Before Santok became a stronghold known as the “guard and key of the kingdom”, it was a thriving centre, which began with a settlement established in the proglacial valley at the confluence of the rivers by a community participating in the exchange process. Archaeological sources indicate interactions between the Baltic zone and the Oder basin and the flow of goods along the Warta-Noteć route as early as the 8th century. For a century, the seemingly peripheral area was transformed into a place of great importance and potential, integrated with distant territories, as a nodal point in the network of water connections. At the end of the 9th century, the settlement was surrounded by ramparts and the topography of the stronghold was changing. The need to take control of a node in the communication network was the reason for including Santok in the structures of the organised Piast state. It became a multifunctional centre in the system of state strongholds.

Strongholds are one of the most characteristic features of the landscape. They are attributed with a unique position in the order of settlement structures and special social significance. Built by local communities, they were an expression of their identity and identification with agreed cultural patterns, but also shaped social relations, strengthening group affiliation. Despite the interregional similarity of forms and structures, the context in which they were created was diverse, and their function was subject to change. Some of these centres were endowed with such clear symbolic connotations that for several hundred years they served as a central point, a kind of genius loci, uniting the communities inhabiting a given area. Other strongholds existed for such a short time that the tradition of the place did not have time to become entrenched in the community's memory. The mentioned phenomena can be illustrated by the strongholds built in the territory on the lower Warta and Noteć Rivers, which were built in the early Middle Ages.