Unknown revolution: archaeology and the beginnings of the polish state

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This text is published in: East Central & Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages, ed. F. Curta, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2005, pp. 162-178.

Andrzej Buko

UNKNOWN REVOLUTION:
ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE POLISH STATE

Introduction

According to the legend of the Piast dynasty recorded in the first Polish Chronicle, that of the twelfth-century monk known as Gallus Anonymus, the origins of the Polish state could be traced back to the ancestors of Mieszko, the first Polish ruler known from historical sources. Many historians regard as particularly important "those matters which were recorded by faithful memory," as the chronicler himself put it.[1]

As a consequence, despite the lack of any written sources concerning Poland prior to the conversion to Christianity in 966, the period between the late eighth and the early tenth century was traditionally viewed as the last formative stage leading to the rise of the Polish medieval state.[2] According to such views, the development of early urban centers and the rise of the state followed the same evolutionary scheme. The state was the end result of internal social, economic, and cultural changes, as well as of a process of political consolidation of regional tribal communities between the seventh and the ninth centuries. Similarly, urban centers grew from tribal centers into strongholds and administrative centers of the early Piast state.

There was, however, little support for the idea that the rise of both the Piast state and the early urban centers coincided with the earliest Piast rulers known from historical sources. Such coincidences recalled the event history condemned by Braudel's longue durée, in itself an outgrowth of the structuralist approach to history.[3]

Archaeological research of the last decade produced, however, a significant body of evidence pertaining to the rise of the Polish medieval state. The use of such dating techniques as dendrochronology allowed much refinement of previous textbook conclusions. This has in turn raised new questions about the history of the early Piast state. In this paper, I intend to summarize the discussion opened by this body of archaeological evidence and to suggest some possible solutions.

The tribal period: consolidation or decline?

unknown_revolution_01Fig. 1. Map of location of principal regional tribes on Polish territory in the late 9th and 10th centuries (drought: M. Trzeciecki)
Despite unquestionable progress made in the last few years, the study of the Early Slav and tribal period (sixth to early tenth centuries) has left many unanswered questions. One of the key problems requiring resolution is that of when and how did strongholds emerge in medieval Poland. Are such fortified settlements to be associated with different regions at different times, as it was often thought, or did they appear only at the end of the "tribal period," i.e. during the ninth century? The latter suggestion is now substantiated by an increasing number of dates obtained by the analysis of tree-rings. This in turn raises new questions regarding the interpretation of the historical record. For example, it is not clear why the Polanians, the tribe which was to give rise to the Polish state under the Piast dynasty, do not appear in the list of a ninth-century source known as the Bavarian Geographer. The list does, however, mention the tribe of the Glopeans with no less than 400 civitates, but the name of this tribe does not appear in any other source. Are the Glopeans and the Polanians one and the same tribe, and if so, under what circumstances did the change of name take place? What happened to the ninth-century Glopeans, one of the largest groups listed by the Bavarian Geographer, if we are to judge by the listed number of civitates? How did the name Polanians emerge, from which the name of the Polish state derives (Fig. 1)? Do the civitates of the Bavarian Geographer represent strongholds, or was this a general term for settlement clusters?

unknown_revolution_02Fig. 2. Holy Cross Benedictine Monastery sited in early 12th century on Lysiec mount (Holy Cross Mountains, southern Poland), over old paganic cult center (photo: A. Buko).
Little is known about the sudden growth of religious centers in ninth-century Poland and no satisfactory explanation has so far been advanced for their dramatic decline. Should their construction be interpreted as an attempt to organize pan-tribal centers, the precursors of statehood? What caused their collapse and under what circumstances were they abandoned? Sometime on their place the oldest monasteries were sited (Fig. 2). Further questions concern the likelihood of a migration into southern Poland (or Poland, in general) from Christian communities south of the Carpathian Mountains. Indeed, it remains debatable whether or not Christian communities existed on Polish territory before the conversion to Christianity of the Polanian elite.[4]

Recent research on early medieval strongholds in Mazovia, many of which have been re-dated by means of dendrochronology, provides answers to some of these questions. Many strongholds seem to have been built in the late 800s or early 900s, just before the Piast "revolution" in Great Poland. In addition, they were in use for a brief period, perhaps no more than a generation.[5] Why did they appear so late and were destroyed so quickly? The possibility exists that such strongholds were built as means of defense against the threat of the neighboring Polanians. If so, the archaeological evidence suggests that the threat could not be contained, which may explain the short duration of the habitation phase on such sites.

unknown_revolution_03Fig. 3. Ceramic "tablet" from Podebłocie (ninth-century settlement in eastern Poland) with hypothetical inscriptions of Jesus Christ monogram (photo M. Gmur)
The issue of when did inhumation begin to replace other burial rites in Poland is still a controversial one. The traditional explanation has been that it must have taken place during the second half of the tenth century, in connection with the conversion to Christianity, but some archaeologists recently argued for a much earlier date.[6] Equally controversial is the question of the mission from Moravia and the use of Slavic liturgy in Poland before the conversion of Mieszko. The question was raised by a number of post-war excavations in southern Poland, as well as by recent finds from Podebłocie, which some interpreted as "tablets" with inscriptions (Fig. 3).[7] According to the Life of St. Methodius, the Vistulans in southern Poland were ruled by a mighty pagan prince "who did much harm to the Christians". It has been suggested that the polity of the Vistulans may have been in an advanced process of power centralization.[8] If so, what was the function of strongholds found in the region, which, unlike any other similar sites in Poland, have earthen ramparts of considerable size, but only few remains of internal structures?

