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AKTUALNOŚCI

Golden apple Polish archeology

Project information

 

Project title: Golden apple Polish archeology. Teams castles in Czermno and Gródek (Red Cities) - chronology and function in the light of ancient and verification

Project No: 12H 12 0064 81

Project lead: dr hab. Marcin Wołoszyn

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing:Research financed within the National Humanities Programme, a project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in 2012–2015

Contact:

e-mail: marcinwoloszyn@gmail.com
phone/fax 12 422-29-05

Project implementation:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences – Warsaw
Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University – Krakow
Institute of Archaeology Maria Curie-Sklodowska University - Lublin
Institute of Archaeology Rzeszów University - Rzeszów
Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw
Department of Anthropology Sciences - Wroclaw
Museum of Zamosc
Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas – Germany
Institute of History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences - Russia
Institute of Archaeology, Serbian Academy of Sciences - Serbia
University of Florida – USA
Institute of Ethnology. National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

 


Lesser Clergy in medieval Silesia. Prosopographical Analysis of Clerics in Nysa 1250 - 1550

Project information

 

Project title: Lesser Clergy in medieval Silesia. Prosopographical Analysis of Clerics in Nysa 1250 - 1550

Project No: 2014/13/B/HS3/04932

Project lead: dr Ewa Wółkiewicz

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing:National Science Center, 2014-2016

Contact:

e-mail: ewawolkiewicz@op.pl
phone (22) 620-28-81 do 86

Project implementation:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

 

 

Characteristics

 

Project information

 

1. Research project objectives/ Research hypothesis

 

The aim of the project is to examine the functioning of the social group of lower clergy in late medieval Silesia. In previous studies on the clergy as a social group this particular subcategory was taken into account into relatively marginal extent. Existing studies focused mostly on the prosopographical analyses of upper class clerics - i. e the episcopate as well as members of cathedral and collegiate chapters. Therefore, to recognize properly a role of the clergy and its impact on laic milieu in a medieval town, it seems important to focus on a group of parsons, vicars and other numerous representatives of the lower clergy on the parochial level. Despite the emergence of several prosopographical works on the lower Silesian town clergy in recent years many threads of research has not yet been adequately developed in the synthesizing form. The most important of these issues seems to be undoubtedly a matter of literate practice and mentality of late medieval clergymen. Preserved literary sources provide a convenient opportunity to complement existing knowledge on forms of written communication in the aforementioned period. An important issue to be raised of the project is also a verification of the thesis concerning the progressive impoverishment of the lower clergy group in the late fifteenth century, which may have contributed to numerous accession of this "ecclesiastical proletariat" to the ideas of the Reformation.
Research field for such outlined issues will be mainly late medieval Nysa (Neisse), which primarily justifies a relatively abundant source database providing types of records unique across Central Europe. The town of five thousand inhabitants which can serve as a an example of a typical medium-sized urban settlement in Silesia is also a convenient starting point for further research of other localities. The chronological framework of the project is on the one hand the first half of the thirteenth century, when the earliest attested mention of the clergy in Nysa emerged, and the second half of the sixteenth century, when the city was strongly influenced by the Reformation movement. Such a broad chronological perspective allows to trace also biographies of the priests who were ordained before 1517, and by means of that a complex confessional situation in the second quarter of the sixteenth century.

 

2. Research project methodology

 

A study on the lesser clergy in the late Middle Ages requires a comprehensive archival research covering archival collections both urban, as well as ecclesiastical provenance. Due to the dispersion of the archives the queries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany will be necessary. Very important is also a detailed analysis of papal documents - relating both to bestowals of benefices, as well as documentation of the Apostolic Penitentiary, including cases of offenses committed by clergy. For comparative context it will be necessary to collect secondary literature on the subject, especially for the area of the German Reich, the Czech Crown and the Polish Kingdom. Preparing a comprehensive catalogue of clergy allows the framing the aforementioned social group with prosopographical and statistical methods.

 

3. Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society

 

The project will examine the important group of medieval society, which remains as so far not accurately recognized even in Western literature. The basis of the research will be unpublished archival sources, not used before in the study. The results will be published in a monograph combined with a biographical catalogue of the analyzed group. It is also planned to prepare a paper presenting the main findings of the research in English. The collected data can be used not only for the study of social history, but also the future development of the late medieval genealogy. Work will also provide an important contribution to the study of late medieval literate mentality and history of the Church.

