. For that reason even in the interim reports the opinion predominated that the cemetery at Lutomiersk contained the remains of a foreign population. The authors of the nal monograph of Lutomiersk tended to assume that these were burials of Ruthenian warriors, the members of a Piast retinue, or as Konrad Javdvewski29 believed, a cemetery of the retinue of the Kievan duke Svatopluk who, after his defeat in Ruthenia in 1019, found, together with his retinue, political asylum in the land of his father in law, Boleslaw the Brave. In the context of the increasing number of similar discoveries from Great Poland (cf. above) the former hypothesis is becoming more justied. When considering the possible place where the warriors may have been stationed, one may note that the fortied settlement at c\czyca is located 32 km away from Lutomiersk. During excavations here many nds with equivalents

29

(1949) 1951.

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Figure 187. Weapons from some graves from the cemetery at Lutomiersk near cód (after K. Javdvewski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

in Scandinavian circles were discovered. Some of them, e.g., a bronze pendant in the shape of a battleaxe with a characteristic ornament, are considered as amulets dedicated to Thor. Teresa Kiersnowska30 believes that these warriors were possibly stationed at places with characteristic names of the type Besiekiery or Besiekierz (from Nordic besekr —a man wearing a bear’s skin) and Wargowo (from Old Nordic vargar —wolf ). Is it really the case that places with names of this type derive from the fact that Scandinavian warriors were stationed there? This hypothesis seems to deserve closer analysis. 5. Not only warriors During the excavations by a team from Toruq University of an Early Medieval inhumation cemetery at Kaddus near Chedmno (Chapter 11), a group of burials differing from the other ones in their form and goods

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was found. Among the 70 or more graves, there were two located in the southern part of the cemetery which had rich grave goods and a special construction of the tombs dened by the excavator Wojciech Chudziak31 as chamber graves. These burials, oriented on a west-east axis, were situated at the very edge of the Early Medieval cemetery. The rst one had a rectangular wooden chamber, 2.7 u 1.9 m in dimensions sunk c. 0.5 m in the ground. Its walls were made of logs of about 10 cm in diameter. The construction was xed in the corners with the use of posts. There are no data on the above-ground part of the tomb. However, it must have been well visible because the other burials were arranged concentrically around it. Furthermore, probable elements of a collapsed roof were found in the lling. The entrance to the tomb was located in the eastern side. Inside, two burials were identied of a man and a woman lying next to each other. The corpses rested in a timber-lined grave with a wooden base and sides but no lid (Fig. 188). Both burials had rich grave goods. Next to the man’s skeleton were a bronze bowl, a leather sheath for two knives decorated with bronze sheet on both sides and fragments of a strongly corroded iron object and other items. Near the woman’s skeleton was a wooden stave bucket with an iron handle and with metal hoops and sheets. A necklace of silver pendants and semi-precious stones xed with a silver clasp, eight lockets for amulets (kaptorgi), some of which were decorated with ligree, as well as several dozen beads made of rock crystal, carnelian etc. were uncovered. Near the skull was found a silver bead decorated with granulation. The second of the investigated tombs was built with the use of a similar technique. In this case the wooden construction was most probably burnt. This is indicated by the numerous streaks of charcoal particularly well-visible in the north-eastern part of the feature. Inside the grave the remains of a man were identied, oriented in the same way as the one described above. Near the skeleton were found fragments of a bronze bowl, a penannular iron brooch, a double leather sheath with two iron knives with wooden handles bound with silver wire, some pieces of at gold wire (probably from an appliqué on cloth), a fragment of a silver coin (a sachsenpfennig) dated to the second half of the 10th century, a wooden stave bucket with an iron handle and three hoops, fragments of turned wooden plates, one of which was richly decorated

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with gilded bronze bands with the motif of the ‘tree of life’ and also fragments of cloth, a leather shoe and other objects. The two features were assumed to be contemporary. At the present stage of research it is difcult to state how many similar burials there were in the cemetery. However, the location of these graves at the edge of the cemetery is remarkable as it is characteristic for the Scandinavian necropolises of that period, for example at Haithabu in Denmark and Birka in Sweden. Also the size, form and construction details of the burial chambers from Kaddus have analogies in Scandinavia. It seems evident that these burials were of the members of the local social elite. The rich grave goods of similar burials have been testied both in West European Merovingian cemeteries and Scandinavian necropolises where weapons were often found. The lack of weapons or horse gear in the burials from Kaddus may indicate that the people buried in them were not warriors. The excavators claim that analysis of other nds, including the wooden plate with symbols of the tree of life, seem to indicate connections with Saxon and Alamanni circles from the Merovingian period. Some motifs such as, e.g., the vine, are associated with the art of the British Isles. The grave goods from the woman’s burial may indicate a Scandinavian origin, although a Slavic one is not excluded. If the latter was the case then the decorations may be an adaptation of elements of a culture foreign in the area. The discovery is also considered in the categories of ethnically foreign guests: the strangers who became court and church notables. This is the vein in which Wojciech Chudziak32 presented his recent interpretation. The lack of parts of weapons in the burials, the Christian orientation, the high social status reected by the grave goods unique in Polish lands and also the different burial rites, are elements which indicate the presence of foreigners in the elites of early Piast Poland. The above-presented discoveries, dated to the second half of the 10th and the early 11th centuries, t well into the context of the other ones described in this chapter as that was the time when broadly understood contacts were intensied. These would be military, economic, religious, or family contacts, at various levels, between Poland and its neighbors, especially the ones from the north. Is the case of Kaddus proof of the contacts with Scandinavian elites? According to the researchers from

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Toruq university, this hypothesis is quite probable, especially in the light of the other discoveries from Eastern Pomerania. 6. Who was buried in the Mazovian graves with stone constructions? The burial rites in Mazovia are distinguished by the occurrence of graves with stone constructions.33 Located on the slopes or tops of the hills they are often a characteristic element of the landscape. Although features of this kind were noticed and excavated already in the 19th century, they were properly recognized and identied in the post-war years. The area in which these cemeteries occur is quite large. In eastern Mazovia they appear on both sides of the Bug river and in the area between the Bug and the Narew they occur alongside barrow burials. In the north east they were identied along the Narew river and at the conuence of the rivers Wys and Biebrza. The westernmost occurrence is the cemetery at Lutomiersk near cód discussed above. They are also known from the western part of Mazovia and in the south they extend to Koqskie near Radom. A similar cemetery was discovered at Paczyn to the southeast of Pdock near Gostynin. Within the overall extent of graves of this type, there are two main regions where they occur, these are the ‘Pdock’ (western) and ‘Drohiczyn’ (eastern) groups. The rst concentration (the region of Pdock, Pdoqsk, part of the Sierpc district, area around Czechów and Nasielsk) contains almost 60 cemeteries. There are fewer known from the eastern group, cemeteries are known from the area of Mdawa, Nidzica, Przasnysz and on the upper Orzyc river. In Podlasie the greatest concentrations (45 cemeteries) are near Sokodów Podlaski and in the area of Siemiatycze; smaller groups were identied in the area of Hajnówka and Kolno (Fig. 189). The cemeteries with stone constructions usually form clusters. In some regions of Mazovia, e.g., in the area of Pdock, Pdoqsk or Przasnysz, three or more necropolises of that type have been noted in one place and the distances between them are from 300 to 2500 m. These cemeteries were quite large and the numbers of recorded graves vary 33 The cemeteries discussed below do not have one xed name in Polish. Most often they have been called ‘cemeteries with graves in stone curbs’ (cf. Rauhut 1971). At a conference in Bytom Odrzaqski ( June, 2004) Marek Dulinicz suggested that as the constructions of the graves are considerably diversied the name ‘graves with stone constructions’ seems to be the most adequate. I use this name in this publication.

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Figure 189. Zones where graves with stone constructions appear in Mazovia (after L. Rauhut; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

from 70 to 100. More burials occur outside the areas where the cemeteries are arranged compactly: in Koqskie near Radom (103 graves) and at Lutomiersk near cód (104 graves). In Podlasie, besides the medium-sized cemeteries there are also ones with 100 and more burials, e.g., at Czarna Wielka near Siemiatycze there were as many as 169. Although these necropolises have many variant features depending on their location, they have several common features. They have a layout of graves of in rows, rarely with any intercutting graves or buildup of layers, the burials are oriented to the east-west and the burials are richly equipped with weapons, ornaments and objects of everyday use. The cemeteries differ, however, in the forms of the graves. In Mazovia the predominant form of graves has a stone curb round it, and a layer of stones over it. In Podlasie to the east, graves with curbs alone are more common. It is assumed that the graves with rectangular externally visible stone layers over them with edges marked with stones were the earliest. The most typical ones are graves made of large stones which make up a kind of a burial chamber built at the level of the original

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Figure 190. Plan of a cemetery with graves with stone constructions from càczyno Stare near Przasnysz. To the left: Plan and section of Grave 28 with a visible outline of the burial pit. The deceased was equipped with a spearhead and a knife in a sheath (after L. Rauhut, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

topsoil. The constructions were usually made stable with the use of small stones lling the spaces between the larger ones. The stones used to build the graves are of glacial origin and have varied sizes and shapes. This material was not worked but it was of selected shapes. Hence to build the base of the casing, larger stones were used whereas inside the tombs ones with at surfaces were chosen; they are also usually smaller (Fig. 190). The majority of such tombs are about 240 cm long and 90 cm wide. It is also assumed that in some areas a mound made above the grave was also covered with a convex layer of stones. It is also interesting that at some cemeteries in Mazovia there existed the custom of paving the surface of the ground of the cemeteries also in the places with no graves. The deceased were buried in a supine position, with arms lying alongside the body, other positions are much rarer. In many cases traces of a plank on which the body was laid were identied on the oor of the grave under the skeleton; the body was covered with another plank. For that reason it is supposed that the bodies were deposited in wooden

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Figure 191. Examples of grave goods from the cemetery at càczyno (after L. Rauhut, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

caskets resembling cofns. Near some graves, traces of funeral wake feasts were preserved in the form of remains of res, animal bones or vessel fragments. In some cemeteries there are also empty graves (cenotaphs). Another specic feature is that children were sometimes buried in pottery vessels. However, the small number of children’s graves and their absence after the mid-12th century seem to indicate that they may have been buried in separate cemeteries. There is however a lack of proof of this. The rich grave goods of these cemeteries are remarkable (Fig. 191). In men’s burials they consist of numerous costume ornaments, objects of daily use and weapons. Iron knives placed near the left hip bone are a frequent nd; in some graves there are also re-steels and, more seldom, whetstones. At the feet of the deceased clay vessels and buckets with iron hoops were deposited. Another group of nds from men’s graves are weapons. Most often these are spearheads, axes, and, quite numerously in Mazovia, swords. Arrowheads and spurs are not so frequent. The spears were placed with the spearhead near the right shoulder at

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the level of the head and the shaft along the body. Axes, in turn, were placed next to the shoulder or at the feet whereas the swords are found only near the left side of the deceased. Weapons can be found among grave goods only in the earliest phase of the cemeteries. In women’s graves, ornaments are the most frequent nd. These are silver and bronze headband ornaments, open-work beads as well as glass and rock crystal ones. Rings are also quite common. There are, however, few objects of everyday use. In the ‘Podlasie’ group of cemeteries the women’s graves are characterized by the occurrence, besides the headband ornaments, of numerous silver and bronze earrings, belt buckles, metal rings and knives; in that zone also, nds of crosses are more frequent. It is possible that a large proportion of the ornaments may be stylistically associated with the ones found on the other side of the Bug river. For many years it was believed that graves with stone constructions are the only form of burials in Mazovia of the early state period. However, as cemeteries without stone elements were discovered, the problem arose of the interrelations between these two types of Early Medieval burial rites in Mazovia. The problem is thus complicated, despite the progress of research and new discoveries the increase of knowledge on the reasons why the forms of burial were different is still quite modest. Lechosdaw Rauhut, the author of the seminal work on the Mazovian graves with stone constructions believed that graves with stone curbs were the product of necessities resulting from the change from burning the deceased to inhumation. Their disappearance in the end of the 12th century was another stage of the implementation of the Christian concept of the burial.34 Maria Mitkiewicz,35 in turn, stressed that we are dealing with two kinds of cemeteries in Early Medieval Mazovia: ones with stone constructions and ones without them. According to her conception the former should be associated with the members of rural family communities from the period before Christianity was adopted. One of the elements of the old religion was the use of the said stone constructions. However, the graves of the second group contain nds which seem to be the remains of the old tradition such as eggshells, charcoal from ritual res, or fragments of clay vessels, which are identied as grave

34 35

Rauhut 1971. 1998.

