PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 122 23.02.2017 11:25
From a tribe to a state
CHAPTER 3
The archaeology of the early Middle
Ages in the interior area between the
Odra and Bug rivers – the so-called
“tribal period”
124 Abstract
125 1. Introduction
130 2. The natural environment
132 3. The landscape of settlement
148 4. The economic landscape
153 5. The symbolic landscape
162 6. Conclusion
164 Bibliography
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 123 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
124
The present chapter is devoted to presenting the complexity
of research issues related to the communities which inhabited
Polish territory during the so-called tribal period (between
the 7th
and the middle of the 10th
century AD). Despite long
years of study, the most elementary questions remain unanswered
– as a result of the scarcity of material traces of the
said communities and due to the changing nature of scholarly
interest or the lack of enthusiasm for studying subjects beyond
so-called tribal geography.
The introduction presents the currently available data
which may be used in the reconstruction of the natural environment
in the area in question, emphasizing the impact it
may have had on the stability and structure of settlements.
The following subchapter focuses on the forms of architecture
and the often discussed issue of the possibly seasonal
nature of the structures. A separate subsection discusses
defensive structures which began to appear at the end of
the period under analysis. It also takes note of the structural
differences between the strongholds erected in south-eastern
and in north-western regions of Polish territory, emphasizing
the ongoing discussion regarding the function of these
structures, which indubitably went beyond strictly defensive
purposes. The present article also offers a brief overview of
the basic tasks and activities performed by the inhabitants
of Polish territory, underlining the features which may testify
to the considerable level of mobility of the population. This
supposition may be supported by the lack of unequivocal
data pointing to the existence of stable, hierarchized social
structures. Another issue worth discussing in this context is
the vagueness of our current knowledge with regard to local
beliefs. The lack of specific information indicates that there
were no clearly defined places of cult or forms of ritual, that
there was a connection between the realm of the symbolic
and the cult of ancestors, and that the tradition of cremation
burial was widespread in the lands in question.
Abstract
SŁAWOMIR MOŹDZIOCH
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 124 23.02.2017 11:25
1. INTRODUCTION
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 125
The emergence in the area between the Odra and Bug rivers
of the Polish state, with its network of principal centres that to
a large extent continued the order developed by its earliest
rulers (the Piasts), is a result of socio-economic processes
which occurred in the latter half of the first millennium AD.
Even the fact that for long centuries a part of the Piast lands
operated outside Poland did not obliterate this spatial order;
on the contrary, the successive power elites only reinforced
it, albeit with many modifications.
The central role in these processes was played by
economic laws. The socio-economic life in the Interior1
was
linked with the Baltic zone; this sooner or later had to result
in an amalgamation of these two spheres. It seems, however,
that before the emergence of the first states, no powers strove
towards such an amalgamation or were influential enough
to accomplish it. The first attempts at reaching the sea were
made under the first Piasts, but they became more consistent
only in the late 11th
century. The history of the tribal period in
the Interior must therefore be analyzed separately, due to the
differences in the social and economic structures.
A crucial event in the history of this area, i.e., the appearance
of the Slavs, is discernible in terms of both the new
quality evident in archaeological finds and the references in
written sources. The Slavic culture in that area may constitute
a continuation of the cultures of the earlier periods or, conversely,
it may have been developed by migrants from the
East; but regardless of which of these eventualities actually
occurred, the existence of the Polish national/linguistic community
in its present shape is the result of this phenomenon.
This explains why medieval studies in Poland continue to place
such a strong emphasis on the debate pertaining to the beginnings
of this community. It also explains why so many myths
1 Henceforward this term will be used to denote the area between the Odra and the Lusatian Neisse rivers in the east, the Noteć,
the lower Vistula, and the Narew in the north, the Bug in the east, and the mountain ranges of the Carpathians and the Sudetes in the
south (Cf. Fig. 1).
have emerged in the process of developing historical identity
and why so many sources, both written and archaeological
(so-called “intentional history”), have been over-interpreted.
The debate concerning the appearance of the Slavs in
the area between the Odra and Bug rivers has been raging
in Polish medieval studies for at least a century, and neither
side – whether the autochthonists (i.e., supporters of the theory
that the Slavic ethnos evolved there) or the allochthonists
(who claim that the Slavs arrived to this area from eastern
Europe) – seems ready to lay down their arms. Regardless
of the conclusion of this debate – which in any case is of
a rather local, central-European importance – most scholars
agree that the first material attributes of Slavic culture in the
territory of Poland are discernible as early as the 6th
century
AD (see: chapter 1). Contrary to appearances, however, the
main subject of the archaeologists’ investigations, i.e., ‘Slavic
material culture’, has yet to be defined with adequate precision.
According to medievalists, in the early Middle Ages
the territory of Poland belonged to the western-Slavic cultural
zone (Fig. 1). The concept of the western-Slavic world,
however, is a linguistic construct which denotes the lands
settled by Slavs speaking the languages included into the
western-Slavic group. This construct has been transferred
to denote a geographical construct, i.e., the area between
the Elbe, the Bug, the Baltic Sea and the Danube. But the
western-Slavic world evolved as a distinct cultural sphere only
when the residents of this area found themselves influenced
by Latin civilization and Latin culture, whereas the eastern and
southern Slavs found themselves in the sphere of influence of
the Christianized Greek civilization and culture disseminated
by medieval Byzantium.
1. Introduction Generally speaking, Slavs are warlike and
violent, and if not their internal discord and
lack of unity, no other nation would be able to
match them in strength.
(Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb)
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 125 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
126
The ‘tribal’ period (from the 6th
to 10th
centuries AD) had
not yet witnessed such linguistic diversity as is meant by those
who use the modern, philological term ‘the western Slavs’.
The diversification occurred only after the emergence of the
large political entities. i.e., after the 10th
century or, according
to Jerzy Nalepa, as late as in the 12th
century. Thus, we are left
with the concept of the Slavic world sensu largo. But even in
this case it is not entirely clear how the research topic should
be defined. The concept of a linguistic community, or “communicative
community”, will not be helpful to archaeologists,
as they are concerned with material culture.
Many years ago, Kazimierz Godłowski described the
early-Slavic cultural model, which supposedly comprised: (1)
hand-made, undecorated clay vessels; (2) square sunken
houses with an oven in the corner; (3) cremation burials with
urn graves or pit graves (Godłowski 1979). The same, slightly
revised model was described by Michał Parczewski (1988:
28-31, 46-64). It refers mainly to the southern part of the
Interior and is often described in specialist literature as the
Prague culture zone, also known as the Praga-Korčak zone
or the Danube-Chodlik zone (Leciejewicz 1976: 56, ryc. 4). It
is contrasted with the northern zone, which is termed Sukow
or Sukow-Szeligi culture (Poleski 2013: 25; Dulinicz 2001).
These zones differ with regard to the aforesaid components,
i.e., the shapes of pottery and dwellings and the manner of
burying the dead.
In Slavic culture’s earliest phase of development, handmade
pottery dominates in both areas, but the “Prague” vessels
have a more slender, S-shaped form, whereas the “Sukow”
ones are more squat, resembling vases (Fig. 2). Yet the degree
Fig. 1. The area of the Interior in the so-called tribal period (6th
-10th
century).
1 – the boundaries of the main river basins in the region (I – the Vistula, II – the Odra, III – the Elbe, IV – coastal rivers, V – the
Pregolya, VI – the Neman, VII – the Dnieper, VIII – the Dniester, IX – the Danube), 2 – the boundaries of the area referred to in the
present work as “the Interior”. By S. Moździoch, digital processing by M. Chwiej.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 126 23.02.2017 11:25
1. INTRODUCTION
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 127
to which the material culture of that period is explored is still
insufficient; hence specialist literature abounds in widely
divergent opinions. For instance, Michał Kara (2009: 17) is of
the opinion that sets of “Prague” pottery are not encountered
in Pomorze or in the Warta basin, while Marek Dulinicz (2001:
211) states that “Prague-type pottery is encountered in various
parts of the north-western Slavic zone”. It is indeed a fact
that “Prague” pottery is increasingly often documented in the
northern region of the Interior, e.g., in Napole in the Chełmno
area (Bojarski 2012: 307). This diversity of opinions is not
surprising given that Sebastian Brather (2001: 58) considers
the differences between the Sukow-Dziedzice pottery and
the Praga-Korčak pottery to be difficult to detect.
In the 6th
-7th
centuries, the dwelling typical of the
“Prague” zone was a square dugout with an oven (hearth)
in the corner. Irregularly shaped pits (occasionally called
“bathtub-like objects”) are considered to be a later type of
residential structures (Fig. 2). It is assumed that the aboveground
part may have been a lean-to, a wattle structure, or
a log-frame building. Both types are often found at one site.
In fact, according to Wojciech Szymański (2000: 363n) and
Władysław Łosiński (2000: 16), in the northern part of the
Interior the bathtub-like objects preceded the emergence
of the square dugouts (Fig. 3); this undermines the hitherto
accepted developmental scheme leading from a dugout to
an above-ground residential structure.
The northern and southern zones are supposed to
differ with respect to burial methods as well. Urn graves are
recorded as the dominant form in the ‘Prague’ zone, while
the rite dominant in the ‘Sukow’ zone cannot be ascertained
by archaeological methods. According to Dulinicz (2001: 214),
however, “the area under research (i.e., the Sukow culture
area – S.M.) yields flat pit and urn graves dating from at least
the 7th
century”. An increasing number of new discoveries
indicates that the Alt-Käbelich-type graves, i.e., pits of varying
sizes containing numerous pottery shards and small incinerated
human bones, are typical of the zone where burials
seemed “unascertainable by archaeological methods”. Until
recently, those graves were considered characteristic of only
Hand-made pottery. Source: Buko 2008; Kobusiewicz 2008 A square-planned sunken dwelling with an oven in the corner. Source:
Buko 2008; Kobusiewicz 2008
Fig. 2. Characteristic features of early-Slavic culture:
Fig. 3. Żyraków, site no. 3, Żyraków commune, Podkarpackie
Voivodeship. Bathtub-like objects and the related hearth.
Source: Okoński 2008.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 127 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
128
The range of the Alt Käbelich type burials. Source: Szmoniewski, Tyniec 2006; Kobusiewicz 2008.
Fig. 4.
Examples of cremation burials of the Alt Käbelich type.
Source: Szmoniewski, Tyniec 2006; Kobusiewicz 2008.
Examples of cremation burials of the Alt Käbelich type.
Source: Szmoniewski, Tyniec 2006; Kobusiewicz 2008.
the northern zone; currently they are being discovered far in
the south as well (Fig. 4). The earliest of them are dated to
the 8th
century. Thus, it seems that the boundary between the
northern and the southern zone is rather fluid also with regard
to burial methods. After the 8th
century, numerous tumulus
graves have been ascertained in the entire southern zone,
while in the northern zone they appear sporadically.
The above examples demonstrate that despite many
years of research, there is still no distinct, definite model of
early-Slavic culture, and the former divisions: the chronologPS
T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 128 23.02.2017 11:25
1. INTRODUCTION
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 129
ical one (into the earlier, ‘Prague’ zone and the later, ‘Sukow’
zone) and the spatial one (into the ‘Prague’ zone in the south
and the ‘Sukow’ zone in the north) are getting blurred as new
evidence is discovered. These divisions are the most clear in
the 6th
–7th
century, but the number of archaeological sources
pertaining to this period is relatively small and the datings are
based on the typological schemata for pottery .
In the face of the difficulties posed by the attempt at
defining the research subject, the chronological scope may
seem easier to determine. But this issue arouses considerable
controversy as well. In general, the period of the ‘early
Middle Ages’ is dated to between the latter half of the 5th
or
the 6th
centuries and the middle of the 13th
century (Cf. Poleski
2013: 24). Its initial phase, the so-called tribal phase, which is
our object of consideration here, is dated to between the 6th
and 10th
centuries. In the case of the territory of Poland, the
emergence of ‘classical’ Slavic culture is often considered to
be the event which opens the early-medieval period.
Chronological systems valid for the early Middle Ages
are constructed by archaeologists on the basis of selected
features of pottery, chiefly the technique of their production.
Hand-made vessels are considered to constitute the earliest
Slavic pottery (6th
–7th
century). Smoothening of the vessel’s
upper section on the potter’s wheel is considered to have
been the subsequent improvement in the technique. The
movement of the wheel was used only to even out the upper
edge of the vessel; its walls were not yet formed on the wheel
to any considerable extent (6th
–10th
century). Only when the
technique was perfected did it become possible to form the
entire surface of the vessel on the wheel (10th
–13th
century).
This ‘techno-chronological’ pattern of evolution, with the
complementary components: the form and decoration, was
used to develop various regional typologies, of which the most
popular – at least with regard to pottery of the north-western
part of the Interior – is the classification introduced by Ewald
Schuldt (1956) for Mecklenburg, with the later addition, introduced
by Joachim Herrmann (1972), of, among other things,
the Tornow type: biconical vases with a moulded roll above
the dip of the vessel’s body (Fig. 5). While the proposed sequence
in which the particular techniques and types of vessels
emerged proved valid, the chronology of this process failed
in confrontation with dendrochronological datings, since the
latter revealed that some vessel types emerged later than
had been assumed. For instance, the appearance of Tornow
type pottery, previously dated to the 7th
century, is now dated
to the late 8th
century (Brzostowicz 2002: 34).
The fact that a large number of scholarly works had
focused on the typology and classification of pottery collections
certainly contributed to making our picture of the
transformations that occurred in Interior pottery from the 6th
to the 13th
centuries more systematic. It seems, however, that
the hitherto applied formula for analyzing pottery collections
has been exhausted. Unless the questionnaire of research
questions is radically changed, subsequent analyses of this
kind will not contribute much beyond a systematization and
selective presentation of material.
What, then, is the current state of archaeological knowledge
regarding the residents of the area between the Odra
and the Bug rivers from the 6th
to the middle of the 10th
century?
A brief description of the environment in which they lived will
be useful for answering this question.
Fig. 5. The types of Slavic pottery from the so-called tribal period.
Source: Herrmann 1972
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 129 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
130
The territory stretching between the Odra and the Bug rivers
consists mostly of lowlands, which only in the south rise towards
the Carpathian and Sudeten mountain ranges. Soils in
this upland southern part are fertile but heavy, developed on
clay or loess substratum. The remainder of the area has mostly
light soils on sand substratum. The geographical distribution
of the traces of the earliest Slavic settlements differs from the
distribution of the Neolithic agricultural settlements, which
were inseparably linked with the areas of heavy, fertile soil.
Most probably the Slavic farmers preferred to work on light
soils; this may have been caused by the supremacy of animal
husbandry coupled with settlement mobility. This mobility
of Slavic settlements in the early tribal phase seems to be
confirmed by the scarcity of permanent settlement traces in
relation to the size of the area ‘colonized’ by the Slavs and
by the absence of large and long-used burial grounds. This
point will be discussed in more detail in the section on the
economic system.
