The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: Discoveries - Hypotheses - Interpretations Book

Introduction     xi
List of Figures     xv
Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: beginnings of interest, birth and development     1
The earliest beginnings     1
The 19th century: in search of the roots of the Slavic identity     2
Birth and slow growth: the first two decades of the 20th century     6
The 1930s: Early Medieval archaeology on the offensive, continuation of debate on the Slavs and systematic excavations of Early Medieval sites     9
Two post war decades: the coming Millennium and research on the origins of the Polish state     11
The 1970s and 1980s: fruitful aftermath of the Millennium research     14
The last decade of the 20th century: old questions and new possibilities     18
Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland: an archaeology of regions or archaeology without borders?     22
Sources and methods     29
Early Medieval archaeological sites and their stratification: problems in exploration     29
Stratification of early urban sites     30
Stratification of rural settlements     32
Stratification of sacral sites and pagan cult centers     35
Stratification of multi-layer cemeteries     36
Layers and their portable content: mass finds     38
Pottery as a source of informationabout past societies     39
Archaeozoological data     42
Small finds     45
Soil and its natural components     47
Written sources     48
Iconography     51
How did the Slavs gel to Polish lands?     55
'Autochthonists', 'Allochthonists' and others: the long history of the debate on the origins of the Slavs     55
The Polish lands between Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: a gap or continuity?     61
One or many models of the Slavs' material culture?     63
The phenomenon of the Slavs: how to explain it?     69
Mysteries of the pre-state period     75
'Tribal' geography and archaeology     75
The first Early Medieval strongholds: when did they appear?     84
One or many burial rites?     99
Many questions and few answers     104
Holy mountains     107
Large cult centers of the pre-state period: Lysa Gora     107
The mysteries of Mount Sleza     110
Other mountains-supposed places of pagan cult     117
The mysterious Zmigrody     126
Pagan cemetery or holy grove?     133
Open air shrines     133
An old cemetery and new problems      134
Forgotten or living tradition?     139
Monumental mounds in Little Poland     143
Monumental mounds, admired throughout the ages     143
Przemyslaw's (Tatars') Mound in Przemysl     144
Supposed monumental mounds in the Przemysl region     147
Salve Regina Hill in Sandomierz     148
The Mounds of Krak and Wanda in Cracow     150
Other monumental mounds in Little Poland     154
The European context     157
The Great Mounds of Little Poland: when and why were they raised?     159
The earliest Medieval script in Poland?     167
A fascinating discovery     167
What was found on the tablets from Podeblocie?     169
The tablets in the light of the most recent analyses     170
How Poland came into being     175
Between archaeology, dynastic tradition and legend     175
Where Poland began: Great Poland just before the rise of the state     178
Where did the Piasts come from?     183
From Great Poland to Little Poland: the first step of expansion of the Piasts     190
Towards the north: the Piasts on the Bay of Gdansk     196
'Forgotten' Mazovia or a strategic territorial reserve?     199
From the Baltic Sea to the Sudeten Mountains: Silesia and Western Pomerania     206
Bohemian or Piast Silesia?     207
Western Pomerania: 'urban republics' and old 'tribal' territories     211
Cracow Land: the last stage of the state formation process     214
Summing up     216
Towns still under investigation     223
The capitals of the Gniezno state: contested priority     226
From the legendary Lech to Mieszko I     228
A strong contender for primacy     233
Kalisz: The Stronghold on the Amber Route     241
Wolin: The town with twelve gates     246
Early state or pre-state Gdansk?     250
The origins of Plock still unknown     256
Sandomierz: First large investment of the Piasts in Little Poland?     262
Zawichost: intriguing rival of Sandomierz     266
Mysteries of the Cathedral Hill in Chelm     272
Przemysl: The center at the periphery     279
Wislica: in the shadow of a pagan prince     283
Cracow, Wawel and archaeology     294
Who built the earliest Wroclaw?     300
Other central places     307
Cherven and Volyn: central places in the eastern borderlands     307
Ostrow Lednicki: residence of first Piast rulers or first Polish episcopium?     309
Giecz: Unfinished large-scale investment     317
Chelmno as a sedes regni principalis?     322
Pultusk: The stronghold below the castle     324
The stronghold and masonry tower in Stolpie     328
Rural landscapes     333
Off the beaten track     333
How do we envisage Medieval rural settlements?     335
Unexploited research potential: service settlements     343
Mysterious villages     346
The earliest monastic complexes     351
The earliest monasteries and archaeology     351
At the threshold of Christianization: the first Benedictine abbeys     352
In the shadow of Wawel Hill: the Benedictine Abbey at Tyniec near Cracow     355
A church and a monastery in a stronghold     359
A double foundation and the controversy over a princely burial     363
Archaeology and the earliest Cistercian foundations     369
The 'little monastery' at Lekno     371
Wachock: a monastery on the ruins of a palatium?     374
Monasteries still under investigation     378
The puzzle of the century: pottery marks     383
The long history of research and ambiguous results     383
Signs on the bases of vessels from Kalisz and Ostrow Lednicki: an abundance of qualitatively new archaeological sources     387
Unusual signs     388
Where did the custom come from and why were the vessels marked?     392
Locals and migrants     395
From cremation to inhumation: burial grounds of the early state period     396
Pomeranians and Veleti in Great Poland?     400
The Graves of Vikings?     404
A large warriors' necropolis     408
Not only warriors     411
Who was buried in the Mazovian graves with stone constructions?     414
Strangers in the south     421
Who were they and what did they have in common?     425
Some Notes on the Translation of Andrzej Buko's 'Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland'   Paul Barford     431
A brief guide to the pronunciation of Polish words   Paul Barford     439
Bibliography     441
Index     465