Studia Lednickie, tom XXI (2022)

In den vergangenen Jahren hat sich das Archäologische Museum Hamburg auf die Untersuchung und wissenschaft liche Neubetrachtung der beiden wichtigsten Befestigungsanlagen im Zentrum von Hamburg konzentriert. Die Ergebnisse der jüngsten Ausgrabungen in der Hammaburg (2005-2006) und der Neuen Burg (2014-2020) trugen maßgeblich zur Neubewertung der frühmittelalterlichen Stadtentwicklung Hamburgs bei. Die annähernd lückenlose Entwicklung der Stadt von den Anfängen als einfache sächsische Befestigungsanlage über die namengebende Hammaburg bis hin zur „Neuen Burg“ als eine der größten Befestigungen Norddeutschlands kann durch die archäologischen Untersuchungen nachgezeichnet werden. Künft ige Forschungen der übrigen Befestigungsanlagen im Stadtgebiet werden sicher weitere wichtige Ergebnisse zur Entwicklung der Region während des Mittelalters liefern.

Fishery was one of the common ways of obtaining food in the early Middle Ages. The importance of this element grew along with the spread of Christianity and the requirement to observe fasts. This way of obtaining food must have been common for the inhabitants of Ostrów Lednicki as well. A collection of more than 30 objects identified as fishing equipment was obtained through years of underwater archaeological research. The analysis of skeletal remains found during land surveys has provided an opportunity to reconstruct the composition of fish species and culinary preferences of the inhabitants of Ostrów Lednicki in the early Middle Ages. By combining these two types of sources, it is possible to reconstruct that part of the life of early medieval people which was made up of fishery.

The following article deals with the problems of the enfranchisement reform and the process of land regulation and separation in the village of Sławno. The enfranchisement reform introduced in the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1823, along with the accompanying agrarian reforms, was one of the most significant episodes in the history of the Wielkopolska countryside. As a result, not only was the ownership structure and socio-economic system of the village transformed, but the cultural landscape was also permanently and profoundly altered. In the course of a multi-year procedure that ended with an agreement (recession) in 1839, 14 fully independent hereditary landowner farms were created in Sławno, free of any easements to the manor.

A previously unlisted archaeological site in Lusowo, Tarnowo Podgórne municipality, was discovered by accident during construction works. During the week-long rescue excavations, 24 immovable objects were uncovered, mainly pits (including resource pits), a presumed dwelling or outbuilding, as well as hearths and postholes, identified with settlements from the late Early Bronze Age of the Lusatian culture (Bronze Age?), the Przeworsk culture (late Roman influence?) and Phase B of the early Middle Ages. The newly discovered site was registered as Lusowo 62 (AZP 52-25/184). keywords: rescue archaeological investigations, multicultural site, early Bronze Age, late Roman influences, later phases of the early Middle Ages, objects, ceramics

The article is devoted to a settlement, the remains of which were discovered at site 39 Krąplewo, Poznań county. Its functioning dates to the late 12th and the 1st half of the 13th century. Remnants of fairly regularly spaced buildings are distributed along the route leading from Poznań south towards Silesia. Fords were crucial to the development of settlements in the area, making it possible to traverse the wide and difficult valley of the Samica Stęszewska River. The large accumulation of sites related to metallurgy indicates that the easements of the settlement’s inhabitants, in addition to their traditional duties of an agricultural nature, were also related to the extraction of iron ore and its processing.

This article (coupled with a comprehensive catalogue) is a continuation of earlier studies of Roman coins and clasps discovered during surface surveys conducted with metal detectors on the eastern and southern shores of Lednica Lake. As a result of the work carried out in 2018-2022, three new early medieval hoards and several so-called ‘loose coins’ were discovered in the mentioned area. Single finds were uncovered in the southern and eastern parts of the study area, while all the cluster finds (hoards) were discovered in its central part, on the settlements near the Gniezno Bridge abutment. The most numerous of the hoards, with a total weight of 16.93 grams, dated around 1015, consisted of 39 fragmentary or fully preserved coins (Islamic, German Reich, English coin, Polish coin of Bolesław the Brave and coins of undetermined origin) and 2 small fractions of silver scrap (a bar and a tape). Another cluster find was a small hoard of Crusader denarii that were thought to have been minted at Polish mints. It consisted of 6 coins with a total weight of 4.06 g., which were deposited into the ground at the turn of the 11th / 12th century. The third hoard discovered was a collection of Polish coins weighing a total of 2.21 grams, deposited into the ground around 1143. It included a coin of Bolesław III the Wrymouth (1107-1138) and denarii of Władysław the Exile: one with depictions of the prince on the throne and fighting the Lion (dated 1138-1140) and three denarii with images of the prince and the bishop (dated 1141-mid 1143). Three fragments weighing a total of 1.01 grams were included in the collection of so-called loose coins. The first was a small fraction (about 1/6th of the total) of a dirham of Naṣr ibn Aḥmad (301-331 = 914-942/3) of the Sāmānid dynasty, minted at an unspecifi ed mint in 941/2; the second, an extremely valuable find in the form of another fragment of a coin of Bolesław the Brave. The last in the collection of loose coins was a fragment of an unspecifi ed fragmented coin, which can be dated to the late 10th/early 11th century.

The article presents the results of a study of human bones from three skeletal graves buried in the early medieval stratification of the northern part of the maidan of the Grzybowo stronghold, as well as an analysis of loose bone material from backfi ll layers. These are the first skeletal burials to be exposed and documented in the stronghold. The analysed remains belonged to adults of both sexes and to children – including a foetus and a newborn. The 2018 excavation season uncovered two skeletal graves oriented on the E-W axis. In the larger grave pit was situated the burial of an adult individual (grave no. 1/2018), and in the smaller one the burial of a child (grave no. 2/2018). In the 2019 season, another grave oriented along the E-W axis was uncovered (grave no. 1/2019) where the pit contained the complete skeleton of an adult and the bones of a child’s skeleton which were exposed near the right femur and in the grave fill. The skeletal material was dated by the 14C radiocarbon method to the 12th/18th centuries, respectively.

The article presents the results of a study of the strontium isotope composition of bones from three skeletal graves uncovered during the 2018-2019 survey of the Grzybowo settlement. The study material consisted of human and animal teeth, for which the isotopic composition of strontium 87Sr/86Sr was determined. The isotopic signatures of the examined molar teeth of a woman and a man from Grzybowo fall within a narrow range between 0.7116 and 0.7121 and are typical of people inhabiting the territory of Poland.

The article presents the results of isotopic studies of human bones from two skeletal graves uncovered during the 2018 excavations. The study material consisted of teeth from the skeleton of an adult male who died at the age of Maturus (grave no. 1/2018) and teeth of a child who died at the age of Infans I (grave no. 2/2018). Long bones and a tooth of animals from the sites into which the graves were buried were used as comparative material in the study. Reconstruction of the diet of individuals was carried out by analysing 8 samples – four taken from human skeletons and four from animal bones.