The territory of the Interior encompasses the basins
of the Odra and the Vistula, two large rivers flowing into the
Baltic Sea. The characteristic river network facilitated communication
not only along the north–south axis, but also in the
latitudinal directions. The land’s morphology and the relatively
dense river network made this area fairly accessible in spite
of dense forestation.
Fortunately for the inhabitants of the Interior, the early
phase of the Middle Ages was a period of relatively mild
weather; the climate turned considerably colder only a few
centuries later, during the Little Ice Age. The 6th
–7th
centuries
witnessed a periodical turn to more wet climatic conditions,
and the water level rose accordingly. After the early 8th
century
the climate gradually returned to being warm and dry:
2. The natural environment
The land of the Slavs is a land of plains and
trees amongst which they have their dwellings.
(Ibn Rustah)
Fig. 6. Water-level fluctuation in the lower Odra since 3000 BP
Source: Brose, Heußner 2002
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 130 23.02.2017 11:25
2. THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 131
the water level fell again, to rise only after the middle of
the 10th
century. This rhythm of water-level fluctuations was
recorded for the Odra basin (Fig. 6). A faster increase in the
water level occurred only after the year 1280, as confirmed
by oak tree growth rings and other data. A similar cycle of
water-level fluctuations was recorded for the Vistula in the
Fordon Valley and the entire Małopolska region and, as revealed
by archaeological observations and environmental
data yielded by hydrology, geomorphology and palynology,
in other regions of Poland as well.
Low water levels in the period from the 8th
to 10th
century
made it possible to establish settlements in river valleys,
which not only provided handy access to water, but also
abounded in bog ore, commonly used for iron smelting, and
clay used for insulating houses and making pottery. In addition,
valley settlement sites supported the economic model based
on animal husbandry.
The debate concerning the level to which the Polish
lands were economically developed at the threshold of the
early Middle Ages continues unabated. Although the (still
few) palynological profiles pertaining to the 6th
–7th
centuries
do show a rise in grain pollens, this rise was not steep.
The results of palynological analyses referring to both the
north-eastern edge of the Interior (Chełmno Land, Fig. 7)
and its western edge (Lubusz Land) indicate that until the
end of the 8th
century the scale of environmental changes
was relatively small (Noryśkiewicz 2013: 134; Milecka 2014:
44-45). Along the Lower Odra, the pollen diagrams confirm
an increase in the level of settlement and grain farming from
the very beginnings of the early Middle Ages; however, the
period of dynamic development of an agricultural economy,
accompanied by deforestation, began only in the 12th
, and in
the Chełmno Land in the early 13th
century. Paleobotanists and
archaeozoologists are of the opinion that, in the initial phase
of the early Middle Ages, the economy in the communities
settled in this area was based on animal husbandry and hunting
rather than on agriculture. How important was the role of
forest-based economy in Lubusz Land is indicated by the high
percentage of wild-animal bones, occasionally exceeding 20
percent, in the sets of finds dating from the initial phase of
the early Middle Ages (Makowiecki et al. 2012).
To sum up the current state of research on the natural
environment of the Interior in the initial phase of the early
Middle Ages, we may state that starting from the 7th
–8th
centuries until the 13th
–14th
centuries, the climatic conditions,
and consequently other elements of the natural environment,
were exceptionally favourable to human settlement. Research
has shown that during the Medieval Climate Optimum temperatures
varied little between summer and winter and the
vegetation period was long. In fact, the climate of the Interior
was so mild that it was possible to cultivate grapevines there.
The question arises: did the inhabitants of that area make
optimal use of those conditions?
Fig. 7. A compilation of diagrams showing human impact on the environment of Chełmno land on a time scale
Source: Noryśkiewicz 2013
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 131 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
132
The picture of Slavic settlements in the area of the Interior
rendered by the archaeological sources much resembles descriptions
recorded by these chroniclers. The settlements were
evidently few and they were scattered along water courses.
In the last four decades, only thirty-nine settlements dating
from this period have been discovered in the Małopolska
region (Poleski 2013: 35). The largest of those numbered little
more than a dozen huts (Fig. 8). Other regions of Poland were
equally scantily settled (Cf. Kurnatowska 2000: 102, ryc. 1). An
exception is the area on the border of Śląsk, Wielkopolska,
and Lubusz Land, where several dozen early-Slavic sites have
recently been discovered (Fig. 9). Judging by the amount of
pottery finds on the surface, however, most probably just
a few of them constitute remains of settlements; others finds
are single pottery shards.
In the period between the 8th
and the 10th
centuries,
the number of settlements increased by at least 50 percent.
Settlement clusters which may be interpreted as territorial
communities began to emerge in the 9th
-10th
centuries. In
Wielkopolska, almost the entire region was settled, although
the settlement pattern was irregular; in Małopolska, a settled
belt on both sides of the Vistula and along the lower courses
of its larger tributaries, e.g., the Dunajec, is clearly discernible.
In the Lublin Land, settlement clusters gravitated towards
the Vistula’s right-bank tributaries, from the San in the south
through the Wyżnica and Chodelka to the Bystra in the north.
In Śląsk, large areas of settlement developed in the region of
Głogów Urstromtal and Dalków Hills (Fig. 10), in the Kaczawa
basin, on Wrocław Plain, on Głubczyce Plateau, and along
the Odra basin.
Settlements were established mostly in lowland areas,
often on the wetlands. The early Slavs did not settle in areas
rising more then 300-350 metres above sea level (Poleski
2013: 35). The preferred areas were river valleys and places
on the border of lowlands and plateaus; this was caused by
the character of the local economy (Fig. 11). The process of
moving settlements to higher ground began only in the 10th
,
perhaps in the late 9th
century; this was associated with cli-
3. The landscape of settlement
The settlements of the Slavs and Antes lie in
a row along the rivers very close to one another.
In fact, there is practically no space between
them, and they are bordered by forests,
swamps, beds of reeds.
(Pseudo-Maurice)
They live in pitiful hovels which they set up
far apart from one another, but, as a general
thing, every man is constantly changing his
place of abode.
(Procopius of Caesarea)
Fig. 8. The layout of the early-Slavic settlement in Ożańsk, site 13
1 – residential buildings and storage pits, 2 – ovens, 3 – the territorial
extent of the surveyed area. Source: Wilk, Lasota-Kuś.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 132 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 133
Fig. 9. The range of settlement
clusters from phases A to A/B of
the early Middle Ages discovered
in Wielkopolska, Kujawy and in
the northern part of Lower Śląsk
Source: Kara 2009, digital
processing by M. Chwiej.
Fig. 10. Archaeological sites dated to the
period between the 9th
and the 10th
/11th
century discovered in the middle Odra
basin
1 – a burial ground with tumulus graves,
2 – a burial ground with skeletal graves,
3 – a stronghold,
4 – a settlement,
5 – the remains of a dugout canoe,
6 – a settlement trace,
7 – bodies of water,
8 – bodies of running water,
9 – woods.
Source: Łuczak, Gruszka 2014
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 133 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
134
matic changes (including water levels) as much as with the
increasingly different model of economy, which by then had
been dominated by farming.
The dynamics of the development of early-medieval
settlement is difficult to ascertain due to an inadequate source
base. At least one-half of settlement sites marked on the archaeological
maps of the Interior consists of places known only
from surface research; worse still, in most of those sites only
one or at most a few shards have been found. The reasons
why mainly single finds of pottery shards have been recorded
are manifold, even though the number of such finds is
a natural effect of the Slavs’ mobility in the period in question.
Regardless of the reasons, however, it may be assumed that
the actual number of stable, permanent settlements was much
lower than the number of sites marked on archaeological maps
(Fig. 12). The fact that these sites are located in clusters does
not confirm that the settlement network was well-developed
already in the primary phases of the early medieval period,
but it definitely indicates what were the location preferences
related to certain micro-regions or ecological niches.
In the course of the 9th
and the 10th
centuries the potential
areas of settlement were gradually filled. This phenomenon
reflects a process associated with demographic growth and
the evaporation of unoccupied settlement niches. In the course
of this process, “genetic societies”, which were cemented
by kinship ties, gradually evolved into “territorial societies”,
i.e., socially diversified and organized human groups with
a simple power structure.
The division of Slavic territories per varias familias et
loca was mentioned by Jordanes as early as the middle of
the 6th
century. Obviously, there are two criteria for identifying
groups of Slavs: the tribal (or perhaps familial) and the territorial.
The concept of ‘tribe’ has been sternly criticized in the
historical and archaeological specialist literature due to the
absence of precise definition and the simplistic identification
of a tribe with an ethnos (Cf.: Boroń 2001: 206ff; Urbańczyk
2008: 69-106); yet it would be pointless to deny that one of
the methods of describing space used in the Middle Ages was
to enumerate the names of communities which for a longer or
shorter period had been resident in the given area and that
this method was used regardless of the intended purpose
of the description.
The ‘tribal’ names that can be ascribed to communities
resident in the territory of present-day Poland are relatively
few. They appeared infrequently in the 9th
- and 10th
-century
sources. When in 1962 Stanisław Zajączkowski published
a map of the distribution of conjectural Slavic tribes, he wrote
that it was “still not possible to reconstruct tribal divisions on
the scale of the entire country by making use of the results of
archaeological research” (Zajączkowski 1962: 81). Less than
Fig. 11. Early-Slavic settlements (1) in the Kraków area between the 6th
and the middle of the 7th
century
Source: Poleski 2013
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 134 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 135
three decades later, a similar map was presented by Lech
Leciejewicz, who paired names of tribes known from the
written sources with settlement clusters reconstructed on the
basis of archaeological research (Leciejewicz 1989: 64). This
considerably helped to correct locations proposed by historians,
which were erroneous not only because archaeological
confirmation that a settlement had indeed been located in
the suggested area was lacking, but also because features
of the geographical environment, which often excluded any
option of a settlement being located in a given spot, went
ignored (Cf. Wyrozumski 1999: 65, ryc. 15). Since then, at
least several such maps of tribal geography have appeared
in the specialist literature. They confirmed the medievalist
milieu in the belief that the socio-economic structures in the
area of the Interior had been considerably advanced. This
conviction was a starting point for the theory that tribes and
tribal principalities, states even, existed there; suffice it to
mention the so-called ‘Vistulan state’.
In reality, the formation of territorial communities is
a not an easy process to observe by means of archaeological
methods, mainly due to difficulties in the dating and the still
insufficient degree to which the source material has been
explored. Some regional differences in pottery stylistics (its
form and decoration) between the conjectural tribal territories
style are very rarely discernible. They are the most
evident in Śląsk, in reference to two ‘tribal’ names recorded
in a 9th
-century document written by an anonymous monk
whom historians have dubbed the ‘Bavarian Geographer’.
Squat biconical vessels are prevalent in the Odra Urstromtal
in the vicinity of Głogów and the Lower-Silesian Forest, i.e.,
an area which is conjecturally identified as the territory settled
by the Dadosezani tribe (Dziadoszanie). Slender S-shaped
forms, in turn, prevail on the Wrocław Plain, ascribed to the
Sleenzane (Ślężanie) tribe (Lodowski 1980: 156). This, however,
may also result from the fact that this is precisely the course
of the dividing line between the two great cultural provinces
of the western-Slavic world, evident e.g., in dissimilar pottery
styles: the northern Tornow-Klenica group and the southern
Danube-Chodlik group (Leciejewicz 1976: 56, ryc. 4).
The most recent studies have questioned the older hypotheses,
according to which the tribes of the Polans and the
Goplans had been resident in Wielkopolska. Gerard Labuda
considered it obvious that “the tribal name of the Polans and
the country of Poland, referring to the later historical region of
Wielkopolska, i.e., Elder Poland, must have dated back to the
latter half of the 9th
century” (Labuda 1988: 78). But the name
‘Poland’ appeared, in various spellings, not until the early 11th
century. Przemysław Urbańczyk (2008: 317-360) rightly noted
that the ‘tribe’ of the Polans was invented by historians and
that the name Polanie was linked only with the Piast state and
Fig. 12. The location of early-mediaeval
archaeological sites dating from the
later phase of the tribal period (8th
– 10th
century)
1 – settlements,
2 – burial grounds,
3 – strongholds.
Source: Czapla 2014
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 135 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
136
denoted its residents. The Glopeani (Goplans?) mentioned by
the aforesaid Bavarian Geographer are even more problematic.
Their settlements were traditionally considered to have been
located around Gopło Lake in Kujawy; but their existence is
not reflected by the archaeological maps of settlements and
the link between the tribal name and the lake is questionable
(Kurnatowska 2000a: 103).
Central Poland is supposed to have been occupied by
the tribes termed ‘Łęczycanie’ and ‘Sieradzanie’ (Tymieniecki
1956). These names were created by medievalists and, considering
the absence of traces of more consistent settlement,
do not find any reflection in the results of archaeological
research (Sikora 2007: 8). In light of the recent findings of
history and archaeology, Małopolska was settled by large
tribes: the already-mentioned Vistulans (Wiślanie, Lat. Vuislane),
with their centre located in Kraków, and the Lendians
(Lędzianie), whose large stronghold centres, according to
archaeologists, were Przemyśl and Lublin. A vast amount
of scholarly literature has been produced regarding both of
these tribes, even though the name Vuislane is mentioned
only by the Bavarian Geographer and the name of the Lendians
should be referred mostly to the areas east of the Bug.
The entire intellectual structure that situates the Lendians in
Małopolska is based on the assumption that they were actually
the Lachs, i.e., on the authority of the historian Gerard Labuda
(1988). Let us therefore content ourselves with stating that “not
one document created in medieval Poland, not one tradition
recorded by the later chroniclers mentions the tribe of the
Lendians” (Parczewski 2003) and that the assumption that
the Lendians resided in eastern Małopolska is an attractive
but hardly documented hypothesis.
According to historians as much as to archaeologists,
scattered settlements in the Opole area in Śląsk would have
belonged to the Opolini (Opolanie?) tribe mentioned by the
Bavarian Geographer. This assumption is based on the fact
that the Opolini were mentioned in that text before the GoFig.
13. The tribal geography of the western reaches of the Slavic world; the current state of knowledge
1– the boundaries of the area referred to in the present work as “the Interior”, 2 – settlement zones, 3 – identification
confirmed by written and archaeological sources, 4 – names mentioned in written sources with questionable links to
the settlement zones; 5 – identification based on associations with local toponyms impossible to verify.