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goods. Thus, according to that conception, the only element adopted from the Christian ideology would be the lack of stone constructions. Many elements of the grave goods at the largest cemetery without stone constructions excavated so far at Pdock-Podolszyce indicate that people of higher social status were buried there. For that reason it is believed that they were connected with the court and administration of that center. Such cemeteries, according to Maria Mitkiewicz, should be identied with territorial communities which grew around the main administrative centers. Only as late as in the 13th century, together with the process of actual Christianization of the region, can unication of forms be observed together with a shift to sites of burial grounds which then became the parish churchyards. This hypothesis, however, has several weak points. First of all, the scope of appearance and the geographical extent of the cemeteries without stone constructions are not known, so the main point of reference is the discovery from Pdock-Podolszyce. However, there are many more such cemeteries from the area of Mazovia but, unlike the ones from the other group, they have not been investigated. Many earlier discoveries have not yet been published. For that reason it is too early to answer the questions concerning the broadly understood interrelations of the two kinds of necropolises. Assuming that the burials with stone constructions had a family character it remains unknown why such a custom was territorially restricted to one region. Besides Mazovia, similar cemeteries appear only in isolated cases. However, even in the areas where they exist (e.g., at Lutomiersk discussed above), the problems with their character are different, as in that case we are dealing with elements of different culture, most probably burials of Varangian-Rus warriors. The last-mentioned observation gave the impetus for another conception presented by Marek Dulinicz.36 He referred to the information from the written sources about the presence of Varangian warriors in central Poland in the mid-11th century in connection with the expeditions in 1047–8 of Yaroslav the Wise to northern Mazovia.37 One cannot exclude, either, that the area between the Vistula and the Orzyc rivers was pacied and then occupied by a group of warriors brought from 36

1998. The concept refers to the opinion expressed earlier by Teresa Kiersnowska (1992). She stressed the considerable similarities between the cemetery at Lutomiersk and the one at Varangian Birka. 37

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Ruthenia by Kazimierz the Restorer. According to that conception the said graves may have been the result of the ghts of Kazimierz’s troops and those of the rebellious Miecdaw. Are these the burials of the warriors who died in the ghting? The hypothesis, although attractive, is not without problems. First of all, in comparison to Scandinavian graves, some characteristic elements are missing from the grave goods of the Mazovian graves. Neither is it known why the territorial range of the discussed phenomenon is so large in Mazovia. In addition, we can see that the graves with stone constructions are not a short episode but a phenomenon of a long time span of the 11th and 12th century. According to other researchers it is not the stone constructions but their lack which is an indication of graves of atypical character in the burial rites of Early Medieval Mazovia. In the whole province only several cemeteries of such graves can be found in contrast to the several hundred cemeteries of graves with stone constructions known. In this context reference is made to the remark from Gallus Anonymous’ chronicle on the disturbances which occurred in Great Poland in the rst half of the 11th century after the death of Mieszko II (1034) and Bretyslav’s invasion. As a result of these events many inhabitants of that region sought refuge on the other bank of the Vistula. It is the refugees from Great Poland with which Tomasz Kordala38 tends to associate the group of cemeteries without stone constructions located along the Vistula. However, it has not been settled yet how many such cemeteries there are in Mazovia. Aside from the current debate, it is worth drawing attention to another circumstance. The tradition of making graves with stone constructions (and generally of using stone in grave constructions) had been known for centuries to the Baltic peoples (this possibility was mentioned by Lechosdaw Rauhut) for whom a wealth of variants of constructions, forms of burials and their equipment has been recorded.39 Thus perhaps the Mazovian graves are mainly evidence of the existence of Baltic elements of burial rites in that region? To a certain extent this was probably the case although also this idea entails some difculties in interpretation. Namely, this raises the question of how this phenomenon may be explained. Why are many Baltic ele38 39

1992. Cf. Okulicz 1993, 37ff.

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ments, especially the characteristic ornaments, missing from the grave goods of the burials? Is it possible that the observed phenomena are the result of a combination of elements of various burial rites which took place in Mazovia at the outset of the Polish state? It could have been based on the burial rites of the local population as well as of the Scandinavian newcomers and the Baltic neighbors, transformed in Mazovia into a new cultural phenomenon which became expressed by the ‘graves with stone constructions.’ While created with reference to the other traditions already mentioned, the Mazovian graves do not directly reect any of them. The specic character of the culture in Mazovia as well as its openness to inuences from outside may have been a contributing factor (Chapter 9). This helped to preserve the old cultural traits but also to adopt new cultural and ideological inuences. At the same time there are no grounds to seek the cause of the described phenomena only in the evolution of the burial rites. There are more data in favor of the hypothesis according to which the phenomenon arose due to external inspirations. The tradition of these customs of burying the dead was deeply rooted in Mazovia and surprisingly permanent as it lasted for almost 150 years. Only after the long-term process of Christianization of the region did the nal traces of this custom, as well as the providing of the deceased with material goods for their last journey, ultimately disappear during the 13th century. Did the described phenomena have their roots in complex settlement and cultural phenomena which resulted in a example of funeral syncretism unique in this part of Europe, combining Scandinavian, Baltic and local elements into one unique whole? This question cannot be neglected in the studies on the burial rites in Mazovia. 7. Strangers in the south The cemeteries discussed in this chapter so far are concentrated in the northern and central part of Polish lands. In this context the disproportion of discoveries connected with ethnically foreign population known from southern Poland seems quite surprising. In this area of the country too it is possible to nd burial grounds differing from the row cemeteries of the early Piast period and with cultural features analogous to the territories of our neighbors.

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One example is the sacral complex at the fortied settlement Horodyszcze at Trepcza near Sanok. Discovered in 1958, it has been thoroughly investigated in recent years by Jerzy Ginalski.40 The site is located in a chain of wooded hills on the left bank of the San river. Among other things, the site contained the remains of two wooden churches and an inhumation cemetery with several hundred burials of which 105 graves were excavated. This is a typical churchyard. All the burials were identically oriented to the west. Flat graves were predominant and some of them had stone linings. At the bottom of the grave pits, stone slabs had been laid at. The graves were arranged so densely around the church that some of them cut into one another. For that reason only the latest burials could have survived intact yet also these were in many cases disturbed when a chapel was built in the 13th century. The burial pits were surrounded with stones and covered with sandstone slabs which made them similar to sarcophagi (Fig. 192). The site yielded a rich collection of small nds connected with religious cult. These are reliquary crosses (encolpions), silver headdress ornaments (koety), a gilded plaque with the representation of a lion, more than a dozen rings and silver ear-rings decorated with ligree (Fig. 193). These nds indicate that this was one of the strategic centers at the western periphery of Ruthenia in the area. Their cultural attributions, dating and the radiocarbon dates going back to the 11th century testify to the role the center may have played in Christianization of that part of the Carpathian foothills. The majority of the elements of the grave goods determine the period when the cemetery functioned to the time from the 12th till the mid-13th century. It is believed that the necropolis ceased to be used after the Tatars’ incursions of the mid-13th century. Whereas in many early Polish centers including Gniezno it is difcult to locate the earliest cemeteries, Przemytl may pride itself on the discoveries of several of them. These are typical burial grounds located away from the churches and settlement concentrations. The majority of the burials had varying orientation (eastern and western). In one case, three graves from one of these cemeteries were found, and on excavation were found to contain grave goods with the features of the Bijelo Brdo Culture. These burials are dated to the second half of the 10th century. Near St. John’s orthodox church an inhumation cemetery

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2001.

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was investigated where 72 burials were recorded. It was found that the richer burials had wooden cofns. The grave goods seem to indicate that ecclesiastic and lay notables from the prince’s milieu were buried in them.41 At cemeteries in the Zasanie district, women’s graves contained headband ornaments, bracelets and rings made of glass, bronze and silver whereas men’s burials contained, iron spearheads and knives.42 The cemeteries in Przemytl are characterized by a diversity typical for a large frontier center in which various cultural traditions and ethnically different populations invariably clashed (cf. also Chapter 4). In Silesia, the cemetery at Niemcza (Niemcza II) is worth noting. The necropolis is located three hundred meters to the south of the fortied settlement which functioned already in the pre-state times. It was investigated for the rst time in 1917, when 14 burials were discovered. Further areas were examined in the 1960s, and a total of 88 graves have been excavated so far. The cemetery consists of two parts: an earlier one in the north and the later one in the south. In the northern part, two mysterious circular areas with a diameter of 21–22 m with graves adjoining them were recorded (Fig. 194). Józef Kamierczyk and Krzysztof Wachowski43 believe that there could have been a third such area between them, located 13 m away from the rst one. Unlike the two former areas which were almost completely explored, in the case of the third, only a section of several meters across was excavated. The distance between the circular zones is equal to their diameters. The burials were oriented with the heads facing in various directions and the greatest concentrations of the burials was around the circles, while burials appeared only sporadically inside them. The discoverers are of the opinion that this may indicate that the layout of the cemetery was planned in this way. It is considered that the concentric arrangement of the graves was facilitated by the border marked on the surface in some way (e.g., by a fence or stones). The proportion of burials with grave goods was very low. In some cases traces of anti-vampire practices were recorded, one of the skeletons did not have a skull and in another one it was deposited next to the trunk. The gender and age of the burials was diversied: the skeletons of women, men, and children were found. Some graves were empty and double burials were also discovered,

41 42 43

Koperski 2001. Kunysz 1981, 115. 1976.

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Figure 194. Plan of an inhumation cemetery at Niemcza with graves arranged concentrically around empty zones (after J. Kamierczyk and K. Wachowski; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki).

which were more frequent than at other Early Medieval cemeteries of Silesia. This rare form of cemetery is associated with the zone of cult circles known from the fortied settlement at Niemcza. The symbolic meaning of the mysterious constructions becomes more clear in the context of the three mountains Wievyca, Radunia and sl\va located as little as 10 km away from the cemetery. It is thus possible that the grave found within the rst circle may have been a human sacrice made before the cemetery was rst used. Kamierczyk and Wachowski interpret the circles as a reection of the families which deposited their dead at the cemetery. According to this concept in the 11th and 12th century the rites connected with the cult of the dead were to be performed within separate areas. Another peculiarity of the cemetery at Niemcza is the fact that, according to the discoverers, it was established by the Bohemians. Among the fragments of ornaments and coins of west-European and Arabic origins there are items date their deposition to the period after the year 978. If the graves here really do date to this period, the burial ground at Niemcza should be considered as the earliest inhumation cemetery in Polish lands.

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8. Who were they and what did they have in common? The example of the cemetery at Niemcza, in which a division of burial area into parts possibly equivalent to family groups has been suggested, indicates the importance of the social content resulting from the analysis of Early Medieval cemeteries. An excellent experimental testing ground in this respect has been for many years the cemetery at Dziekanowice located in the vicinity of Ostrów Lednicki (Great Poland). So far more than 400 inhumation burials have been uncovered there. They have been dated to the period between the second half of the 11th century and the 12th century. The investigations conducted by Jacek and Anna Wrzesiqscy44 have proved that children younger than 7 years made up more than 23 per cent of the deceased whereas old age was reached by less than 4 per cent of the population. Almost 30 per cent of the deceased died while still young and as many as 37 per cent, died in adulthood but before reaching old age. The average age at death for women was estimated at 32 years and for men, to slightly more than 38 years. With such a large death rate, families usually had many children. The typical family group as seen from the point of view of the cemetery at Dziekanowice consisted of 7 people: two adults and ve children. In the late 11th century a cemetery was established inside the fortied settlement at Ostrów Lednicki. Although the archaeologists see in that a clash of the new rules of the Church with the existing burial practices, the majority of the burials (almost 60 per cent) still had grave goods. Especially richly equipped were the graves of younger children; most often headband ornaments (temple-rings) were found in them (Fig. 195). In the graves of older children ornaments appear sporadically. However, there are knives in sheaths, pottery or clay rattles. Adult women were buried with headband ornaments (temple-rings), silver and bronze ornaments, glass beads, knives, coins and buckets. In men’s graves, in turn, there dominated knives, sometimes with bronze ttings of the sheaths. Only in the graves of adult men were there clay vessels, buckets and a type of object known as ‘ring-headed spikes’. These graves were characterized by the greatest variety of ornaments. They also contained the largest number (more than 70 per cent) of coins. These functioned according to the old belief in the dead man’s penny

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2002.

