On the origins and chronology of the Wolin emporium

The paper concerns the problem of the origin of Wolin as an emporium in the early Middle Ages. The excavations conducted in the 1960s and 1970s in the Old Town of Wolin recorded extremely rich cultural deposits of considerable thickness, in some cases exceeding eight meters. Results of recent studies on the finds and on the archival documentation from these excavations indicate that it can be dated to the period between circa 800–1400. During this time four main stages of land-use in the place are clearly visible. The second of them, dated since circa 850 up to circa 1100, involved a large settlement of the area of a few hectars with a tightly packed, regularly laid-out wooden buildings and wood-paved communication roads leading to the port. The size of the settlement, its regular layout and a building style are alien to the Baltic Slavic region of that period. Considering also remains of intense craft production recorded on the site, it may be concluded that in that period there was a craft and trade settlement with all the features of a Baltic emporium. This was established in the place of an older, small, seasonal settlement. The transformation and the growth of the settlement must have been related to the development of the so-called Baltic economic zone of the Viking period and can be also attributed to a change in communication routes in the mouth of the Oder and the collapse of the craft and trade settlement in Menzlin on the Peene. The paper concerns the problem of the origin of Wolin as an emporium in the early Middle Ages. The excavations conducted in the 1960s and 1970s in the Old Town of Wolin recorded extremely rich cultural deposits of considerable thickness, in some cases exceeding eight meters. Results of recent studies on the finds and on the archival documentation from these excavations indicate that it can be dated to the period between circa 800–1400. During this time four main stages of land-use in the place are clearly visible. The second of them, dated since circa 850 up to circa 1100, involved a large settlement of the area of a few hectars with a tightly packed, regularly laid-out wooden buildings and wood-paved communication roads leading to the port. The size of the settlement, its regular layout and a building style are alien to the Baltic Slavic region of that period. Considering also remains of intense craft production recorded on the site, it may be concluded that in that period there was a craft and trade settlement with all the features of a Baltic emporium. This was established in the place of an older, small, seasonal settlement. The transformation and the growth of the settlement must have been related to the development of the so-called Baltic economic zone of the Viking period and can be also attributed to a change in communication routes in the mouth of the Oder and the collapse of the craft and trade settlement in Menzlin on the Peene.

Od grodu książęcego do rezydencji prepozyta kapituły. Lubin w XI–XVI wieku

Lubin is situated on the south-western edge of Wolin island, just at the Szczecin Lagoon and mouth of the Stara Świna River to the Baltic Sea. From the locality are known seven archaeological sites dated to the Middle Ages: stronghold, cemetery and five settlements (fig. 1). The central place in this settlement complex was occupied by stronghold, situated on a high moraine hill adjacent to the Lagoon (fig. 2), which in the past created the  possibility of control over the major water transport route, which was the Świna River connecting the Szczecin Lagoon with the Baltic Sea. The results of excavations carried out in the years 2008–2011 in Lubin along with older discoveries and written sources created a basis for settlement reconstruction of the stronghold hill in the Middle Ages and the early post-medieval period, its functions changing over time and conditions of these transformations. The oldest traces of settlement on the hill in the Middle Ages can be dated to the end of the 9th century or the first half of the 10th century. However, as late as in the second half of the 11th century it was fortified by construction of ramparts. The stronghold, built back then most likely by early state authority forming in this part of Pomerania, was to ensure control over the important communication route, and at the same time to become a regional administration, religious, and with the adjacent settlements, probably also an economic centre. In 1124 Lubin was one of centres visited by Bishop Otto of Bamberg during his first Christianization mission in Pomerania. At that time the St Nicolas church was erected in the stronghold. Relics of this wooden temple and formed next to it cemetery were discovered in 2009–2011. Probably as early as in the first half of the 12th century Lubin also became an important point in the structure of territorial organization of the Duchy of the West Pomerania, as centre of an administrative unit (provincia). The end of its importance was its capture and destruction in the eighth decade of the 12th century by Danish King Valdemar I. Shortly afterwards, in 1186 or 1187, duke of Pomerania granted the cathedral chapter in Kamień the stronghold with the whole district and the church. In the 13th century in place of former stronghold still functioned the church, serving parish function, and the cemetery. In the next century, however, a complete change in the hill spatial organization occurred: the church was moved to the neighbouring hill, the former fortifications were levelled, and soon after a towerhouse was built, which became the seat of the provost of the cathedral chapter in Kamień during his visits to Lubin. The building was not of defensive character, and its erection in this place could have been influenced by the view of the Szczecin Lagoon. The building was demolished as late as at the end of the 16th century, after the Lubin estate return to dukes of Szczecin.Wyniki badań wykopaliskowych przeprowadzonych w Lubinie w latach 2008–2011 oraz źródła pisane dały podstawę do rekonstrukcji osadniczej przeszłości wzgórza grodowego w średniowieczu i wczesnej nowożytności, zmieniających się w tym czasie jego funkcji oraz uwarunkowań tych przekształceń. Najstarsze ślady średniowiecznego osadnictwa należy datować na koniec IX wieku lub 1. połowę następnego stulecia. Sam gród został jednak wedle wszelkiego prawdopodobieństwa wzniesiony dopiero w 2. połowie XI wieku. W 1124 roku biskup Otton z Bambergu zbudował w nim jedną z najstarszych świątyń chrześcijańskich Pomorza. Kres znaczenia grodu nastąpił po jego zdobyciu i zniszczeniu w 8. dekadzie XII wieku przez Duńczyków. W 1186 lub 1187 roku został on przekazany kapitule kamieńskiej. W XIII wieku w miejscu dawnej osady obronnej dalej funkcjonował kościół, pełniący funkcje parafii oraz cmentarz. W następnym stuleciu doszło do całkowitej zmiany w zagospodarowaniu przestrzennym wzniesienia: kościół przeniesiono na sąsiednie wzgórze, dawne umocnienia zniwelowano, a wkrótce potem zbudowano wieżę mieszkalną, która stała się siedzibą prepozyta kapituły katedralnej z Kamienia. Obiekt został rozebrany dopiero w końcu XVI wieku, po powrocie dóbr lubińskich w ręce książąt szczecińskich