Source: Leciejewicz 2010, modified by the Author, digital processing by M. Chwiej.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 136 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 137
lensizi, so they might have been their neighbours. In addition,
the similarity to the place name ‘Opole’ is suggestive
of the same; on the other hand, this name first appeared
in the written sources not until the early 13th
century. In the
case of the Golensizi (Gołęszyce), a slightly larger amount
of linguistic data supports the assumption that they resided
on the Głubczyce Plateau and in the borderland of Poland
and Bohemia. Not a single tribal name referring to Mazovia
has survived; the name ‘Mazovians’ (Mazowszanie), which is
often featured in the maps of ‘early-Polish tribes’, dates from
the 11th
century and it originally referred to the inhabitants
of this region as a province of the Piast state rather than to
a former tribal structure.
Thus, if we look closely at the arguments given in support
of one or another version of the tribal name distribution,
it will turn out that only the location of the Dziadoszanie and
Ślężanie tribes finds confirmation in written and archaeological
sources. The locations of the Vistulans and the Gołęszyce
tribes are less certain, and the remainder are largely unverifiable
conjectures of historians and the archaeologists (Fig.
13). Extensive reconstructions of tribal geography reinforced
the belief that the organization of society in the Interior area
was considerably advanced. The vision of the ‘from a tribe to
a state’ evolutionary path was founded on this view. It turns
out, however, that the absence of clearly confirmed tribal
names may result from a long period of instability caused by
regular raids or migrations, ones which affected the process
of establishing permanent settlements.
Although the number of documented settlement sites
has increased as a result of recent research, our knowledge
regarding the appearance of villages in the Interior
remains modest. Not much information is available as to
their arrangement or social and economic topography. Research
conducted in both villages and cemeteries indicates
that these settlements were mostly small, numbering a few
families (Fig. 14). The plan of the excavated villages can be
described as irregular. In some cases it is oval, with houses
clustered around the central green where domestic chores
were performed (e.g., Żukowice in Śląsk). In other villages
the arrangement of dwellings resembles row housing (e.g.,
Okopy Nowe in Małopolska, Fig. 15) or even the later linear
settlements. Such an arrangement, sometimes oriented along
the East-West axis, has been ascertained in sites located in
Wielkopolska, Mazovia, Małopolska, and Śląsk. In many cases,
we may speak of a nest arrangement, with irregularly spaced
clusters of pits (e.g., Horodysko in Chełm Land).
The basic unit in a village was the family homestead.
The existence in Slavic villages of crofts (zagroda), i.e., separated
units consisting of a residential building and outbuildings,
is particularly hotly debated. Dense clusters of pits, which
are considered to be potential traces of crofts, are found in
many excavated settlement sites and are interpreted by the
majority of Polish archaeologists as family homesteads. Some
German archaeologists dispute this interpretation, saying that
the Slavs did not live in distinct, individual homesteads until
the 12th
century and that earlier their villages had been divided
into a dwelling area and a service area, which were shared.
Results of more recent research, especially the largescale
emergency excavations, confirm the existence of clusters
of pits which are traces of distinct units measuring ca. 30m
by 30m. They have been discovered in Chełmno Land (e.g.,
Gronowo 2, Okopy Nowe) and in other locations. These crofts,
Fig. 14. The plan of the settlement in Czeladź Wielka
1 – residential buildings, 2 – storage pits, 3 – ovens, 4 – the territorial
extent of the surveyed area. By D. Nowakowski.
Fig. 15. An example of an early-mediaeval linear settlement; the site in
Okopy Nowe
1 – residential buildings, 2 – outbuildings, 3 – the territorial extent of
the surveyed area. Source: Dzieńkowski 2010
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 137 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
138
sometimes referred to as siedliska in specialist literature,
consisted of several pits (from a few to over twenty) and
constituted remnants of residential buildings and outbuildings,
e.g., tar kilns, smokehouses, and ovens or hearths used for
various purposes. It seems, therefore, that the hypothesis
regarding the absence of crofts in Slavic settlements is unfounded.
Weak points in the German archaeologists’ theory
have recently been pointed out by Sebastian Brather (2001:
101), who observed that a Slavic croft may have consisted of
above-ground structures which left no lasting traces except
the currently discernible irregular hollows.
Another problem besides the ideological undercurrent
of this debate is that ancient residential structures are undeniably
difficult to identify. Only the traces of square dugouts,
which were sunk relatively deep into the soil, are clearly
discernible; this is one of the reasons why these structures
are among the main markers for early-Slavic culture (Fig. 16).
They are discovered mainly in Małopolska, Lower Śląsk, and
the southern part of Wielkopolska. They were usually provided
with a heating device constructed of stones or clay and situated
in the north-western or north-eastern corner (Fig. 17). The
wall and roof structures were supported on posts positioned
inside and sometimes also outside the pit (See: chapter 2).
The “bathtub-like objects”, which are irregular shallow
pits with a floor area of 5 to 11m2
and a depth of up to 0.5m,
may be remnants of above-ground houses. Similar objects
are found in the entire western-Slavic region. How the aboveground
section of such a building may have looked is not
known (Fig. 18). As already mentioned, it may have been a light
structure resembling a lean-to, such as the one discovered in
Zawada near Tarnów, or a log-frame building, neither of which
leaves discernible traces on the surface of the ground (Cf.
Chudziak 1988: 193-203; 1996: 111; Kobyliński 1988: 204-210).
The division of the western-Slavic region into two
zones depending on the house construction, with aboveground
structures dominant in the northern part and square
Fig. 17. Horodysko, site no. 13. An oven from a semi-dugout dwelling
(structure no. 58)
Source: Dzieńkowski 2010
Fig. 16. Horodysko, site no. 13. The negative traces of the construction
walls of a building (structure no. 277)
Source: Dzieńkowski 2010
Fig. 18. Horodysko, site
no. 13. A reconstruction of
an above-ground dwelling
structure
1– the outline of the building,
2 – bathtub-like pit,
3 – post holes.
Source: Dzieńkowski 2010
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 138 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 139
semi-dugouts prevalent in the southern part, was introduced
by Peter Donat (1980). This hypothesis remains valid, in spite
of the new discoveries which blunted its clearness. According
to Dulinicz, the preference for above-ground structures
in the northern zone resulted from settlement instability and
by frequent removals caused by the search for new land
(Dulinicz 2001: 212).
Regardless of the structural type, the houses of the
Slavs were mostly one-roomed, with the floor area usually
not exceeding 25m2
. The walls were insulated with clay or organic
materials, e.g., moss, straw or twigs. Also, the insulation
method often resulted from cultural conditions; e.g., traces of
an earthen floor have not been found in the remains of Slavic
houses discovered in Lower Śląsk, and mainly organic materials
were used there. Houses were heated by ovens located
in a corner, or by open hearths in the centre of the room.
Various outbuildings of a usually unidentifiable purpose
are discovered in the environs of the residential buildings.
One of the most easily recognized are sweat lodges, which
were mentioned by the Arab authors. One of them was discovered
in Brzezie near Niepołomice (Fig. 19). Wells are found
increasingly frequently, e.g., in Nowa Wieś Wrocławska (ca.
746 AD) or in Brzezie in Małopolska (752 AD, repaired 825
AD). Archaeological studies often mention storage pits, refuse
pits, smokehouses, hearths, oven-related pits or smelting
pits, but it must be remembered that our identifications are
often intuitive. There were no structures intended for stabling
livestock; cattle and pigs were kept in the open.
Thus, in spite of the many years of research, the Slavic
village in the Interior region remains barely explored, especially
in comparison with the areas south of the Carpathians and the
Sudetes. The research on fortified locations, the strongholds,
is far more advanced, because their state of preservation is
better and their location is more visible in the environment.
The early-medieval stronghold is a phenomenon which
can be reviewed with regard to various time horizons and
diverse functional aspects. Initially, they were perceived mostly
as military complexes, large-sized ones being viewed as
refuge forts, constructed by territorial communities in order
to provide protection to their members in the case of a raid.
Strongholds having a smaller inside area were considered to
have been residential – the seats of tribal elites. Fortifications
located at the intersections of trade routes were considered
to have been military outposts. Some were regarded as cult
centres surrounded with an earthen wall.
In the specialist literature dating from the second half
of the 20th
century, the beginnings of Slavic strongholds
were associated with the 7th
and the 8th
centuries on the
basis of traditional dating markers (i.e., pottery and isolated
relics). Results of dendrochronological analyses considerably
changed this picture. In many cases, it turned out that
the construction of the given stronghold began a century
or even two centuries later than it had been supposed. At
the present moment, dendrochronological analyses indicate
that the beginnings of stronghold construction in the Interior
may be dated to the 9th
, and in some cases to the 8th
century.
Isolated fortified structures dated to the 6th
–7th
centuries
(Haćki and Szeligi) most probably functioned primarily as cult
centres (see: chapter 2). The discovery that the strongholds
are from a considerably later period than previously assumed
undermined the former hypotheses regarding the formation
of proto-cities in the Interior. For instance, according to older
studies, numerous ancillary settlements are supposed to have
grown up around the Poznań stronghold in the 9th
century,
thus beginning the development of the later city. It is now clear
that this stronghold was built not earlier than in the 930s or
the 940s. Changes in the dating of the strongholds permit us
to assert that large settlement agglomerations did not exist
in the Interior in the pre-state period, i.e., before the end of
the first half of the 10th
century.
So far, it is only in the case of Wielkopolska that dendrochronology
has made more precise dating possible; a period
of vigorous stronghold construction began there in the 9th
or
early in the 10th
century. The parallel occurrence of the earliest
Fig. 19. Brzezie, site no. 20. The remains of a building interpreted as
a bathhouse (structure no. 655)
Source: Tyniec 2015
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 139 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
140
stronghold construction ventures in Mazovia is noteworthy.
The successive periods of dynamic stronghold construction
are the late 9th
/early 10th
century, the end of the first quarter
of the 10th
century, and the period around the year 940.
Construction works at thirteen of the fifty-seven stronghold
settlements of the tribal period discovered in Małopolska
began in the 8th
century, thirty-four may have been built in
the 9th
century, and the remainder dates from the 10th
century.
Relevant dendrochronological dating, however, is available
only in the case of the strongholds in Chodlik, Łapczyca, and
Zawada Lanckorońska.
The chronology of strongholds in Małopolska, which
in the past were associated with the so-called Vistulan state,
is unclear, but neither the stronghold at Kraków nor the one
at Wiślica have an archaeologically confirmed ‘tribal’ provenance
(Gliński 1998; Buko 2000; Kukliński 2000). Although
dendrochronological dating has determined the construction
of the Wawel stronghold fortifications to the early 11th
century
(ca. 1016), it has still not been ascertained whether this was
preceded by earlier construction phases, which might even
date back to as early as the 8th
century (Poleski, Krąpiec
1999: 92).
Relics of the Interior strongholds are distributed irregularly
(Wojenka 2014: 277). They are the most numerous in
Wielkopolska, Pomorze, and Śląsk, less densely distributed
in Małopolska and in the eastern part of the country, and the
fewest in central Poland (Fig. 20). Regional differences are
evident also in the surface area of the stronghold constructions.
In Małopolska, they are usually large, reaching as much as 28
hectares (70 acres). Also, multi-sectioned structures are often
in evidence in this region (Fig. 21). Silesian strongholds are
much smaller, their surface usually not exceeding 3 hectares
(7.5 acres). The lowland strongholds in Wielkopolska are even
smaller, but very numerous. Many of them were circular spaces
encircled by earthen walls, with the diameter of the central
courtyard ranging from 20 to 40 metres (Fig. 22). This was
the shape of the stronghold in Tornow in Lusatia, researched
by Joachim Herrmann (1966), which became the eponymous
Fig. 20. 8th
-, 9th
- and early 10th
-century strongholds in the western regions of the Slavic domain
1 — a stronghold with an area of less than 12 acres, 2 — a stronghold with an area of more than 12 acres, 3 –
eastern border of the Carolingian Empire (9th
cent.), 4 – southern border of Baltic settlement. Source: Poleski 2013,
digital processing by M. Chwiej.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 140 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 141
site for this type of stronghold structure. In Wielkopolska,
Bruszczewo is the best known and best researched stronghold
of the Tornow type. It was constructed in the vicinity of two
settlements which had functioned since the beginning of the
early medieval period. Its courtyard, protected by hook-andstack
walls some 9 meters thick, was only 30m across. Several
arrowheads, two spurs, and two axes were excavated inside
it, which suggests that a group of men-at-arms, possibly the
local ruler’s retinue, were stationed there. Military finds were
also discovered in the nearby settlements. Similarly sized
strongholds as those in Wielkopolska have also been found
in central Poland, in Mazovia, Podlachia, and Pomorze, but
they were far less numerous.
In eastern Poland, the most often encountered type is
a stronghold with ramparts laid concentrically. The Chodlik
stronghold is one of its most spectacular examples (Cf. Fig
21). An oval of 350 by 300 metres, it was surrounded by three
concentric ramparts. The remains of a well have been discovered
in the centre of the courtyard; they have been dated
to the 720s on the basis of dendrochronological analysis. In
addition, traces of a rectangular hall building measuring 12.5
by 5.5 metres have been found (Poleski 2013: 58).
A multi-segment stronghold, in turn, was typical of
the southern and south-eastern areas of the Interior. The
stronghold at Naszacowice on the Dunajec, which was under
research for many years, had this particular form (Fig. 23).
Constructed after the middle of the 8th
century, it operated
until the mid-11th
century. The area enclosed by the ramparts
3 – Chodlik. Source: Poleski 2013
2 – Stradów. Source: Poleski 2013
1 – Naszacowice. Source: Poleski 2013
Fig. 21. Example plans of tribal strongholds in Małopolska
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 141 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
142
totaled ca. 37 acres and, as it turned out, was hardly settled
at all. A small number of “bathtub-like objects” was discovered
in the courtyard of the main section; they may constitute
a remnant of above-ground buildings. In addition, the
excavations uncovered a set of trenches and post cavities
which delineated the contour of a construction sized 11 by 8
metres. It is not clear, however, if these are traces of a fence
or the walls of a roofed hall structure. During the excavations,
which lasted for several years, only a few thousand pottery
shards were found, along with a few dozen iron objects, including
some arrowheads and a similar number of horse tack
elements. The largest set of iron objects consisted of knives
(ca. 40 items). Considering the scale of the excavations and
the surface of the stronghold, this is not much. The paucity
of finds is undoubtedly an obstacle to defining its functions.
In the western region of the Interior, multi-sectioned
strongholds are a rarity. Bonikowo is one of the exceptions
to this rule (Fig. 24). The stronghold was constructed in the
latter half of the 8th
century. An inner rampart (I) was added
in the first half of the 9th
century; a foundation sacrifice in
the shape of fifteen vessels filled with grain and pieces of
meat was discovered under this rampart. A barrow-shaped
stone construction interpreted as a sacrificial site was also
discovered under rampart I. According to Michał Kara (2009:
106-109), the stronghold had absorbed a cult site and a place
of assembly and served as the seat of a small tribal community.
