Prehistory of Poland (until 966)
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The prehistory of Poland, or the history of Poland before 966 CE, is a period about which relatively little is known, especially when compared to the later eras. The available information is obtained mainly by archeological methods.
[edit] Prehistory of Polish lands from earliest human settlements through the Roman Empire times
From Homo erectus and then during the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages and throughout the Late Antiquity, the lands of present day Poland were populated by many different peoples, often known archeologically, but of uncertain ethnicity or linguistic affiliation. Celtic, Germanic and Baltic peoples were among the prominent groups. The most famous archeological finding is the Biskupin fortified settlement on the lake, of the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, by some past researchers considered to be a Proto-Slavic development.
[edit] Homo erectus
Human settlements on Polish lands occurred later than in the more climatically hospitable regions of southern and western Europe and were dependent on the recurring episodes of glaciation. The earliest remnants of the Homo genus together with their primitive stone tools and bones of the animals they hunted were found below the San River glaciation period sediments in Trzebnica and are about 500 thousand years old. Younger Homo erectus sites were found at Rusko, located, like Trzebnica, in the Lower Silesia region. This archeologically represents the microlithic complexes of the Lower Paleolithic period, but biologically Homo erectus was a separate species of early humans.[1]
[edit] Homo neanderthalensis
Now often also considered a distinct species, Homo neanderthalensis (otherwise known as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) lived in the southern half of Poland during the Middle Paleolithic, that is between 300,000 and 40,000 BC. Various relics were found and different Neanderthal cultures are distinguished, even though no actual human bones from this period have been identified. Examination of the Micoquien-Prądnik culture sites in the Prądnik River Valley north of Kraków and in Zwoleń near Radom from about 85,000 to 70,000 BC (early phase of the Vistula River glaciation period) shows that some Neanderthals were skilled collective hunters, able to kill numerous large mammals characteristic of the cold Paleolithic climate and process the meat, skin and bones using specialized tools.[1]
[edit] Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens proper (Homo sapiens sapiens, the Cro-Magnon type) appears beginning with the Upper Paleolithic, which lasted from 40,000 to 9,000 BC. Upper Paleolithic in Poland was not continuous in terms of human inhabitation, because during the coldest part of this Ice Age period, 20,000 to 15,000 BC, the humans were absent. During the earlier part the Neanderthal probably still existed and coexisted with the modern man. The latter, warmer part, after the climatic discontinuity and the reappearance of humans, is therefore considered the Late Paleolithic.
Upper Paleolithic people were specialized in group big game hunting, sometimes pursuing and driving into traps entire herds. Their nutritional needs were met, over the many thousand years when the vegetation was limited to tundra and steppe and the land was covered by ice and snow for long periods, largely by meat consumption. More sophisticated tool making methods resulted in the production of long (even over two feet), narrow and sharp flintstone splits. In a cave near Nowy Targ a 30,000 years old (world's oldest) boomerang was found - a crescent-shaped 70 cm long object with fine finish, made of mammoth tusk.
A rich source of Late Paleolithic sites and artifacts (the Magdalenian culture of 14,500 BC) is again the Prądnik River Valley.[1]
[edit] Mesolithic hunters and gatherers
The Mesolithic lasted from 9000 BC (rapid climate warming) to 5500 BC (arrival of first farmers from the Danube River area). It was the last period when the food production economy was entirely opportunistic, based on assimilation of plant and animal material found in nature, that is gathering and hunting. Because of warmer temperatures, complex forest ecosystems and wetlands developed and this natural diversity necessitated new hunting and fishing strategies. Hunters and fishermen working individually or in small groups had to pursue single large and small animals using traps, javelins, bows and arrows, boats and fishing equipment, and utilizing dogs. Women engaged in gathering of such products as roots, herbs, nuts, bird eggs, mollusks, fruit or honey, which possibly was even more important than hunting. Mesolithic human settlements became quite numerous and by the end of this period the economy of harvesting nature became very highly developed. Tools and devices were made of materials such as stone (flint strip mines have been found at the northern edge of Świętokrzyskie Mountains), bone, wood, horn, or plant material for rope and baskets, and included such fine utensils as fishing hooks and sewing needles. Animal figurines were made of amber. At least during the later Mesolithic, the dead were placed in graves and outfitted with familiar objects of their surroundings. One such well preserved grave of an apparent tool-maker, together with his tools and other items was found in Janisławice near Skierniewice and dated 5500 BC.[2]
[edit] Introduction of agriculture - Danubian cultures of farming communities
Early Neolithic era begins around 5500 BC with the arrival from the Danube area of people (their land tilling predecessors had been coming into the Balkans and then the Danube region from Anatolia beginning a thousand years earlier) who kept livestock, cultivated crops and made pottery. They formed the first settled rural communities, thus forging the most fundamental civilizational advance.
