Excavations in Narzym near Dzia³dowo began in 2003. In the Middle Ages this area belonged to the Teutonic knights state. Within three research seasons an area of 454.55 m2 was excavated (g. 1). Remains of a stronghold with a stone cylindrical tower from the 2nd half of the 14th century and of a castle built in the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries (g. 3) were discovered. For the whole time this seat belonged to private owners what is an absolute exception in the Teutonic knights state. Earlier object was heated probably by a stove of pot tiles (g. 7). Whereas, in the castle a stove (stoves?) of bowl tiles with square hole (g. 4a and 4b) functioned, and heating of hypocaustum type, what is testied by a nd of a fragment of heating hole framing (g. 6). Hypocaustic heating was relatively popular in the area of the Teutonic knights state, however the functioning of central heating system in magnate’s seat was stated for the rst time.
The article includes an analysis of a collection of tiles obtained in the course of numerous excavations and archaeological-architectonic supervisions within the old castle complex in Radom built on foundation of Casimir the Great, together with the city walls, in the years 1340-1350. The complex was extended in the end of the 14th century, and in the rst half of the 16th century modernization of the object in the Renaissance style was conducted. Repairs, among others after the burning by the Swedish army, fall to the 17th century, while in 1787 the object was subjected to radical modernization by Alexander Potkañski, the last starost of Radom. During archaeological excavations within the buildings of the old castle 1516 fragments of tiles were obtained, from among which 40 are remains of vessel tiles with round or quadrangular holes, rarely in form of four- or ve-leaved shamrock. The tiles came entirely from mixed rubble layers, therefore the chronology was established on the grounds of stylistics and technological analysis. Finds of plate tiles were divided into chronological groups covering the period from the 16th to the end of the 18th century. The rst is constituted by Renaissance specimens from the 16th century. Here, specimens decorated with a rosette motif, an image of a peacock, fragments of niche and surmounting tiles, in shape of lilies were distinguished. The second group comprises late Renaissance specimens with a motif of a whirling rosette in frame, and shelf tiles among others with ornament of sh scale. A separate subgroup of late Renaissance tiles was formed by specimens with green glaze, on which a tournament scene (g. 13), a whirling rosette, a motif of so-called convex mirror (g. 15) are represented as well as a surmounting element with an upturned inscription “INRI”, in which the letters were divided by Xs. The third period, falling to the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, included specimens with continuous ornament, composed of vegetal-geometric motifs with characteristic heart motif in the central part, and fragments of ller tiles with motifs of rosettes placed in meshes of plaitwork. Among the specimens from the first half of the 17th century fragments decorated with motifs of vegetal twigs and vegetal-geometric ornament were distinguished, whereas specimens with image of an eagle wearing a crown, sometimes placed in a medallion as well as specimens decorated with strongly stylized oral ornament, which probably came from the same stove, are dated to a period about the half of the 17th century. An attempt at reconstruction of heating installation was made, which was built of two boxes in shape of cuboid. To the last period tiles in Rococo style were ascribed, unglazed or covered with white glaze. They were decorated with oral motifs or a motif of grape-vine. The research on the castle brought a discovery of an interesting tile collection with a very rich set of ornamental motifs, characteristic of high quality of realization. The material, however, is not fully representative because from among most of heating installations only fragments of tiles preserved, which do not the full picture of the stove’s splendor.
The present text contains essential information about a collection of stove tiles obtained during archaeological excavations conducted in the area of historical town of Piotrków Trybunalski and its suburbs. It consists of four parts. In the rst the authors present the range of research works – both stationary ones and supervisions undertaken on the occasion of various earthworks – carried out in the area since 1962. The second part of the text is devoted to a concise presentation of research results in the area of the Jesuit church and monastery built on the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Whereas, the third part discusses collections of stove tiles found in Piotrków Trybunalski during older research works, and in the last, fourth part a preliminary characteristics of the collection obtained in the course of the works conducted in 2005, including nearly 13 000 tile fragments, mainly formed in matrixes was presented. However, it is very varied material, which presents technological and stylistic features commonly known and spread in tile-making in Poland, especially in the area of widely understood Great Poland province, covering proper Great Poland, Kuyavia and central Poland. In the collection tiles with Renaissance-mannerism and early Baroque stylistics prevail, however, there are also artifacts both older and younger, therefore the whole may be considered representative for the period from 15th/16th centuries to the 20th century.
In 1970—1976 the castle at Nowy Wiśnicz was subject of archaeological studies. During the work 9,061 pieces of stove tiles were recovered. The recording of this rich and varied collection was prepared in form of cards giving an analytical description of morphological and technological features. The technique required the (introduction of principles of classification and selection of registered characteristics of the material. There have been distinguished three kinds of tiles, namely: “vessel”, “niche” and flat ones and within this classification taxonomic units of a lower rank were specified on the basis of tiles’ form, place in the oven block and constructional function. Characteristic features of tiles were analysed within the framework of singled-out decoraltiamal motifs, combined on the basis of technological, technical and stylistic features in groups corresponding to a range of products made by individual pottery workshops. A description of groups made it possible to show groups of features characteristic of these workshops and to make a historic interpretation of changes in pottery. The attempt has ailisio been undertaken to use tiles as a dating element, helpful in establishing the chronology of layers in which they appeared. The presented way of recording and methods of analysis provide a proposal for further work on historic tiles.
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