 


Textile production in Bronze Age Greece – comparative studies of the Aegean weaving techniques

Project information

 

Project title: Textile production in Bronze Age Greece – comparative studies of the Aegean weaving techniques

Project lead: Dr Agata Ulanowska

Project financing: FUGA. Post-doctoral internship of the National Science Centre in Poland

Contact:

e-mail: a.ulanowska@uw.edu.pl

 

 

Project implementation

 

Institutions involved:

Centre for Research on Ancient Technologies in Łódź

Researchers involved:

dr Agata Ulanowska - Post-Doc
Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Maik - Supervisor

 

 

Characteristics

 

Research objectives:

The main objective of the research project "Textile production in Bronze Age Greece – comparative studies of the Aegean weaving techniques" is to investigate the level of technical advancement and specialization of textile craft in Greece in the third and the second millennia BCE.
Textile production has been one of the key crafts in the Aegean Bronze Age because of its complex and time-consuming technology, high level of direct involvement of society in all operational sequences of production and economic and symbolic importance of textiles. However, the overall level of the specialization of textile craft has not yet been approached from the technical angle, being though intensively analyzed in terms of various professional designations of textile workers recorded in Linear B archives of Mycenaean palaces.
In my project I aim to fill up this gap by investigating and defining textile techniques of the Aegean Bronze Age and, subsequently, by evaluating the level of their technical advancement, standardization, and by characterizing specialist requirements of a necessary equipment.

My aims will be achieved by completing a series of research tasks, described as following:

1. Comparative studies of Bronze Age archaeological textiles.

In this task parameters and structure of archaeological textiles from Bronze Age Greece will be compared with technical parameters of other textiles from Bronze Age archaeological contexts which have been produced from similar fibres, such as wool and flax and by use of similar implements, such as the warp weighted loom.
A piece of experimentally woven fabric of parameters coping the structure of three fragments of an archaeological textile from the shaft grave N of Circle B in Mycenae (National Archaeological Museum of Athens, catalogue numbers 8591, 8592 & 8589) will be executed and evaluated in terms of its technical requirements.

2. Investigating the techniques of use of textile tools and evaluating specialization or multi-functionality of tools; mapping their spatial and diachronic distribution patterns

Technical analysis of the functionality of textile tools in advanced weaving techniques.
Comparative studies of specialized implements from Bronze Age Greece and Anatolia.

3. Investigating iconography of textile weaves and patterns in Aegean art; reconstruction of weaving and decoration techniques based on the imagery of textiles.

Examining imagery of patterns and weaves.
Technical and aesthetic evaluation of experimentally woven samples of textile patterns and weaves executed to imitate the iconographic motifs.

4. Comparative studies of ergonomics of weaving techniques; examining of the level of standardization or specialization of weaving technology.

Innovative aspects and research outcomes of the project:

The research results of the project will contribute to our knowledge about textile technology and fabrics produced in Bronze Age Greece and they will introduce a novel data into academic discourse about the level of specialization of textile craft in the Aegean cultures. The results will particularly enhance the following new horizons in the research:

New prospects in studies on organization and specialization of textile production in Bronze Age Greece.
Broader comparative approach to textile technology including new experimentally generated analogies.
Deeper understanding of the materiality of culture by linking up reconstructed textile techniques and archaeologically preserved tools.
Deeper understanding of textile technology and socio-cultural position of textile workers, including the substantial role of women in textile craft.

 


Vetera et nova. Re-coding and cataloguing archaeological source material using new research methods

Project information

 

Project title: Vetera et nova. Re-coding and cataloguing archaeological source material using new research methods

Project lead: Dr hab. Zofia Sulgostowska, Professor at IAE PAN

Project lead, institutional Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (IAE PAN)
Project financing: Research financed within the National Humanities Programme, a project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in 2012–2015

NPRH logo

Contact:

e-mail: sulg@iaepan.edu.pl
telephone 22 620.28.82-87

 

 

Project implementation

 

Project title: Vetera et nova. Re-coding and cataloguing archaeological source material using new research methods

Project lead: Dr hab. Zofia Sulgostowska, Professor at IAE PAN

Project lead, institutional Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (IAE PAN)
Project financing: Research financed within the National Humanities Programme, a project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in 2012–2015The project will be implementation by the following archaeologists, researchers of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (IAE PAN) specialising in particular epochs:

Dr hab. Zofia Sulgostowska, Associate Professor at IAE PAN - project lead
Dr Małgorzata Mogielnicka- Urban – deputy project lead
Dr Tadeusz Baranowski
Dr Magdalena Bis
Mgr Wojciech Bis
Dr Tomasz Boroń
Dr Maria Dąbrowska
Dr Hanna Kowalewska-Marszałek
Dr Jolanta Sadowska-Topór
Dr Joanna Urban

Also contributing to the project will be these retired researchers of the IAE PAN Institute:

Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Kruppé
Prof. dr hab. Romuald Schild
Mgr Halina Królik

A shared coding/cataloguing process by experienced retired archaeologists who conducted fieldwork on the sites under study and their younger colleagues will offer the latter a valuable opportunity for professional advancement, while also guaranteeing the high quality of the publication. The researchers from outside the IAE PAN Institute are, for the most part, natural scientists. Also see the list of authors and editors in the “Project timetable” section plus the following photograph.

