I published recently an article under a similar title in 'Slavia Antiqua'. Yet it was significantly deficient, for I passed over issues connected with the production of raw material for the guilds. Here I will venture to fill this gap. Prof. Przemyslaw Urbanczyk's contribution (1995) drew my attention to this issue. In my belief, the author identified the device used in the production properly, considering it as a continuation of the Roman mixers used to stir gypsum-lime mortars, such as were still in use in Early Medieval times. The discovery of this device in Poznan is of utmost importance for the study of building in Early Medieval Poland. Its presence points to the importance that building guilds attached to spatial planning. At the same time, it facilitated the construction of great architectural complexes, which in turn served the purpose of propagating Christianity. Thus, it is quite reasonable for an installation of this kind to be found in a place, which after 996 was to become a center of the newly introduced cult. Importantly, Urbanczyk explains the system of propagating the new cult and the role of the Ostrow Tumski in Poznan in this case. His assertions confirm to some extent my earlier hypothesis and discussion of the issue. The cited contribution by Urbanczyk supports previous deliberations, demanding a more correct look at the function of the device as such. It brings order to the discussion and gives new direction to the debate over this important discovery. It permits a suitable evaluation of the extremely complex and well organized process of propagating a new cult, without needing to refer to hypotheses that, while alluring, could be distant from historical reality. In no way does it undermine the importance of the Poznan discoveries; quite the opposite in fact, it permits a conscientious evaluation.
In this presentation, I would like to draw attention to Prof. Z. Kurnatowska's excellent study (1993) of Mieszko I. I have repeatedly devoted attention to this ruler, considering him as the more prominent personality in the building of the state compared to Boleslaus the Brave. Let me cite just one opinion in confirmation: 'He was a remarkable army commander, but an excellent politician as well. A statesman who understood one of the fundamental wisdoms of politics and power: knowing when to stop, when to restrain himself and control his armed intoxication'. It is in this aspect that I judge Prof. Kurnatowska's study. The qualifying adjectives are hardly a diplomatic measure; they assess a truly excellent presentation, particularly the documentation based on her own studies. I have written of these before, in 1974. Her approach deserves to be commended for its variety as much as for its innovativeness. It is rightly enriching at times, and occasionally exceeding a literal understanding of the subject scope. One should mention her modern study of the communication network including waterways, written together with her husband, Prof. Stanislaw Kurnatowski. On the margin, I would opt for adding natural resources. They are important, for example, for the Goplo borderlands, which I prefer to call the Goplo-Venetic borderland. What I have in mind is salt. The Goplo-Venetic borderland is in itself an ethnic and cultural hybrid. It included, among others, Venetic elements intermixed with doubtful Goplo ones, some Polan ones, Celtic (possibly in Czech disguise) and Germanic ones occasionally suggested for Kruszwica. I have thus touched upon the debate over the ethnogenezology of Polish lands. It is yet another variant of the previously accepted hybridism, already formulated a number of times in cartographic form, not always recognized by other scholars in their transformed versions. Needless to say, while rightly opining in such positive light Z. Kurnatowska's study, I cannot refrain from a little nit-picking. Let me say that the author has treated the opinions of others with some disdain, considering them as misguided at the very least. Thus, I find in this important article lapses, such as the information about the ruins of a rampart uncovered in Poznan in 1938, now dated by the dendrochronological method to the middle of the 10th century, which is fortunately in accordance with my dating of 1938, based still on the old methods. Kurnatowska has overlooked the ruins of a purely wooden rampart discovered 10 m to the west of the above-cited fortifications. This other defense structure is usually forgotten, presumably overshadowed by the latter, monumental rampart. It was published in Kronika miasta Poznania (Chronicle of the Town of Poznan), a publication that is not easily available for consideration. It had not been possible to date this rampart at the time of discovery, nor had it been possible to determine its further course. I am presently of the opinion that it could have preceded Mieszko I's rampart by a mere few years. It was in the same fifth layer as the other rampart. Also, a formal analysis, the absence of any forked boughs used as anchoring elements and the inconsiderable width (4.5 m) of this fortification could point to the first half of the 10th century as a possible date of its construction.