Fig. 22. A stronghold of the Tornow type in Wrocławice, Lower Śląsk
By A. Kubicka
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 142 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 143
Jacek Poleski (2013), who devoted much attention to
the ramparts and moats of early-medieval strongholds, distinguished
five types of rampart constructions: (1) a palisade;
(2) rammed-earth rampart; (3) hook-and-stack rampart; (4)
rampart with vertical walls constructed of timber filled in between
with earth and stones; (5) ramparts with a dry wall on
the outer side (Fig. 25). Constructions inside the strongholds
are still poorly researched. Strongholds located in the south
contained rectangular residential buildings sunk into the
ground (Naszacowice); in addition to those, remains of aboveground
houses: log-frame buildings (Chodlik) or, more rarely,
wattle structures (Zawada near Tarnów) were found in the
remaining territory of the Interior. Sometimes the residential
building was contiguous with the rampart, the inner side of
which constituted one of the building’s walls (Naszacowice,
phase II). Remains of large houses are rarely seen in the ‘tribal’
strongholds of the Interior. An impressive pillar structure was
discovered in the Lubomia stronghold in Śląsk (9th
century),
in Chodlik, which has already been mentioned here, and
most probably in Naszacowice as well. A large building was
discovered in the Moraczewo stronghold in Wielkopolska.
In the case of Tornow-type strongholds, i.e., small circular
complexes, traces of a circle of buildings contiguous with the
rampart were found e.g., in Bruszczewo or Strachowo in Lower
Śląsk. They are most often reconstructed as houses built
directly by the rampart all around the courtyard. Considering
the considerable diversity of types of ‘tribal’ strongholds and
the still insufficient degree to which their inner structures have
Fig. 23. The plan of the central area of the stronghold in Naszacowice
Source: Poleski 2013
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 143 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
144
been explored, it seems impossible to reconstruct a typical
stronghold plan.
The archaeologically discernible phenomenon of the
emergence of a stronghold network may indicate the period
when territorial communities became ready to act in an
organized manner not only to reach short-time goals, but
also to reach a desired effect that would often be very remote.
Individuals able to pilot such group actions probably
appeared precisely at that time. Those were the men whom
the written sources describe tersely as duces. A Slavic dux
was a headman of the community. He was the main user of
a stronghold; the duty to direct the group’s actions in the case
of a threat was incumbent upon him.
On the basis of finds excavated in the strongholds,
which, in many cases are weapons or elements of horse tack
that confirm the presence of mounted warriors there, it cannot
be ruled out that some of those structures may have been the
headquarters of local rulers and their retinues. According to
a different hypothesis, they may have served as temporary
quarters for groups of warriors arriving from outside the area.
Foreign guests were certainly quartered at the strongholds
in Czerchów and Łęczyca. The Czerchów stronghold was
constructed in the late 9th
or early 10th
century. According
to Tomasz Jurek (2014: 19-20), the numerous finds of horse
tack elements, weapons, ornaments and objects constituting
commodity money of Great Moravian origin point to the
presence of a group of high-status mounted warriors (Fig. 26).
Jurek assumes they were refugees from Moravia, but they
may also have been former slave traders who settled in an
area well known to them from their former raids. The neighbouring
stronghold in Łęczyca, built in the 8th
or 9th
century,
does not reveal traces of being in permanent use until the
10th
century (Fig. 27). It may have been used as a place of
assembly, but it may have also been for gathering slaves or
cattle. A permanent garrison appeared there only after the
middle of the 10th
century; judging by the finds, it consisted of
men who originated from a Varangian milieu. Their presence
in the Łęczyca stronghold is associated with the Piast era,
according to the specialists on Łęczyca with as late as the
reign of Bolesław Chrobry (the Brave).
Fig. 24. Bonikowo, site no. 1, Kościan commune, Wielkopolska
Voivodeship. A contour-line plan of the stronghold
1 – phase I rampart, 2 –phase II rampart, 3 – phase III rampart.
Source: Kara 2009
Fig. 25. Examples of reconstructions of early-mediaeval stronghold
ramparts in Małopolska
Source: Poleski 2013
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 144 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 145
At some of the Interior strongholds, the excavations
did not reveal any significant settlement stratum that would
have formed if the stronghold had been permanently occupied.
This pertains to the small Tornow-type complexes
as much as to the large multi-segment strongholds in the
south-eastern zone, although it is far more noticeable in the
latter. Excavations in those few strongholds of the ‘tribal’-period
in Małopolska which have been researched to a more
significant degree reveal that these complexes were inhabited
by a small group of people – or that they were not inhabited
at all (Poleski 2004: 151). The question arises as to what their
function may have been.
Since the process of stronghold building in the area
of interest to us began after the Baltic centres of trade and
crafts (8th
-9th
century) and the settlement agglomerations in
Moravia and Slovakia had emerged, it is possible that their
construction was linked with that fact. One of the explanations
is an increase in the slave trade. The Baltic and Moravian
agglomerations acted as intermediaries in the sale of slaves.
Whereas those of the small strongholds constructed in the
Interior which show traces of long-term occupation may be
linked with the activity of the Slavic chieftains, many of those
where the traces of use are barely discernible may constitute
remnants of a network of forts used by slavers, who, in
search for ‘supplies’, moved far inland along the river courses.
The already mentioned ‘hall’ structure discovered in the
Moraczewo stronghold in Wielkopolska, whose beginnings
are dated to the late 9th
century, revealed numerous finds of
pottery shards, including large food containers, and many
animal bones bearing marks of consumption. The building
was judged to have been a feasting hall used by the power
elite, but the absence of traces of permanent occupation
and the insignificant number of luxury objects to have been
discovered stands at variance to this interpretation. It is possible,
then, that this hall was used as a stopover shelter for
caravans of slaves.
According to Marek Jankowiak (2012), some of the small
lowland strongholds, as well as the large upland strongholds,
may have been stopover posts for the captured slaves being
led south (or north). Jankowiak explains the differences in the
strongholds’ surface area by citing different transportation
conditions: in the lowland landscape, where the transportation
axis was the river, the slavers were able to escort only smaller
groups of captives, while in the uplands, where the transportation
was conducted overland, much larger groups of slaves
could be assembled. Also, the differences in stronghold size
may have been conditioned by the geographic environment
or the cultural tradition.
Another interesting conception regarding the function
of large multi-sectioned strongholds was once presented by
A selection of finds. Source: Trojan 2014A contour-line plan of the stronghold with archaeological digs. Source: Trojan 2014
Fig. 26. Czerchów, site no. 1- the stronghold
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 145 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
146
Józef Kaźmierczyk on the basis of the analysis of the form of
the Gilów stronghold in Lower Śląsk. Kaźmierczyk suggested
that they may have been built as shelters for large herds of
cattle being driven along the trade routes – so, perhaps, not
only for slaves. It may not be by accident that the architecture
of some of the Slavic multi-segment strongholds brings to mind
the African kraals. Of course, neither eventuality excludes their
fundamental defensive function, but they more deftly explain
the fact that in many of the strongholds contain no traces of
intensive and permanent construction.
The question remains as to what extent the strongholds
may have been the work of the local territorial communities.
Did their construction result from the accelerating process
of the integration of territorial communities in a reaction to
the threat which led to the emergence of small chieftainships
visible in the fact that the tribal leaders began to reside in
a stronghold?
The example of Bruszczewo indicates that in the 8th
–9th
centuries small territorial communities and fortified residences
of local chieftains were most probably already in existence,
but they were relatively few. Often the very fact that the
strongholds were built at all is pointed out as a proof that the
local elites did, in fact, exist. However, the strongholds do not
seem to have contained any larger residential buildings that
may have served as the headquarters of the tribal elites. The
number of the discovered luxury objects, which would have
been an signal of far-reaching trade exchanges conducted
by the tribal chieftains, is small. Also, richly equipped graves
that would date from this period are not known, and the
sets of grave goods found in the researched cemeteries are
relatively similar.
Divergences in the interpretations of the strongholds’
functions are a component of a more sweeping phenomenon.
As already indicated, the troubles with incontrovertible
placement of the tribal names mentioned by the sources on
the map of Poland, the relative impermanence of settlements
that has been recorded by the archaeologists, the absence
of large settlements which would have operated for longer
periods of time, the absence of traces of larger cemeteries
– all this confirms the theory that the residents of the Interior
were not very advanced as to their socio-political organization
and that territorial communities having a considerable spatial
range and a chieftainship-type system had formed relatively
late. What might have been the reason for that?
Topography and a river network favourable to communication
made the area of the Polish Plain an easy territory to
raid. Forests, marshes, and islands offered the only shelter,
which, in fact, often became useful. Archaeological finds
confirm contacts with the nearer and more distant neighbours,
from the Avars, the Saxons, the Moravians, and the Magyars
to the Scandinavians (see: chapter 6). Early on, political and
economic contacts with the Danubian regions, especially with
the Great Moravian Empire, played an important role (Fig. 28).
Finds of Moravian origin are distributed mainly in
Małopolska (Poleski 1997: 18-22, Abb. 4, 5; 2013: 181-183).
Prevalent among them are elements of horse tack, discovered
mainly in the strongholds. Hammer axes, known as bradatica,
‘bearded axes’, due to their characteristic shape (Cf. Fig. 26),
are numerous as well. More than a dozen similar finds have
so far been discovered in the entire area of Poland. Only
single objects conjectured to be of Great Moravian origin are
ornaments and objects of everyday use; their provenance
and dating are uncertain, however. The nature of contacts
between Great Moravia and the Interior is difficult to ascertain
on the basis of these few finds. They may be interpreted as
imports or imitations, but they may also constitute traces of
Moravian warriors’ sporadic visits north of the Carpathians.
The latter assumption is supported by the meagre amount
of finds which would certainly be far more numerous if trade
links had existed or imitations had been produced locally. The
limited range of elements of horse tack also speaks in favour
of the latter conjecture.
Fig. 27. The early-mediaeval stronghold in Łęczyca. Aerial view of the
site during a flood
Source: Grygiel, Stasiak, Trojan 2014
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 146 23.02.2017 11:25
3. THE LANDSCAPE OF SETTLEMENT
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 147
It may be assumed that the Interior was mostly the
target of raiding expeditions launched from Great Moravia,
ones which in the 9th
century were organized mostly with
acquiring slaves in mind. The Moravian tradition of raiding
the ad aquilonem regions may have been continued by the
Czechs, but on a smaller scale, because from the late 9th
and
certainly in the 10th
century, Polish lands were more vigorously
penetrated by the Scandinavians. The Scandinavians constituted
an important part of the Piast rulers’ retinue, which was
responsible for the development of the stronghold network,
i.e., the foundation for the territorial and financial organization
of the future state. They also participated, although probably
only at the initial stage of the state’ development, in human
traffic, trading slaves and captives. The finds of silver deposits,
which are a material indicator of votive practices rooted
in the culture of the Baltic area, may point to infiltration by
Scandinavian and Varangian warriors in the first half of the
10th
century.
The poverty and simplicity of Slavic culture in the area
between the Odra and Bug rivers in the period before the
emergence of states (chiefdoms?) which provided security to
their subjects may thus be conjecturally explained by the lack
of stability and uncertainly of the future, as well as by the fact
that the Interior societies were being constantly robbed of
young and active individuals. Stable and more complex social
structures could not evolve in these conditions, not even in
the shape of ‘tribal’ organizations proposed by historians in
reference to the territory of Poland.
The reason for the slow pace of the evolution of social
structures may, as stated above, lay in the slave trade that
destabilized Slavic communities of the Interior and robbed
them of young, energetic men who might otherwise have
constituted warrior troops to support the political order in
the chieftaindom system. But regardless of who conducted
the most devastating raids on the communities resident in
the Interior, the question arises as to how the economic system
of these communities developed and to what extent its
formation was influenced by the constant threat. The image
prevalent in historical studies has been that of Slavic tribes
being agricultural communities which consensually merged
into larger organisms, which in time evolved into the Piast state.
Fig. 28. Findings of Avar and Carolingian items in the western reaches of the Slavic world
Source: Poleski 2013, digital processing by M. Chwiej
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 147 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
148
The view dominant in historical studies dating from the second
half of the 20th
century was that the Slavic economy was based
on agriculture from as early as the 6th
century. However, the
pattern of scattered settlements in the 7th
and 8th
centuries
does not confirm this thesis. The excavated finds, too, indicate
that it was animal husbandry, mainly cattle raising, that
dominated the Slavic economy in this period; in the eastern
region of the Interior this may have been so until the 9th
century (Fig. 29). This was mentioned with some reluctance
by Lech Leciejewicz (2010: 63), who cited Pseudo-Maurice’s
account of the Sclaveni and Antes, as well as the results of
palynological analyses which confirmed the predominance of
pastureland over farmland in the areas along the Elbe in the
early Middle Ages. The results of recent archaeobotanical and
archaeozoological research support this assumption as well.
Finds of farming tools, including iron shares which reinforced
triangular and quadrangular ard ploughs, are mostly
dated to the later phase of the ‘tribal period’. Hoards of iron
4. The economic landscape
They possess an abundance of livestock and
produce, which they store in heaps, especially
common millet and Italian millet.
(Pseudo-Maurice)
They sow grain in two seasons, in summer and
in spring, and they gather two harvests. The
chief crop is millet.
(Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb
Fig. 29. Remains of the most popular
species of domestic animals from
several early-mediaeval sites in the
Interior.
1 – cattle,
2 – pig,
3 – sheep/goat,
4 – horse,
5 – dog,
6 – cat.
Source: Iwaszczuk 2015
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 148 23.02.2017 11:25
4. THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 149
farming tools predating the 10th
century, which are mentioned
in specialist literature, were discovered mostly south of the
Carpathians and Sudetes. Wooden sokha and ard ploughs,
which were useful on the light soils prevalent in most of the
Polish Plain, did not survive. Not much is known about the
farming techniques. Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb provided us only with
the information that the Slavs sowed grain twice a year, in
summer and in spring, and gathered two harvests.
Until recently it has been assumed that the main types
of grains sown by the western Slavs were cereal grains, such
as rye and wheat, with the addition of barley and oats, millet
occupying a minor position. Contrary to this view, both the
written and the archaeological sources indicate that millet,
scorned by modern historians, was in fact the dominant crop
(Fig. 30).
The multi-strata sites in the Interior (dated only to the
latter phase of the early Middle Ages, however) yield numerous
indications of cultivation and consumption of fruits,
e.g., pears, plums, apples, and peaches. Nuts were eaten as
well. Peas, broad beans, beans, lentils, and other crops were
grown in household gardens. Finds of macroscopic botanical
relics from the period of the 6th
to 10th
centuries are very rare,
so the research results cannot be generalized as applying
to a larger area.