The original newcomers are referred to as the Linear Pottery culture - their uniform culture survived in Poland in its original form until about 4600 BC. Despite the big impact they made, the first waves came in small numbers - hundreds, or at most a few thousand people, judging by the sizes of the known settlements. They populated mainly fertile soils of southern highlands and river valleys further north, all the way to the Baltic Sea. They lived alongside the more numerous native people who were still pursuing the Mesolithic lifestyle, but during the Linear Pottery culture times there wasn't much interaction, as the two groups inhabited different environments. Their villages consisted of several or more long (even over 30 meters) rectangular homes supported by wooden posts, the oldest of which come from the Lower Silesia region. One such location from about 5000 BC was also unearthed at Olszanica, which is now at the west end of Kraków just within the city limits. Plants were cultivated mostly in small nearby gardens, but wheat and barley were also grown on small fields obtained by burning the forest. Further out were the pastures, the entire area utilized by a single settlement having a radius of about 5 km. Cattle, sheep and goats were even more numerous in the northern flatlands, where the land was less fertile. The Danubian people communities kept in touch and exchanged goods over large areas, all the way to their regions of origin beyond the Carpathian Mountains.
After 5000 BC new waves of immigrants arrived from the south again, which accelerated the process of differentiation of the agrarian society into several distinct cultures during the first half of 5th millennium BC and afterwards. In the Oder River basin mostly there was the culture named after the punctured variety of Linear Band pottery - Stroked Pottery culture, while in the Vistula River basin the Lengyel and Polgár cultures appeared. The two regions developed in some separation, but within them the different cultural traditions of the younger Danubian circle often overlapped. The houses were now of an elongated trapezoidal shape, grouped into larger complexes, which in time became protected by moats and other fortifications, as such defensive measures apparently became necessary against people from the still Mesolithic native population or other Danubian settlements. Large cemeteries and graves supplied with fancier objects such as jewelry, including the first so-called "princely" graves, testify to the emergence of a relatively more affluent society. Salt was obtained and traded and became a much sought after commodity, at first probably to help preserve stored food. The Danubian people produced many richly decorated objects, including clay vessels with animal head ornaments and figurines of women. Among the large explored settlements of the Lengyel culture from the 4400-4000 BC period, there is one in Brześć Kujawski, and another one in Osłonki, fortified about 4200 BC, both located in the Kujawy region.
The Malice farming culture of southern Poland (5th millennium and until 3800 BC, named after a site in Malice near Sandomierz[3]) was the first Neolithic culture to originate north of the Carpathian Mountains and spread south.[4]
[edit] Neolithic cultures developed by native populations
After 4500 BC the Ertebølle culture of northwestern origin entered a ceramic phase with its own forms of pottery. They lived by the Baltic Sea shores and were specialized in utilizing the resources of the sea, thus still representing the Mesolithic ways of life. But at their settlement in Dąbki near Koszalin Stroke-ornamented pottery was found, obtained probably through trade with the Danubian people.
The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life, beginning with just the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period before they adopted animal husbandry (which became especially important to them) and plant cultivation to any appreciable degree. When they eventually developed interest in the more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they became the threat that compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements.