The paper presents the results of research on one area of the Early Medieval fortified settlement called Hradisko I in Spisske Tomasovce. The trapezoid-shaped area of approx. 3 ha. is from three sides fortified by a rampart of a timber chamber construction with outer stone wall. On the fourth eastern side the ramparts were joined to a rocky hillside of a possible acropolis of the fortified settlement Hradisko. The technical parameters of the fortification were not unified; the northern mound was 3.9-4 m wide, the western one did not reach 3.2 m. Dimensions of the chambers, which were indicated by the strips of burnt subsoil and remains of woods, ranged between 1.5-2 m x 1.9-2.3 m. The analyzed samples of woods proved mostly spruce and pine. The timber base grates and a vertical timbering of inner rampart wall were found at the northern mound. Considering the rampart strategy and static, the sorest points - the north-western corner, the gate in this corner and that in the western part of the northern mound - were reinforced with a special construction. The draining system of the surface waters was revealed, too. In front of the northern rampart a ditch up to 2 m deep and 7.5-8 m wide was found. The other ditch outside the northern rampart, with its dimensions alike the former one, and destruction of a stone-earthen mound indicate existence of the another smaller fortified area (of approx. 35 x 80 m). The type of the ramparts enclosing the main area represents a principal fortification technology in Slavic mid-Danubian (Great Moravian) defense construction in the 9th-10th centuries. Almost thirty fortified settlements that were built by analogical technology have been known from the regions of Slovakia, Moravia, Austria and Czech republic, another were explored between the Elbe and the Saale rivers, in Silesia and the Little Poland. Usually they are connected with the east-Frankish influence on local defense architecture, secondarily they are considered to be the influences of the Great Moravia or later Czech state. Considering the construction static, technology and the used materials, assumed height of the western rampart together with a palisade breast is approx. 2.6-3.6 m and of the northern rampart 3.6-4.1 m. Briefly calculated amounts of the construction material needed for 520 m long unequally thick mound of the main area on the terrace are: about 270 cubic m of timber for the chambers, about 60 cubic m of timber for the palisades, 1000 cubic m stone for the screens and 2250 cubic m of earth for the chamber fillings, what is together 3600 cubic m of the construction material, i. e. almost 7 cubic m of the construction material for a standard meter. Based on its superpositions, the fortification is dated to the terminal 8th up to the middle 9th centuries.
The cemetery lies on the edge of historical core of Nitra. There were found 101 graves. Their number is not complete, part of graves was destroyed by ground works and the oldest parts of cemetery were not excavated. The structure of cemetery consists of nine groups of graves localised in three parallel lines. Manifestations of burial customs are homogenous. Only three unusual positions of upper extremities and four graves with manifestation of pre-Christian defensive practices make an exception. Typological analysis of artefacts contributed to chronological specification of burial limited by the beginning of 10th c. and turn of 10th and 11th c. Information about local community was significantly restricted by absent results of professionally evaluated anthropological material. Intensity of burying gradually descended according to demographic analysis. It is possible that the end of cemetery was connected with removal of settlement to other locality. Observation of social stratification of individuals was restricted to seven graves with excessive measurements of grave pits. Deceased with higher rank could have been laid in them. Cemetery was created by members of local Slavic population in the end of Great Moravian period. Their ethnicity was not changed when they started to use limited amount of artefacts of Hungarian origin or later when using material filling of Bijelo Brdo culture. We cannot exclude, despite this fact, that individuals of Hungarian origin could have been exceptionally included in the community. Proofs of acceptation of Christianity are absent in grave material.
The article deals with the experiment on reconstruction of upper parts of early medieval glass oven from Bratislava-Devínska Kobyla. The total number of 48 pieces of over-ground wall lining covered with a thin layer of dark green parison, some of them with pointed ends. The fragments could not be attached to the oven body.