 

 

fot 2

 

Project team (front row, left to right: M. Mogielnicka-Urban, R. Schild, Z. Sulgostowska, W. Bis, M. Bis, M. Dąbrowska, J. Kruppe, H. Królik, H. Kowalewska- Marszałek, J. Urban, T. Boroń)

 

Characteristics

 

Research objective:

In a situation where the modern conservation ideas have effectively narrowed the inflow of new materials from archaeological sites explored by noninvasive excavation methods, an expansion of the source base — so much important for studying the distant past of Polish lands — can be achieved by taking a modern approach to the already investigated sites. Modern archaeology has at its disposal new methods — such as palaeobotanical analysis (traces of macro and micro remains on pug/cob and pottery), traseology, petrographic analysis of flint and stone artefacts, analysis of the chemical composition of ceramics, metals, etc. — which produce a huge influx of previously unknown data, yielding fascinating insights into the study of past societies and cultures. Thanks to a prolonged effort to document the available sources, drawings and photographs (using the scanning electron microscope), the achievements of field expeditions of even many years ago will not be wasted. With the publications of the materials listed below, the teamwork findings from sites of importance for successive stages in the prehistory of Polish lands will be introduced into the lifeblood of academic exchange. The selected archaeological sites are venues of fieldwork conducted since as early as the 1950s by the Institute for History of Material Culture (now, the IAE PAN Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology). We now have the last chance for the project to be, at least partially, joined by researchers who conducted excavation work at that time. This, combined with the presence of young researchers, will help ensure a generational continuity, so much important for all disciplines of humanities.
The project deals with questions relating to nearly all prehistoric epochs — from the Palaeolithic to the modern times — and different parts of Poland. It is pursued by researchers from different Centres of the IAE PAN Institute, and also from other institutions involved in the study of the past.

Detailed goals of the project:

Following the decision to reduce the funds available (from 5,362,999 zloty to 1,500,000 zloty) and shorten project duration (from 60 to 36 months), the previous version of the project and its finances were subjected to careful analysis and reassessment. In the new circumstances, the Institute will scale down publications to 8 volumes of the monograph which — in accordance with the modern standards and with project application — present selected sites covering epochs from prehistory to modern times. With the funds reduced, the selected sites are the least cost-intensive ones.
For the oldest prehistoric era, the Palaeolithic, these are sites left by hunter-gatherer communities settled on the Polish Plain — in central Poland (Całowanie) and the east of the country (Nieborowa, in Western Polesie region). They are selected for the high level of source quality, reflecting methodical excavation work and the preserved fieldwork documentation. To be ready for publication, they only need some additional handling and processing. They represent the type of open settlement from the Late Palaeolithic–Mesolithic (Całowanie) or Palaeolithic–Early Iron Age (Nieborowa), adding to our knowledge of European Plain settlement in those times.
The next one among the selected sites, dating back to the Neolithic, is a defensive settlement in Sandomierz on Wzgórze Zawichojskie hill, Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, which was explored in 1981—1989. The materials gathered will make it possible to reconstruct the palaeography of Wzgórze Zawichojskie of the Atlantic and Subboreal periods (when the settlement under study was in use), namely to reconstruct the morphology of the hill itself and the immediately neighbouring area, and also to reconstruct that area’s hydrography and plant community. The cataloguing and publication of the materials, with account taken of their settlement context, will provide a highly valuable complement to the already available data on settlement in the Sandomierz Region (Ziemia Sandomierska), a so important area for Neolithic studies.
In the Bronze and Early Iron Age, the Polish lands were largely inhabited by Lusatian communites. The cataloguing of research findings from the settlement on site 3 in Słubice, outside Gostynin, Mazowieckie Voivodship — where, for example, materials left by the preceeding Trzciniec culture inhabitants were found — is of paramount importance, providing a valuable insight into the prehistoric past of East Bank Masovia which is rarely present in academic studies.
The second part of the volume will catalogue ceramic materials from excavation research (mostly trial excavations), conducted in the 1960s and 1970s on Early Medieval sites around Warsaw — in Błonie (a gród stronghold) and Kopytowo in what is today Grójec Poviat (In Dziarnów, site 3; in Grójec, Stara Warka, site 1 – gród stronghold) — and in what is today Świętokrzyskie Voivodship (Szewna – Medieval conical gród stronghold).
As part of the programme to study the history of small towns in the pre-partition Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, archaeological excavations were conducted in Solec and Janowiec on the Vistula. The project will make possible the publication of Mgr Magdalena Bis’s doctoral dissertation devoted to Solec ceramics, which may importantly add to our knowledge of this specific pottery segment.
A comprehensive research of Janowiec will be crowned with an archaeological-historical monograph, presenting this small town’s past in diverse aspects, which is especially interesting because research of this kind has not been carried out so far. The publication of the findings will not only throw light on the history of a single small town, it will also represent —pars pro toto — many other similar small towns, so characteristic of modern-day Poland.
The finds from Tykocin castle research provide an important complement to the available archaeological sources on the origins of the Tykocin estate. In the Late Middle Ages, it was the fortified seat of the Gasztołd family, then a Renaissance castle of King Sigismund Augustus, and later a 17th century fortress. Cataloguing and handling so numerous and so diverse collection of sources will provide a valuable contribution, not only to studying the history of Tykocin castle and the living conditions of its inhabitants, but also for the archaeology of the Late Medieval and Modern times.