Animal bones found in settlements are a source of
information on the structure of the animal husbandry system
and on food preferences. As a rule, bones of domestic
animals are vastly predominant, with the proportion usually
above 90 percent. Cattle bones predominated in the early
period of the Slavic economy, which may be linked with the
prevailing model of animal husbandry and with the itinerant
lifestyle (Fig. 31). The proportion of pig bones rose in the
following centuries. Results of relevant analyses show that
pig breeding was more prevalent in the western part of the
Interior. The percentage of goat and sheep bones is smaller
but still significant. The breeding of cattle and small domestic
ruminants was influenced by the fact that they provided not
only meat, but also milk, hides and, in the case of sheep, wool.
Horses were bred mainly for riding, but also for transportation.
Horsemeat was eaten fairly rarely, mainly in the eastern part
of the Interior. Poultry was eaten as well.
Foodstuffs obtained through animal husbandry and
agriculture were complemented by hunting and fishing. Remains
of wild animal bone rarely exceed 10 percent of finds;
the borderlands of Śląsk, Wielkopolska, and Lusatia, where
they occasionally exceed 20 percent, are an exception. The
main animals hunted were red deer, roe deer, boars, hares,
as well as aurochs, bison, bears, and moose. Bones of wild
carnivores, such as wolves, lynxes, and foxes are also found
(Fig. 31). Beavers and otters were hunted as well. Analyses
of fishbone remains, which recently have been conducted
on a more extensive scale, confirmed the significant role of
fishing in the food supply. However, the data which have been
gathered so far pertain mostly to the stronghold agglomerations
of the early Piast state, i.e., to the latter phase of the
early Middle Ages, when food consumption rose considerably
in connection with Christianization.
The target of manufacture was to provide the household
with essential tools and furnishings, which were produced from
easily obtainable materials, usually from wood, bone and antler,
less often from iron. Our perception of the potential diversity
of this production is based mostly on finds discovered in other
regions; this is because archaeological sites dated to the tribal
period and located in the area between the Odra and Bug
rivers have yielded few such finds. A monograph centred on
the early-medieval economy in Upper Śląsk, which is based
on source material yielded by 311 sites dated to the period
between the 6thasthe 10th
century, demonstrates the poverty
of the Slavs’ material culture in this period. A relatively large
area (close to 10,000 km2
) yielded only a dozen or so pieces
Fig. 30. Bruszczewo, site no. 13, Kościan commune. The percentage
of cereals in the archaeological material from the site
Source: Brzostowicz 2002
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 149 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
150
of quern-stones, some sickles, two pairs of scissors, around
a hundred whetstones (of which 62 came from a single site,
the Lubomia stronghold), over 30 spindle whorls, 60 knives,
and some iron bowls.
One product which leaves no doubt as to its local
provenance is pottery. Various studies concerning shards of
clay vessels have contributed to the development of a range
of classifications aimed at making this very common find
a chronological marker. As already mentioned, vessels were
hand-made, and only their upper sections were smoothened
on the wheel. Familiarity with those simple if time-consuming
processes was universal, and the vessels were domestically
produced. The method of forming an entire vessel on the
wheel spread relatively quickly in the 10th
century. The mottled
colouring of many excavated shards indicates that the vessels
were fired in open kilns in temperatures not exceeding 700°C.
Apart from pottery, a craft linked with the food-production
section of the economy, equally important were tasks
associated with providing shelter and clothing, indispensable
even in the momentarily milder climatic conditions. Organic
materials were used, e.g., wood, hides of domestic and wild
animals, plant fibres (flax, hemp), and sheep wool. The craft
of spinning left traces in the form of very common finds:
spindle whorls made of clay, stone, or wood. Unfortunately,
textiles dating from the tribal period have not survived. They
may occasionally be discerned in the form of impressions
on pottery, e.g., impressions of linen fabrics known from the
Zawada settlement.
The procurement and processing of iron required more
skills than pottery. Raw material in the form of bog ore was
easily accessible, but it needed to be correctly processed.
Bloomery furnaces were used, as smelting kilns had not
yet been introduced. In some of the larger settlements, e.g.,
in Żukowice in Lower Śląsk, clusters of bloomeries used
for smelting and purifying iron have been discovered. The
Bieńkowo site in Lower Śląsk yielded many shards of clay
nozzles, pieces of iron ore, and iron slag, as well as the remnants
of bloomery pits. Iron products found at Slavic sites in
the Interior are mainly universal tools, such as knives and
axes. Another common find are arrowheads.
Woodworking, including carpentry, was another important
branch of production. Surviving house structures dated
to later periods (10th
–11th
centuries), as well as the larger construction
ventures, such as stronghold ramparts or bridges,
Fig. 32. Remains of vertebrate animals found at early-mediaeval
(9th
–11th
century) sites in the borderlands between Lower Śląsk,
Wielkopolska and Lusatia
1 – red deer, 2 – roe deer, 3 – wild boar, 4 – moose, 5 – beaver, 6 –
hare, 7 – marten, 8 – squirrel, 9 – other species (9a – fox, 9b – bear, 9c
– badger, 9d – wolf, 9e – otter, 9f – wisent, 9g – aurochs, 9h – polecat,
9i – lynx).
Source: Makowiecki et al. 2014
Fig. 31. The remains of animal species found at sites dating from the
tribal period
1 – cattle, 2 – pig, 3 – sheep/goat, 4 – dog, 5 – wild game, 6 – other
species (6a – sheep, 6b – goat, 6c – horse, 6d – hen, 6e – goose).
By S. Moździoch.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 150 23.02.2017 11:25
4. THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 151
confirm that the Interior Slavs possessed considerable skills
in this respect. Logging was associated with the making of
pine tar and birch tar. Remains of earthen kilns used in their
production were discovered in Biskupin, Bruszczewo, and
at other sites.
Not much can be said about the attire worn by the residents
of the Interior. On the basis of finds alone, something
can be ascertained only about ornaments and various metal
elements of outfits, such as buckles or brooches. Numerous
finds of leather shoes and a few textile pieces are known
from the multi-stratum sites in the Baltic area, where items
made from organic materials would often survive. Similar
items found inland date only from the latter phase of the
early-medieval period.
In the Interior communities, production was usually
carried out in the framework of domestic craftsmanship and
catered to the immediate needs of the household or village.
Larger settlement agglomerations, where commodities (hides,
slaves, iron?) exchangeable for other commodities brought
in from the neighbouring lands were accumulated, evolved
only towards the end of the ‘tribal period’. But even in their
case production was still far from the too-easily used concept
of ‘professional craftsmanship’ or ‘itinerant craftsman’. Most
products discovered in the Interior did not require much
knowledge or skill to make. Archaeologists, who are usually
dilettantes when it comes to many areas of production, tend
to overestimate the ancient craftsmen’s level of technical skill,
“identifying the simplicity of techniques, paid for with the tediousness
of the task, with its alleged complexity. Everything
they judge ‘better’ they tend to ascribe to specialists, pro-
fessionals”.
Traces of exchange, which throughout the period in
question was conducted in the barter system, are similarly
rare. The issue whether the axe-like grzywna ingots or the
Silesian-type iron bowls, which are found mainly in southern
Poland, were used as commodity money remains controversial
(Fig. 33). The view currently prevailing is that the latter were
used in food preparation, which explodes the assumption that
the local exchange market in Interior was well-developed and
reduces it to a much smaller scale.
The existence of long-range exchange may be conjectured
on the basis of the discovery of the so-called imports
(see: chapter 6). From the 8th
century onwards, various items
difficult to produce in the framework of domestic craftsmanFig.
33. The southern part of the
western-Slavic area of habitation
in the early Middle Ages. Hoards
of iron items and iron commodity
money
1 – a hoard of various iron items,
2 — a hoard of axe-type grzywna
ingots made of iron,
3 — a singular finding of axe-type
iron grzywna ingots,
4 — a singular finding of
a Silesian-type iron bowl,
5 — a hoard of Silesian-type iron
bowls,
6 – a finding of one or several
arrowhead-shaped iron grzywna
ingots.
Source: Poleski 2013, digital
processing by M. Chwiej.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 151 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
152
ship, mainly ornaments and weapons, were imported into
the Interior. They are discovered mostly in strongholds and
settlements. They would appear at cemeteries concurrently
with skeletal burial rite, i.e., only in the latter phase of the
early-medieval period. Hoards containing silver coins (mainly
of Arab origin), ornaments, and raw silver were deposited in
the area of the Interior from the 10th
century onwards. In the
case of these deposits, as much as in the case of weapons
discovered in the excavated strongholds, the question of
their owners is exceedingly important. They may have been
members of the local elites, but they may also have been
foreigners: merchants or slave traders, who penetrated into
the Interior in the company of warrior troops and then resided
in strongholds temporarily for stopovers.
Sources relating to trade between western Europe
and the Slavic world are scarce. The most important of them
is a capitulary, i.e., a collection of legislative acts issued by
Charlemagne in Diedenhofen, in 805 (MGH…: 122-126), and
a customs duty tariff from Rafelstetten, prepared 903/905 for
the king of the Franks, Louis IV (MGH…: 249-252). The Diedenhofen
capitulary includes a prohibition on selling weapons
to Slavs, while the Rafelstetten tariff specifies customs duties,
including the duty to be paid for slaves driven by Jewish
merchants. It also mentions the “Moravians’ marketplace”,
where trade in these two essential commodities, weapons
and slaves, was probably conducted.
Exchange places in the Danubian region and the Baltic
emporia emerged around the middle of the 8th
century and
operated until the second half of the 10th
century. It is beyond
doubt that the Baltic and Moravian agglomerations were vital
hinges in the long-distance trade. The crucial question is why
no such centre was established in the Interior. The reasons
for this were twofold: firstly, this was a territory distant from
any trade route important at the time; secondly, the local
communities, which were subjected to constant raiding, lived
in conditions that were unfavourable to more complex forms
of social organization, so a numerous and powerful stratum
of militant merchants did not have an opportunity to develop
in that region.
Traces of the economic activities of the residents of
the Interior between the 7th
and the 10th
century are modest
indeed. They indicate that their main occupation was production
geared to animal husbandry. Concurrently, the forest
was of considerable economic importance and the lifestyle
was almost itinerant, which did not favour the production and
accumulation of tools or furnishings. When danger loomed,
an excess of movables was only a burden.
The Slavic population’s considerable mobility in the
initial phases of the early Middle Ages resulted in the absence
of ties which could bind territorial communities into ‘tribes’.
In the 9th
and the 10th
centuries, the scattered groups were
only rarely able to build centres constituting the headquarters
of elites. Only one element united them – and that was the
cult centres.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 152 23.02.2017 11:25
5. THE SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 153
The universe of the Slavs’ symbolic culture has not been
thoroughly explored. However, attempts at reconstructing
old beliefs, undertaken again and again by historians and
archaeologists, have expanded our knowledge of this area
of our ancestor’s lives. In addition, new archaeological discoveries
have appeared that contradicted the earlier vision
of a feeble paganism, its spine broken immediately after
Mieszko had been baptized. The increasingly frequent finds
of cemeteries with pit graves and layered graves in central
Poland, in Lusatia or in Małopolska, as well as the verification
of previously researched sites permit us to state that we have
only just begun to uncover the wealth of Slavic magical and
mythical practices, some of which are connected with the
well-developed sphere of funerary rituals and the cult of the
dead which until today were concealed behind enigmatic
phrases referring to a ‘burial-less funerary zone’.
Let us see, then, what paganism was like in the period
under examination.For the sake of subsequent considerations,
let us assume (following in the footsteps of the medieval chroniclers)
that paganism equals non-Christianity. Hence, going
back to the period between the 6th
and the 10th
centuries, which
is of interest to us here, it would be worthwhile to search the
sphere of symbolic culture for elements which at the end of
the Middle Ages may have been magic; earlier – a superstition;
and before the adoption of Christianity – a part of a ritual. The
scarcity of data concerning Slavic beliefs conveyed by the
written sources and the nearly absolute absence (with a few
exceptions) of the images of divinities in Slavic material culture
permit the archaeologist to make only a cautious statement
that nothing is known about Slavic mythology. There is even
less certainty as to the existence of an extensive pantheon
of Slavic gods in the early Middle Ages.
In researching religion, we attempt to refer our analyses
of archaeological sources to as broad a cultural context as
possible to see the sphere of ritual against the background
of the natural environment and the landscape of settlement
which permeate it. The subject of research are artefacts and
eco-facts whose form, as accessible to today’s scrutiny, may
indicate an original function resulting from the application
of the norms of a given religion and from cult procedures
linked with the religious calendar. Artefacts linked with magic
may be reviewed separately, depending on the accepted
definition of religion.
Attempts at identifying ancient cult sites associated with
nature worship and ancestor worship can be made during the
analyses of archaeological sources. Most probably, these cults
were usually local; this would agree with Thietmar’s observation:
“There are as many shrines, and as many images of idols
are worshipped by the heathens, as there are districts in this
country”, and would confirm the hypothesis that the sphere
of Slavic beliefs was characterized by considerable diversity.
The early-medieval cult sites may have been associated
with the natural or cultural environment. In the first case, the
shrines would not have left traces of their construction in the
form of buildings; the latter encompassed mostly Christian
temples and, more rarely, e.g., in the case of the Elbe Slavs,
also pagan shrines. Also the pagan cemeteries were most
often associated with the natural environment, whereas the
Christian ones were paired with an ecclesiastical structure
and thus with the settled environment.
5. The symbolic landscape
If one of them dies, they burn his body in the
fire (...) they celebrate loudly and show their
delight, saying that they rejoice because the
Lord showed His mercy upon him
(Ibn Rustah)
The entire population venerates and fears this
pool more than the churches…
(Thietmar of Merseburg)
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 153 23.02.2017 11:25
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
154
In recent years, much attention has been devoted to
pagan cult sites discovered in the Interior; hence their numbers
in the archaeological site maps have been growing. The
fundamental problems are not only to identify them, but also
to define the timeframe for their operation.
Hill- and mountaintops, springs, islands, and groves
are usually mentioned as identified cult sites (Fig. 34); but
very few of the sites indicated in specialist literature have
been archaeologically researched, and only in the case of
a few it is possible to say with more certainty, i.e., on the basis
of unequivocal testimony of the written and archaeological
sources, that a cult-related centre did indeed operate there.