The Early Middle Ages witnessed the emergence in Polish territory of a system of territorial communities reflecting the gradual transition from nomadic to settled existence. Settlement favored loess regions characterized by surface features favourable to defense, a river network pattern facilitating economic relations within the micro- and macro-regions, and fertile soils for agricultural cultivation. Natural narrowing of river valleys afforded easy crossings. Such was the location of the Lublin settlement complex which developed from the Early Middle Ages in the vicinity of the Naleczów Upland escarpment zone, at the outlet of the Czechówka into the Bystrzyca river. It encompassed an area that was practically uniform in terms of surficial deposits (prevailing loess) and soils (prevailing fertile Cambisols and Fluvisols), but differentiated with regard to the orography (height differences up to 40 m). Within the boundaries of the area occupied by this group, settlements gradually spread to most of the natural promontories and meander and pseudo-meander erosion remnants. The features of local river valleys and the mechanical properties of the loesses made earthworks easier to manage and aided in properly protecting access to the early Lublin settlements. The development of the Lublin complex falls in two stages. Stage I (6th through 10th-11th c.), which corresponds to a dry and warm period, saw the occupation of particular hills and adjacent territories. The territorial expansion of Lublin at this time was conditioned mainly by economic factors, including a favorable location at the border of two production zones - agricultural on the Lublin Upland and forest in Masovia and, primarily, on the long-distance trade routes between East and West, facilitating barter and monetary exchange and thus conditioning the development of trade. The local river network was conducive to a development of economic relations in the Lublin Upland and adjacent regions. In the late 9th and throughout the 10th c. settlement activity within the Lublin complex generally subsided. It flourished again in areas north of the Czechówka at the turn of the 10th and 11th c. Stage II (11th through 13th-14th c.), which corresponds to a warm and wet climate period, resulted in the emergence of an early urban center in the Lublin area. The political situation was the other factor which determined Lublin's spatial development. The complex played an important role not only in military terms but also as a state and church administrative center (seat of the royal castellan and the archdeacon). The Lublin settlement complex occupied an area of about 7 square km, if one includes the land around the settlements which was made use of by the local inhabitants. Lublin's growing importance favored rapid economic development which stimulated in turn Lublin's spatial and functional development. The area managed under habitation, production, services, communication and defenses grew from 13.6 ha in the 8th-9th c. to 20.3 ha in the 12th-13th c. Figs 6.
The article deals with the early medieval Strongholds in Mecklenburg and Pomerania called Feldberg type: Large fortifications with ramparts constructed mainly from wood and earth, often built on mountains, dated by finds and dendrochronological dates to the second half of 8th and the 9th century. On the basis of old and new research their fortification and building constructions, their development, their chronology, their political and social function and traditions are discussed. The Feldberg strongholds were tribal elite residences, instruments and symbols of power, but also constantly settled places, important elements of the settlement landscape and refuge places in dangerous times.
The contribution presented at the round table informs about a glassy sow find that was revealed during the surface prospection in the position of Horna (Hurna) in Kurima, distr. of Bardejov. The sow is presupposed to be a metallurgical by-product.
The author presents the results from his study of a part of necropolis in Cierny Brod dated to the Avar Khaganate period and the settlement features dated to the early-medieval period. The part of Avar-Khaganate necropolis is represented by 19 burials. Among them the equestrian grave 63 with a partial burial of the horse is exceptional. This is the second known case of such way of burying from the late phase of the Avar Khaganate on the territory of Slovakia, as till now the graves with partial burial of the horses were unambiguously dated to the early phase of the Khaganate. Their finds are the most frequent in the river Tisa basin. At the other regions of the Carpathian basin they are more or less rare. Important is also a collection of the finds from the grave (88), in which a cast bronze belt garniture was revealed. Among them a main belt strap-end is remarkable. Its front side is decorated with composition called 'fighting animals' or so-called 'three-piece ornament'. Exceptional presentation of this relatively frequent motif enables us to classify the strap-end to the 'Nyekladhaza type'. Its back side is decorated with a rather rare feather ornament. The set of the belt mounts included also the quadratic mounts with the pendants decorated with a griffon. The other graves had relatively poor equipment (simple ear-rings, beads, iron knives, sickles, etc.). Two wooden buckets, from which their iron platings were preserved, and a set of five pottery pieces represent the vessels. These were found in the children graves. They are mostly the winded exemplars. The part of the necropolis under study, on which probably relatively poor community buried their deceased members, can be dated to the first half of the 8th century. The early-medieval period is represented also by the settlement objects (one dwelling with two adjacent depressions and two pits). Considering absence of metal artefacts that could make their dating more precise, in their chronology we have to rely on dating of numerous pottery fragments. These allow us to classify the settlement objects only the general features to the end of the 9th and the 10th centuries.
