Department of Historical Archaeology

Head of Centre:
dr Maciej Trzeciecki

Warszawa, Al. Solidarności 105
tel. (+48 22) 620 28 81 ÷ 86
email: m.trzeciecki(at)iaepan.edu.pl

The Center for Historical Archeology was established in 2023 as part of the reorganization of the Center for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research. In its assumptions and research practice, it refers to the former Department of Medieval Archeology of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology. The Center associates researchers interested in broadly understood issues of cultural and social changes taking place in Central and Eastern Europe from the beginning of the Middle Ages to the end of the Early Modern Period. The territory in the basins of the middle Vistula, Bug, and Narew rivers occupies a special position in the research agenda. The eastern part of this area has been one of the most important border zones of the continent since at least the 10th century - the meeting place of the Eastern and Western Slavs, Piast Poland, and Kievan Rus, and above all two civilizational circles - the Latin West and the Byzantine-Ruthenian East of Europe. Such territory, for decades considered to be "eternally" backward and uninteresting in research, has recently been the site of many spectacular discoveries, showing the richness of the material culture of the borderland and the complexity of interethnic and social relations shaping its cultural landscape.

The research agenda of the Center focuses on four general issues. The first and foremost focus is on settlement studies, developing the methodology implemented at the Institute of the History of Material Culture, combining field research, studies on written sources, and analysis of finds. Noteworthy, cooperation with local governments and activists, as well as the promotion of the archaeological heritage consist an important part of research strategies. The interdisciplinary research of the early medieval settlement microregion of the Chodelka River, including the stronghold in Chodlik, as well as studies on the natural and anthropogenic conditions of the formation of the settlement network of the middle Bug River basin, and innovative archeological research in the Białowieża Forest, should be mentioned here at first. An important field of research, partly a continuation of the "millennium" program, is the study of stronghold centers of early Piast Poland and Kievan Rus - both capital (Chełm, Kalisz) and middle-range (Nasielsk, Płock, Radom, Zawichost). Researchers of the Center manage and participate in rescue excavations carried out in recent years in the central (Warsaw) and local (Mielnik) towns of Mazovia and Podlachia.

Another set of issues concerns numismatic research. They focus on the function of coins in the early Middle Ages, the formation of the market in early medieval Poland, the origin of silver used in early medieval Polish coinage, and the importance of coins as a historical source.
Pottery analyses are among the leading topics of the studies on artifacts carried on in the Center. They concentrate on pottery assemblages from both early medieval Polish (Płock, Radom, Kalisz) and Rus strongholds (Czermno/Cherven, Gródek upon the Bug river, Chełm), as well as late medieval and post-medieval Mazovian and Podlachian towns, manors, and villages. The Center also conducts research on the provenance and stylistics of early medieval metal jewelry, and - recently – studies on the early medieval amber artifacts, with the application of physicochemical analyses.

Of key importance is the introduction into scientific circulation of hitherto unpublished results of excavations of pivotal early medieval archaeological sites in Poland. The most important here is the series "Origines Polonorum", already counting 16 volumes, published continuously since 2006. In 2021 it received the KLIO award.