The paper presents the Early Medieval history of the Giecz settlement complex and characteristic of its landscape. The stronghold in Giecz is the oldest among the so-called central strongholds of the Piast monarchy, dated to around 865 AD, i.e. to the tribal period. The settlement was located in the vicinity of Góra Górzno - probably a sacred mount. The remains of stone architecture – palatium were dated to the first half of the 11th century. The studies on vegetation history, based on the sediments from fossil lake, provided a Holocene record of environmental changes and development of cultural landscap