The first truly native Neolithic culture was the Funnelbeaker culture named after the shape of their typical clay vessels, which developed starting around 4400 BC and lasted some two thousand years. Like other post-Mesolithic cultures the Funnelbeaker culture was Megalithic - they built tombs of large stones, some of them huge and resembling pyramids. Few survived till now because of the demand for stone as building material, but a well-preserved one from the first half of 4th millennium BC was found in Wietrzychowice near Włocławek. Timewise the beginnings of the post-Mesolithic cultures in Poland coincide with the beginnings of the Eneolithic period in the Balkans. Copper objects, mostly ornamental or luxurious items, were traded and then developed locally, first by the Danubian and then by the indigenous people. Clay decorative objects include realistic representations of animals and containers with scenes engraved on them. Stone tools became most highly developed and acquired their then characteristic smooth surfaces. Well preserved settlements with rectangular buildings were unearthed in Gródek Nadbużny near Hrubieszów (where remnants of a vertical loom for weaving were found) and in Niedźwiedź near Kraków. Originating from central European lowlands, the Funnelbeaker people moved south into the regions previously developed by the Danubian cultures, all the way to Bohemia and Moravia.
Globular Amphora culture was the next major Neolithic culture. It originated in the Polish lowlands during the first half of 4th millennium BC, lasted to about 2400 BC and is named after the bulging shape of its representative pottery. They specialized in breeding domestic animals and lived in a semi-settled state, seeking optimal pastures and moving as needed. This semi-nomadic lifestyle was probably necessitated by the poor condition of the soils, by that time depleted and infertile because of the preceding centuries of forest burning and extensive exploitation. Globular Amphora were the first culture in Poland known for utilizing the domesticated horse and swine became important as the source of food. Ritual animal, especially cattle burial sites, often with two or more individuals buried together and supplied with objects as strange as drums have been discovered, but their role is not well understood.
The Baden culture in southern Poland was the latest of the Danubian ancestry cultures and continued between 3200 and 2600 BC. They made vessels with characteristic protruding radial ornaments. A large fortified Baden culture settlement of around 3000 BC was found in Bronocice near Pińczów.
Finally there were still in existence the Forest Zone cultures, representing the ceramic phase of hunting and gathering communities. Some of them lasted into the early Bronze Age.
The major industry of this period was flintstone mining. One of the largest such mines with preserved underground passages is located in Krzemionki Opatowskie near Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.[5]
[edit] Late Neolithic arrivals from eastern and western Europe
The Corded Ware culture, in existence in central Europe between 3000 and 2000 BC, originated most likely from Proto-Indo-European nomadic people of the Black Sea steppes. It was a pastoral culture at least in its early stages, lacking permanent settlements and known primarily from the burial grounds (a large one with many richly furnished graves was discovered in Złota near Sandomierz). They moved together with their herds of cattle, sheep and goats along the river valleys of southern Poland, but also engaged in flint mining and manufacturing of tools and weapons for their own use and trade.
The Rzucewo culture (named after the village near Puck where the discoveries took place) developed from northern populations of the Corded Ware culture as an offshoot specialized in exploitation of the sea resources and lasted in parallel with their mother culture for a comparable period of time. Their settlements consisting of characteristic sea erosion reinforced houses were located along the Bay of Gdańsk and east of there. They engaged in fishery and hunting, especially of seals, then numerous along the Baltic coast. The Rzucewska culture people produced in special shops the widely used and traded amber decorative items.
From the opposite end of Europe (the Iberian Peninsula) came the few people who formed during the 2500-1900 BC period the Bell-Beaker culture - southwestern Poland was at the eastern edge of their range. Because of their mobility, they helped spread new inventions, including developing metallurgy, over large areas of Europe.[6]
[edit] Unetice and other Bronze Age cultures
The Bronze Age in Poland, as well as elsewhere in central Europe, begins with the innovative Unetice culture, in existence in western Poland during the first period of this era, that is from before 2200 to 1600 BC. This fundamentally settled agricultural society originated from the Corded Ware populations influenced by the Bell-Beaker people, kept in touch with the highly developed cultures south of the Carpathian Mountains, had trade links with the cultures of early Greece and echoes influence coming all the way from the highly developed civilizations of the Middle East. Characteristic of the Unetice societies was greater general affluence and developed social stratification. Objects made of bronze, often of luxurious or prestigious nature, were in high demand as symbols of power and importance and are typically found in the graves of "princes". 14 such burial sites, mounds of earth material heaped up on top of wooden, clay and and stone structures, some as large as 30 meters in diameter, were found in Łęki Małe near Grodzisk Wielkopolski, erected 2000-1800 BC, suggesting the existence of a local dynasty. Proliferation of bronze items (Uneticean daggers were in high demand all over Europe and in Anatolia) far from the centers of ore mining or bronze craftsmanship shows that the elites were able to control the trade routes, which involved also the transportation of amber from the Baltic Sea shores to the Aegean Sea area artisans. Many concealed (for unknown reasons) bronze treasures have been found, including an excellent one from Pilszcz near Głubczyce. Stylistically refined Uneticean ceramics shows inspiration by the Achaean vessels. Fortified settlements were built (one actively researched site, that was utilized and went through a number of phases during the 2000-1500 BC period[7], is in Bruszczewo in Kościan County), which together with the nature of the weapons and other items found suggests a chronic state of warfare and the emergence of the warrior class. In civilizational forefront of its time and place, the Unetice culture eventually succumbed to internal deterioration of its social and economic structure; its demise may had been hastened by destructive raids waged by the warriors of the belligerent Burial Mound culture, which in the end replaced it.