Despite extensive work in the last few decades, it has not been possible to locate the main center of the Vistulan polity. Many believe that that center must have been in Cracow, the capital of the Polish state from the eleventh century onwards. However, detailed excavations on the Wawel Hill produced no traces of what might have been the oldest fortifications of the alleged central place, while the earliest fortifications are clearly from the early eleventh century.[9]

unknown_revolution_04Fig. 4. Great barrows from southern Poland, presumed symbols of chief power from pagan times: example of Krak barrow in Cracow (late 8th century) (photo: A. Buko)
A number of large burial mounds in southern Poland constitute a separate problem. Many share the same features and may have been inspired by the same set of symbols and beliefs or associated with the similar attributes of power.[10] Are barrows in southern Poland to be seen as princely burials, perhaps similar to many such monuments in contemporary Europe, especially in Scandinavia (Fig. 4)? If so, and if such barrows are to be associated with the evidence of strongholds, those for whom they were both erected were not state founders. According to the recent dendrochronological analysis, with few exceptions, all strongholds were built at the same time and ended in destruction by fire at about the same time as the Polanian state is known to have emerged.

The archaeological evidence thus points to a very complex picture of political developments in Poland prior to the rise of the Piast state. It also indicates that the Piast state had no traditions in the "tribal period" that may have been reflected in the material culture. The archaeological record suggests, therefore, that the account of Gallus Anonymous about the dukes Siemowit, Lestek, and Siemomysł, all predecessors of Mieszko, should be treated as nothing more than a dynastic legend. Such stories were often associated with powerful rulers, eager to present themselves and their family as capable of providing good fortune to their subjects and country. According to Georges Dumézil, such legends appeared independently in different regions of Europe, but had a narrative structure very similar to the Piast legend of Poland.[11]


[1] Anonima tzw. Galla Kronika czyli dzieje książąt i władców polskich, I 1, ed. by K. Maleczyński (Pomniki  dziejowe  Polski, seria 2, vol. 2)(Cracow, 1952); for the English translation, see Michael J. Mikós, Medieval Literature of Poland. An Anthology (New York/London, 1992), p. 6. See also Henryk Łowmiański, Początki Polski, vol. 3 (Warsaw, 1973), pp. 441-443.

[2]Witold Hensel, Archeologia o początkach miast słowiańskich (Wrocław, 1963); B. Miśkiewicz,  "Monarchia wczesnych Piastów (IX w.-1138)," in Dzieje Polski, ed. by Jerzy Topolski (Warsaw, 1977), pp. 88-90.

[3]Fernand Braudel, Historia i trwanie (Warsaw, 1971).

[4]Jerzy Gąssowski, "Archeologia o schyłku pogaństwa," Archeologia Polski 37 (1992), 137-157.

[5]Marek Dulinicz, "The first dendrochronological dating of the strongholds of northern Mazovia," in Origins of Central Europe, ed. by Przemysław Urbańczyk (Warsaw, 1997), pp. 137-41.

[6]Gąssowski, "Archeologia o schyłku pogaństwa," pp. 137-158.

[7]Ewa Marczak, "Tabliczki z Podebłocia: nie rozwiązana zagadka," In Studia z dziejów cywilizacji. Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Jerzemu Gąssowskiemu w pięćdziesiątą rocznicę pracy naukowej, ed. by Andrzej Buko (Warsaw, 1998), pp. 93-102.

[8]Przemysław Urbańczyk, "Procesy centralizacji władzy w okresie przechodzenia do organizacji wczesnopaństwowych," in Centrum i zaplecze we wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie środkowej, Spotkania Bytomskie III, ed. by Slawomir Możdzioch (Wrocław, 1999), pp. 661-667.

[9]Andrzej Kukliński, "Wczesnośredniowieczne warstwy osadnicze Krakowa-Wawelu (odkryte w wykopie I C, rejon IX), a relikty jego walu datowanego dendrochronologicznie na okres po 1016 roku," Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 50 (1998), 277-292.

[10]Leszek Pawel Słupecki,  "Monumentalne kopce Kakusa i Wandy pod Krakowem," in Studia z dziejów cywilizacji. Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Jerzemu Gąssowskiemu w pięćdziesiątą rocznicę pracy naukowej, ed. by Andrzej Buko (Warsaw, 1998), pp. 57-72.

[11]See Jacek Banaszkiewicz, Podanie o Piaście Popielu. Studium porównawcze nad             wczesnośredniowiecznymi tradycjami dynastycznymi (Warsaw, 1986).

 



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