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(similar to Charon’s obol). A coin, sometimes clutched in the hand, like in the case of a 45–50 year old man’s, was to make it easier for him to reach the other world (Fig. 196). The deceased buried in the same cemetery were not always equal members of the local community. In Grave 52/03 at the cemetery at Dziekanowice, were found the remains of a 30–35 year old man with a head wound (trace of an arrowhead in the left parietal bone) which probably caused his death. It is difcult to state if in this case we are dealing with an intruder who was killed here, or whether this was an atypical burial of an inhabitant of the area. However, the fact that the man was tossed into the grave without any grave goods and face down (Fig. 197) clearly indicates that he was different and his body was treated with less care than the remains of others. In some graves intentionally deposited animal bones were found and vessels put in burials contain organic remains which are identied as food given to the deceased for their journey after death. The pollen present in the burials is, interpreted in various ways. It is possible that these are the remains of owers given by the family to the dead. The analysis of the cemetery at Koqskie near Radom has yielded interesting results. At this site, 171 graves were discovered, including numerous men’s graves with weapons. As was noted by Jerzy Gàssowski,45 the central zone of the cemetery was occupied by a group of graves of riders on horseback and richly equipped women’s burials. Around these graves, which determined the axis of the cemetery, there was the second zone characterized by the greatest number of burials with stone constructions; in this part of the cemetery, the greatest number of traces of rites connected with using re was identied. In the same zone graves of other warriors were found and the women buried there had numerous ornaments. In the western zone of the cemetery, almost only graves with stone curbs and overlying stone layers were discovered. However, these graves were not so richly equipped, and some had no grave goods at all; in men’s graves (they were less numerous there than in the other parts of the cemetery) there were no weapons. In the same zone groups of several graves covered with a single common stone layer were observed. According to Jerzy Gàssowski this custom may be evidence of the family bonds between the people buried there.

45

(1950) 1952.

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Other data were yielded by the investigations by the present author at the rural cemetery located near the parish church at Kleczanów in Sandomierz Upland.46 The cemetery has a considerable importance for the studies on the demographic structure of the local rural population in a diachronic aspect. Sufce to say that from the second half of the 12th century till the early 19th century, that is during the whole period when the cemetery was in use, the Kleczanów parish contained only one village.47 The anthropological material from the cemetery is thus an excellent source of evidence for studies on the broadly understood changes in the local rural populations from the Middle Ages till recent times. It has been assessed that the death rate of the earliest populations of Kleczanów was similar to the one recorded for graves from modern times (the rst half of the nineteenth century) and was, on average, 7 people a year. As we have seen, in the Middle Ages people seldom lived to a ripe old age. Child mortality rate was high during the whole time when the cemetery was functioning and it reached more than 30 per cent of the population. In that long period of time the bones of the analyzed skeletons revealed similar pathological changes: most often these were asymmetry of limbs, malocclusion, faulty development of teeth (diastema, rotation, diastasis) and caries. The cemetery at Kleczanów thus provides an example of a rural community with the limited inux of settlers from the outside during more than seven centuries when the cemetery was used. This may explain the phenomenon of the considerable ‘stability’ of the features of bone remains, comparable in many respects in the long time perspective. In recent years attempts have been made to establish the family afliations of the deceased through archaeological and anthropological analyses. Among the most interesting achievements are the investigations conducted by Teresa and Henryk Rysiewscy48 on a series of cemeteries from the early state period. These researchers attempted to determine phenomena impossible to establish through the analysis of written sources and standard methods of archaeological investigations. Such issues as the reasons for the differences in burial rites in the same cemetery, the possibilities of dening the kinship bonds or the anthropological differentiation of old communities resulting both from migrations and 46

Buko (ed.) 1997. A considerable number of rural parishes in Poland contain a number of individual settlements all served by one church (P.B.). 48 (1991) 1992. 47

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forms of concluding marriages were studied. The research was based on the assumption that the kinship structure of local communities is reected in the cemeteries, or in other words, that the existing social bonds of the living should be reected in the material evidence from the burial grounds. The signs of afliation (or its lack) to a group should be reected in the way and place of burying the dead in the cemetery used by a given community. To that end the distributions of various kinds of burials within a cemetery, the character of their grave goods, construction of the graves, the broadly understood context of the nds, gender and age of the deceased and many other things, are analyzed. In the investigations the models drawn from cultural anthropology were also taken into account, this concerns especially the denition of the family, kinship systems, and forms of concluding marriages. These and many other data were used to dene the base of the theoretical analyses tested on the material from selected Early Medieval cemeteries. The results of excavations of Early Medieval cemeteries such as Koqskie, Samborzec or Zdota Sandomierska allowed the authors to adopt the hypothesis that it is possible to dene the rules of burying the dead in Early Medieval row cemeteries. They concern the orientation of the burials which is connected with the gender and family lineage of the deceased and sometimes with their origin. At the 11th century cemetery in Sandomierz the regularity was discovered consisting of the fact that between the men buried in the southern part of the cemetery and women from the northern one (chronologically later) there was a strong biological bond (fathers and daughters?). According to Teresa Rysiewska49 this may indicate that these women were married to the men buried in the northern part of the cemetery. Another result of the investigations at the discussed cemetery was the claim that for its northern part it is possible to dene strong anthropological references to the remains from the Early Medieval cemeteries of Great Poland. On that basis, a hypothesis was formulated about the inux of a population of the Polanie to the area of Early Medieval Sandomierz in the period of formation of the Polish state. This hypothesis is in accordance with the results of independent investigation which the present author conducted on the Early Medieval pottery from Sandomierz (cf. Chapter 10). This trend of research was continued with the analyses of the material from other Little Polish cemeteries. On

49

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the basis of their results Teresa Rysiewska50 put forward a hypothesis that from the second half of the 10th century the population of the Polanie, which entered into kinship relations with the local communities, became a signicant component of the populations represented by those cemeteries. The results of the research suggest that candidates for wives were brought from Sandomierz to Zdota, whereas men from that center appeared there when the settlement of the St. James’ Hill in Sandomierz was coming to an end, that is, probably in the 1070s. These conclusions (if they are correct) would indicate signicant shifts of the population between the Sandomierz urban agglomeration and its closest rural hinterland, which took place at the outset of the Polish state. Also at the cemetery in Cracow-Zakrzówek discussed above, zones have been established in which the ‘morphological closeness’ of the men’s and women’s remains as well as those where the male burials are morphologically more distant from those of the female ones. It is also considered that this state of affairs was caused by a process like that proposed for the Sandomierz region, that is that the population from Zakrzówek entered into family bonds with family groups which had earlier (in the 11th century?) absorbed part of the arrivals from Great Poland.51 Investigations like the ones described above sometimes inspire disagreement and controversy. In particular, the basis on which such analyses have been made are questioned. Their authors are accused of piling assumption on assumption, many of which, used to test the hypotheses, cannot be veried. These doubts are in many cases quite justied. At the same time, however, this trend of research opens entirely new cognitive horizons in studies of ancient populations. It may be assumed that genetic analyses will become the new means of settling the presented doubts and also serve a research tool in the nearest future. *

*

*

This discussion of the remains of the people of the past preserved in the soil which have been studied in greater depth end the presentation of the key issues of Polish archaeology of the Early Middle Ages. As in the other discussed cases, the investigations of the cemeteries

50 51

2000. Rysiewska 1999.

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are accompanied by the inevitable problems in interpretation. The situation is only partially improved by the continual accumulation of new evidence and the development of the theoretical background and research methods in archaeology. It is thus highly probable that in the nearest future many existing evaluations and opinions will be subject to continual critical verication. I mean here both the ones formulated in this book and also the potential ones, existing in the material evidence not published yet, which will be dealt with by the future generations of archaeologists.

APPENDIX ONE

SOME NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION OF ANDRZEJ BUKO’S ‘ARCHAEOLOGY OF EARLY MEDIEVAL POLAND’ Paul Barford Translation of an archaeological work written in one scientic milieu in order for it to function on an equal footing in another can produce a number of problems. Besides lexical and semantic issues, the translator is faced with the task of confronting the linguistic manifestations of conceptual divergences between a foreign archaeology and that represented by the target language. There are some fundamental differences in the local traditions of Polish archaeological research and those of the English speaking world. Some of them are self-explanatory (such as the place of the written word and ‘tradition’ in Polish Early Medieval archaeology) but others have required some deliberations about how best to present this text to the English-speaking reader. In general, the tactic adopted has been to make the text as comprehensible as possible to a wider readership rather than using the text to underline the differences in traditions and approaches it unconsciously reveals (while the latter are also of course of great methodological interest to the outside reader). The book was originally written without the intent to have it translated at a later date into English and this is reected in its structure and approach. In particular, the author freely uses terms well known to the original target audience, but obviously not so familiar to the foreign reader of the current translation and a few words might be helpful. Geography The modern state of Poland lying in the center of Europe, between the southeastern coast of the Baltic and the northern anks of the Carpathian and Sudeten mountains, corresponds to a great extent to the segment of the North European Plain within the watersheds of the Oder and Vistula rivers. After a period of partition, Poland’s political

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borders were re-established in 1918 and then largely redrawn in 1945. The country today occupies an area roughly equivalent to that of the rst Polish state of the tenth and eleventh centuries, a fact used to great effect in post-War identity politics in the new state and affecting the way the archaeology of this period and the issue of historical continuity were conceptualized. The boundaries of the state have however varied widely in the intervening ten centuries. By the later part of the Medieval period they did not correspond to the present ones in the west (after 1146 and 1181 when territories were lost to German overlordship) nor in the east (when Poland expanded eastwards under Kazimierz the Great after 1349). Terms like ‘Poland’ are therefore difcult to use unambiguously, and the term “Polish lands” has become adopted in the Polish literature, though is itself not without problems. The term is used in this book without nationalist overtones. Since the 14th/15th centuries, the core of the Early Medieval state, the area around Gniezno and Poznaq, has been known as Great Poland (Wielkopolska, Polonia Maior) while the area to the southwest around the later capital at Cracow became known as Little Poland (Madopolska, Polonia Minor). The modern state encompasses many other different regions with different histories and for this reason, the author asks rhetorically whether one can speak of an archaeology of Poland or of the major regions of Poland, such as Silesia, Pomerania and Mazovia. Other smaller regions are referred to in the text in terms of the ‘Land’ around certain large towns, these are historical terms, corresponding in many cases to Old Polish administrative divisions, in turn to some degree reecting the Medieval system of territorial division and administration. Most of these towns can be located on maps in this book. In general, we give place and river names according to their present Polish form with a few exceptions which are well-established in Anglophone circles. We thus use Vistula instead of Wisda, Warsaw instead of Warszawa, Cracow instead of Kraków. There seems no reason in our English text to give the old German names for towns (Breslau, Danzig) or rivers sixty years after the end of the Second World War and the redrawing of the frontiers between Poland and Germany in 1945. The term ‘Pomerania’ is used here to mean ‘Polish’ Pomerania (Pomorze) which is the eastern half of the Medieval territory (the other half now corresponds to the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany). To add to the geographical complications, the framework of local administration of the area has changed several times in the past few