East of the Unetice culture, in Lesser Poland and further north to the Masovia region, during roughly the same span of time was the territory of the Mierzanowice culture, named after the village near Opatów. These descendants of the Corded Ware culture at first lived as mobile cattle breeders, but around 2200 BC started building permanent settlements and became preoccupied with plant cultivation as well. Mierzanowice culture was a conservative egalitarian society, frequently still using stone tools and copper decorations. Of the same cultural sphere, still further east was the Strzyżów culture, named after the village near Hrubieszów.
The above three cultures constitute the first (early) period of the Bronze Age, ca. 2300 to 1600 BC, according to the Polish chronology system.
Throughout their range and beyond the Mierzanowice and Strzyżów cultures were replaced by the Trzciniec culture. It was named after Trzciniec near Puławy and lasted from 1700 to 1100 BC, that is throughout the second and third period of the Bronze Age. It was probably made up of various and diverse Post-Neolithic populations, whose common characteristic was the type of pottery - large vessels with a thickened upper edge and a horizontal decorative protrusion around the neck, first found around northern Germany at the beginning of the millennium. Their own production of bronze objects came late and only in the western part of this culture's range.
Proto-Lusatian (on Polish lands) Burial Mound culture thrived in western Poland during the 1700-1400 BC period, contributed to the birth and rise of the Urnfield cultures, and around 1400 BC was replaced by the most important of them - the Lusatian culture. Burial Mound again was a complex of cultures, which replaced the Unetice culture and had an earth and stone mound grave as their common trait. The burials are skeletal, as opposed to the cremation practices of the later Urnfield cultures. There are no substantial settlements left by the Burial Mound people, whose agricultural practices were apparently limited mostly to animal husbandry. They developed bronze metallurgy to a large extend, to satisfy their own needs for weapons and richly designed and executed decorations. Their dominant social class were the warriors, who were equal and were the only men entitled to a burial under the mound.
The Piliny culture (1500-1200 BC, roughly the third or middle period of the Bronze Age) of Hungary and Slovakia, but also southern Lesser Poland, where like others they left bronze treasures, is an early example of the Urnfield cultures. These cultures' burial customs involved cremation of bodies and placing the ashes in urns (often with small apertures, presumably for the soul to escape). The urns were buried without a mound, sometimes forming huge cemeteries with thousands of such graves. [8] [9]
[edit] Lusatian culture of the later Bronze Age
The Lusatian culture lasted on Polish lands from 1450 to 250 BC, through the remainder of the Bronze Age (middle and beginning ca. 1150 BC late periods) and then into the Iron Age, from 750 BC on. Although archeologically it presents itself in a fairly uniform way, it is believed to had been ethnically nonhomogeneous, originating from groups arriving from outside, as well as from populations in existence in Poland adopting new cultural patterns. This manifests itself in the continuation of the east-west cultural disparity. For example the use of metal objects was less common in the eastern regions, while in the western zone besides the urns the burials contained often many other vessels. The western ceramics of the early Lusatian period had very prominent protuberances around the lower part of the container. Not only these regional differences didn't disappear, they became even more pronounced with time. In addition a number of smaller subcultures are distinguished, such as the one in Upper Silesia, where after a 250 year hiatus, beginning at about 900 BC, atypically for the Urnfield cultural sphere, skeletal burials are found again.