En los bordes de Ilbira: cerámica emiral y califal en el barrio sur de la madina

This article presents the preliminary results of a pottery study from a unique building located in the so-called "Cortijo de los Cigarrones" at the archaeological site of Madīnat Ilbīra (Atarfe, Granada). It was excavated during the 2018 and 2019 years. This is one of the areas furthest from the madina core, probably an earlier settlement that ended up integrated as a suburb. The results obtained from the archaeological intervention and the study of materials have made it possible to establish a chronological occupation sequence of this area between the 9th and 11th centuries. It provides new insights into what the occupation must have been like in the most peripheral area of the city. En este artículo se presentan los resultados preliminares del estudio de un conjunto cerámico procedente del interior de un edificio singular ubicado en el conocido como “Cortijo de los Cigarrones” localizado en el yacimiento de Madīnat Ilbīra (Atarfe, Granada) durante las campañas de 2018 y 2019. Se trata de una de las zonas más alejadas del centro de la madina, probablemente un asentamiento anterior que acabó integrado como un arrabal. Los resultados obtenidos de la intervención arqueológica y del estudio de materiales han permitido establecer una secuencia cronológica para la ocupación de esta zona entre los siglos IX y XI y aportar nuevos datos sobre cómo debió ser la ocupación en el área más perimetral de la ciudad.&nbsp

Survival at the frontier of Holy War: political expansion, crusading, commerce and the medieval colonizing settlement at Biała Gora, North Poland

Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed or abandoned in between the two phases of colonization. The recently excavated site of Biała Góra, situated on the western side of the Forest of Sztum overlooking the River Nogat, represents a unique example of a transitional settlement that included both Pomeranian and Teutonic Order phases. The aim of this paper is to situate the site within its broader landscape context which can be characterized as a militarized frontier, where, from the later twelfth century and throughout much of the thirteenth century, political and economic expansion was combined with the ideology of Christian holy war and missionary activity. This paper considers how the colonists provisioned and sustained themselves in comparison to other sites within the region, and how Biała Góra may be tentatively linked to a documented but otherwise lost outpost in this volatile borderland

Cemetery in the christian space of the Middle Ages

One of the main features of the Christian funeral rite in the Middle Ages is supposed to have been a specific location of the graveyards. The paper aims to analyse how the problem of a choice and a location of burial space was presented in Rationale divinorum officiorum written by bishop Wiliam Durand of Mende in the end of the 13th century. The work was the most famous and most complete medieval handbook of Christian liturgy, containing the explanation of all the rites related to the Christian worship. According to Rationale the space was not homogenous. By means of rite of consecration a Bishop was able to delimit holy places („loca sacra”) where the God’s activity could be manifested in a special way. One of such places was also “locus religiosus” which was the space assigned for burying dead body of Christians and usually named cemetery. What is of special importance, there was expected a spatial unity of the cemetery with a church. As we know, the above norm has originated already in the 4th century. However, it can be supposed that the handbook allowed in the extraordinary situation a church and a cemetery were distant each other. To bury a body of dead Christian beyond the consecrated cemetery was allowed only in exceptional cases. The author defined in some way also the space of the Christian grave itself. Dead body was to be laid with a head turned towards West and feet towards East which means the position following the orientation of a church. It is well known, that this habit has also originated in the 4th century. Interesting conclusions may be drawn by a comparison of the contents of Rationale t o t he r esults of a rchaeological research on different peoples of the former Barbaricum Christianized in the early Middle Ages. Almost everywhere in the beginning there was visible two-way development in the location of inhumation cemeteries. Apart from the cemeteries situated just nearby churches there were also graveyards located without any spatial relation to a church. However, the latter have also some features typical for the Christian funeral requirements like for example the westeast orientation of bodies which resulted in row layout of the whole cemetery. The functioning of only one designated space for burying the dead, which means the final unification of burial customs, was taken over by churchyards c. 100-150 years after the Christianization