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decades, the most recently in 1999. At the time of writing it is based on 16 ‘voivodeships’ (provinces, roughly the equivalent of the British county). Today’s voivodeships are largely based on former historic regions (whereas the 49 provinces of 1975–1998 had less historical justication, they were centered on and named after individual cities). The voivodships are in turn divided into a variety of smaller administrative units, such as communes. The boundary changes have rendered outdated the locations of archaeological sites within modern administrative boundaries in even quite recent works (making compiling corpora a real headache). We have tried to avoid these terms as much as possible consistent with the rendering of the meaning of the original text. Historical background A major problem for the reader who, unlike the majority of the original book’s target readers, did not learn Polish history at school is the way that the author uses the names of Polish rulers as the framework for his narrative, and refers to documents (which should be) well known by name at least to every Polish schoolchild. In several places where the understanding of the text seemed to demand it, at the author’s suggestion, in preparing this translation, we expanded these mentions with dates or a few explanatory word in the text. In the case of more substantial explanations (often relating to Polish culture), they are added as footnotes signied as being by the translators. The reader may nd it helpful to have in one place as a reference the following briefest summary of Poland’s somewhat turbulent and confusing Medieval history and a list of the main rulers mentioned in this text. Their terminology is bewildering, some were crowned kings, others used the title Dux, which is rendered in Polish as ksiàw\. This is variously translated into English as ‘duke’ or ‘prince’. It seems to us that ‘duke’ is the most appropriate way to render this concept in English. The rst rulers of Early Medieval Poland were all of the Piast dynasty from Great Poland. Legendary progenitors of the dynasty (Piast the Wheelwright, Siemowit, Lestek, Siemomysd) Duke Mieszko I (ruled ?963–992) [converted to Christianity 966, united several regions under centralized rule]

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Duke [in 1025 King] Boleseaw I the Brave (992–1025) [expanded and strengthened the state; in 1000, Emperor Otto III came to Gniezno for a Summit with Bolesdaw which is seen by some as a key turning point in the history of this part of Europe] King [after 1031, Duke] Mieszko II Lambert (1025–39) [Period of internal strife; pagan ‘reaction’ (apostasy), the Czech ruler Bretyslav invaded Poland 1038/9. Pomerania becomes independent] Duke Kazimierz I the Restorer (1039–1058) [restores central power, established Cracow as the capital] Duke [after 1076 King] Boleseaw II the Bold (1058–79) [forced out of country after killing bishop Stanisdaw] Duke Weadyseaw Herman (1079–1102) [Bolesdaw’s brother, duke of Mazovia, ruled Poland from Pdock after his brother’s forced exile] Duke Zbigniew (1102–1107) and Duke Boleseaw III Wrymouth (1102–1138) [the kingdom was initially partitioned between them, but then Wrymouth took sole power, reconquest of Pomerania. ‘Gallus Anonymous’ writes his chronicle] Bolesdaw’s death was followed by the so-called period of ‘feudal fragmentation’ when the original Piast state of Poland rapidly divided and subdivided into provinces ruled by a bewildering number of descendants of the ve sons of Wrymouth: Weadyseaw II the Exile (†1159), Henryk of Sandomierz (†1166), Boleseaw the Curly (†1173), Kazimierz the Just (†1194) and Mieszko the Old (†1202). The principle of seniority established by Bolesdaw broke down and there was a lot of inghting between the dynastic relatives for the senior position, the throne of Cracow. The dukes of these provinces were mostly from the Piast dynasty, though at times foreign (chiey Bohemian and Hungarian) rulers made bids for the Polish throne, sometimes successfully. A few of the local rulers of this period are mentioned in this book: Wladyseaw Spindleshanks (†1231), Henryk the Bearded (†1238), Weadyseaw Odonic (†1239), Konrad of Mazovia (†1247), Waclaw II (the Bohemian king, duke of Cracow and later Polish king, †1305). It was in this period of division that the Mongols invasion of 1241 occurred. The provinces were united into a Polish kingdom towards the end of the thirteenth century under Weadyseaw the Short (king 1320–1333). This was followed by the splendid reign of Kazimierz III the Great (1333–1370) the last of the Piast Kings of Poland. After a brief period of Angevin rule (1370–1386), the marriage of (‘King’) Jadwiga to Jagieelo the Duke of Lithuania gave rise to the Jagiellonian dynasty which ruled until 1572.

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Terminology Many of the archaeological terms used by the book’s author can easily be translated, while others produce problems in that they refer to phenomena which have no physical counterpart in the English-speaking world, and therefore a precisely corresponding term simply does not exist. These terms are often presented here descriptively (occasionally giving the Polish term in brackets for those who might want to search the Polish literature for it). In other cases the nearest term in German has been given for some phenomena which occur there, but not further west. A third resolution was to use an approximate English term for a Polish one. One of these situations concerns the typical construction of groundlevel buildings where the walls consist of horizontal beams or logs stacked one on top of the other and linked with those perpendicular to it by notched joints at the corners of the structure. This technique has been called ‘blockhaus construction’ or ‘log cabin’ construction. The latter term is used here. There is no wholly satisfactory translation of the Polish term gród/ grodzisko, referring to a common Early Medieval and later site type, an earthwork representing the remains of an earthen and timber enclosure with buildings inside. They seem to have fullled a variety of functions, some defensive, some economic and maybe even cultic. The term ‘stronghold’ has been used to translate this term (though not all grody may have thus functioned), but then not all were ‘fortied settlements’ either, and the term ‘earthwork enclosure’ seems pedantic and cumbersome (not all grody are totally enclosed anyway and some in fact have no visible earthworks of ramparts—e.g., Hamki). The Polish term is rather too ambiguous for successful translation. The Polish terms osada podgrodowa/przygrodowa or simply podgrodzia (plural—podgrodzie) is also ambiguous. The term is used by Polish archaeologists to refer to settlements immediately adjacent to ( pod—under) a fortied center (gród: stronghold, stronghold), sometimes they have their own earthwork defenses (e.g. Stradów, Gniezno), but are more often undefended. The term is sometimes translated as ‘suburb’ or ‘borough’, but neither term is fully appropriate (since not all are related to ‘urban’ sites, and the term ‘borough’ is confusingly close to the German Burg). Here we use the cumbersome descriptive term ‘immediately adjacent and ancillary settlements’ as a synonym for podgrodzie.

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The various forms of the internal timber reinforcements of stronghold ramparts (usually various horizontal arrangements of logs) have their own names in Polish. Some ve of these appear at various points in this book, but only one of them has been given any diagnostic weight by the author. In the other cases, the specic Polish term is rendered generally in our translation. Another rather cumbersome and paradoxical term is forced on us by the Polish term used for a particular form of disposal of the remains of the dead. This refers to an ‘above-ground burial’. The main usage here is for barrows which have the remains deposited outside the mound (on the top), rather than under them. Various forms of reference in church dedications etc. to the Virgin Mary more common in the Catholicism of eastern Europe (Mother of God etc.) have been rendered here as the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), but where Eastern Orthodox usage if concerned, the original form is retained. All dates given are Anno Domini unless otherwise signied. The Author Andrzej Buko (born 1947) began his archaeological career (after a short period of work as a journalist) in 1970. He works in the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (since 1970) as well as (since 1995) in the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw where from the beginning he has been the director of the Department of Early Medieval Archaeology. He has been guest lecturer at a number of universities in Poland and abroad (including periods on a stipendium in France in 1974, 1986 and Italy in 1973). As a member of what has been termed by some ‘the Solidarity generation’ of archaeologists, he was one of the young medievalists who was increasingly instrumental in the 1980s and 1990s in challenging the interpretations and manner of work established by the senior generation over previous decades. His principle eld of activity in the past has been the study of Early Medieval ceramics (he is author of the seminal work Ceramica wczesnopolska—wprowadzenie do badar [Early Medieval Polish Pottery. Introduction to its Investigation] published in 1990). His general research interests are: medieval towns and rural archaeology, the beginnings of the Polish state and European civilization, archaeology of frontiers and ceramics in archaeology.

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His own eldwork has largely been focused on problems of southeastern Poland and its eastern borderlands. Between 1970 and 1976 he worked at Sandomierz (excavations directed by Stanisdaw Tabaczyqski) and published the pottery from the town as well as a number of individual sites. This site played a key part in the formulation of some of the new theses which are prominent here. He has also dug on several medieval sites in Poland, France, Italy and Norway. Beside medieval towns, he has also directed excavations on the rural sites of Kleczanów (1989–1992) and Kaczyce (1997–2001). In 1996–1999 Andrzej Buko directed a national multidisciplinary programme “Poland at the Time of the Gniezno Summit” nanced by the Polish Committee for Scientic Research. This was the rst project of this type since the “Millennium” project of the 1950s and 1960s. It co-ordinated work on 34 research projects, the results of some of which are referred to here (see also Buko and swiechowski eds 2000). Since 1996, the author’s main research interests have been focused on the areas of the Upper Bug river during the 9th–13th centuries, dened as a political, ideological and cultural frontier between the Rus-Byzantine and West Roman worlds. In this area he carried out excavations in the town of Chedm (1996–2001)—a central place in the Halich-Volyn Principality, strongly inuenced by Byzantine culture in the time of Duke Danylo Romanovich. His most recent eld project has been the multidisciplinary and international investigations of the masonry tower at Stodpie near Chedm (2003–2005) and other fortied sites (strongholds) sited on the borderland between Poland and Ukraine. Andrzej Buko is the author of over 200 papers: books, articles, reviews (published in Poland and abroad) concerning prehistoric and medieval archaeology and methods of analysis of ceramics, and is author or co-author of nine books. The original Polish edition of this book (Archeologia Polski wczesnouredniowiecznej), was published in 2005 by ‘Trio’ publishers in Warsaw, and it sold so quickly that a second revised edition was printed the following year. When it was also awarded the ‘Klio’ prize. In June 2007 Andrzej Buko was chosen as the Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The author’s current website: http://www.andrzejbuko.pradzieje.pl/

APPENDIX TWO

A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE PRONUNCIATION OF POLISH WORDS compiled by Paul Barford It is thought that lecturers using this book in their teaching (and others) may appreciate a guide to the pronunciation of the Polish names and terms such a work inevitably contains. Some of them may look a bit daunting to the uninitiated, but the pronunciation of Polish is almost entirely regular. The Polish language is written in the Latin alphabet with the addition (from the 14th and 15th centuries) of a few additional letters, diacritical marks, and several characteristic two-letter combinations. The sounds they make may be approximated by the English speaker. The stress of words usually falls on the penultimate syllable. Vowels a – short vowel (hat); A – as in French “en”, or as in ancé (nasal equivalent of “o”) e – short e (bed, ten); \ – nasal e, as in French ‘vin’ (at end of a word however it is pronounced ‘e’) i (machine, feet, not as in ‘ship’) o – short (cot, not); ó – (put, book); u – (put, book) ej – as in take; aj, as English ‘i’ in ‘like’. Consonants c – as “ts” (cats), never “k”, ch, h – as hard, fricative “h” (half ) m and ci – very soft “ch” (which) cz – as ch, harder than m (churlish) dz – ds (woods, beds) dv – j ( jump) d, dzi – as ‘dg’ (budget, jam)

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g – hard (go, girl) j – ‘y’ (yellow, yet) d – w (water, win) q, ni – nasal, as in ‘onion’ r – this is rolled rz – ‘zh’ as in pleasure t, si – soft ‘sh’ (she, surely) sz – hard ‘sh’ (sheep, shine) w – always as ‘v’ (voice, van) y – i (rich, t) v – as ‘s’ in ‘pleasure’ , zi very soft ‘s’ as in pleasure