Bronze Age Lusatian rural settlements were limited to low-lying areas and (until late in this period) lacked fortifications or other defensive measures - during these more peaceful times protection was not as essential as in the centuries to follow. The houses were made of beams insulated by clay or moss, supported by poles, with slanting roofs covered by straw or reed. Inside there were hearths, stools, beds, places for economic activity such as metallurgical production shops, vertical looms and hand operated mills. Some livestock were also kept inside, and some were culled before winter because of insufficient ability to store feed.
The materials used were still wood, horn and bone, and, especially in the eastern zone - stone. Women were commonly engaged in spinning and weaving. Pottery was being produced still without the potter's wheel and furnaces for burning or baking pots were just making their first appearance. During the late bronze periods specialized centers manufactured beautifully painted ceramics, much of it for sale. Bronze metallurgy and craftsmanship became also highly developed and acquired locally different styles - luxurious decorative items, tools and arms were made around Legnica and elsewhere in western and southern Poland.
Lusatian social organization was based on the family and extended family, although early tribal communities may had also been developing. Social, professional and trade groups were gradually forming, including warriors, priests and metallurgists, but there is no evidence of hereditary ruling class or other social elites.
Many objects recovered by archeologists are believed to be related to a cult of the sun and the solar deity. Those include ceramics with painted solar images and molded into bird figures, bronze wheeled mini-carts with animal ornaments and bronze clasps with bird images, probably worn as parts of a ceremonial robe by priests-sorcerers. Anthropomorphic figurines and zoomorphic containers and plates related to solar or other forms of cult are found in the Lusatian western zone; they come from the last centuries of the Bronze Age and continue into the Iron Age. Engraved on a vase-urn found in Łazy in Milicz County and dated 850-650 BC are representations of mythical deer-man figures.[10] Some such vessels, jewelry and drawings are similar to the contemporary ones found in Syria, Palestine, Greece and Italy. A panpipe (syrinx), a musical instrument of the type popular in northern Italy and eastern Hallstatt circles, was found in a grave in Przeczyce near Zawiercie from the late bronze or early iron periods.[11]
[edit] Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age
Several factors destabilized the situation at the outset of the Iron Age. The climate cooling caused a degradation of the Asian steppes which forced the nomadic people who lived there to move out and started a chain of consequences - horsemen from Asia armed with iron weapons were able to penetrate large areas of Europe. The Europeans responded by building large fortified settlements, adopting the warring methods of the Asian invaders, developing a specialized military caste and a strong power system based on a prince-ruler. The Hallstatt culture, which developed west and south of Poland, itself imitating the Mediterranean civilizations and cultivating close contacts with them, turned out to be a major influence on the Lusatian people on Polish lands, whose culture reached its peak during the 750-550 BC period.
Baltic amber was traded in return for weapons and luxurious objects from southern Europe, including fancy personal grooming items such as nail clipping devices, and trade relations with the Nordic area peoples were similarly well developed. The latter factor was especially true in the case of the western Pomerania region, which had increasingly been falling under the Nordic cultural zone (southern Scandinavian Peninsula, Denmark and northern Germany) influence throughout the later bronze periods, with its artisans imitating the Nordic imports. The Lusatian culture of the Hallstatt periods included most lands of present day Poland, including the related [12] Białowice culture (Zielona Góra County) in some of the westernmost parts, in existence during the Hallstatt periods C, D and beyond and credited with the passing of a "cist" (rock encasement) grave type to the Pomeranian culture. Western Poland was more highly developed, with local manufacturing - jewelry and other decorative products made of iron, bronze, glass, amber and other materials as well as luxurious painted ceramics were patterned after the Hallstatt craft. In many graveyards the dead were buried in wooden chambers. The burials found in Gorszewice (Szamotuły County) in Greater Poland (650-550 BC) are supplied with fancy equipment and resemble the graves of the Hallstatt tribal chiefs, and similarly there are other treasures of luxurious and prestigious objects. But despite this apparent fascination with the lifestyles of the western elites (and to some degree creation of their own), the Lusatian people never acquired a comparable level of social stratification and there were no hereditary "princes".