Measures to achieve the goals:

The methods to be employed in project implementation represent, for the most part, the standard approaches to description and analysis of portable and non-portable source material, obtained through Archaeology’s typical method of excavation. As this stage of work, it is imperative that documentation in the form of drawings and photographs should be provided. It is planned that a wide range of specialist research will be conducted on a wide scale, producing findings which are expected to expand our knowledge of questions such as production methods for particular artefacts, the raw materials used, the usage patterns for some tools and other objects. The following kinds of analysis are planned: palaeobotanical (traces of macro and micro remains on pug/cob and pottery), archaeozoological, trace (traseological) analysis of flint tools, petrographic analysis of stone artefacts, and analysis of fill layers. There are also plans for laboratory analyses of the chemical composition of ceramics and metals, geological analysis of the immediate surroundings of the sites under study, and comparative metal-science research of bog ores and metallic artefacts, and also petrographic research of local clay and ceramics. Radiocarbon dating and thermoluminescence dating is also planned. Interdisciplinary research is becoming a standard approach in humanities.

Outcome characteristics:

The outcome of the project will take the form of publication of 8 volumes about the most important sites, covering the whole prehistoric epoch from the Palaeolithic, and also historic times: the Middle Ages and the modern period. Each volume will carry a summary (around one-tenth of the overall content of the volume), in either German or English. Two volumes will be wholly published in those languages (Całowanie and Tumiany settlement). The sequence of publications will be contingent on the degree of project advancement. Work to be conducted on sites with numerous and diversified materials —requiring many different specialist analyses — will certainly take a longer time.
Below, aggregate data on individual volumes are provided, followed by more extensive presentations — by editors of the respective volumes — full with illustrative material about the sites being the subjects of the planned monographs.

Project timetable:
Volume Project name and description Project implementation time (months)
1. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Całowanie site, Mazowieckie Voivodship. Print-ready copy and publication in the English language: Collective work, Romuald Schild (ed.)::
A FINAL PALAEOLITHIC AND EARLY MESOLITHIC SITE ON AN ISLAND IN THE FOSSIL VISTULA CHANNEL 30
2. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Nieborowa site, Lubelskie Voivodship . Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Tomasz Boroń . T. Boroń (ed.):
MIKROREGION NIEBOROWEJ NA POLESIU LUBELSKIM: OD EPOKI KAMIENIA PO WCZESNĄ EPOKĘ ŻELAZA [Nieborowa microregion in Western Polesie: from the Stone Age to Early Iron Age] 30
3. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Sandomierz-Wzgórze Zawichojskie site, Kieleckie Voivodship. Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Hanna Kowalewska-Marszałek. H. Kowalewska-Marszałek (ed.):
SANDOMIERZ - WZGÓRZE ZAWICHOJSKIE: NEOLITYCZNA OSADA OBRONNA I JEJ ZAPLECZE OSADNICZE [Sandomierz-Wzgórze Zawichojskie: Neolithic defensive settlement and its settlement base] 36
4. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Masovia. Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Collective work, M. Mogielnicka-Urban (ed.):
MATERIAŁY DO OSADNICTWA NA MAZOWSZU [Materials on Masovian settlement] 30
5. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Tumiany site, Warmińsko-mazurskie Voivodship . Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Collective work in the German language, Tadeusz Baranowski (ed.):
VÖLKERWANDERUNGSZEITLICHE SIEDLUNG VON TUMIANY (DAUMEN) IM KREISE ALLENSTEIN 36
6. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Tykocin site, Podlaskie Voivodship. Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Collective work, M. and W. Bis (eds)
TYKOCIN-ZAMEK NAD NARWIĄ (XV-XVIII W.) [Tykocin, a castle on the Narew River, 15th–18th centuries] 36
7. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Janowiec site, Lubelskie Voivodship. Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Collective work, Jerzy Kruppé and Maria Dąbrowska (eds):
JANOWIEC NAD WISŁĄ. ŹRÓDŁA DO DZIEJÓW MIASTA (XV-XVIII W.) [Janowiec on the Vistula: Sources on history of the town, 15th-18th centuries] 36
8. Cataloguing archaeological sources from Solec sites, Lubelskie Voivodship. Print-ready copy and publication of the monograph: Magdalena Bis, M. Bis (ed.)
PÓŹNOŚREDNIOWIECZNE I WCZESNONOWOŻYTNE NACZYNIA BIAŁE Z SOLCA NAD WISŁĄ [Late Medieval and Early Modern white vessels from Solec on the Vistula] 24