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INDEX Adalbert (Wojciech), Saint 19, 138, 227, 231–3, 241, 256, 353, 378–9 Adalbertus program 19 Adam of Bremen 49, 133, 247 Adriatic 68 Al-Idrisi, Arabic geographer 83 Alans 383 Alexander of Malonne, bishop 51–2, 260 Alfred the Great (k. of England) 49 Altenberg 372 Alt Käbelich-Neuenkirchen Mecklenburg 100 Alt Käbelich types graves 100–1, 404 Altschlesien 8 Altschlesische Blätter 8 amber 213, 241, 250, 317 animal remains 39, 42–5, 58, 66, 124–5, 168, 173, 328, 347–8, 403, 417, 426 horse 43–4, 58, 67, 328, 348 cattle 43–4, 66–7, 71, 168, 173, 311, 328, 347–8 pig 43–4, 67, 173, 328, 347 Sheep/goat 43–4, 173, 347 wild animals 43–5, 58, 67, 328 Angevin dynasty 434 Anglo-Saxons 72 Antes 57–8 anthropology 6, 12, 75–6 anthropology, physical 185, 427 Arabic world 29, 279, 424 Arkona (Germany) 303 Atlantis 247 Augustinians 114, 116, 208, 378 Avars (state) 60, 86, 102, 130, 153, 164, 297 Asia, central 6 Babylon 55 Tower of Babel 55 Balkans 70, 115, 172 Baltic Sea 23, 45, 57, 68, 197, 204, 206, 213, 225–6, 404, 420–1, 431 Baltic coast 48, 211, 226, 247, 255, 400 Balts (West) 21, 57, 69, 133

Prussians 19, 99, 199–200, 202, 224, 232, 248, 256, 323, 359, 372 Prussian borderlands 23, 200–1 Lithuanians 256, 325 Baltic languages 60 Baptism, baptistery 1, 19–20, 227, 236–9, 264, 290–2, 298, 311, 314, 330 Bardy-swielubie (pow. kodobrzeski) 89, 212, 408 Baszków, pow. krotoszyqski (see Piaski) Battle of Nakdo (1113) 1 Bavarian Geographer 29, 49, 76, 78–9, 81, 83–4, 104, 207, 243 Civitates 76–8, 81, 84, 104, 207 Belarus 56, 58, 335 Benedictines 108–10, 175, 203, 208, 305, 352–9, 361, 363–9 Beskidy Mountains 117 B\dkowice (pow. wrocdawski) 10, 114 B\dzin 93 Biadogard 213 Biebrza, river 414 Bielsk Podlaski 43 Bijelo Brdo Culture 422 Birka (Sweden) 410, 413, 419 Biskupin (pow vniqski) 8, 66, 341–2 Black Sea 58, 204 Bledzewo, pow. mi\dzyrzecki 370 Bnin (Kórnik), pow. poznaqski 226 Bobrzanie 84 Bochnia 143 Boh (Southern Bug) 58 Bohemia, Bohemians 26, 58, 94, 96–7, 103, 149, 153, 189–91, 205–6, 206–11, 214–6, 218, 221, 231, 237, 242, 262–3, 287, 295, 299, 302, 304–5, 319, 323, 343, 424, 434 Bohemian invasion (Bretyslav I) 189, 205–6, 237, 319, 323 Boleslav I (Bohemia 935–972) 206–7, 210 Boleslav II (Bohemia 972–999) 153 Bolesdaw the Brave (992–1025) 5, 18, 31, 49, 179, 187–8, 195, 207, 215, 219, 227, 239–41, 280, 297, 304, 307–8, 315, 317–8, 353, 408, 410, 434

466

index

Bolesdaw the Chaste 51, 53 Bolesdaw II the Bold (1059–79) 138, 203, 268, 294, 343, 353, 355, 364, 434 Bolesdaw III Wrymouth (1102–1138) 3, 175, 187, 214, 261, 305, 353, 354, 364, 434 Bolesdaw the Curly (†1173) 293, 434 Bonikowo, pow. kotciaqski 86, 89 Bornholm 408 Borre (Norway) 158 Bóbr river 84, 98 Bretyslav I (Bohemian duke) 189, 205, 237, 315–6, 318–9, 323, 401, 420, 434 British Isles 72, 405, 413 Bródno (Warsaw) 24 Bug (Western Bug), river 11, 24, 81–2, 99, 193, 204, 256, 308–9, 414, 418, 437 Bulgaria 16, 221 Protobulgarians 383 Bydgoszcz 226 Bytom Odrzaqski, pow. nowosolski 404 Byzantium, Byzantine Empire 29, 61 70–1, 76, 81, 201, 221, 277, 279, 283, 317, 330, 332, 437 Byzantine objects 283 Bzura, river 24, 79 Carolingian world 172, 321–2, 343, 375 Carpathian Mountains 29, 58, 61, 69–71, 91, 97, 219, 263, 279, 422, 431, Carpathian Basin 60, 81 Caspian Sea 204 castellany center 26, 202–3, 324 Caucasus Mountains 55 Celts, Celtic 111, 115–6, 163 Charlemagne 86 Chedm 2, 25, 31, 50, 118–20, 193–4, 270, 272–9, 328, 331, 437 Chedm Czarnieckiego Street 31–2 Chedmno 4, 19, 23–4, 89–90, 120–1, 224, 307, 322–4, 411–4 Chedmno land 4, 34, 90, 96, 340 Chedmno (Kaddus) St Lawrence’s Hill 19, 24, 120–1, 224, 307, 322–4, 411–4 Chedmska Góra (see Koszalin) Cherniakhovo Culture 58, 64, 68 Chernigov (Ukraine) mounds 157, 160, 162

Cherven strongholds 3, 10, 13, 191, 194–5, 224, 279, 307–8 Chodlik 25, 82, 91 Chodlik-type strongholds 91 Christianity 26, 45, 102–4, 108–110, 116, 121, 126, 139, 152, 160, 171, 174, 176, 188, 208–210, 214, 218, 220–1, 227, 263, 268, 283, 300, 304–5, 310, 315, 323, 330, 352, 372, 383, 395–7, 418–9, 421– 422 Ciechanów 24, 202 Ciepde, pow tczewski 405 Cistercians 2, 352, 355, 369–72, 374, 376 Civitas Schinesghe 195, 200, 215, 221, 227 (see also ‘Gniezno state’) Cluniac reform 361, 369 coins 7, 41, 46–7, 93, 241, 268, 282, 286, 412, 424–6 Cologne (Germany) 372, 353 Committee for Scientic Research 18, 21, 147, 170, 437 Conservator General of Historical Monuments 18 Constantine Porphyrogenitus 81, 190 Cosmas of Prague 214–5 Cracow (Kraków) 1, 4–7, 16, 20, 22, 24–5, 30, 40, 42, 50, 80–2, 91, 95, 102–3, 138, 143–4, 146, 150–3, 159–63, 163, 183, 190–1, 160, 211, 215, 21–9, 224, 226, 262, 284, 290, 294–7, 299–300, 376, 432, 434 Wawel 2, 24–5, 30, 50, 94, 153, 215–6, 294–300, 306, 355, Okod 94, 97, 154, 296–7 Hoard of currency bars 94–5, 160, 297 University ( Jagiellonian University) 1, 4, 6, 319 Cracow mounds 154, 161–2, 164 Krak’s 10, 94, 102, 143, 146, 150–2, 155, 157–8, 160–1, 163–4, 297 Wanda’s 94, 150, 153, 160, 163–4, 297 Esterka’s 150, 154 Nowa Huta district Mogida 153 Monastery 160 Cracow-Cz\stochowa Uplands 61, 91 Cracow Land 211, 214–6, 218–9, 226 Cracow White pottery 82 Cracow (Kraków)-Zakrzówek 300, 397, 404, 429 Croatia 70

index Crusades 381 Cybina, river 186, 233 Czarna Wielka, pow. siematycki 415 Czartoryska, Duchess Izabela 3 Czermno, pow. hrubieszowski 3, 13, 44, 99, 224, 308 Czechówka river 127, 192 Czersk, pow piaseczynski 15, 24, 204 Czech, see Bohemian Dacia 58 Dadodesani (Diedesizi, Dedosize Dziadoszanie) 83–4, 98 Dagome Iudex 184, 195, 200, 202, 215, 227 Daleszyn, pow. gostyqski 89, 343 Danube, river 49, 55, 57–9, 66, 68, 70, 73, 76, 102 Danylo Romanovich (Prince of Halich-Volynia 1238–1266) 50, 119, 194, 272, 274, 276–8, 332, 437 Danzig 432 Dàbrówka, wife of Mieszko I 231 deforestation 47 dendrochronological dating 18, 41, 90–1, 93–4, 178–9, 184, 187–9, 201, 209–10, 212, 217–8, 224, 230–1, 234–5, 242, 248, 302, 316, 321, 325, 331, 367 Denmark, Danish 158, 250, 413 Dessau-Mossigkau 66 Ddubnia river 153 Ddugosz, Jan (1415–1480) 1, 55, 159, 183, 268, 287, 308, 325 Dnepr, river 56–9 Dnester, river 58, 64, 82, 279 Dobromierz, pow wdoszczowski 96–7 Dobrzeszewska, Mount 110 Dobrzyq Land 4, 23, 90, 340 Dominican order 22, 149, 261 Drohiczyn, pow. siemiatycki 24, 41, 79, 194, 414 Drohiczyn type pottery 41, 204 Druvno, lake 198 Drw\ca, river 90 Dvina, river 57 Dziwna, river 248, 250 Dziekanowice, pow. gnie
467

Elbe, river 5, 63, 65, 76, 404 encolpion crosses 315, 422 ethnic groups 76 ethnographic evidence 8, 12, 41, 55, 60 fasting 45 Feldberg type strongholds 88 feudal system 385–6 ‘period of feudal fragmentation’ 344, 434 sh, shing 45–6, 311, 336 folk traditions 1, 108, 110, 118, 120–1, 125, 131, 139, 148–9, 153–5, 161 ‘dragon’s’ legends 127 fords 208 forgery 5, 169–70 Four Brothers 231–2, 353 Foundation for Polish Science 14, 21 foundation offerings 50 France 16, 331, 383 Franks, East, West 29, 76, 221, 368 Galicia (Austrian Partition) 6 Gallus Anonymous, chronicler 49–50, 80, 175–6, 183, 187–8, 201, 205, 226, 262, 301, 317–8, 420, 434 Gardno, Lake 125 Gardno, pow. sdupskie 124 Gdaqsk 11, 22–3, 77, 196–9, 213, 217–8, 226, 250–56 Gdynia Gdynia-Oksywie 198 genetic analyses 429 Germanic 9, 57, 60, 62–3, 65, 69, 70, 72, 133 Germans (Medieval) 184, 206–8, 250, 254, 316, 383, 432 Germany, Germans 6, 8–9, 26, 409, 432 Giecz 19, 50, 178, 188–90, 224, 290, 307, 317–323 Gdogów 84, 210 Gnezdovo (Russia) 157 Gnezdun civitas 227 Gniew, pow. tczewski 252 Gniezno 4, 8–10, 31, 48, 51, 97, 120, 175, 178–81, 183–4, 186, 188, 190, 202, 206, 210–2, 214, 218, 226–233, 241–2, 306, 316–7, 322, 359, 373, 402, 422, 432, 435 ‘Gniezno state’ 178–9, 184, 186–8, 190–1, 195, 200–2, 205, 217, 220, 226–7, 256, 265, 280, 402 Gniezno Land 189