Agricultural activities were the mainstay of the economy, supplemented as before by hunting and gathering. Simple butting plows were already used, pulled by oxen. Millet, wheat, rye, oat and barley were grown in the fields, while in the gardens bean and lentil were cultivated, as well as oil producing poppy, turnip and flax, which was also used to obtain fiber used to make yarn. Animal husbandry methods improved when iron utensils became more common, that is beginning in 6th century BC. Horses were bred and utilized more often, in addition to the traditionally kept cattle, swine, sheep and goats and improved feed storage allowed keeping the herds throughout the winter season. Salt springs were used for salt production and in southern Poland the Lusatians tried to exploit the locally available metal ores.
Beginning around 900 BC the Lusatian people gradually fortified more and more of their settlements, first in the Silesia region. By 650-600 BC there were quite a few of them there and all over the western zone. Often built in locations naturally easy to defend, they were surrounded by walls built of earth, stone and wood, and moats, and could cover anywhere from 0.5 to 20 hectares. Smaller strongholds were built at strategic locations such as mountain passes and trade routes, from where the residents could control and police the area, but also functioned as industrial centers. A good example of a trade-manufacturing fortified settlement is the one in Komorów, located near the Gorszewice cemetery. Some of the large fortified areas didn't have many structures inside and served probably as a temporary sanctuary for the local population in times of danger, and there was no shortage of danger. Beginning in 6th century BC several waves of Scythian invasions went through the Polish lands. The routes they traveled can be seen from the trail they left: The burnt out settlements of the Lusatian people. Dramatic material testimony of violent death and destruction was found among the ashes of a perished fortified settlement in Wicina near Nowogród Bobrzański.
Of a different and far less common type is the famous, very well preserved Biskupin wooden fortress on the lake, built from 738 BC. The houses (almost a hundred) inside the walls were densely and regularly arranged and the streets were covered by wood, which some see as a proto-urban imitation of the Mediterranean cities. But they were all alike, so the chieftain, if the community had one, lived like everybody else. This central to Polish archeology site has been under active and intense research since 1934.
In 5th century BC the Lusatians stopped building fortified settlements. The Scythian expansion severed their trade links with the Hallstatt societies, while climatic changes damaged their agriculture. All this forced them to disperse and caused disintegration of their social structures. Less developed population from the eastern zone migrated west, highly developed ceramic and metallurgic industries waned, the Pomeranian culture expanded into the previously Lusatian areas. By 4th century BC the Lusatian culture was for the most part gone, with the last, small populations surviving in western and southern Poland.[13]
[edit] Pomeranian culture, West-Baltic Barrows culture
The last major extinct culture covering most Polish lands, the Pomeranian culture, developed in 7th century BC in eastern Pomerania. This region had preserved a distinct cultural identity throughout the middle and late bronze periods - unlike the rest of the Lusatian lands they kept the custom of raising burial mounds or barrows above the graves. Those were covered by a layer of stones and the urns were placed in a box, or cist built of rock pieces.
At the outset of the Iron Age the eastern Pomeranians became involved in long distance amber trade that ranged from the Sambian Peninsula, through Pomerania, the Lusatian and Hallstatt lands all the way to Italy and which gave them access to imported products. At roughly the same time climatic changes favored a rural economy different from that typical of the Lusatian societies - animal husbandry and the less demanding cereals (rye and barley) became more important, as the villages had to be built at higher altitudes. This in turn favored small communities based on the family and extended family, flexible and capable of greater mobility - all such factors gave the Pomeranian people a competitive advantage over traditional Lusatian settlements.
Accordingly the Lusatian large urn fields were replaced by small, family size burial sites with several or more urns. The cist graves were now mostly flat, without mounds, forming a rectangle with up to two meter long sides built of vertical slabs, containing the urns (sometimes as many as thirty and in separate compartments) inside and covered with another plate. Further south and east, as the Pomeranian culture expanded into central and southeastern Poland, there were also burials where the urn was placed under a "globe", that is inside a large, round ceramic container, itself sometimes placed in a cist. The Pomeranians left two peculiar types of urns, house-urns and face-urns. House-urns stand on several legs, have a large opening in front, come from an earlier period, 7-6th century BC and mostly from the Lębork region. Face-urns from the same period are round, bulging containers with a unique and often realistic image of a face around the neck area and a hat-like lid, while the younger ones tend to be less elaborate. Sometimes on the outside they were variously decorated, with tools and toilet accessories placed inside. Face-urns from the 650-450 BC period unearthed in Borucino, Kartuzy County and elsewhere present a rich assortment of engraved narrative scenes. Those include horse drawn chariots that apparently picture the nightly trips of the solar deity through the underworlds, which symbolically represents the cyclical renewal of life; carts pulled by oxen and representing lunar symbolism are also present. Solar images were placed on the lids.[14] House- and face-urns are believed to represent Etruscan influence.