The paper discusses the results of the analyses of 85 sickles revealed in the early medieval graves of the inhumation burial places on the territory of present-day Slovakia. Sickles had been buried into graves from the 7th up to the 10th centuries and later on they appeared at the cemeteries again in the 16th-18th centuries. We meet with this phenomenon even in the 19th and 20th centuries, what is testified by a numerous ethnographic material. The reasons for putting these agricultural implements into graves in the period under study, absence of this phenomenon during the 11th-15th centuries and consequently the question of possible change of function of a buried sickle within the 10th century and then in the modern era have not been sufficiently clarified yet. Based on the recent studies, views on the function of a sickle in a grave can be divided into three groups. The first group interprets a sickle as a working implement or a symbol of farming. The sickle has to express a relation to soil, a certain connection with the agricultural production, or it serves on evidence of the local population activities and an attribute of the deceased's occupation. The second group of scholars consider a sickle in a grave to be a symbol of warfare or a weapon of the buried man. The other researchers view sickles in graves as a mean of certain magic-ritual practices, maybe the acts connected with the superstitions and the anti-revenant rituals. Increasing number of finds and using of the interdisciplinary results offer wider possibilities in clarifying the reasons for burying this agricultural implement into graves. Analyzing the burial features, characteristics of the sickles and studying of some features typical for the burial grounds where sickles in the graves occur can helped to solve the problem. Numbers of the graves with the buried sickles within a certain necropolis, situating of these graves at the burial ground, existing anomalies in the funeral rite of these graves at the given place were observed. Precise analysis of the grave features, e. g.: orientation of the graves with sickles in comparison with the others, position of a sickle in the grave, sex and age of the deceased individual in the grave with a sickle, presence and characterization of the another finds in such grave, were studied. Typology of the sickles from the graves and state, in which they were preserved, are complementing the entire analysis and thus helping the interpretation of the phenomenon.
The present paper discusses the analysis of the 18 graves discovered during the research carried out between 1980 and 1981 at Alba Iulia-Stația de Salvare. The following data is designed to provide additional information on the Transylvanian funerary landscape at the dawn of the Middle Ages. The research carried out at the site mentioned above has revealed some truly remarkable information about an archaeological find that is only partially understood. In terms of the grave orientation, a wide range can be observed so that one cannot highlight a predominant. All 18 uncovered graves present a diverse and numerous funerary inventory: weapons (battle axes, arrowheads, daggers), utensils (flint, knife, blades, steel, skins, burnt spindle whorls), adornments and clothing accessories (buttons, Kecel type buckles, beads, earrings, rings, bracelets, torques, pendants, appliques, coins) and pottery. In addition to these elements, remains of animal offerings deposited at the time of the deceased’s burial were discovered in the sepulchral pits. At the current research stage, it is appropriate to add the graves that are the subject of this article to the 87 found between 1981 and 1985 in the same area. Taking into account elements of rite and ritual, funerary inventory, and other conclusive aspects, one can place the graves within the first funerary horizon dated to the 9th – 10th c., when existed Bulgarian enclave in Transylvania. All these burial finds can be added to those made at Blandiana A and Sebeș (Alba County, Romania) and facilitate the idea that a Bulgarian enclave existed in the Transylvanian area in the 9th – 10th c.
The article presents evaluation of the recent knowledge on the early medieval beads collection from the Prague Castle, considering their typology and the research future.