468

index

Gniezno Summit 18–9, 104, 212, 221, 225, 227, 231, 267, 295, 302, 320, 434, 437 Gokstad (Norway) 158 Golancz Pomorska, pow. grycki 88 God\szyce (Golensizi ) 83–4, 95 Goplanie (Glopeani ) 76, 78–9, 99, 243 Gopdo Lake 78, 181 Gostynin 414 Gostyq Wielkopolski 10, 86 Kowalowa Góra 117–8 Gostyq, pow. tyskie 140 Goths 56, 58, 68 Ostrogoths 60, 62 Gotland 408 Grabek, pow. bedchatowski 403 Great Moravia 92, 94, 96–7, 149, 190, 195, 208, 221, 262–3, 284 Great Poland (Wielkopolska Polonia Maior) 3–4, 6, 11, 15, 18–9, 27, 46–7, 62–3, 65, 73, 78–9, 89–92, 98, 120, 132, 161, 163, 165, 177–9, 182, 185–7, 190–1, 194–5, 200, 202, 207–8, 210, 213, 216, 220–1, 225–6, 228, 238, 244, 256, 263–5, 271–2, 338, 340, 363, 370–2, 400–2, 404, 408, 410, 420, 428–9, 432 Greece 61, 70, 332 Greek culture 249 Grodzisk, pow. w\growski 204–5 Gronowo, pow. torunski 90 Grodowa, Mount, Tumlin, pow. kielecki 110 Gródek Nadbuvny, pow. hrubieszowski 3, 13, 308–9 Gruczno, pow. twiecki 90 Guciów, pow. zamojski 97 Hamki, pow. bielski 24, 66, 69, 87, 204, 435 Haithabu (Hedeby, Germany) 248, 413 Hajnówka 404 Halich (Ukraine) 194, 267 Halich-Volyn Chronicle 49, 195 Halich-Volynia principality 194, 331, 437 Hamburg (Germany) 2, 213 Harald Bluetooth Danish king 247, 408 Hedoany (Czech) 189 Henryk of Sandomierz (†1166) 293, 381, 434 Henryk the Bearded (†1238) 114, 246, 434

historian 1, 3, 8, 12–3, 29, 55, 75, 78, 130, 133, 144, 148, 159, 176–7, 184, 227, 268, 309, 320, 368, 377, 433 Holy Cross Mountains 81, 107–9, 349 Horodyszcze, pow. bialski (Podlaski), 205, 422 Hrubieszów 156 Huczwa, river 193, 308 Hungary, Hungarian (see also Magyars) 127, 434 Huns 62 Husynne, pow. chedmski 156 Moon grave 156 Hypatian Cronicle 50, 277 Ibn Fadlan Arab traveler 157 Ibrahim ibn Yaqub Spanish merchant 49, 200, 220, 247, 294, 404–5 iconography 51, 54 Ilmen, Lake 157 Indo-European 56–7 Innocent IV Pope 194 inscriptions 51, 54 Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences 13, 15, 21, 129, 331, 387, 436 Ipote‘ti-Cande‘ti-Ciurel culture 70 Italy 16, 63, 70–1, 73, 282, 383 Jadowniki Mokre, pow. tarnowski 341 Jadwiga (‘King’) 434 Jagiedlo, Duke of Lithuania 434 Jagiellonian dynasty 434 Jaksa Gryta of Miechów 381 Jan Kazimierz, King 144 Jan of Dàbrówka, writer 1 Jankowo, pow. gnieznienski 187 Janów Pomorski, pow. elblàski 198 Jarszewo, pow kamienski 340 Jaroszyn parish 337 Jasdo 127 Jelling (Denmark) 158, 160 Jerusalem 381 Jewish 261, 283, 408 J\drzejów 2, 370, 374 Jom, Jomsborg, Jumne 247 Jordan bishop 19, 238, 241 314, 353 Jordanes 56–7 Judyta wife of Bolesdaw the Bold 355 Kaczawa, river 84 Kaczyce, pow. opatowski 336–7, 345–9, 437

34–5, 43,

index Kaddubek, Wincenty (chronicler) 1, 2, 49, 159, 183 Kalisz 18, 21, 48, 180, 187–90, 219, 226, 241–2, 379, 387–92 Kalisz-Wydarte 188 Kalisz-Zawodzie 187–9, 242–6, 387–90, 392 Kalisz Upland 180 Kaddus (see Chedmno) Kamieniec, pow. zàbkowicki 95 Kamienna, river 83 Kamieq Pomorski 213, 250, 266 Kartuzy 252 Kazimierz Mieszkowic 293 Kazimierz the Great, Polish king (1333–1370) 274, 287, 308, 432, 434 Kazimierz the Just (†1194) 290, 293, 370, 434 Kazimierz the Restorer (1039–1059) 206, 154, 353, 355, 375, 420, 434 K\drzyno, pow. kolobrzeski 88 Khazars 221, 348 Kielce 110 Kiev (Ukraine) 267, 307–8, 315 Kiev Culture 58, 62 Kievan Rus 78, 81, 157, 190–1, 195, 201–2, 204, 206, 221, 282, 307–8, Kisielnica, river 341 Kleczanów, pow. sandomierski 27, 33–4, 36–8, 100, 134–141, 335, 338–9, 427, 437 Klenica, pow. zielonogorski 10, 86 Klukowicze, pow. siemiatycki 204 Kdecko, pow. gnieznieqski 8, 10 Kolno 414 Kodbacz, pow. grycki 370 Kodobrzeg 23, 88–9, 212–4, 226, 250, 252 Kodobrzeg-Budzistowo 408 Komarowice (Ukraine) 147, 163 Konrad of Mazovia (†1247) 261, 434 Kolochin Culture 58 Koqskie 9, 414–5, 426, 428 Koprzywnica, pow. sandomierski 81, 370 korchaga amphorae 282 Korchak Culture 58 Koszalin 125, 370, 406 Chedmska (Kryvanka) Hill 125–6, 132, 406 Kotciuszko, Mountain 110–1, 113, 116–7 Kotarszyn, pow ostrowiecki 4

469

Kowalowa Góra (see Gostyq Wielkopolski) Krak(us) mythical person 1, 153, 159, 163, 262 Krakuszowice, pow. wielicki 143 ‘Krakuszowiec type barrows’ 143 Krasna wiet, pow. bielski 204 Krosno Odrzaqski 208 Kruszwica, pow. inowrocdawski 78–9, 181, 202, 219, 224, 226 Krzna, river 99 Kuiavia 62, 72, 89, 96, 98, 120, 161, 181, 219, 226, 340, 359, 370, 408 Lachs (Poles) 195–6, 279 Latkowa, pow. milicki 402 Làd, pow sdupecki 370 Lech 183, 228, 231 Lech, brother of Wanda 159 Lechici 221 Lednica (see Ostrów Lednicki) Lednica; Museum of the First Piasts 387 Lednica, Lake 47 Legnica 208, 353 Lestek 175, 183, 433 Leszczków, pow. opatowski 154–5 L\dziane (L\dzanie) 78–8, 146, 190, 195, 279 Libice (Czech) 305 Life of St Methodius 49, 283, 290 linear earthworks 98, 99, 200, 219 linguistic evidence 8, 12, 56, 58–9, 78 hydronyms 56, 59–60 toponyms 57, 82, 130, 219, 344, 411 Little Poland (Madopolska Polonia Minor) 10, 16, 20, 24–6, 46, 62, 72, 75, 80, 82–3, 91, 93–4, 96, 100, 103–5, 132, 134, 143, 146, 154, 157, 159–65, 177, 185,190–1, 194–6, 199, 202–3, 205, 207–8, 211, 216, 218–9, 221, 224, 226, 242, 255, 264–5, 267, 272, 279–80, 294, 299, 338, 374, 376, 389, 391, 392, 424, 428, 432 Liwiec river 24, 99, 204–5 Longobards 60, 70–1, 73 Lower Saxony 2 Lovat, river (Russia) 157 Lubiàv, pow. kotciaqski 353, 370 Lubeck law 253–4 Lubiq, pow. kotcianski 353, 363–9

470

index

Lublin 25, 34, 82–3, 91, 191–2 193, 195, 218, 226, 268, 280, 337 University 134, 329 umigród 192 Lubomia, pow. wodzislawski 10, 95–6 Lusatia 62, 73, 86, 98 Lusatian Culture 55, 57, 112–3, 115, 125, 137, 152, 356 Lutomiersk, pow. pabianicki 408–11, 414–5, 419 càczyno Stare, pow. mdawski 416–7 ceba, Lake 125 cekno, pow. wàgrowiecki 370–3 c\czyca 16, 24, 79, 180, 203, 337, 353, 410 comva 24 coniów, pow. sandomierski 82 cód< 17 cód< University 11 cubowo, pow. gnieznieqski 220, 406 cupawa (Opatówka) river 125, 127 cydynia, river 202 dysa Góra (cysiec) 3, 107–112, 113, 117, 132, 208, 349, 353 Monastery 109–10, 353 Magdeburg 260, 267 Magdeburg Law 373 magic 50, 383, 385–6 Catalogue of Magic Brother Rudolf 50 Magyars 221, 279, 297, 384 Malonne (Belgium) 51–2, 260 Marxist ideology 12 material culture 7, 12–3, 63, 71–2, 75, 85, 96, 186, 204, 211, 212, 333–4, 338, 348, 401–2 Maur, Bishop 51, 300, 395 Mazovia, Mazovians 24, 50, 62, 72, 79, 80, 82, 87, 99, 104, 121, 132, 172, 199–202–6, 216–9, 225–6, 255, 258, 328, 396, 414–6, 418–21, 432, 434 Old (Pdock) Mazovia 200, 203–4 Eastern Mazovia 204 Mazovian graves with stone constructions 3, 202, 414, 416, 418, 420 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany) 101, 432 Mediterranean Sea 68, 70, 171 Menkendorf (Germany) 400

Methodius, bishop 20, 49, 263, 283, 290 Miechów 91, 381 Miecdaw, rebel 206, 420 Mieszko I, duke 31, 49, 78, 87, 99, 175–6, 179, 184, 187, 195, 200, 202, 206–7, 210, 214–5, 219–21, 227–8, 231, 234, 236, 239–40, 247, 280, 295, 299, 311, 314–5, 408, 433 Mieszko II, duke 319, 321, 323, 420, 434 Mieszko Mieszkowic, duke 187, 245 Mieszko the Old, duke 187, 244–5, 366, 434 Mietlica, pow. inowrocdawski 181, 187 Mi\dzyrzecz 179, 187, 353 Mi\dzytwiecie, pow. cieszynski 95 Migration period 63, 73, 158 Mikorzyn stones 5 Milicz 208 Millennium 11–2, 14, 17–8, 20–1, 25–6, 157, 176–7, 223, 232, 234, 238, 251, 284, 286, 309–10, 318, 352, 385, 409, 437 Directorate for research (KBPPP) 13–4 Mdawa 414 Mogilno 203, 353–4, 359–64 ‘Mogilno Forgery’ 50, 203 Mogida (see Cracow) Mokrzk, pow. pdocki 87, 199 Modoczki, pow. bielski 122–3, 147, 204 Mongol invasion (1241) 434 Moraczewo, pow leszczynski 179, 187 Moravia 58, 79 Moravian Gate 84 Moselle, river 359–61 Motdawa, river 196, 251, 255–6 Mounds, monumental 82, 105, 143–165, 279 Msta, river (Russia) 157 Nakdo on the Notem 187, 226 Nad\czów Plateau 337 Narew, river 24, 79, 324, 414 Nasielsk, pow. nowodworski 414 Naszacowice, pow. nowosàdecki 25, 93, 215–6 natural environment 8, 27–8, 33, 47, 55, 338 anthropogenic changes 47–8 Neisse (Lusatian), river 84 Nida river 82, 91, 285–6

index Nidzica 414 Niemcza, pow.dziervonowski 10, 26, 96, 102, 207–8, 210, 226, 423–5 Nietulisko, pow. ostrodecki 4 Niewiadoma, pow. Sskodowski 24 Nicomedia (Turkey) 283 nomads 60, 69–73, 130, 161, 173, 347–8 Norbertans, order 355, 379 Norway 158 Notem, river 78, 181, 187, 226 Nowa Sdupia, pow. kielecki 109 Nowa Wiet, pow. kaliski 379 Novgorod (Russia) 157, 213, 248, 260 Obodrites 212 Obra, river 79, 84, 178, 370 ‘Obrzanie’ 79 Oder, river 9, 56, 59, 77–8, 84, 181, 206–7, 213, 301, 336, 431 Oland (Sweden) 408 Olga, Rus’ duchess 221 Oliwa, Gdaqsk 370 Olkusz 295 Opatów 127–130, 134, 194, 268, 338, 346 umigród 128–30, 194 Opole 8, 10, 12, 16, 208, 210, 226 Opolanie (Opolini ) 83–4 Orosius, writer 49 Orzeszkowo, pow. grycki 402 Orzyc, river 414, 419 Oseberg (Norway) 158 Ostrów Lednicki (Lednica), pow. gnie
471