Stone Houses, Glazed Jugs and Pilgrim Badges. An Archeological Contribution to the Problem of the Cultural Unity of the Hanseatic Towns in the Baltic Region

Badania archeologiczne nadbałtyckich miast należących w średniowieczu do Hanzy rozpoczęto na większą skalę dopiero w latach 80. XX wieku. Odkrywane w ich trakcie źródła pozwalają postawić tezę o istnieniu wspólnoty kulturowej mieszczan południowego wybrzeża Bałtyku w XIII–XV wieku. W artykule, na wybranych przykładach różnych elementów kultury materialnej dobrze czytelnych w źródłach archeologicznych, podjęto próbę wykazania podobieństw istniejących w odległych od siebie miastach nadbałtyckich w różnych sferach życia mieszczan. Analizę przeprowadzono w odniesieniu do: budownictwa – na przykładzie tzw. kamienic sieniowych, które w XIV wieku stały się wspólnym dla wielu miast nadbałtyckich elementem krajobrazu kulturowego; zestawów naczyń stołowych – na przykładzie popularnych w tej części Europy dzbanów kamionkowych oraz czerwonych naczyń szkliwionych, jak również dewocjonaliów religijnych – na przykładzie znaków pielgrzymich, wskazujących na istnienie wyraźnych preferencji w wyborze celów pielgrzymek, koncentrujących się na ponadregionalnych sanktuariach pielgrzymkowych położonych w niemieckim kręgu kulturowym, zwłaszcza w rejonie nadreńsko-nadmozańskim. Przyczyny wytworzenia wspólnoty kulturowej miast upatrywane są w podobnych uwarunkowaniach prawnych i gospodarczych ich rozwoju, podobnym pochodzeniu kulturowo-etnicznym dominującej części mieszczan, wywodzących się z terenów niemieckich, jak też w intensywnych kontaktach handlowych, których skutkiem była przecież nie tylko wymiana towarów, ale również idei.Archaeological research on the Hanseatic towns established in the Middle Ages in the Baltic region has been conducted on a large scale since the 1980’s. Discoveries made since then allow to formulate a thesis about the cultural unity among the inhabitants of towns situated on the South Baltic coast between the 13th and 15th centuries. Based on selected instances of the urban culture, widely discussed in archaeological sources, the paper is an attempt to prove that a number of similarities can be revealed in various spheres of life led by the inhabitants of towns located in the Baltic region, often situated far away from one another. The analysis covered the following aspects: architecture – quoting the example of tenements with entrance halls which in the 14th century became a common element of the cultural landscape in towns located in the Baltic region; pottery – quoting the example of popular in this part of Europe stoneware and red glazed jugs; and, last but not least, devotional objects – quoting the example of pilgrim badges that revealed evident preferences demonstrated by the pilgrims as to their pilgrimage destinations, paying special attention to supra-regional sanctuaries located in German-speaking area, particularly on the Rhine and the Moza rivers. As for reasons underlying the development of the cultural unity of the Hanseatic towns, archaeologists mention similar legal and economic factors contributing to their development, much the same cultural and ethnical origin of the townspeople the majority of whom came from German territory, and, last but not least, business contacts (particularly distant ones) which, after all, embodied the essence of the Hanseatic League since they were aimed at exchanging not only goods, but also ideas

The role assigned to higher education by students of Cracow universities. The expected impact of studies on the development of further career and the chances of achieving a higher occupational status