Planned results:

The publication of the eight volumes of the monograph of carefully researched sites, catalogued in compliance with modern methodology, will be of considerable importance for the Polish society’s heritage and culture. Along with providing revealing insights into history, both at the regional and national level, it will make it possible to place the project findings within the context of European archaeological achievements — remembering that the communities inhabiting Polish lands have maintained inter-regional and long-distance contacts since times immemorial.
The findings of research into sites of different chronology and of different venues will likely prove of significant value for piecing together a picture of past environmental conditions, from the Late Pleistocene to the modern times. They will also help study man’s impact on the surrounding world, by means of gathering, hunting and, in later periods, farming the land, raising animals and taking other economic activities, aimed not only to acquire food but also various kinds of raw materials which, with the passage of successive centuries and millennia, were being processed at an increasing scale. This will make it possible to assess the extent of anthropomorphic pressure on the environment from prehistoric and early modern communities.

 


Constantinople-Kucukcekmece – the Destination Port of the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks, a Centre of “Byzantinization” of the Rus' Community

Project information

 

Project title: Constantinople-Kucukcekmece – the Destination Port of the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks, a Centre of “Byzantinization” of the Rus' Community

Project No: 2014/14/E/HS3/00679

Project lead: dr Błażej Michał Stanisławski

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing:National Science Center, 2014-2016

Contact:

e-mail: st-wski@wp.pl
phone (22) 620-28-81 do 86

Project implementation:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

 

 

Characteristics

 

1. Research project objectives/ Research hypothesis

 

The Way from the Varangians to the Greeks linked Eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea zone with Constantinople. Through the route Byzantine goods and ideas reached the North. The ideas which, amongst others, created foundations of medieval European civilization in our part of the continent. The artery functioned as the result of relations between the Rus'/Scandinavians and Byzantines started in the 9th and continued in the 10th century. Their testimony are treaties from 911 and 944 mentioned in the Nestor's Chronicle (Tale of Bygone Years). Under the agreements the Rus' gained the right to stay in the neighbourhood of Constantinople.
The aim is: to locate the place of stay of the Rus' at the gates of the capital of the Empire based on material and written sources (Greek and Latin); reconstruction of the cultural environment - based on archaeological data and historical texts - in which directly lived newcomers from Eastern Europe in Miklagard and determination of the impact of this environment on their culture.
The basis of the project is the hypothesis that the Byzantine settlement complex situated at Kucukcekmece Lake near Istanbul was the destination port ofthe route, perhaps identical with the zone appointed to the Rus' as their place ofresidence at the gates of Constantinople mentioned in the treaties. This concept was formulated by S. Aydingün and H. Öniz - the leaders of the excavations in Kucukcekmece. It is confirmed by artefacts of Rus'/Scandinavian origins discovered there, identified by the author of the project.
The resoult of the project will be the text of a monograph prepared for publication.

 

2. Research project methodology

 

The interdisciplinary project combines the experience of Polish and Turkish medieval studies. It includes specialists in archaeology (Viking culture, Byzantine studies, land and underwater excavations), classical philology, history and architecture. Its basis are studies of material sources obtained as a result of archaeological work in Kucukcekmece (using the classical and the latest methods of field prospection and documentation) as well as historical research of written sources (Greek and Latin) associated with this centre and problems in question.