sacrice 35, 118, 120–1, 124–5, 133, 157, 323, 424 human 323, 424, shrines 118, 125–6, 209, 228–9, 250–2, 277, 303 water cult 117, 133, 140 pagan reaction (apostasy) 205, 302, 304, 323, 353, 359, 434 palatium 31, 121, 189, 193, 227, 231, 235–6, 258, 280–1, 289, 297, 311, 314–5, 319–21, 374–7 Paradyv, pow. opoczyqski 370 parish network 25, 104, 398–9, 427 Pars\ta river 77–8, 88, 212 Pasd\ka river 61 Paszkowszczyzna, pow. bielski 204 Penkovka Type Culture 58 Peremil (Ukraine) 196, 280 Peremyshl (Przemytl?) 195, 280 Piaski-Rochy (Baszków), pow. krotoszynski 400–1, 219, 241 Piast (originator of the Piast dynasty) 175, 184, 227, 433 Piast dynasty 8, 19, 26, 43, 98, 176, 178, 179, 181–5, 187–90, 196, 395, 401, 433–4 Piast state 78, 83, 104, 209, 233, 302, Pilica river 119 Piotrków Trybunalski 341 Pliny 48 Pdock 3, 15–6, 24, 50–1, 79, 87, 121, 200–2, 205, 218, 226, 255–7, 259–62, 324, 353–4, 376, 414, 434 Tumskie Hill 205 Cathedral 3, 51 Pdock Doors 51–2 Pdock-Podolszyce 419 Pdoqsk 414 Podebdocie, pow. garwolinski 24, 167–173 so-called ‘tablets’ 102, 167–173 Podlasie 24, 41, 66, 72, 87, 122, 147, 203–4, 226, 414–5,418 Polabia 78, 211 Polanie 78–9, 82, 177–8, 183, 195, 200, 212, 220, 264–5, 279–80, 428–9 Polovtsy 287, 290 Podaniec, pow. stasowski 81 Pomerania (Pomorze), Pomeranians 1–2, 7, 11, 15, 22–3, 49, 61, 65, 68, 73, 76, 78, 89–91, 101, 104, 161, 164, 181–2, 211, 213–4, 217, 223,

472

index

226, 241, 254, 256, 260, 316, 322–3, 354, 359, 370, 372–3, 396, 400–2, 408, 432, 434 Eastern Pomerania 23, 62, 77–8, 196, 198–9, 205–6, 218, 225, 250–1, 414 Western Pomerania 77–8, 88, 100, 206, 211, 214, 217–8, 224–5, 246, 250, 255–6, 266, 340, 403 Pomponius Mela 48 Pop\szyce, pow. nowosolski 10, 86 Popiel, King 175, 183–4 Potocki, Count Jan 2 Poznan 4, 7–8, 10–1, 13, 15, 18–9, 22–3, 31, 178, 181, 186, 190, 226–7, 233–39, 241, 314, 316, 322, 373, 407 Poznaq University 8 Poznaq- D\biec 407 Prague (Czech) 72, 83, 242, 295 Prague document 83–4 Prague Culture (Early Slav) 41, 58, 68–72, 338 Premyslids 190, 207, 221, 242, 263 Proboszczewice, pow. pdocki 200–1 Procopius of Caesarea 60 Prosna, river 48, 61, 187, 242–3, 246 Prussia, former West (German) Prussia 322 Prussians (see Balts, west) Pruszcz Gdaqski, pow. gdaqski 252 Prut, river 58, 64 Przasnysz 414 Przemsza, river 91 Przemytl 25–6, 82, 102–3, 143–4, 147, 160, 162–3, 186, 191, 193, 195, 218, 267, 279–81, 283, 422–3 Magyar cemetery 102–3, 396 Przemytl-Zasanie 282 Tartars’ (or Przemysdaw’s) Mound 5, 19, 102, 144–7, 161–2 Przemysdaw, legendary founder of Przemytl 144 Przeworsk Culture 56–7, 61–2, 65, 193, 241 Pszczew, pow. mi\dzyrzecki 226 Ptolemy of Alexandria 48, 56–7, 241 Puck 23, 197, 199, 226 Pudawy 3 Pudtusk 44, 307, 324–8 Pyrzyce 213, 226 Pyskowice, pow. gliwicki 95 quern stones

5, 66, 68

Raciàv, pow. pdoqski 87, 199 Racibórz 208 radiocarbon dating 173, 330–1, 422 Radom Forest 82 Radzikowo, pow. pdocki 121–2 Radunia, mountain 110–1, 113, 116–7, 137, 424 Rega, river 123 Rhine, river 65, 290, 359–61 Rhône, river 392 Romantic period 3 Romanesque 24, 116 Pre-Romanesque 231, 239 Roman writers 29 Romania 68, 70 Roman the Great, ruler of Halich-Volynia (1150–1205) 331 death in battle 332 Ropa, river 93 rotunda 193, 232–3, 259, 280–1, 284, 289–90, 298–9, 318–9, 371–3, 379–80 Rowokód, mountain 404 Roztocze 337 Rudawa, river 154 Rus’ 202, 316 (see Kievan Rus) Russia, Russian 4, 119, 273, 328, 332, Russian Primary Chronicle (Tale of Bygone Years) 3, 13, 49, 55, 79, 127, 195, 279, 307–8 Ruthenia, Ruthenian 15, 99, 127, 157, 184, 193–4, 202, 249, 256, 267–8, 271–3, 278, 282, 287, 290, 317, 325, 410, 420, 422 Ruthenian borderlands 10, 20, 24, 26, 82–3, 127, 186, 193, 307–8, 330, 437 Red Ruthenia 10, 13, 307 Rutheno-Byzantine culture 244, 274, 283, 315, 331 Rycheza wife of Kazimierz the Restorer 375 Rytygier, mythical German prince 159 Rytwiaqska Forest 81 Saale, river 63 St Petersburg (Russia) 274, 328–9 Sambian Peninsula 57 Samborzec 338, 428 Samo, state of 184 San river 11, 81–2, 195, 278, 337, 422 Sandomierz 9, 14–6, 19, 22, 25, 31, 44, 49–50, 80–3, 91, 127, 129–31, 141, 143–4, 148–9, 154–6, 162–3,

index 185, 190–1, 194–6, 218–220, 226, 255, 262–4, 265–7, 268, 271–2, 268, 270, 280, 335, 338, 344, 347–9, 386, 388, 404, 428–9, 437 St James’ Church 9, 40, 429 Collegium Gostomianum Hill 31 Salve Regina Mound 102, 144, 148, 150, 161–3 umigród 129–31 Sandomierz Land 91, 107, 130, 134, 140, 190, 218, 338, 346, 427 ‘Sandomierzanie’ 195 Santok, pow. gorzowski 8, 179, 187 SÌrata Monteoru (Romania) 68, 70 Sarmatians 55 Saxon dynasty (Early Medieval) 221, 249, 413 Sàsiadka (Sutiejsk), pow. zamojski 10, 43 Schinesghe (see ‘Civitas Schinesghe’) sedes regni principales 208, 223, 262, 301–2, 307, 322, 324 service villages 311, 343–5 Sieciech, Palatine 262, 353 Sieciechów, pow. kozienicki 353 Siemiatycze 414–5 Siemomysd, Mieszko’s father 175–6, 433 Siemowit, Piast’s son 175, 226, 433 Siemowo, pow. gostynski 89 Sierpc 203, 414 Silesia 7–8, 10–1, 26, 62–3, 72–3, 83–5, 96–8, 114, 117, 132, 206–211, 215–6, 218–9, 221, 226, 242, 300, 302, 304, 353, 363, 370, 402, 423–4, 432 Upper Silesia 62 Lower Silesia 62, 86, 96 Silesian Ramparts 98 Scandinavia, Scandinavians 23, 62, 65, 89, 100, 126, 157, 160–2, 164, 184, 211, 220, 247, 249, 317, 324, 404–11, 413, 420–1 Skawa, river 91 Skokówko, pow. gostyqski 406 Skoczów, pow. cieszyqski 95 Slenzanie (Sleenzane, Silensi) 76, 83–4, 300 Slovakia 58, 221, 283 Slavnik dynasty 221 Slavs, origin/homeland 2–3, 17, 20, 24, 55–6, 58–60, 63

473

autochthonous 17, 55–6, 59, 62, 65–6 allochthonous 16–7, 55–7, 51, 68 Sdupno, pow. pdocki 87, 199 Sdupsk 252 Smolensk (Russia) 157 Smoddzino, pow. sdupski 125 Sokodów Podlaski 414 Solec, pow lipski 268 Soda, river 91 Sopot 198 Sowinki, pow. poznanqski 407 Sólca, pow. przemyski 147 Stanisdaw, Bishop and Saint (1030–1079) 138, 434 Stargard 213 Stargard Lakelands 90 Stobnica-Trzymorgi, pow. piotrkowski 341–2 Stodpie, pow. chedmski 2, 26, 307, 328, 330–2, 437 Stradów, pow. kazimierski 25, 92–3, 216, 435 Starigard 248 Strzegom, pow. twinicki 10, 96, 208 Strzelno, pow. mogileqski 13, 379–81 Styr, river 196, 280 Sudeten Mountains 206, 431 Sukov-Dziedzice Culture 72 Sulejów, pow. piotrowski 370 Svantevit, Slavic god 4, 6, 250 Sviatopluk, Moravian prince (869–94) 96, 288 Svatopluk, Kievan prince 410 Sviatoslav, kievan duke 221 Sweden 158, 408 Syrynia, pow wodzisdawski 10 Szamotudy 4 Szczaworyv, pow. buski 92 Szczecin 11–2, 16, 23, 77–8, 89, 212–3, 226, 250, 252 Szeligi, pow. pdocki 24, 66–7, 87 Szeligi-Sukov culture 58 Szyddowska Forest 81 sl\za, Mount 26, 84, 96, 107, 110–17, 132, 137, 208, 305, 424 stone sculptures 114–5 monastery 208, 378 srem 226 swiecie 252 swieck Upland 340

474

index

swielubie, pow. kodobrzeski 23, 89, 409 swi\cica, pow. sandomierski 156 swi\ck-Strumiany, pow. wysokomazowiecki 87 swina, river 248 Tacitus 48, 56–7, 133 Tatars (Tartars) 49–50, 131, 143–4, 149, 161, 273, 349, 422 Tczew 252 Templars 381 Teutonic Knights 251 Theophano, Empress 206 Thietmar of Merseburg 49, 83, 110, 206, 210, 227, 232 Tornow (Germany) 86 Tornov-Klenica group 73 Tornow type strongholds 86, 96 Toruq 17 University of Toruq 11, 17, 23–4, 411, 414 Trepcza, pow sanocki 422 Trójca 268 Truso (see Janów Pomorski) 198–9 Trzcinica, pow. jasielski 93 Trzciniec culture 136 Trzebiatów, pow grycki 122–4 Trzebiesdawice, pow sandomierski 140 Trzebowianie (Trebouane) 84 Trzemeszno, pow gnieznieqski 13, 51–2, 378 Tumlin, pow kielecki 111 Tykocin, pow. biadostocki 43 Tyniec, pow. krakowski 353, 355–9 Uelunzani (Wolinianie Wielunczanie) 76, 247 Uherka, river 193 Uhrusk, pow. wdodawski 272 Ukraine 56, 58, 64, 273, 437 Ukrainian border 272 Unger, bishop 241, 353 Uppsala (Old Uppsala) 158, 160, 162 Varangians 158, 184, 419 Vestfold (Norway) 158 Viking 158, 404, 409 Vilnius (Lithuania) 4, 11 Vinitar Gothic leader 57 Vipperov type ceramics 400 Vislane 25, 49, 76, 79–83, 93–5, 159, 190, 215–6, 284, 297, 299**