Pomeranian rural economy was based on small, open settlements. Their livestock included horses and many dogs. Plowing was done with all wooden (bare) spatula-plows, which required multiple runs. The Pomeranians cultivated several different grains and practiced fishery. Bronze and iron processing became very highly developed. Of the weapons, tools, decorative items and jewelry manufactured, the large bronze necklaces made of many rigs, running around the neck and upper chest area, connected by a latticed buckle in the back (600-450 BC) are especially impressive. Advanced bronze metallurgy facilities were found at Juszkowo near Pruszcz Gdański. At Pruszcz itself an amber processing workshop was found - the material used was imported from Sambia. At the iron works material obtained from the local ore deposits (Góry Świętokrzyskie) was most likely used. Another highly developed craft was pottery, which found its highest expression in the above described face-urns.
The already existing Pomeranian culture expanded further when the Lusatian culture entered the crisis stage. In 5th century BC major acquisitions took place in the western and southern directions, when northern Silesia and Lesser Poland were taken over. The older Lusatian populations were pushed out or assimilated. The Pomeranians themselves were changing in the process, either as a result of encountering new environmental conditions, or because of being influenced by the Lusatian people (face-urns for example disappeared here). In 3rd century BC the Pomeranian culture in its original form mostly vanished, with regional enclaves only surviving till the middle of 2nd century BC.[15]
The West-Baltic Barrows culture existed in Masuria, Warmia, Sambia and northern Masovia during the 650-50 BC period. It originated partially from the people who migrated in from the Dnieper River area and assimilated elements of the eastern Lusatian branches as well as of the old Forest Zone cultures. They were related in a number of ways, including funeral vessels, to their contemporary Pomeranian culture. Upon a stone structure they built burial mounds - barrows, some of them rather large and containing a number of individual burials. The dead were cremated and the ashes placed in urns. They built small fortified settlements at naturally suitable places, such as hilltops and characteristically, within shallow bodies of water, which involved sinking logs and special pile construction. The West-Baltic Barrows economy was traditional, based on animal husbandry (herds kept in a semi-wild state). Land tilling was done to a lesser extend and only later in the culture's history. Hunting, fishing and gathering were also important. Tool manufacturing was traditional and mostly non-metallic. Ceramic containers were simple and without much ornamentation.[16][17][18]
[edit] Celtic peoples
[edit] Early Germanic peoples
[edit] Germanic expansion
[edit] "Barbarians" and the Great Migration
[edit] Baltic peoples
[edit] Slavic peoples - Polish myths and legends
According to a Polish myth, the Slavic nations trace their ancestry to three brothers, Lech, Czech and Rus, who parted in the forests of Central Europe, each moving in a different direction to found a family of distinct but related peoples (Lech founded Gniezno, the first capital of Poland, Czech founded Bohemia, and Rus founded Ruthenia).
Conspicuous of the Slavic period (described below) is the lack of substantiated historic persons and their names. Those that we have are the stuff of legends, or come from chronicles written centuries later and for a purpose other than accurate recording of events.
And so the Vistulans were ruled by Krak or Krakus, the founder of Kraków and Wanda was his daughter. Ascribed to them are the two large mounds of early medieval origin in Kraków area, considered to be their burial places or memorial monuments, but it's not certain that they were actually built by the Slavs. In one of the very few written records mentioning the Vistulans, The Life of Saint Methodius speaks of a "very powerful" pagan prince of Vistulans who was forced to convert to Christianity, but gives neither his pagan nor Christian name.
Up north the Polans were ruled by the wicked Popiel, the last of the dynasty that was replaced by the Piast dynasty. In a sequence given by the 12th century chronicler, Piast, Siemowit, Lestek, Siemomysł and Mieszko I would be the first "Piast" rulers beginning with Mieszko's great great grandfather, but whether the first four names refer to real people is anyone's guess.