 

3. Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society

 

The project will contribute to the perception of the cultural environment in which the first direct contact of communities from our part of the continent and the Byzantine civilization occurred and we will be able to recognize the Byzantine impact on the newcomers from the North.
It will create a new source foundation and fields to discussion within studies carried out in recent years, which aim to: (1) to illustrate the socio-economic background, against which the process offormation offirst states in the Early Middle Ages occurred, with particular emphasis on the role played by the Scandinavians; and (2) to study problems associated with the beginnings of the medieval European civilization started by L. Leciejewicz (Nowa postać świata, Wrocław 2000). It will also contribute to resurrect the tradition of Wrocław Byzantine studies, initiated by G. Ostrogorski and Mediterranean archaeology of the Middle Ages, created by L. Leciejewicz.


„Paleo-Urban” Studies of northern and western Polish lands in early medieval times in the light of archaeological research

Project information

 

Project title: „Paleo-Urban” Studies of northern and western Polish lands in early medieval times in the light of archaeological research. Interdisciplinary research of economic and sociotopographical development of medieval centers of northern and western Polish lands in the light of archaeological sources

Project No: 2014/12/S/HS3/00013

Project lead: dr Michał Sołtysiak

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing: FUGA. Post-doctoral internship of the National Science Centre in Poland

Contact:

e-mail: mjsol@gazeta.pl
phone (22) 620-28-81 do 86

Project implementation:

dr Michał Sołtysiak - Applicant
prof. dr hab. corresponding member – PAS Andrzej Buko - Scientific advisor

 

 

Characteristics

 

So far, archeology often had to settle for the status of an auxiliary science in research of the medieval urbanization, and its findings were regarded as a complement to the image of this phenomenon, and sometimes even as a secondary data. Urban Studies, as a science dealing with the history of urban development generally focuses on the later periods than the Middle Ages. Its range is typically tested modern city, and the inference is focused on references to today's urban infrastructure, with an emphasis on planning analysis, study the relationship of infrastructure and groups of citizens and to protect the natural and cultural environment . So called " Paleo-Urban” Studies would be an attempt to broaden the plane of the research, the enriching of use of archaeological sources in the urban reflection and creation of research techniques and conceptual study of medieval towns of the Polish lands.

New discoveries and publications materials from previous studies led to the constitution of the whole entire department of archeology, dealing with the interdisciplinary study of historic cities. An attempt to adapt the theories and models of the Urban Studies seems to be necessary to enrich the theoretical workshop created for the needs of urban archeology. The result of adapting the concept developed for the urban planning would be the possibility of developing the more complete analysis of the transformation of strongholds in the towns and cities and the observation of the determinants of these changes.

The basic scope of the source for the study of medieval centers in the northern and western Polish lands, that were prepared already to the needs of my doctoral dissertation, will be enriched during query research for the purpose of verification and update of the status of research for the issues analyzed in the period from the tenth to the thirteenth century. This will be the continuation of my research on the phenomenon of urbanization and the development of social and economic centers of existing northern and western Polish lands. I dealt with this subject both in the master thesis (defining the city in West Pomerania), as well as in the doctoral thesis (analysis of the economic development of the city of West Pomerania in the light of archeology)

The concept of interdisciplinary model research workshop for the issue of urban development history, forming the basis for "Paleo-Urban” Studies could fill the gap in the study of the phenomenon of urbanization on Polish territory in the past. Cities of Piast and Pomeranian centers related or subordinate to them, with all their historiography and excellent research results, ideally act as a foundation for such model, to create the conceptual and theoretical workshop for „Paleo-Urban” Studies of northern and western Polish lands in early medieval times.

 


Coinage of the prince of Poland Bolesław III the Wrymouth

  Project information

 

Project title: Coinage of the prince of Poland Bolesław III the Wrymouth

Project No: 2014/13/N/HS3/04592

Project lead: mgr Grzegorz Śnieżko

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing:National Science Center, 2014-2016

Contact:

e-mail: g.sniezko@poczta.onet.pl
phone (22) 620-28-81 do 86

Project implementation:

mgr Grzegorz Śnieżko - Project lead
prof. dr hab. Stanisław Jerzy Suchodolski - Scientific advisior

 

 

Characteristics

 

1. Research project objectives/ Research hypothesis

 

The planned project takes up issues of monetary policy and coinage organization of the Polish prince Bolesław III the Wrymouth. This problem has not been taken in previous researches in a satisfactory way. It results in the existence of a significant gap in the knowledge of the history of money in that part of Europe for almost 40 years.
The intended research will direct to recognition of technological aspects of coin production, such as methods of applying images and inscriptions on coin dies, emission, organization of coinage and assigning it results to the specific mints. Another important issue, that will be undertaken, is a problem of implementation of the renovatio monetae system (re-coinage), made by Bolesław III the Wrymouth, as the first Polish ruler.
Realization of the described project, will result in the preparation of a doctoral dissertation targeted on comprehensive elaboration of a coinage of that Polish prince.