Mountains with characteristic stone or earth ramparts
around their tops were supposedly both objects of cult and
locations where pagan rites were performed. Ślęża in Śląsk is
the best known of them; others are Góra Grodowa in Tumlin,
Łysa Góra, Góra Dobrzeszowska, and Góra Chełmo in central
Poland. The perception of the mountaintop constructions
as linked with the ‘tribal period’ poses serious problems. In
the case of Ślęża, whose function as a cult site is confirmed
by the 11th
-century chronicle of Thietmar, the stone ramparts
have been finally dated to the 13th
century, and it is possible
that they were constructed even a few centuries later. A small
stronghold on the eastern slope of this mountain, which is
interpreted as a cult site from the ‘tribal period’, was discovered
only in the late 20th
century. Stone ramparts were also
discovered at Łysa Góra in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, but,
as in the case of Ślęża, the chronology of these structures is
still not certain. At neither of those sites did archaeological
excavations yield a significant number of finds that would
confirm their ‘cult’ reading. When it comes to a complex set of
ramparts and moats at Góra Chełmo near Radomsko, credible
signs pointing to the religious function of the compound are
also absent.
Kowalowa Góra in Gostyń in Lower Śląsk is an example
of a site whose ritual role seems unquestionable. This site,
in earlier archaeological literature considered to have been
a stronghold, is located on a hill, access to which was cut off
by a ditch ca. 0.5 to 0.7 metres deep and ca. 2 metres wide
(Fig. 35). The flattened bottom of the ditch yielded a stratum
of pottery shards and numerous pieces of charcoal which
were a remnant of fires. The absence of a cult stratum in the
hill area is striking. Several pits, considered to be remnants
of residential buildings and outbuildings, were revealed at
this site; two of them contained human skeletons. Pit I, in the
northern section of the site, revealed numerous traces of burnt
matter, a few large stones and some clusters of burnt bones
with a well-preserved skeleton which bore traces of burning
only in the upper part. Pit IV, similarly to Pit I, consisted of two
smaller sites which contained stones, a small amount of animal
34. Pagan places of cult in Polish territory in the early
Middle Ages
1 – sites surrounded with an earthen or stone wall,
2 – sites surrounded with a ditch,
3 – islands on lakes,
4 – traces of cult buildings,
5 – stone structures.
Source: Cieślik 2010
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 154 23.02.2017 11:25
5. THE SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 155
bones and a considerable amount of charcoal; in this, it was
analogous to the ustrina fire-pits discovered at Alt Käbelich.
Pit V contained many lumps of well-fired wattle mixed with
charcoal and, at the bottom, the remains of a human skeleton
(Rzeźnik 1997: 271).
Clusters of charred human remains with partial skeleton
burials may constitute remains of the deceased who
were incinerated on a pyre and the accompanying offerings.
The bones, mainly the skulls, bore traces of fire. The skull of
the skeleton discovered in Pit V was crushed, most probably
intentionally. Traces of a similar procedure are also discovered
in other bi-ritual cemeteries of that period. Considering
the data pointing to the special meaning of the head in the
pagan Slavs’ religious symbolism, finds of pieces of skulls, or
complete skulls separated from bodies, may be associated
with the sphere of ritual. Numerous finds of clusters of whole
vessels (or shards comprising entire vessels), often containing
grain (millet) and shards of human bone, some of them charred
in the manner characteristic of cremation burials (i.e., in small
pieces), are atypical for a settlement site. It is precisely these
finds – small fragments of bones (e.g., 1,589 pieces in one
of the excavated pits) – that seem to wholly invalidate the
assumption that this used to be a stronghold, along with the
accompanying explanation that it was taken by surprise and
its garrison obliterated. The chronology of the Gostyń site as
one linked with the cult of the dead locates it between the
9th
and the middle of the 10th
centuries (Moździoch 2000).
The tradition of the long-gone cult site survived in the
local toponyms, most probably inherited from the ancient
Slavic residents of this area. Pieces of charcoal found at this
site served as the explanation for its name: Kowalowa Góra
(Schmiedeberg), which means ‘blacksmith’s hill’. Near the site
there is a place called the ‘altar field’ (Altargrund). Non-invasive
probes conducted recently in Gostyń by Piotr Wroniecki
revealed deposits of iron slag occupying large areas, which
indicates that iron-smelting and blacksmithing activities were
conducted there on a considerable scale (Fig. 36). A kilometre
to the north-west of the site in question there is a small chapel
of Saint Anne, which in the late Middle Ages was a popular
pilgrimage site. Such chapels were often built at or nearby
former pagan cult sites. A well-spring in a wooden casing is
also situated close by (Langenheim 1939: 93).Another site of
the same type, also formerly considered to be a stronghold,
was discovered in Zbęchy, in Wielkopolska. The local toponym
for this cult/ritual site is, identically as in Gostyń, Kowalowa
Góra – blacksmith’s hill. Here, too, numerous traces of burning
and charred animal and human bones were found. The
site is dated to late Antiquity, but it is also assumed to have
functioned between the mid-9th
and mid-11th
centuries (Kara
2009: 173-176).
Pits containing skeletal burials. By S. MoździochThe topography of the cult site. The ditch which bars access to the
circle of pits containing cremated remains and two parallel skeletal
burials. A — clusters of clay vessels and the remains of a post. B —
pits containing a skeleton and cremated remains. By S. Moździoch
Fig. 35. Gostyń-Kowalowa Góra
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 155 23.02.2017 11:26
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
156
If confirmation of the conjectured cult character of the
Gostyń site can be obtained, it would mean an advance in
the exploration of the western Slavs’ religious and funerary
practices. The following features can be pointed out as typical
of such sites: (1) location in a secluded place; (2) a surrounding
fence, rampart, or ditch; (3) the presence of atypical burials,
both cremation and skeleton ones; (4) a peculiar circular arrangement
of pits; (5) pits similar to those found in settlements,
containing charred human bones and traces of sacrifices, e.g.,
clay vessels, and burnt grains of cereals or animal bones.
The peculiar character of the Gostyń site, which is both
a cemetery and a ritual site, in connection with the numerous
finds of iron objects and slag, may find explanation in ritual
practices connected with burning the bodies of the dead in
blacksmiths’ ovens or fire-pits. According to Goldhahn and
Oestigaard, such a custom was practiced in Scandinavia during
the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Viking period. According
to these scholars, only the blacksmiths’ ovens made it possible
to obtain such temperatures as is indicated by some of the
charred bone remains. A blacksmith was supposedly a sui
generis priest/mediator who conducted cremation ceremonies,
while ordinarily he carried out smelting and metalworking. The
remains of an adult woman were discovered in an oven in
Gavleĺn (Gästrikland) in Sweden. She was incinerated together
with a dog, and the entire find is dated to the Viking period.
Human remains were also discovered in another oven at the
same site (Applegren, Broberg 1996: 36). It is worth pointing
out that Pit V in Gostyń, which contained a partially incinerated
skeleton, is also considered to have been an oven. It seems
possible that these ‘blacksmith’s hills’ were concurrently
metalworking centres, cremation sites, and also, in some
cases, burial grounds. Perhaps this original combination of
the sacred and the profane is the reason why, in spite of the
discovery of many cremation burials in the area of the Interior,
cremation sites are virtually unknown (Zoll-Adamikowa 1979:
248; Kalaga 2006: 168).
In the “tribal period”, the cult/ritual sites were also
located in wetland areas and on marshes, sometimes on
hummocks which, being elevated above the valley level,
resembled islands. Michał Kara identified such a site in Bonikowo,
located on a hummock on which a stronghold had
been built in the 9th
century. According to Kara, it was most
probably a cult site with a separate sacrifice site, which was
intended to assure the local community of success in farming
and animal-raising ventures. The sacrifice site is associated
with Stratum IV, excavated inside the western section of the
stronghold, which contained a large amount of grain and animal
bones. Another element of the sacrifice site was a stone
Fig. 36. Gostyń, site no. 1. The interpretation of the
results of an archaeological prospection conducted in
2015 superimposed onto an orthophotographic plan.
1 – items discovered during excavations,
2 – the location of the digs,
3 – geophysical anomalies, prospective location of
archaeological structures,
4 – geophysical anomalies in need of verification,
5 – layers of probable anthropogenic origin,
6 – high-resistivity layers.
By P. Wroniecki
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 156 23.02.2017 11:26
5. THE SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 157
embankment similar to a tumulus, ca. 2.8metres across at
the base and 0.5metres high, interpreted as an oven. It is
conjectured that an assembly area was located near the sacrifice
site. This stratum was covered by the earth-and-timber
construction of a rampart built around the middle of the 9th
century (Kara 2009: 100-108).
Stone tumuli similar to the one discovered in Bonikowo
are in evidence under the ramparts of the strongholds in Kalisz,
Gniezno, and Ryczyn (Fig. 37). The stone ‘tumulus”’ in Kalisz
is dated to the 7th
to mid-9th
century; it measured 2.5 metres
in diameter and ca. 0.5metres in height. The tumulus also
contained a layer of charcoal, which may be an indication of
cremation. Other analogies are the stone structure dated to
nearly a century later, discovered at Góra Lecha in Gniezno;
the conjectured stone altar discovered in Kałdus; and the
‘tumulus-like’ embankments from the late 10th
century (after
983–984 AD) in Ryczyn in Śląsk. All these conjectural cult
sites were located in strongholds, under the inner sides of
the ramparts or in their close proximity. With the exception of
Góra Lecha, these sites are surrounded with marshy ground.
This type of environment was also characteristic of another
type of sacrificial site, known from Łagiewniki near Kościan,
A stone embankment discovered under the earthwork ramparts of the
stronghold in Kalisz.
Source: Derwich, Żurek 2002, Kurnatowska 2004, Kara 2009
A section of Góra Lecha in Gniezno showing the location of cult
structures (1 – geological layers, 2 – earthwork ramparts of the
stronghold, 3 – the infill material of a ditch, 4 – a stone structure,
5 – stone buildings from later periods)
Source: Derwich, Żurek 2002, Kurnatowska 2004, Kara 2009
One of the stone structures found near the rampart of the stronghold
in Ryczyn (photo M. Przysiężna-Pizarska). Source: Derwich, Żurek
2002, Kurnatowska 2004, Kara 2009
The structure discovered on the summit of Góra Lecha in the Gniezno
stronghold. Source: Derwich, Żurek 2002, Kurnatowska 2004, Kara
2009
Fig. 37. Stone ‘tumulus-like’ structures associated with pre-Christian cult discovered in close proximity to stronghold ramparts
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 157 23.02.2017 11:26
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
158
Stożne, and the hummock by the Łęczyca stronghold. A similar
paludal/aquatic cult site may have functioned in Kąsinowo in
the Szamotuły district, where three shards of human skulls
dating most probably from the 7th
century were found (Kara
2009: 207).
Thus, various stone structures in the shape of either
the above-mentioned ‘tumulus-like’ embankments or cobblestones
are distinctive to pre-Christian cult sites in the Interior.
Cobblestones have been discovered e.g., on the islands on
Zarańskie Lake in Pomorze, researched by Wojciech Chudziak
and his team (Chudziak, Kaźmierczak, Niegowski 2011;
Chudziak, Kaźmierczak 2014). Numerous island strongholds
accessed by wooden bridges were discovered in Lubusz
Land, in the western part of the Interior. Scholars assume that
pre-Christian cult sites were located in these places. A complex
of sites in the Niesłysz Lake area in Lubusz Land is an
example (Fig. 38). The excavations uncovered a stronghold
dated to the 9th
–10th
centuries located on an island connected
to the shore by a wooden bridge constructed in the 780s
and rebuilt in the 840s and 890s. Cremation graves were
discovered on the shore. Low earthen ramparts with a stone
facing and scant traces of the utilization of the courtyard in
the shape of hearths were discovered inside the stronghold.
A second site of a similar character was excavated in Nowy
Dworek on Paklicko Wielkie Lake. There, the entire island was
filled in with box structures; the wooden bridge which led to
it was built in the 940s.
While locating ancient cult sites presents considerable
difficulties, archaeologists usually do not find the identification
of burial sites to be a significant problem. The question arises
whether researching cemeteries contributes any insights to the
discussion on the pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavic population
in the Interior, and if so, how large this contribution might be.
The burial rite practiced by the residents of the Interior
in the period from the 6th
to the 10th
century was considerably
diversified both chronologically and spatially. Since the
body of the deceased was usually cremated, this diversity
referred mostly to the type of burial and the shape of the
grave. Ashes were placed in an urn which was then buried
in the ground (the urn pit graves) or they were transferred
directly into the pit (the urn-less pit graves). The grave was
not marked on the surface (flat graves) or it was covered
with an earthen embankment (tumulus graves). Sometimes
the remains of the deceased were scattered in the fields or
thrown in a river, as a result of which the traces of burials are
virtually undiscoverable. The urns containing such remains
were sometimes positioned on specially erected posts or at
the top of the tumulus embankments, which makes this type
of burials very difficult to identify. The timeframe for the use
of such practices is, unfortunately, unknown.
Helena Zoll-Adamikowa (1979) designed a complete
classification of Slavic burial rites, distinguishing a number of
developmental phases and zones which encompassed the
Interior area (Fig. 39). Phase I is the period until the middle or
the end of the 7th
century; Phase IIa – until the middle of the
9th
century; and Phase IIb – until the middle of the 10th
century.
According to Zoll-Adamikowa, skeletal graves appear in the
territory of Poland after the middle of the 10th
century at the
earliest. In reference to the western Slavs and Phase I, she
distinguished Zone A (the ‘burial-less zone’, already mentioned
Fig. 38. The early-mediaeval settlement complex by the Niesłysz Lake
in Lubuskie Voivodeship
1 – stronghold, 2 – open settlement, 3 – bridge, 4 – the range of
wooden structures beneath the water.
Source: Chudziak, Kaźmierczak, Niegowski 2011
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 158 23.02.2017 11:26
5. THE SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 159
here), where the dominant burial rite was impossible to detect
with excavation methods. To the south, in Zone B, flat graves
– urn (B1) and pit (B2) ones – were prevalent. In the eastern
and southern parts of the Interior, she distinguished Zone C,
with the prevalence of tumulus graves. The custom of burying
the ashes of the dead in urns gradually disappeared during
Phase II, and the Interior was divided between Zones A and
C. An additional Zone D, typified by graves whose form and
furnishings are associated with a Scandinavian population,
was discerned in the area around the mouth of the Odra.
The most important alteration to the above picture to
have been introduced in recent years is the identification
of a singular type of burial known as the Alt Käbelich-type
grave. The presence of these graves is currently dated to
the period of 8th
–12th
centuries. They are found on almost the
entire territory of the Interior and in the areas settled by the
Elbe Slavs, which is where they were identified for the first
time. Alt Käbelich-type graves are pits of varying shapes; their
form and size make them resemble relics of sunken residential
structures. The infill material contained remains of fires,
with pieces of charcoal and shards of charred human bones
(sometimes also animal bones). Skeleton burials, in most of
the researched cases those of children, appeared sporadically
alongside charred bones. They were often accompanied by
stones and numerous shards of pottery. According to their
discoverer, V. Schmidt (1984), they were “houses of the dead”,
and the pottery constitutes a relic of feasts which accompanied
Fig. 39. The range of different burial customs
A – burial forms ‘undetectable’ with archaeological means (including
Alt-Käbelich-type graves appearing from the 8th
century onwards) , B –
flat graves (urn and pit graves), C – tumulus graves, G – burial customs
related to the Scandinavian cultural circle, A/B; B/C – mixed forms.
