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Polish Early Medieval treasures— Inventory

Project information

 

Project title: Polish Early Medieval treasures— Inventory. Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards in Poland (from 6th to mid-12th centuries)

Project lead: dr Mateusz Bogucki

Project lead, institutional: Centre for Medieval Archaeology of the Baltic Region, IAE PAN Institute, Szczecin-Warszawa
Project financing: Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education – National Humanities Programme, project No. 11H 11 019980

 

 

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Contact:

e-mail: m.bogucki@iaepan.szczecin.pl
phone: 22 620 28 81- 86; 652 19 66

 

 

Project implementation

 

Institutions involved:

Name of institution: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IAE PAN). Responsibilities: Project implementation.

Researchers involved:

Forename, surname: Tadeusz Szczurek
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Greater Poland (Volume I)

Forename, surname: Genowefa Horoszko
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Pomerania (Volume II)

Forename, surname: Jerzy Piniński
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Pomerania (Volume II)

Forename, surname: dr Mateusz Bogucki
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Warmia-Masuria Mazur (Volume II)

Forename, surname: Michał Kulesza
Responsibilities: Collaboration in cataloguing selected coin finds from Pomerania (Volume II)

Forename, surname: Stanisław Suchodolski
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Masovia, Podlasie region and Central Poland (Volume III)

Forename, surname: Dobrochna Gorlińska
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Masovia, Podlasie region and Central Poland (Volume III)

Forename, surname: Piotr Chabrzyk
Responsibilities: Collaboration in cataloguing selected coin finds from Masovia, Podlasie region and Central Poland (Volume III)

Forename, surname: Barbara Butent–Stefaniak
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Silesia (Volume IV)

Forename, surname: Bożena Reyman-Walczak
Responsibilities: Registration of Early Medieval coin hoards from Lesser Poland (Volume IV)

Forename, surname: Peter Ilisch
Responsibilities: Cataloguing and consultation in respect of German coin finds (other than cross denarii)

Forename, surname: Dorota Malarczyk
Responsibilities: Cataloguing Oriental coin finds

Forename, surname: Tomasz Nowakiewicz
Responsibilities: Cataloguing hoard ornaments

Collaborators in registration of coin finds from particular regions: Mgr Zbigniew Bartkowiak, Dr Adam Kędzierski, Prof. dr hab. Borys Paszkiewicz, Mgr Andrzej Romanowski, Mgr Arkadiusz Tabaka, Mgr Maciej Widawski, Mgr Mateusz Woźniak, and others.

 

 

Characteristics

 

Research objective:

To publish all known Early Medieval (6th-mid-12th centuries) coin finds (hoards and single coins) within Poland’s contemporary borders, up to and including 2013. An equally important task will be to build a team of specialists who will develop a mechanism for the regular publication, on a cyclical basis, of newly emerging finds.

Detailed goals of the project:

Coins, their hoards and single finds, are among fundamental sources in the study of Early Medieval economy in Poland and Europe. Inventorying the Polish finds and presenting them in publications is a task of key importance not only for monetary history or economics, but also for archaeological and historical studies at the regional, national and European levels.
A total of 550 Early Medieval hoards and some 1,800 single-coin finds have been registered in Poland so far, with the number of coins estimated at around 200,000. Every year, new discoveries are being made, whether accidentally or as a result of regular excavations. A systematic, cyclical publication of these finds is imperative, remembering that analysis of coin finds is a fixed element in most studies in the fields of monetary history, economic history, archaeological settlement studies and historical studies.
First inventories of Polish Early Medieval Treasures (Polskie Skarby Wczesnośredniowieczne. Inwentarz) were taken in 1959–1966, but they contain too many errors and omissions (reflecting lack of access to foreign collections and archives in that time). The present project, seeking to resume the Inventory of Polish Early Medieval Treasures and update it to 2010, will close the gap between the already completed, or soon-to-be-completed, inventories of coin finds dating back to Antiquity and to the Late Middle Ages.

Project timetable:

Assignment 1: Inventorying finds, delivering a print-ready copy and publishing the work Polskie Skarby Wczesnośredniowieczne. Inwentarz. Volume IV (Lesser Poland, Silesia). Publication: 2013.
Assignment 2 - Inventorying finds, delivering a print-ready copy and publishing the work Polskie Skarby Wczesnośredniowieczne. Inwentarz. Volume III (Masovia, Podlasie, Central Poland). Publication: 2014.
Assignment 3 - Inventorying finds, delivering a print-ready copy and publishing the work Polskie Skarby Wczesnośredniowieczne. Inwentarz. Volume II (Pomerania, Warmia-Masuria). Publication: 2014.
Assignment 4 - Inventorying finds, delivering a print-ready copy and publishing the work Polskie Skarby Wczesnośredniowieczne. Inwentarz. Volume I. (Greater Poland). Publication: 2015.
Assignment 5 - Inventorying finds, delivering a print-ready copy and publishing the work Polskie Skarby Wczesnośredniowieczne. Inwentarz za lata 2011-2013. An index to be enclosed to this volume, in the form of an electronic database, will cover all finds up to and including 2013. Publication: 2015.

Measures to achieve the goals:

The project will be conducted by a diverse team comprising experienced and young numismatists, archaeologists and historians. With its launch, it will be possible to bring up a new generation of researchers, learning in practice the ins and outs of their respective fields of study and — thanks to the direct contacts with source material – acquiring the expertise needed to keep up the high quality of the research.

Planned results:

The tangible outcome of the project will be the publication of four volumes of Inventories of Polish Early Medieval Treasures (PSW), covering the finds to the year 2010 (I – Greater Poland; II – Pomerania, Warmia-Masuria; III – Masovia, Podlasie, Central Poland; IV – Lesser Poland, Silesia), and one (opening volume) with finds from the whole of Poland for 2011–2013.

 

 

Publications

 

Butent-Stefaniak, B., Malarczyk, D. Obieg pieniężny na Śląsku we wczesnym średniowieczu (od X do połowy XII wieku), Wrocław 2009.
PSW I: J. Slaski, S. Tabaczyński, Wczesnośredniowieczne skarby srebrne z Wielkopolski, Polskie Badania Archeologiczne 1, Warszawa-Wrocław 1959.
PSW II: T. i R. Kiersnowscy, Wczesnośredniowieczne skarby srebrne z Pomorza, Polskie Badania Archeologiczne 4, Warszawa- Wrocław 1959.
PSW III: A. Gupieniec, T. i R. Kiersnowscy, Wczesnośredniowieczne skarby srebrne z Polski Środkowej, Mazowsza i Podlasia, Polskie Badania Archeologiczne 10, Wrocław 1965.
PSW IV: M. Haisig, J. Reyman, R. Kiersnowski, "Wczesnośredniowieczne skarby srebrne z Małopolski, Śląska, Warmii i Mazur”, Polskie Badania Archeologiczne 12, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1966.
Suchodolski, S. “Reedycja inwentarza znalezisk monet wczesnośredniowiecznych z obszaru Polski (VI-połowa XII wieku)”, Wiadomości Numizmatyczne XLIV, 2000, Fascicle. 2, pp. 161-170, 2000 2000
Suchodolski S. “Program reedycji inwentarza znalezisk monet wczesnośredniowiecznych z ziem polskich (VI-połowa XII wieku)”, [in:] W. Chudziak, S. Moździoch (eds.), Stan i potrzeby badań nad wczesnym średniowieczem w Polsce - 15 lat później, Toruń 2006, pp. 41-50.