 

2. Research project methodology

 

The planned research method includes interdisciplinary, divided into complementary phases, realization of the project. During that, there will be applied achievements of such scientific disciplines, as:
a) archaeology - carrying out the surface research in Karczmiska and Wola Skromowska (both in lubelskie voivodeship). Their purpose is to verify in the field two places, where the coin hoards were found. These two deposits have fundamental significance for the elaboration of the coinage of Boles³aw III the Wrymouth. Circumstances described about their discovery indicate the possibility of remaining part of the coins in places, where they were hidden;
b) numismatics:
- distinction of die-varieties among the particular coin types by searching for differences between the images from the coin surface,
- preparation of the die-links consisting of the coins comparative analyses. The purpose of this method is creating chains of a die-links and showing them as graphic schemes. This will allow to make conclusions about their relative chronology and organization of coinage,
- analyses of metrological data and the hoards composition directed to the determination of the chronological and typological relationships between types and separated die-varieties among them;
c) history - the analyses and interpretation of written sources in connection with the numismatic research will allow to establish or to verify already defined dating of particular types and die-varieties;
d) linguistics - analyses of different inscriptions placed on coins;
e) physics and chemistry - non-destructive mass spectrometric coins analyses. Their task is to determine the elemental signature of alloy used to strike the coins. In connection with the historical and numismatic data analyses, they will allow to make inference about the fiscal policy of the ruler and to establish the relative chronology of particular die-varieties of coins.

 

3. Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society

 

It is quite symptomatic that in other countries, history of money of analogical periods, has been well examined. Despite the passage of more than two centuries from first scientific numismatic research, Polish money history from the time directly before the feudal fragmentation is still not elaborated. Preparation of such study is the aim of presented project. Thanks to its realization, there will be the typescript of the doctoral dissertation devoted to the coinage of Bolesław III the Wrymouth prepared. In the future, it will be published as a monograph. Besides the problematic part, its elementary component will be detailed catalogue of all available for research coins from public and private collections. It will be linked with cartographic depiction of coin finds (the last one was prepared more than 40 years ago).
Preparation of this study will have a substantial influence on the progress in research on the history of money in the Middle Ages. Showing in the broader context the results of the planned project, especially in comparison with the countries where the iconographic patterns of coins came from (like Holy Roman Empire of German Nation or Bohemia), will allow to record this conclusions in the European scientific research.

 


Regni custodiam et clavem - Santok i clavis regni Poloniae

Project information

 

Project title: Regni custodiam et clavem - Santok i clavis regni Poloniae - Milicz jako przykład dwóch grodów granicznych. Przygotowanie bazy źródłowej do przeprowadzenia archeologiczno-historycznego studium porównawczego

Project No: 11H 11 0184 80

Project lead: Prof. dr hab. Zofia Hilczer-Kurnatowska

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing: Research financed within the National Humanities Programme, a project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in 2012–2015

Contact:

e-mail: zofia.kurnatowska@gmail.com
phone (22) 620-28-81 do 86

Project implementation:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

 


Changes in the funeral rite in the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age as an expression of socio-cultural changes in the south-western Poland

Project information

 

Project title: Changes in the funeral rite in the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age as an expression of socio-cultural changes in the south-western Poland

Project No: 2014/15/B/HS3/2463

Project lead: prof. zw. dr hab. Bogusław Gediga

Project lead, institutional: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Project financing:National Science Center, 2014-2016

Contact:

e-mail: bge@arch.pan.wroc.pl
phone (22) 620-28-81 do 86

Project implementation:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

 

 

Characteristics

 

1. Research project objectives/ Research hypothesis

 

The basic aim of project is to present changes taking place in the burial rite in period from the Middle Bronze Age up to the Early Iron Age in the south-western Poland. The base for the research will be primarily results obtained at the cemetery in Domasław 10/11/12, distr. Wrocław. On this necropolis was excavated over 2100 burial objects, showing multiple changes in funeral customs for over 800 years of bury the deceased by the community living in the neighborhood. Among the issues that will be the subject of research is the question about the reasons for so long uses of cemetery, especially that from the Early Iron Age is emerging essential change in the culture ofthe community, which may suggest even some demographic changes. On this background, the analyzing of changes in funeral rites is the most important aspect in this culture. It will be necessary to develop the periodisation of the observed cultural changes, especially in the phase when the Silesia region can be defined as a regional province of Hallstatt culture (Gediga 2010). For its implementation it will be important to obtain more absolute dates. Image of cultural changes, particularly manifested in the rites of burial, will be correlate with similar events in the Greater Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria and south of Germany.