The past 15 years have witnessed in Poland and Germany a considerable increase in the number of archaeological features representing Early Slavic culture, which age has been determined by natural science methods. New hypotheses have been formulated regarding the time of the formation of the oldest Early Medieval cultures in the territories between the Baltic and the Black Sea, the Carpathians and Sudetes. Investigations of the formation period in the culture of the Early Slavs are being carried out also to the south of the indicated region, but seldom have natural science dating methods, like dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating, been applied for the purpose. There is need for a recapitulation of information in view of the growing disproportion between data on absolute chronology concerning the northern and western part of Early Slavdom and the information referring to the southern and southwestern parts of Slavic colonization. Among features from the area of Austria, Czech, Slovenia and Italy, which have been dated by the radiocarbon method, the prevalent kind are pits from settlements, but there is also information on a few graves. The article focuses on analyzing the results of investigations of archaeological features dated by the radiocarbon or dendrochronological methods. Material from 14 sites for which there is a total of 35 analyses has been taken into consideration. The obtained datings permit a synchronization of information on settlement patterns and a comparison of assemblages of finds, mainly pottery. A comparison of the assemblages of finds with those known from the northern part of Central Europe does not demonstrate any significant differences in the dating, especially with regard to the Little Poland (Malopolska) region. The situation was somewhat different in the lowland territories of early Slavdom where assemblages composed of virtually only undecorated vessels were still in evidence in the 8th century. In recent years also in the Polish literature on the subject opinions have been voiced a number of times concerning the migration route and characteristics of the material culture of the Danubian Slavs. Consideration of the newest results of field investigations by Austrian, Bavarian, Croatian, Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian and Hungarian archaeologists has helped to modify the picture conceived based on the reflections of cited scholars. Thanks to the construction of a chronological framework and the growing body of knowledge on the material culture of the southern Slavs, their presence in territories south of the Danube in the 7th and 8th centuries can be proven in reference to specific, well dated finds. It can also be demonstrated that in this time their material culture still preserved many archaic characteristics and was not significantly different from the culture of their kin from beyond the Carpathians and Sudetes. The view that the southern Slavs quickly lost their specific material culture has been proved entirely incorrect. 24 Figures, 1 Table
The aim of presented study is to characterise ceramic set from the early medieval hillfort Bojná I-Valy, which is according to the chronologically sensitive findings dated from the 9th c. to the beginning of 10th c. The first part of contribution is focused on analysis of quantitative and qualitative parameters of set which enables to define its informative ability and identifies post depositional processes which appeared at the site. In the second part we tried to single out characteristic groups of vessels on the basis of typology of mouth and decoration by the means of correspondence and cluster analysis. The contribution is the differentiation of post depositional processes which influenced the informative ability of set and the characteristic of ceramics of 9th and beginning of 10th c.
The paper presents four objects from the Early Middle Ages, discovered in a polycultural settlement in Vlača in the Topľa river basin in eastern Slovakia. One of them was sunken and three oval rectangular objects were only minimally buried in the subsoil. In two of them there were traces of a heating device, in the other two no fireplaces were detected. The pairs of objects were oriented almost at right angles to each other. The found material is represented by fragmentary pottery, mainly from pots made on a potter’s wheel with decoration from multiple, less from single wavy lines and from engraved perimeter lines. Only four fractions come from low, hand-formed pans. The settlement is tentatively dated to the 8th – 9th c.
In 2005 an extensive monograph on Prague in prehistoric times was published. Its editors were Michal Lutovsky and Lubor Smejtek. This work comprises texts and a wealth of pictorial documentation, which does not merely relate to the prehistoric period but it also deals with the Early Middle Ages (until the 10th century) and at the same time with the history of archaeological research, the natural features of the city's territory and the etymology of its geographical names.