Source: H. Zoll-Adamikowa, modified by the Author.
A – burial forms ‘undetectable’ with archaeological means (including
Alt-Käbelich-type graves appearing from the 8th
century onwards) , B –
flat graves (urn and pit graves), C – tumulus graves, G – burial customs
related to the Scandinavian cultural circle, A/B; B/C – mixed forms.
Source: H. Zoll-Adamikowa, modified by the Author.
Fig. 40. Wierzchosławice, Małopolska Voivodeship, site no. 17. A plan
of a necropolis of flat cremation burials of the Alt-Käbelich type
1-3 – pits containing human bones, 2 – a ditch likely to have also been
used in early-mediaeval times, 3 – the territorial extent of the surveyed
area. Source: Poleski 2013
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 159 23.02.2017 11:26
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
160
the burial ceremony. Initially, the emergence of this type of
burial was ascribed to Scandinavian influence. According to
W. Łosiński, the custom was typical only of the Baltic Slavs.
However, the increasingly more numerous discoveries in
the southern part of the Interior permit us to associate this
burial with the entire north-western part of the Slavic world.
For instance, a large cemetery of the Alt Käbelich type was
discovered in Wierzchosławice in Małopolska, and similar
finds in Wielkopolska and central Poland are increasingly
frequent (Fig. 40).
In the 7th
and 8th
centuries, a tumulus-type grave, which
occasionally has the character of a communal grave, appears
in the southern and eastern part of the Interior (Fig. 41). A few
hundred of such tumuli have been excavated; unfortunately,
relevant research results have rarely been published. The
diameter of these tumuli varied from a few to less than twenty
meters, and their preserved height rarely exceeded 2 metres.
Many tumuli were accompanied by ditches and pits from which
earth for the construction of the embankment had been dug.
Traces of fires were discovered in some of those pits. The
urns were most often deposited on top of the tumulus, as
confirmed by the fact that charred human bones and shards of
vessels are discovered only in the surface layer of the tumuli.
Much more rarely, the urns were deposited in pits under the
embankment. With the exception of single elements of attire,
Slavic tumuli were rarely furnished with grave goods.
Many scholars perceived the change in the treatment
of the deceased (from cremation to the inhumation of an unburned
cadaver) as the sign of Christianization most clearly
perceptible from the archaeological point of view. In the area
of the Interior, this change was supposed to have occurred in
the second half of the 10th
century, after Mieszko I was baptized.
Recently, however, it has been pointed out that this is
a debatable assumption. Arguments to the contrary include
the absence of a significant number of skeleton graves dating
from this period (the majority of cemeteries of this type
is dated to as late as after the middle of the 11th
century) and
the fact that the custom of incinerating the bodies of the dead
continued; in the eastern part of the Interior it is attested to
even until the 12th
and 13th
centuries (see: chapter 7).
The discoveries made in Ryczyn in Śląsk perfectly illustrate
the persistence of the cremation burial rite in the by then
Christian Piast state (Moździoch, Pizarska 2008). A stronghold
was established here in the years 983–984; its area was
partially used as a space in which to perform ritual practices
associated with the cult of the dead. The bodies were probably
cremated in the northern part of the stronghold, by the rampart.
Most of the incinerated bones must have been deposited
somewhere outside the stronghold; only the smallest bones
remained on the site. Complex ‘structures’ raised from animal
bones, horse and dog skull burials, as well as the already
mentioned stone ‘tumulus-like’ embankments were found
close to where the cremation fires had been built (Fig. 42).
Fig. 41. Examples of tumuli from the tribal period
An early-mediaeval tumulus in Chodlik during excavations
(photo Ł. Miechowicz)
Plans and sections of a tumulus from the necropolis in Kornatka
(Małopolska Voivodeship) with an above-ground cremation burial
Source: Poleski 2013
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 160 23.02.2017 11:26
5. THE SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPE
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 161
The dating of the first skeleton-burial cemeteries is
difficult, because the graves excavated so far rarely contained
relics that constitute dating markers. The picture is further
obscured by a rule which archaeologists (and historians)
consider axiomatic, i.e., that skeletal-burial cemeteries must
be dated to after the Piast ruler’s baptism, the fact of which
is known from written sources. However, the cemeteries
discovered adjacent to Piast strongholds are dated to the
second half of the 11th
century at the earliest, and at some of
the strongholds burial grounds have so far proved impossible
to discover. The question arises as to where and in what
manner the residents of Piast stronghold centres had been
buried before that date. Is it possible that they were still buried
in a manner not leaving traces detectable via archaeological
methods? In theory, from the moment of the emergence of
the Piast state its elites should have kept to the norms and
customs resulting from the adoption of the new faith. But the
absence of cemeteries in and near the strongholds may be
explained by the discoveries made in Ryczyn. In addition, small
shards of charred bones, scattered in considerable numbers
in the farmed soil stratum, have been discovered near the
Piast stronghold in Bytom Odrzański; they may constitute the
remains of a layered cemetery. The so-called cult site in Giecz
(Site 4), where a Christian cemetery was established after the
middle of the 11th
century, may have served a similar purpose.
The simultaneous occurrence of cremation burials,
skeleton burials, and burials with urns deposited on the tumuli
has posed considerable interpretative problems due to the
unfeasibility of precise dating. Their coexistence has been
explained either by periods of pagan counter-reaction or as
a mark of tolerance typical of missionary work. Most probably
not only the residents of the Interior had difficulties in
accepting the Christian faith and the new funerary rite that
came with it.
Traces of practices associated with depositing the
hoards in the ground are an important element of the ‘symbolic
landscape’ of the Interior. Deposits of iron objects (often
farming tools) are typical of the southern and south-eastern
areas, whereas coins and silver ornaments prevail in the
north-east. A vast amount of specialist literature has been
devoted to this phenomenon and its interpretation is still
a matter of debate (see: chapter 6), but it seems to be more
strongly linked with the period when the elites of the early
Piast state were developing. The findings of weapons and
tools intentionally deposited in the water are very interesting
and often unjustly neglected. In addition to the lake islands
and peninsulas investigated by Wojciech Chudziak, the most
spectacular examples are the mass finds of weapons discovered
under the Gniezno Bridge, which used to lead to
the early-Piast residence on Ostrów Lednicki and went out
of use in the first half of the 11th
century – thus, the finds in
question date from a later period than those discovered by
Wojciech Chudziak. Many scholars link this accumulation of
weapons with battles fought on the bridge, but if this justifiFig.
42. ‘Structures’ of animal bones found near stronghold ramparts
Clusters of animal bones near the stronghold rampart in Ryczyn (Lower
Śląsk), photo M. Przysiężna-Pizarska
Animal mandibles discovered in the destroyed rampart layer in Spławie
(Wielkopolska; source: Kobusiewicz 2008)
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 161 23.02.2017 11:26
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
162
cation were true, the fact of finding no less than 60 axes sunk
in the water, and only four spearheads, would be very hard
to explain, a spear being much easier to lose in fighting than
an axe (see: chapter 7).
Another explanation, one equally difficult to accept,
for the accumulations of weapons found in the water bodies
nearby settlements is the existence of a custom of depositing
various objects in the water together with the ashes of the
deceased. This would also explain the phenomenon of the
‘burial-less zone’. Numerous finds of weapons and various
items of everyday use are still being made in the vicinity of
bridges and wharves of islands on which there were settlements
in the early Middle Ages. It is, however, difficult to
ascertain which of those finds may be linked with religous
beliefs and the funerary rites, and which are simply accidental.
The issue is all the more difficult to settle considering
that the custom of depositing various objects in the water is
a universal phenomenon in terms of chronology as much as
in terms of culture.
In bringing to a close these naturally general observations,
it is worth emphasizing that the influence of paganism
in the area of the Interior was stronger and lasted longer than
previously thought, but most probably mainly in the domain
of the so-called lower religion.
In conclusion, it is worth recalling the fundamental
problems pertaining to the archaeology of the earlier phase of
the early Middle Ages in the Interior. The ethnogenesis of the
Slavs and the definition of the model of Slavic culture remain
a matter of debate. Dating methods are still the main trouble
of early-medieval archaeology, even though in the course of
the last five decades the development of dendrochronology
has opened new possibilities in this respect. The model of
economic activity before the emergence of the state is an
issue that requires in-depth analysis. Another problem is the
interpretation of the forms of social organization, which in the
majority of the regions in the Interior stopped at the level of
small territorial communities, sometimes with the stronghold
as the seat of the local ruler and his retinue. The structure and
arrangement of settlements are still insufficiently researched;
not much is known about the chronology, socio-topography,
and especially the function of the strongholds.
Not questioning the predomination of agriculture in the
Slavic economy of the ‘tribal period’, it is nevertheless worth
emphasizing that the assumption that, in the earlier phase of
the early Middle Ages, farming predominated over animal husbandry,
although frequently encountered in specialist literature,
is nevertheless poorly documented by archaeological sources.
In addition, the poverty of material culture and, in comparison
with the area occupied by the Slavs, the limited number of
traces of settlement suggest the instability of socio-economic
life. Assuming an allochthonous model of ethnogenesis, this
instability would be understandable with respect to the first
6. Conclusion
Who speaks of victory? To endure is all.
(Rainer Maria Rilke)
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 162 23.02.2017 11:26
6. CONCLUSION
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 163
or the first two centuries of the Slavs’ conjectured migration.
However, on the basis of the available research results, I am
inclined to believe that this instability continued for a longer
time, perhaps even until the 9th
century. The material culture of
the Interior communities remains modest until the emergence
of the Piast state. Also the contemporary burial rite, which in
the specialist literature is described as ‘burial-less’ or barely
detectable by archaeological methods, is certainly connected
with the temporary character of settlements resulting from
the mobility of the population.
All the features of Slavic culture in the Interior area: (1)
the unstable settlement; (2) animal husbandry preponderant
over farming; (3) the poor material culture; (4) the indiscernible
burial rite; (5) the absence of traces of religion with developed
paludal/aquatic cults instead are, in my opinion, the results of
the continuous threat posed by the belligerent neighbouring
communities which constantly penetrated the Interior. In my
estimation, the construction of many strongholds founded in
the 8th
to 10th
centuries is sufficiently explained by the atmosphere
of constant menace caused by the invaders, whose
main goal in coming was to capture Slavic slaves, and the fact
that the Interior communities were being constantly robbed
of young and active individuals. Some of the strongholds
served as forts – assembly places for slave trains or cattle
herds to be transported to the Baltic, Moravian, as well as
western-European markets (cf. the Rafelstetten tariff).
Thus, in my view, the key to answering many questions
regarding the socio-economic changes which occurred in the
Interior from the 6th
to the 10th
centuries lies in, among other
factors, the slave trade; this assumption is, however, difficult
to prove on the basis of archaeological sources. The Interior
was penetrated mainly by Frankish merchants, secondly by
Great Moravian ones; ultimately, the slave trade came to be
dominated by the Normans. Sporadic Czech raids may have
occurred; however, considering the testimony of the written
and archaeological sources – and contrary to the paradigm
obligatorily propounded in specialist literature – I am of the
opinion that the Přemyslid activity was limited only to the
areas south of the Carpathians and the Sudetes.
In the course of the past century, Slavic archaeology
has greatly contributed to our knowledge of the culture of
the Interior societies. Unfortunately, however, the historical
narrative feeds on everything that diverges from the norm;
in this, it somewhat resembles the tabloids of today. For this
reason, paradoxically, archaeologists tend to describe Slavic
culture through the analysis of a variety of imports – even
in monographs professing to focus on the Slavs. In archaeological
studies, the ‘local’ culture of the early Middle Ages
is still presented solely as an ‘import’ culture. But the Interior
societies, often helpless in the face of warrior societies which
specialized in aggression, assimilated the invaders’ elites and
thus, in the end, emerged victorious from the confrontation.
The demographic potential of the Slavic societies resident
in the Interior, as well as their adaptive capabilities and
their readiness to accept innovations and foreign leadership,
contributed to their survival. Besides the shared language
and tradition, an important role in the further integration of
those societies was undoubtedly played by that most crucial
of ‘imports’: Christianity.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 163 23.02.2017 11:26
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
164
Appelgren K., Broberg A. 1996. Gravar och ugnar vid Gavleån.
Riksantikvarieämbetet, Stockholm.
Bojarski J. 2012. Wczesnośredniowieczny mikroregion
osadniczy w Napolu na ziemi chełmińskiej.
Wytwórczość garncarska jako źródło poznania
lokalnych procesów osadniczych. Wydawnictwo
Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń.
Boroń P. 2001. Słowiańskie plemię. O pojęciu i jego
rozumieniu w polskiej historiografii. In: M. Goliński,
S. Rosik (eds), Viae historicae. Księga jubileuszowa
dedykowana profesorowi Lechowi A. Tyszkiewiczowi
w siedemdziesiąta rocznicę urodzin: 189-207.
Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Wrocław.
Brather S. 2001. Archäologie der westlichen Slawen.
Siedlung, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im früh- und
hochmittelaterlichen Ostmitteleuropa. Walter de
Gruyter, Berlin-New York.
Brose F., Heußner K.-U. 2002. Zur Klimaentwicklung. In:
E. Gringmuth-Dallmer, L. Leciejewicz (eds), Forschung
zu Mensch und Umwelt im Odergebiet in ur- und
frühgeschichtlicher Zeit: 27-32. von Zabern, Mainz am
Rhein [=Römisch-Germanische Forschungen 60].
Brzostowicz M. 2002. Bruszczewski zespół osadniczy we
wczesnym średniowieczu. Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego
Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań.
Buko A. 2000. Małopolska „czeska” i Małopolska „polańska”.
In: H. Samsonowicz (ed.), Ziemie polskie w X wieku i ich
znaczenie w kształtowaniu się nowej mapy Europy:
199-220. Universitas, Kraków.
Buko A. 2008. The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland.
Discoveries – Hypotheses – Interpretations. Brill,
Leiden.
Chrzan K. 2014. Uwagi do studiów nad osadnictwem
wschodniego dorzecza Baryczy od 2 poł. IX do poł. XI
w. In: K. Chrzan, K. Czapla, S. Moździoch (eds), Funkcje
grodów w państwach wczesnośredniowiecznych
Europy Środkowej. Społeczeństwo, gospodarka,
ideologia: 191-225. Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii
Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Wrocław.
Chudziak W. 1988. W kwestii budownictwa Słowian na Niżu
Polskim w VI-VII wieku. Archeologia Polski 33(1): 193-
203.