 

2. Research project methodology

 

Phases ofusing the cemetery will be distinguish on the basis ofthe observed changes taking place over the centuries, what is visible in the burial customs. In order to capture dependencies, which influenced to those changes, the analysis of grave forms, their internal structures and grave goods will be made. It will be correlated with formal and stylistic analysis of artifacts and their distribution. These studies will be made using a database and GIS tools, what allow to perform complex analysis of structures and processes in the cemetery and to determine the time-space relationship between the graves and their components. In order to obtain a large number of absolute dates the radiocarbon and thermoluminescence analysis will be carried out for selected ceramics artifacts and bones from distinguished phases of cemetery. In this way it will be possible to build a periodisation system of the Domasław cemetery and confirm previously observed cultural changes. The results will be related to the cultural situation on the sites from neighboring areas and will help answer if the rhythm of changes observed in Domasław is reflected in archaeological sitesthat are part of a larger zone of Hallstatt culture.

 

3. Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society

 

For the first time on such a large scale it will be taken an attempt to recognize influences which have arrived to the south¬western part of Poland and became a catalyst for broader cultural changes, especially in the burial rites. Important for the study of the Bronze and Early Iron Age, will be acquiring the means to create a periodisation system for the cemetery. This is possible only for broad-scale excavated archaeological sites, like Domasław, what's allowed to show large, chronologically different areas. This situation allows for the existence of significant number of absolute dates that can be analyzed aimed at the creation of periodisation. In view of the increase number of sources and new methods for determining the absolute chronology, it becomes possible to verify and create the foundation for the construction of a local scheme of periodisation. Issues of periodisation are one of the most important demands of archeology, especially for the Bronze and Early Iron Age. Individual results will be presented at international conferences (XVth IC Popelnicová pole a doba halstatská, 23rd Annual Meeting of the EAA), published in prestigious publications (Radiocarbon, Przegląd Archeologiczny). All results will be issued in the form ofbook in Polish with abstracts in English. In this way they will be introduced to scientific knowledge, what will allow for a review of perception this part of prehistory and influence the effectiveness of further study.

 


Mythicised versions of the (non-)ethnic Other in 20th - and 21st -century visual representations. Analysis of press and pamphlets

Project information

 

Project title: Mythicised versions of the (non-)ethnic Other in 20th - and 21st -century visual representations. Analysis of press and pamphlets

Project No: 0139/NPRH2/H12/81/2012
Project lead:Dr hab. Dagnosław Demski, prof. IAE PAN
Project lead, institutional: IAE PAN
Project financing: NPRH 2012

 

NPRH logo

 

Contact:
- e-mail d.demski2@gmail.com
- phone 22 620288

 

Project implementation

 

Instutions invorad:

Name of institution: Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava; Institute of Ethnology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest; Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. Responsibilities: conference co-organiser (Bratislava), conference participations

Researchers involved:

Forename, surname: Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska
Responsibilities: editor, archive/library query, author of article

Forename, surname: Magdalena Sztandara
Responsibilities: editor, archive/library query, author of article

Forename, surname: Maria Godyń
Responsibilities: archive/library query, author of article

Forename, surname: Ewa Baniowska-Kopacz
Responsibilities: archive/library query, author of article

Forename, surname: Tomasz Kalniuk
Responsibilities: archive/library query, author of article

Forename, surname: Aneta Popławska
Responsibilities: archive/library query, author of article

Forename, surname: Ewelina Mokrzecka
Responsibilities: archive/library query

 

Characteristics

 

Research objective:

To continue with an international publishing series devoted to the representation of otherness in particular visual categories and styles characteristic of the latter half of the 20th century

Detailed goals of the project:

To publish articles discussing various kinds of visual materials (photographs, illustrations, caricatures, etc.) appearing in Polish press, against a comparative Eastern European backdrop.

Measures to achieve the goals:

PTeamwork, with each member dealing with different materials. Organisation of two international conferences and delivery of print-ready copies of volumes III and IV. International discussions.

Project timetable:

2013 conference
2014 publication, volume III
2015 conference
2015 editing materials and delivering a print-ready copy of volume IV in the series.