The northern periphery of occurrence of conquering Hungarian burials represents an important area of investigation of conquering Hungarian finds from the Early Middle Ages. Four burials discovered in Lužianky, Pri majeri site, belong to the group of finds with unmistakeable character of material culture and specific burial rite. The aim of the article is a multidisciplinary analysis of the burials in question. It includes spectrometry, whose goal is detection of composition of metal artefacts discovered in those burials. Remains of human individuals underwent anthropological analysis, animal bones were studied by means of archaeozoological analyses. Plant remains from the burials, i. e. remains of wooden artefacts, were analysed by archaeobotanical analysis. Last but not least, the relevant burials were studied from the aspect of archaeology, i. e. by means of analysis of material culture and burial rite.
The study presents results obtained from the analysis of 54 graves. They were examined in the western and eastern part of the burial place in 1976. The central part and peripheral sections were not uncovered. In spite of it, it is clear that the graves were placed in eight groups that were filled with different intensity. The components of the burial rite have almost uniform appearance. Deviations from the standard placement of body remains are not of higher intensity; their more frequent occurrence is missing. This also applies to the shape and size of grave pits in full extent. Remains of wooden constructions of different types are even rarer. Exceptional defense practices performed on the buried individuals were in line with the then pre-Christian principles. Their influence was manifested also during demarcation of the orientation of the deceased, at placement of the burial place in the local natural environment. The composition of the burial inventory, which is represent by 30 main types and their variants, brings lower quality of knowledge. The value of knowledge is lowered by marked occurrence of representatives from the group of ritual character and daily requirements. Their dating ability is very low up to negligible. Earrings of the so called danubian and veligradian jewellery types do not bring information of better quality as well. Their specimen does not occur in stable combinations with other objects. They are situated in graves placed in two parts of the necropolis that are separated by the uncovered part. Burying in the burial place can be dated only in general into the first and second half of 9th c. because of lack of data at disposal. We are not able to determine how long the burial place was used as we have neither the initial nor the final section at disposal. With definitive validity it is also not possible to confirm the continuous process of burying, which was noticed only as indication, directed from the western to eastern part of the necropolis. However, in spite of the limited quality of input data it is possible to sort out a small group of individuals with higher or more prestigious status in the local community.
This paper constitutes an attempt to rethink the issue of inflow and chronology of items decorated with the so called Tassilo Chalice Style to Western Slavic Territories located outside the Carolingian state, in particular to areas of today Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. Previous hypotheses suggested that import of those items reflects intense cultural contacts between the Western Slavs, particularly the Moravians, and the Carolingian Empire since the end of the 8th century. Those contacts were supposed to include also early Christianisation missions. Despite, however, intense studies, such theories are not sufficiently supported by archaeological sources. The aim of the paper is to provide a systematic analysis of available objects decorated with the Tassilo Chalice Style in terms of their design, chronology and dispersion. The material gathered so far is not very abundant and thus, even if it is possible to draw some conclusions, they should not be treated as final and when new objects of interest appear, it may be also necessary to modify conclusions. What is important, however, is the fact that the questions raised received some answers, although presumably not as unambiguous as it has been implied by previous studies.
The author discusses the work of P. Salkowski (2001), which is devoted to Slavic construction between the 5th / 6th century and the first half of the 10th century. Formally, the work takes into account the entire Slavic area (except for its southern peripheries); in reality, the areas of Belarus and Russia are treated marginally. Unfortunately, the monograph includes only a general list of sites which were taken into account and contains no information on the number and types of facilities discovered in their areas nor how they were dated. In principle, the proposed typological division of residential buildings seems accurate. The lack of reference to previous attempts at classifying the homesteads by W. Szymanski, P. Donat, Z. Kobylinski, and M. Dulinicz (inter alia) is a shortcoming. The author also omits a significant category of buildings comprising a tight row of the so-called of circular development on the inside of a rampart of fortified settlements (e.g. strongholds in Szeligi, Gostyn, inter alia). A breakdown of the attempts made at the reconstruction of the appearance and construction technologies of homesteads is of significant value. The article points to a series of shortcomings of the analysed paper; however, it has to be said that it is an attempt at a thorough ordering of the knowledge on the residential development of the Slavs, undertaken according to a clear and rationally constructed pattern.
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