Praca poświęcona jest studenckiej wizji uczelni wyższych oraz ich stosunkowi do studiów, z uwzględnieniem oczekiwań co do przyszłej kariery i pozycji zawodowej. Problem osadzony został w kontekście potransformacyjnych przemian na rynku pracy i następujących zmian w edukacji wyższej, w poziomie skolaryzacji oraz w kontekście narastającej intensywności dyskusji na temat odejścia od tradycyjnego modelu uniwersytetu. Badanie, oparte o dane zastane oraz ankietę CAWI, daje studentom głos w sprawie ich wizji uczelni wyższych i wpisuje się w trwający spór o formę i cel uczelni wyższych.The text attempts to answer questions about the students’ vision of universities and their attitude toward studies, in the context of their expectations regarding future career and occupational status. The problem has been embedded in the context of post-transformation changes in the labor market and the changes in higher education, values of gross enrolment ratio, and in the context of the intensified discussions on abandoning the traditional vision of universities. The study, which is based on existing data and the CAWI survey, gives a voice to students on their vision of universities and is part of the ongoing dispute over the form and purpose of universities

O znaczeniu Świny we wczesnym średniowieczu

The article contains an analysis of archaeological and historical sources related to the Świna, one of three straits constituting the mouth of the Oder to the Baltic. By referring to the sources, an attempt was made to evaluate the ways of taking advantage of the strait and its significance in the early Middle Ages

Siedziba prepozyta kapituły kamieńskiej w Lubinie na wyspie Wolin

THE RESIDENCE OF THE PROVOST OF THE KAMIEŃ CATHEDRAL CHAPTER IN LUBIN ON THE ISLAND OF WOLIN Lubin is a small village on the south-western edge of the island of Wolin on the Szczecin Lagoon. The stronghold that was built there in the early Middle Ages had an important administrative role in the Duchy of West Pomerania. One of the fi rst churches in Pomerania was built there when bishop Otto of Bamberg undertook his Christianization mission. In 1186 or 1187 Duke Bogusław I of Pomerania granted the Lubin stronghold, together with its church of  St Nicholas and several nearby villages, to the chapter of the Kamień cathedral. The stronghold soon lost its position and in thirteenth-century sources it is referred to as just villa Lubin. Sixteenth-century sources indicate that the provost of the chapter has his seat there, located on a hill, probably where the stronghold used to be. Excavations carried out in that site in 2008–2011 revealed relics of two buildings dated to the late Middle Ages, which can be identifi ed with this residence. The article discusses these finds, aiming to establish whether this identifi cation is correct.The Lubin stronghold lost its defensive function soon after it had been given to the Kamień chapter. The late Middle Ages, most probably the 14th or 15th c., brought major changes in the use of the hill plateau: two buildings were erected in the northern and southern part of the former stronghold. One of them was almost completely demolished, probably in the 19th c.; its only surviving part is a small fragment of the foundation built of fieldstones and Gothic bricks. The other one was also demolished but its cellars and foundations, made of stone and brick, have survived in a very good condition. This house was built on a square plan; it measured 4.00 × 3.80 m. On the northern side it had stairs leading to the cellar. The fi ll of the cellar contained fragments of architectural details (painted plaster, roof-tiles, bricks, glazed fl oor-tiles, window glass) and furnishings (glass vessels, pottery, stove-tiles). The finds should be interpreted as the foundations of a country house built by the provost in the centre of the Lubin estate in the late Middle Ages. Its main part was a residential tower, modelled on castles in the nearby provinces of Mecklemburg and Brandenburg. The furnishings imply that the owner was very well-off. The tower was dismantled or destroyed in the 16th c., soon after the chapter lost the Lubin estate in 1579, and the area of the former stronghold ceased to be used for residential purposes

Pielgrzymki pomorskie w średniowieczu. Stan i perspektywy badań

Kult świętych i ich relikwii przejawiał się w średniowieczu m.in. w ruchu pielgrzymkowym. Autorzy artykułu postawili sobie za cel omówienie źródeł, zarówno archeologicznych, jak i pisanych, oraz stanu badań dotyczących peregrynacji średniowiecznych mieszkańców Pomorza Zachodniego (księstwo szczecińskie, słupskie i dominium biskupów kamieńskich), z wyłączeniem księstwa wołogoskiego. Analizą objęto miejsca pielgrzymkowe położone na Pomorzu Zachodnim, ale także poza nim. Szczególne nadzieje na poszerzenie wiedzy na rozpatrywany temat wiążą się z prowadzeniem badań archeologicznych w miastach lokowanych na prawie niemieckim.The cult of the saints and their relics in the Middle Ages took form – among other things – of the pilgrimage movement. The authors of this article discuss the sources – both archaeological and written – and the state of research on pilgrimages of the Medieval inhabitants of Pomerania the Duchy of Szczecin (Stettin), the Duchy of Słupsk (Stolp) and the dominium of the bishops of Kamień (Kammin), excluding the Duchy of Wołogoszcz (Wolgast). The analysis focus on the shrines situated both in Pomerania and beyond the region. The future progress of the research is expected specially in connection with the archaeological excavations conducted in towns founded according to the German law