Chudziak W. 1996. Zasiedlenie strefy chełmińsko–
dobrzyńskiej we wczesnym średniowieczu (VII–XI wiek).
Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń.
Chudziak W., Kaźmierczak R., Niegowski J. 2011. Podwodne
dziedzictwo archeologiczne Polski. Katalog stanowisk
(badania 2006-2009). Wydawnictwo Naukowe
Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń 2011.
Chudziak W., Kaźmierczak R. (eds) 2014. The island in Żółte
on lake Zarańskie. Early medieval gateway into West
Pomerania. Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń.
Cieślik J. 2010. Uwagi o stanie badań nad miejscami kultu
pogańskiego Słowian na ziemiach polskich. In:
K. Bracha, C. Hadamik (eds), Sacrum pogańskie –
Sacrum chrześcijańskie. Kontynuacja miejsc kultu we
wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Środkowej: 27-80.
DiG, Warszawa.
Czapla K. 2014. Zaplecze osadnicze i gospodarcze
grodu głogowskiego. In: K. Chrzan, K. Czapla,
S. Moździoch (eds), Funkcje grodów w państwach
wczesnośredniowiecznych Europy Środkowej.
Społeczeństwo, gospodarka, ideologia: 15-25. Instytut
Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk,
Wrocław.
Derwich M., Żurek A. 2002. Polska. Dzieje cywilizacji i narodu.
U źródeł Polski: do roku 1038. Grupa Wydawnicza
Bertelsmann Media, Warszawa.
Donat P. 1980. Haus, Hof und Dorf in Mitteleuropa vom
7. bis 12 Jahrhundert. Archäologische Beiträge zur
Bibliography
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 164 23.02.2017 11:26
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 165
Entwicklung und Struktur der bäuerlichen Siedlung.
Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.
Dulinicz M. 2001. Kształtowanie się Słowiańszczyzny
Północno-Zachodniej. Studium archeologiczne. Instytut
Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Kraków.
Dzieńkowski T. 2010. Wczesnośredniowieczne osadnictwo
ziemi chełmskiej. Typescript in the archives of the
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish
Academy of Sciences, Warszawa.
Gliński W. Wiślica plemienna czy wczesnopaństwowa? In:
T. Janiak (ed.) Civitates principales. Wybrane ośrodki
władzy w Polsce wczesnośredniowiecznej. Katalog
wystawy: 77-81. Muzeum Początków Państwa Polskiego,
Gniezno.
Godłowski K. 1979. Z badań nad zagadnieniem
rozprzestrzenienia się Słowian w V-VII w. n.e.
Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza im. St. Staszica, Kraków.
Goldhahn, J., Oestigaard, T. 2008. Smith and death –
cremations in furnaces in Bronze and Iron Age
Scandinavia. In: K. Childis, J. Lund, C. Prescott
(eds), Facets of Archaeology. Essays in Honour of
Lotte Hedeager on her 60th
Birthday: 215-242. Oslo
Academic Press, Oslo.
Grygiel R., Stasiak W., Trojan M. 2014. Gród łęczycki
w świetle badań archeologicznych. In: R. Grygiel (ed.),
Archeologia o początkach Łęczycy. Tom II: 11-587.
Muzeum Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne w Łodzi, Łódź.
Herrmann J. 1966. Tornow und Vorberg. Ein Beitrag zur
Frühgeschichte der Lausitz. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.
Herrmann J. 1972. Die Slawen in Deutschland. AkademieVerlag,
Berlin.
Iwaszczuk U. 2015. Zwierzęta w gospodarce
wczesnośredniowiecznych grodów i osad na ziemiach
Polski. Typescript in the archives of the Institute of
Archaology, Warsaw University, Warszawa.
Jankowiak M. 2012. Dirhams for slaves. Investigating the
Slavic slave trade in the tenth century. https://oxford.
academia.edu/MarekJankowiak (access: 2016.04.10).
Jurek T. 2014. Pierwsze wieki historii Łęczycy. In: R. Grygiel,
T. Jurek (eds), Początki Łęczycy. Tom III: 7-196. Muzeum
Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne w Łodzi, Łódź.
Kalaga J. 2006. Ciałopalny obrządek pogrzebowy
w międzyrzeczu Liwca, Bugu i Krzny we wczesnym
średniowieczu. Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu
Warszawskiego, Warszawa.
Kara M. 2009. Najstarsze państwo Piastów – rezultat
przełomu czy kontynuacji? Studium archeologiczne.
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk,
Poznań.
Kendelewicz T., Nowaczyk K., Waniek W. 2006. Sprawozdanie
z badań wykopaliskowych przeprowadzonych na
stanowiskach 4, 7, 8, 9 w Nowej Wsi Wrocławskiej, gm.
Kąty Wrocławskie, woj. dolnośląskie, w 2005 roku.
Raport 2005-2006: 287-314.
Kobyliński Z. 1988. Struktury osadnicze na ziemiach polskich
u schyłku starożytności i w początkach wczesnego
średniowiecza. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich,
Wrocław.
Kobusiewicz M. (ed.). 2008. Pradzieje Wielkopolski. Od epoki
kamienia do średniowiecza. Instytut Archeologii
i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Poznań.
Kukliński A. 2000. Badania wczesnośredniowiecznego
walu obronnego w rejonie IX na Wawelu w Krakowie.
In: A. Buko, Z. Świechowski (eds), Osadnictwo
i architektura ziem polskich w dobie Zjazdu
Gnieźnieńskiego: 293-304. Instytut Archeologii
i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warszawa.
Kurnatowska Z. 2000. Wielkopolska w X wieku i formowanie
się państwa polskiego. In: H. Samsonowicz (ed.) Ziemie
polskie w X wieku i ich znaczenie w kształtowaniu się
nowej mapy Europy: 99-118. Universitas, Kraków.
Kurnatowska Z. 2004. The stronghold in Gniezno in the light of
older and recent studies. In: P. Urbańczyk (ed.), Polish
Lands at the Turn of the First and Second Millennia:
185-206. Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej
Akademii Nauk, Warszawa.
Labuda G. 1988. Studia nad początkami państwa polskiego.
Tom 2. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im.
Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań.
Langenheim K. 1939. Der frühslawische Burgwall von Gustau,
Kr. Glogau. Altschlesien 8: 104-127.
Leciejewicz L. 1976. Słowiańszczyzna zachodnia. Zakład
Narodowy im. Ossolińskich Wrocław [=Kultura Europy
Wczesnośredniowiecznej 2].
Leciejewicz L. 1989. Słowianie zachodni. Z dziejów tworzenia
się średniowiecznej Europy. Zakład Narodowy im.
Ossolińskich, Wrocław.
Lodowski J. 1980. Dolny Śląsk na początku średniowiecza
(VI–X w.). Podstawy osadnicze i gospodarcze. Zakład
Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław.
Łosiński W. 2000. Osadnictwo plemienne w dorzeczu Parsęty
we wczesnym średniowieczu. In: L. Leciejewicz,
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 165 23.02.2017 11:26
CHAPTER 3 FROM A TRIBE TO A STATE
166
M. Rębkowski (eds), Salsa Cholbergiensis. Kołobrzeg
w średniowieczu: 13-22. Le Petit Café, Kołobrzeg.
Łuczak A., Gruszka B. 2014. Osada w Zawadzie, stan. 1,
gm. Zielona Góra na tle sytuacji osadniczej w IXXI
wieku w świetle analiz GIS. In: B. Gruszka (ed.),
Wczesnośredniowieczna osada w Zawadzie, stan. 1,
gm. Zielona Góra. Studia interdyscyplinarne: 13-35.
Wydawnictwo Fundacji Archeologicznej, Zielona Góra.
Makowiecki D., Makowiecka M. 2012. Wyniki badań
zwierzęcych szczątków kostnych z miejscowości
Nowiniec, stan. 2, gm. Lubsko, woj. Lubuskie.
In: B. Gruszka (ed.), Nowiniec, stan. 2.
Wczesnośredniowieczny gród na pograniczu śląskołużyckim
w świetle badań interdyscyplinarnych: 177-
203. Wydawnictwo Fundacji Archeologicznej, Zielona
Góra.
Makowiecki D., Makowiecka M., Wiejacka M., Wiejacki
J. 2014. Zbiory faunistyczne z osady w miejscowości
Zawada, stan. 1 a gospodarka zwierzętami i środowisko
przyrodnicze na pograniczu Dolnego Śląska,
Wielkopolski i Łużyc w IX-XIII wieku. In: B. Gruszka (ed.),
Wczesnośredniowieczna osada w Zawadzie, stan. 1,
gm. Zielona Góra. Studia interdyscyplinarne: 197-230.
Wydawnictwo Fundacji Archeologicznej, Zielona Góra.
MGH… 1883. Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Legum sectio
II. Capitularia regum Francorum I, A. Boretius (ed.).
Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, Hannover.
Milecka K. 2014. Tło środowiskowe osadnictwa w rejonie
stanowiska 1 w Zawadzie na podstawie wyników
analizy palinologicznej. In: B. Gruszka (ed.),
Wczesnośredniowieczna osada w Zawadzie, stan. 1,
gm. Zielona Góra. Studia interdyscyplinarne: 37-47.
Wydawnictwo Fundacji Archeologicznej, Zielona Góra.
Moździoch S. 2000. Archeologiczne ślady kultu pogańskiego
na Śląsku wczesnośredniowiecznym. In: S. Moździoch
(ed.), Człowiek, sacrum, środowisko. Miejsca kultu we
wczesnym średniowieczu: 155-193. Instytut Archeologii
i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Wrocław
[=Spotkania Bytomskie 4].
Moździoch S. 2011. Czy monarchia pierwszych Piastów była
państwem chrześcijańskim? Uwagi archeologa. In:
T. Grabarczyk, T. Nowak (eds), Dynamika przemian
społecznych i religijnych w średniowieczu: 123-154. DiG,
Warszawa.
Moździoch S., Przysiężna-Pizarska M. Gród Recen – refugium
episcopi. In: Kolenda J. (ed.), Milicz. Clavis Regni
Poloniae. Gród na pograniczu: 207-225. Instytut
Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk,
Wrocław.
Nalepa Jerzy. 1968. Słowiańszczyzna północno-zachodnia.
Podstawy jedności i jej rozpadu. Państwowe
Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań.
Noryśkiewicz A. 2013. Historia roślinności i osadnictwa
Ziemi Chełmińskiej w późnym holocenie. Studium
palinologiczne. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu
Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń.
Okoński J. 2008. Badania na stanowisku 3 w Żyrakowie, gm.
loco, pow. dębicki, woj. podkarpackie, w latach 2007-
2008. Raport 2007-2008: 343-365.
Parczewski M. 1988. Początki kultury wczesnosłowiańskiej
w Polsce. Krytyka i datowanie źródeł archeologicznych.
Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław.
Parczewski M. 2003. Problem Lędzian a kształtowanie się
polsko-ruskiej rubieży etnicznej. In: W. Chudziak
(ed.), Civitas Schinesghe cum pertinentiis: 151-165.
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń.
Poleski J. 2004. Wczesnośredniowieczne grody w dorzeczu
Dunajca. Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu
Jagiellońskiego, Księgarnia Akademicka, Kraków.
Poleski J. 2013. Małopolska w VI-X wieku. Studium
archeologiczne. Towarzystwo Wydawnicze „Historia
Iagellonica”, Kraków.
Poleski J., Krąpiec M. 1999. Das frühmittelalterliche
Kleinpolen im Lichte neuer dendrochronologischer
Datierungen. In: L. Poláček, J. Dvorská (eds:), Probleme
der mitteleuropäischen Dendrochronologie und
naturwissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Talaue der March:
85-95. Archeologický ústav Akademie věd České
Republiky, Brno.
Rzeźnik P. 1997. Wznowienie badań wykopaliskowych na
wczesnośredniowiecznym grodzisku w Gostyniu, gm.
Gaworzyce. Śląskie Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 39:
263-286.
Schmidt V. 1984. Untersuchungen auf dem slawischen
birituellen Gräberfeld von Alt Käbelich, Kreis Strasburg.
Bodendenkmalpflege in Mecklenburg 32: 337-346.
Schuldt E. 1956. Die slawische Keramik in Mecklenburg.
Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.
Szmoniewski B. Sz., Tyniec-Kępińska A. 2006. Obrzędowość
pogrzebowa w Małopolsce wczesnośredniowiecznej
(VII/VIII - poł. X w.) w świetle nowych badań. Materiały
Archeologiczne 36: 27-31.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 166 23.02.2017 11:26
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE PAST SOCIETIES 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD 167
Szymański W. 2000. Trudne problemy w poznawaniu starszych
faz wczesnego średniowiecza na ziemiach polskich.
In: M. Kobusiewicz, S. Kurnatowski (eds), Archeologia
i prahistoria polska w ostatnim półwieczu: 353-379.
Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań.
Trojan M. 2014. Grodzisko w Czerchowie na tle lokalnej sytuacji
osadniczo-kulturowej we wczesnym. In: R. Grygiel (ed.),
Archeologia o początkach Łęczycy. Tom II: 653-677.
Muzeum Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne w Łodzi.
Tyniec A. 2013. Die frühmittelalterliche Siedlung in Brzezie,
Gemeinde Kłaj. In: M. Dulinicz, S. Moździoch (eds), The
Early Slavic Settlement in Central Europe in the light of
dating evidence: 133-138. Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii
Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Wrocław.
Tyniec A. 2015. Rola rzeki w funkcjonowaniu i przetrwaniu
elementów wczesnośredniowiecznej osady w Brzeziu
koło Niepołomic. In: K. Chrzan, S. Moździoch (eds),
O rzece i wodzie w życiu codziennym człowieka
średniowiecza: 127-140. Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii
Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Wrocław [=Spotkania
Bytomskie 8].
Urbańczyk P. 2008. Trudne początki Polski. Wydawnictwo
Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wrocław
Wyrozumski J. 1999. Dzieje Polski piastowskiej (VIII wiek –
1370). Fogra, Kraków [=Wielka historia Polski 2].
Zajączkowski Stanisław. 1962. Podziały plemienne Polski
w okresie powstania państwa. Geografia plemienna
ziem polskich. In: K. Tymieniecki, G. Labuda,
H. Łowmiański (eds), Początki państwa polskiego.
Księga Tysiąclecia: 73-109. Państwowe Wydawnictwo
Naukowe, Poznań.
Zoll-Adamikowa H. 1975. Wczesnośredniowieczne
cmentarzyska ciałopalne Słowian na terenie Polski.
Część I. Źródła. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich,
Wrocław.
Zoll-Adamikowa H. 1979. Wczesnośredniowieczne
cmentarzyska ciałopalne Słowian na terenie Polski.
Część II. Analiza. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich,
Wrocław.
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 167 23.02.2017 11:26
PS T5_druk cyfrowy_ksiega 1.indb 168 23.02.2017 11:26