[edit] Slavic origins of the Polish nation and state (5th - 10th century)
The tale of Lech, Czech and Rus, despite being of doubtful historicity, accurately describes the westward migration and gradual differentiation of the early Slavic tribes following the collapse of the Roman Empire. According to the currently predominant opinion, Slavic tribes were not indigenous to the lands that were to become Poland, but their first arrivals came into the area of the upper Vistula River and elsewhere in southeastern Poland from the upper and middle regions of the Dnepr River (West Slavs have come from the more western early Slavic branch called "Sclavi" by Jordanes, the eastern branch being "Antes") during the second half of 5th century[19], some half century after these territories were vacated by Germanic tribes[20]. This discontinuity makes the moment of appearance of the Slavs in Poland at the outset of the Middle Ages distinct and clear.
From there the new population dispersed north and west during the course of 6th century. The incoming Slavic people were markedly less developed than their Germanic predecessors (the northeast corner of contemporary Poland's territory was and remained populated by Baltic tribes), which can be seen from the comparable quality of the pottery and other artifacts left by the two groups. They lived from cultivation of crops and were generally farmers, but also engaged in hunting and gathering. Their migration was probably caused by the pursuit of more fertile soils and persistent attacks on southeastern Europe by waves of people and armies from the East, such as Huns, Avars and Magyars. This westward movement of Slavic people was facilitated in part by the previous withdrawal of Germanic people and their own migration toward the safer and more attractive areas of western and southern Europe.
A number of such Polish tribes formed small states beginning in 8th century, some of which coalesced later into larger ones. Among those were the Vistulans (Wiślanie) in southern Poland with Kraków and Wiślica as their main centers (major building of fortified centers and other developments in their country took place in 9th century; they have been the focus of much speculation), but later the Polans (Polanie, lit. "people of the plain") turned out to be of momentous historic importance. The tribal states built many fortified structures with primitive walls ("gród" is the name of such early town-fortress, of which the earliest ones date from 7th century); some of them had a very large area. The Polans settled in the flatlands around Gniezno and Poznań that eventually became the foundation and early center of Poland, lending their name to the country. They went through a period of accelerated building of fortified settlements and territorial expansion beginning in the first half of 10th century, and the Polish state developed from their tribal entity in the second half of it. Over time the modern Poles emerged as the largest of the West Slavic groupings, establishing themselves to the east of the Germanic regions of Europe, with their ethnic cousins, the Czechs and Slovaks, to the south.
[edit] References
- General:
- Various authors, ed. M. Derwich i A. Żurek, U źródeł Polski (do roku 1038) (Fundations of Poland (until year 1038)), Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław, 2002, ISBN 83-7023-954-4
- Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski - Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.) (Oldest history of Polish lands (till 7th century)), Fogra, Kraków 1998, ISBN 83-85719-34-2
- Jerzy Wyrozumski - Dzieje Polski piastowskiej (VIII w. - 1370) (History of Piast Poland (8th century - 1370)), Fogra, Kraków 1999, ISBN 83-85719-38-5
- Inline:
- ^ a b c U źródeł Polski, p. 10-25, Jan M. Burdukiewicz
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 26-31, Jan M. Burdukiewicz
- ^ Kaczanowski, Kozłowski, p. 112
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 32-39, Ryszard Grygiel
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 40-47, Ryszard Grygiel
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 48-53, Ryszard Grygiel
- ^ Archeologia Żywa (Archeology Alive) quarterly, Warsaw, issue 3-4(29-30)2004, "Bruszczewo..." by Janusz Czebreszuk, Johannes Muller
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 54-59, Sławomir Kadrow
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 60-63, Bogusław Gediga
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 84, Adam Żurek
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 63-67, Bogusław Gediga
- ^ Kaczanowski, Kozłowski, p. 187
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 68-82, Bogusław Gediga
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 84-85, Adam Żurek
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 78-83, Bogusław Gediga
- ^ U źródeł Polski, p. 117, Danuta Jaskanis
- ^ Kaczanowski, Kozłowski, p. 187, 225
- ^ Polish Wikipedia article on this culture
- ^ Kaczanowski, Kozłowski, p. 337
- ^ Kaczanowski, Kozłowski, p. 327-330
