The discussion panel complements the archaeological exhibition presented at the Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno, concerning the archaeology of the peripheries of the Piast State, using the example of the Lesser Poland Gorge of the Vistula. The topics discussed concern a turning point in history, including significant social, religious, and material culture changes that took place at the time of the formation of Polish statehood. The panel will discuss the following issues: power in the tribal period and the early Piast state, the functioning and importance of strongholds as centres of power, the role of the Vistula River as a trade route and a route along which subsequent peoples and ideas travelled, and the beginnings of statehood in north-eastern Lesser Poland.
Coordinators
Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN
Papers
Power – tribe – territory. Strongholds of the Chodelka river valley
dr Łukasz Miechowicz
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN
In the Chodelka valley, between the 8th and 11th centuries, there were four closely located strongholds. The great stronghold in Chodlik (8-10 centuries) is one of the oldest and largest in the early medieval Slavic region. The stronghold in Żmijowiska (9th-early 11th century), located two kilometres away, is the smallest site of this type in historical Lesser Poland. Its structure refers to the strongholds known from the western borders of the Slavic region. The stronghold in Kłodnica (10th-early 11th century), located a kilometre away, may have been built on the initiative of the Piast dynasty itself. The paper will discuss the issue of the oldest Slavic strongholds. The Chodel Basin will be used as an example to show changes in the construction of strongholds and in material and spiritual culture in different chronological periods. The importance of the Vistula route for the formation of centers of power in Lesser Poland will be discussed.
Sandomierz and Zawichost: between North and South, East and West
dr hab. Marek Florek
Instytut Archeologii UMCS w Lublinie
Sandomierz and Zawichost are two complementary centres established at the end of the 10th century on the periphery of the Piast state, after the areas between the Świętokrzyskie Mountains and the Vistula River were annexed to it. Sandomierz, originally intended as a starting point for further expansion to the east and south, served primarily administrative and military functions. Zawichost was a significant centre of international trade and specialized crafts until the end of the 12th century. This was due to its location at the Vistula River crossing, at the intersection of routes connecting the Baltic coast with the areas south of the Carpathians and Eastern and Western Europe. In the founding of Sandomierz, probably also of Zawichost, and in the building of new, early-state structures after the liquidation of the previous settlement structures, a significant role was played by newcomers from outside: Greater Poland, Ruthenia, Hungary, and perhaps also from Moravia and Scandinavia.
Animals in the life of the inhabitants of the Chodel Valley in the early Middle Ages
dr hab. Joanna Piątkowska-Małecka
Wydział Archeologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
The aim of the paper is to present the importance of animals in the life of the inhabitants of settlement complexes in the Chodel Basin in the early Middle Ages. The results of archaeozoological analyses of faunal assemblages obtained during excavations carried out at sites in Chodlik, Żmijowiska, Kłodnica and Podgórze will be presented. On their basis, the consumption of meat and the methods of preparing it for consumption were reconstructed. Animal management strategies were recreated, including the principles and goals of breeding and the morphology of animals. The life use of animals and the use of animal products, including bones, were also assessed.
The Vistula and Bug River Interfluve as an Area of Rivalry Between the Piasts and the Rurik Dynasty. Research on Stronghold Centers
dr Tomasz Dzieńkowski
Instytut Archeologii UMCS w Lublinie
dr hab. Marcin Wołoszyn
Uniwersytet Rzeszowski
The archaeological picture of the Vistula-Bug river area is interesting in the context of considerations on the formation of the eastern border of the Piast dynasty and the competition for these areas with the Rurik dynasty. Excavations conducted for almost a century focused on various types of sites, but the most important information was obtained from interdisciplinary studies of strongholds. The paper discusses the changes that occurred in the 10th and 11th centuries in the organization of strongholds and the formation of new centers of power, both of the Piasts and the Rurik dynasty. An attempt was made to determine the socio-cultural and even political-administrative context of their formation. Conclusions resulting from the analysis of strongholds and archaeological sources indicate a stable development of the region in the pre-state period, then at the beginning of the 11th century a process of rapid political and cultural changes began.