‘Great Strongholds of the Vislane’ 82, 91–3 Vislech (Witlica) 283–4 Vistula (Wisda), river 9, 11, 24, 43–4, 56, 58–9, 61–2, 79, 81–2, 90–1, 129–30, 148, 153, 159, 167, 181, 196, 199, 201–2, 218, 251, 255, 256, 258, 261–2, 266–9, 283–4, 322, 336–7, 353, 419–20, 431–2 Veleti 78, 88, 100, 212, 400–2 Venedi, Vinidi, Veneti 48, 56–60 Vladimir Volynski (Ukraine) 267, 309 Vladimir the Great, Kievan duke 195, 279, 307–8, 315 Volchov, river 157 Volga river 157 Volynia 204, 309 Volynians (formerly Busani) 309 Volyn, stronghold 3, 307–8 Vyšehrad (Prague), Czech 305 Waclaw II ( Bohemian ruler, Polish king †1305) 434 Wanda, mythical person 1, 150, 153, 159, 163 Wapiennica, mountain 117 Warsaw 3–4, 7–8, 11, 15, 22, 44, 129, 432 University 7–8, 15, 22, 44, 167, 170, 284, 331, 387, 436 Warta, river 61, 181, 186, 233 Wàchock, pow starachowicki 370, 374, 376–7 Wàgrowiec 371–3 Wenceslas II, Bohemian king 287 Widukind of Corvey 49, 206 Wielbark culture 61 Wieleq, pow. czarnkowski 370 Wievyca (see Kotciuszki Mountain) 424 Wild West 72 Wineta 247–8 (see Wolin) Winiary, pow. sandomierski 140–1 Wisdoka river 81, 127 Witlica 20, 22, 25, 53, 81–2, 97, 102, 216, 224, 226, 284–94, 320 Witlica Duchy 290 Wizna, pow. domvynski 24 Wkra, river 24 Wdadysdaw Herman (1079–1102) 3, 254, 258, 260, 268, 297, 376, 434 Wdadysdaw II the Exile (†1159) 434

475

index Wladysdaw Spindleshanks (†1231) 246, 367–9, 434 Wdadysdaw Odonic (†1239) 362, 368–9, 434 Wdadysdaw the Short (king 1320–1333) 434 Wdocdawek 50, 201–2 Wdostowic, Piotr 114, 305 Wodzisdaw 95 Wola Szyddowska, pow. mdawski 87, 199 Wolin 8, 12, 15, 23, 89, 100, 206, 212–3, 226, 246–52, 266, 402, 408 Wolinianie (see Uelunzani, Wielunczanie) Wólka casiecka, pow. skierniewicki 65 Written sources 1–2, 13, 29, 48–9, 57–8, 67, 69–71, 76–7, 80, 85, 91, 104, 110, 126–7, 133, 139, 159, 175–6, 183, 185, 206–7, 210–1, 214–5, 218, 223, 262, 267, 283–4, 302, 307–8, 323, 325, 328, 331, 344, 353, 419, 427 Wrocdaw 10–2, 17, 19, 114, 208–210, 226, 262, 300–2, 304–5, 353 Nowy Targ 10 Ostrów Tumski [ Tumski Island ] 300–1, 305 cathedral 302, 304–5

University 11 Wyszogród, pow. pdocki

24, 203

Yaroslav the Wise, Kievan ruler 308 Yatvingians 256

419,

Zagotm, pow. piqczowski 381 Zawada Lanckoroqska, pow. tarnowski 25, 93, 216 Zawichost, pow. sandomierski 19, 25, 83, 185, 191, 194, 226, 266–8, 269–72 Zawichost-Podgórze 185, 191, 268 Battle of 332 Zbigniew duke (1102–1107) 187, 434 Zbrucz river, Idol from 4 Zemsko, pow. mi\dzyrzecki 370 Zgdowiàczka, river 202 Zielonka, pow. poznanski 403 Zimna Woda, pow. nidzicki 201 Zimne (Ukraine) 69 Zdota, pow. sandomierski 9, 81, 185, 338–9, 428–9 Kwacad’s Tomb 155–6, 160 umijgród place names 83, 126–7, 130–2, 208 (See also Lublin, Opatów, Sandomierz) vmij Slavic demon 208, 131 uydowo, pow. koszaliqski 405

COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

illustrations

Fig. 1. St. John’s church: the only remnant in the area of the early urban district of Kołobrzeg-Budzistowo (photo: M. Rębkowski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 2. Multi-layered urban site, layers and features destroying each other, Sandomierz, Collegium Gostomianum (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

illustrations

Fig. 4. Phases of development of St. Peter’s church uncovered in the yard of Collegium Gostomianum in Sandomierz (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 5. Leveling layer (below the humus) with its cultural content from the Early Middle Ages, Chełm, Site 144 - urban district from the first half of the 13th century (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

illustrations

Fig. 6. Road of Early Medieval origin in a loess ravine, Kleczanów, near the parish church (photo: A. Buko)

Fig. 7. Stratification at the rural settlement at Kleczanów 11th-mid 13th features and layers seen in the section where cut by a road (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 8. Error caused by exploration with the use of mechanical levels: parts of three different layers have been uncovered. The proper order of exploration is marked with figures 1 – 3, Kleczanów, Site ‘Old Presbytery’ (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 14. Burial with partly preserved skeleton, Kleczanów churchyard (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 13. Clearly visible burial pits. The figures in squares are numbers of burial pits and in circles, of their filling, Kleczanów churchyard (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 15. Fragment of a highly decorated 9th century vessel from the stronghold at Chodlik. Discolorations of the surface caused by use and post-depositional processes, from the collection of the Museum in Kazimierz Dolny (photo: M. Auch, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 18. Pair of bone skates from the 12th – 13th century settlement in Kalisz. The arrows mark holes where the skates were attached to shoes with thongs (photo: M. Gmur)

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Fig. 20. Silver ornaments from the hoard from Ciechanów, the second half of the 10th century (photo: T. Nowakiewicz, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 22. An early 12th century epitaph on a lead plaque, Cracow-Wawel, St. Leonard’s crypt, Bishop Maur’s grave (after M. Walicki, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 29. The early Slavic fortified settlement of the 6th century at Haćki in Podlasie (photo: D. Krasnodębski)

Fig. 30. An early Slavic pot, 7th century, from a open settlement beside the stronghold at Wyszogród (photo: M. Auch)

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Fig. 31. Belt fitting, c. 5 cm long with the representations of human faces, 6th century, gilded bronze, Haćki, Białostockie voivodeship (after Z. Kobyliński)

Fig. 36. Chodlik: view of the enclosed area and three ramparts of the stronghold (photo: A. Auch, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 37. Stradów: Multi-enclosure stronghold of the Vislane (photo: K. Wieczorek, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 45. Stone wall around the top of Łysa Góra (inset: stone constructions preserved on its southern side) after J. Gąssowski and A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 46. Stone sculpture, so-called Pilgrim at the foot of Łysa Góra (photo: A. Buko)

Fig. 47. Overall view of Mount Ślęża (photo: S. Rosik)

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Fig. 53. Smołdzino on Lake Gardno: Mount Rowokół from the north-western side (photo: A. Buko)

Fig. 55. Southern edge of the Sandomierz Żmigród extending into the Vistula river valley (photo: A. Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 62. Tartars’ Mound at Zniesienie Hill in Przemyśl (photo: E. Sosnowska)

Fig. 64. Supposed Early Medieval barrow at Sólca near Przemyśl (photo: E. Sosnowska)

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Fig. 65. Salve Regina Hill at Sandomierz (photo: A. Buko)

Fig. 66. Salve Regina Hill: the inscription engraved at the top of the mound (photo: A. Buko)

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Fig. 69. Fitting of a late Avar belt buckle found in the bottom layers of the mound, length: 8 cm (after R. Jamka)

Fig. 70. Wanda’s Mound in Cracow-Nowa Huta: probable Early Medieval barrow (photo: A. Buko)

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Fig. 72. Barrow 2 at Święcica near Sandomierz, Roman period and the Early Middle Ages (photo: M. Florek)

Fig. 75. Fortified settlement at Podebłocie: the aerial view (photo: E. Marczak)

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Fig. 77. Tablet 1 made of terra rosa paste with preserved two edges (photo: M. Gmur)

Fig. 78. Tablet 2 with signs engraved in two rows. Made of local raw material. No original edges preserved (photo: M. Gmur)

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Fig. 79. Tablet 3 with signs engraved in two rows. Made of local raw material. No original edges (photo: M. Gmur)

Fig. 81. Vessel with solar disk ornament and figural motifs found in the same context as Tablets 1 and 2 (reconstruction and drawing after E. Marczak, by A. Buko)

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Fig. 89. Stronghold and port area, district in Kołobrzeg during the early Piast period, a tentative reconstruction (after L. Leciejewicz and M. Rębkowski, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 110. Portal, so-called Płock Door (photo: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 114. The Zawichost tetrakonch, remains preserved on the escarpment of the Vistula valley (photo: M. Gmur)

Fig. 121. Moulds for making silver ornaments (kołty) found during the excavations in the area of the town, Sites 99 and 144 (after S. Gołub)

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Fig. 122. Przemyśl, Three Crosses Hill, presumed location of the earliest pre-state stronghold (photo: A. Buko)

Fig. 123. Remains of the residential structures in Przemyśl of the early 11th cent, the palatium and rotunda (photo: Z. Pianowski)

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Fig. 125. Early Medieval Byzantine intaglio gem from Przemyśl, 11th -12th cent.(photo: M. Horwat, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 137. Stronghold at Grodek Nadbużny, general view from the other bank of the Huczwa river (photo: A.Buko, digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 138. Stronghold at Gródek Nadbużny, view from the enclosed area to the Bug valley (photo: A. Buko; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

Fig. 146. View of the uncovered remains of St. John the Baptist’s church from the apse and crypt entrance (after T. Krysztofiak; digital processing: M. Trzeciecki)

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Fig. 147. Stronghold on St Lawrence’s Hill at Kałdus (after W. Chudziak)

Fig. 149. Castle in Pułtusk located on the site of a former stronghold of the 13th century (photo: A. Buko)

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Fig. 152. Stone tower and stronghold at Stołpie, view from the west. In the corner (to the left) eastern apse of the chapel seen from the entrance (photo: A. Buko, M. Auch)

Fig. 153. Tower complex at Stołpie in its 2nd phase (around mid of 13th ): an attempt of reconstruction (drawn by Andrzej Grochnik)

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Fig. 160. Selected glass ornaments from the rural settlement at Kaczyce, a – melon shaped bead, b – biconical bead covered with gold foil, c – ring (photo: M. Gmur)

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Fig. 162. Monastery at Tyniec, view from the Vistula (photo: A. Tyniec-Kępińska)

Fig. 177. Sign of the cross impressed on the base of a Medieval pot from the 14th cent. (collection of the Museum in Kazimierz Dolny, Photo M. Auch)

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Fig. 181. Complex stamped sign on a vessel base from Ostrow Lednicki (photo: M. Gmur)

Fig. 182. Cremation barrow with a stone construction from the early state period, cemetery at Czekanów, eastern Poland, 11th – mid- 13th centuries (photo: J. Kalaga)

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Fig. 188. Double burial of the chamber type from Kałdus (after W. Chudziak)

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Fig. 192. Burials in stone cists at the cemetery at Trepcza near Sanok (photo: J. Ginalski)

Fig. 193. Some of the ornaments found in the graves at the cemetery at Trepcza (photo: J. Ginalski)

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Fig. 195. Skull of a six-year old child with preserved headband ornaments on the right temple, cemetery at Dziekanowice, Site 22, Grave 87/97, (photo: J. Wrzesiński)

Fig. 196. Grave of a man clutching a coin in his right hand. Next to his left hip an iron knife was found, cemetery at Dziekanowice, Site 22, Grave 41/99 (photo: J. Wrzesiński)

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Fig. 197. Grave of a man with the trace of a spearhead wound in the left occipital bone. The body was tossed into the burial pit face down, cemetery at Dziekanowice, Site 22, Grave 52/03 (photo: J. Wrzesiński)

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