Non-invasive archaeological survey Research Papers (original) (raw)

The stronghold and settlement in Przytok has not been the subject of a larger study so far. After research conducted in the 1960s by Edward Dąbrowski, the only real foot print concerning this site was the term published by the discoverer of the site and the author of the research in the Dictionary of Slavic Antiquities.
Both the settlement and the stronghold were discovered between 1956 and 1964. Rescue excavations were carried out on the settlement in June 1967. At that time, two pits containing fragments of vessels made without using a potter’s wheel were found.
In 2008, a series of aerial photographs, mainly of the stronghold clearly legible from the air, were taken. Further research related to the settlement complex in Przytok has not been carried out until 2016. They were part of a project funded by the National Science Center. Magnetic analysis of the stronghold were carried out then, phosphorus content analyzes and small test excavations verifying geophysical research were also carried out. Thanks to the excavations, Edward Dąbrowski’s results concerning primarily the chronology and function of site 1, were verified, as the lack of publication of sources certainly caused considerable difficulties in evaluation of previous results, especially about the existing of the stronghold and settlement. Filling this gap is therefore the primary goal of this publication.
Beside the analysis of archival finds, enriched by the results of specialist research, the book also presents the results of research on the reconstruction of the basic natural environment in the vicinity of the stronghold and settlement, as well as the settlement complex in Przytok against the background of a wider settlement context. An important part of the publication is also the presentation of issues related to new chronological findings, obtained thanks to the comparative analysis of pottery verified by age determinations using the 14C method.
The stronghold and settlement in Przytok are, next to the settlement in Klenica and the settlements in Stożne and Zawada, another archaeologically recognised sites from the early Middle Ages in the area of the middle Odra river valley.
Early medieval settlement in the vicinity of Przytok was not intensive and probably this condition is not the result of insufficient archaeological recognition of this area, because it is an area thoroughly examined by surface survey and identified by a series of aerial photographs regularly taken for about 10 years. Beside the settlement on the site 2 we know also the settlement in Stożne located about 1600 m northwest of the settlement, site 2, from 6th/7th-7th century and in Zawada from the mid 9th-11th/12th century. Both sites were excavated. These two sites were also recognized by surface survey: in Jany, site 9 where 8 fragments of ceramics were found and in Jany, site 4 where 6 fragments of vessels were obtained, whose chronology was determined to the early stages of the early Middle Ages. Due to the lack of detailed research, the chronology of burial mounds located southwest of the stronghold in Przytok (sites 4 and 5 in Przytok) is problematic.
The current shape of the stronghold is similar to an oval with a diameter of about 70 m. In the terrain, as well as in aerial photographs and DTM, an omnidirectional moat is clearly visible, especially visible from the south, west and north. However, the relics of the rampart are difficult to read.
On the opposite side of the river bed, northwest of the stronghold, about 200 m from it, an older settlement was located, which occupies a slightly elevated dune among the wet and partly bogged valley of the Odra and Zimny Potok, which have springs around the settlement complex. The LIDAR image shows the supposed range of the settlement, which was surrounded by slight elevations (earth moulds?). In the 1960s, small excavations were carried out on the site. Two features were discovered then, one of which was the remains of a residential building. Fills of features were heavily saturated with burning.
Juliusz Twardy and Jacek Forysiak presented a detailed description of the location of the stronghold and settlement in Przytok in the geographical and geomorphological aspect. Both the stronghold and the settlement lie within the floodplain terrace of the basins. The relief of the area of the direct hinterland of the sites is not very varied. In the north and east flows the Odra, which at the beginning of the 18th century meandered on the entire width of the valley. Numerous paleomeanders, currently cut off from the main Odra riverbed due to its regulation, are visible in the trace of the former course of the river. The bend of one of these paleomenadres is occupied by a settlement (site 2), which is separated from the stronghold by a valley about 40 m wide, now a wetland with an unnamed stream. To the north of the settlement, a fragment of the paleomeander now occupies the stream of Zimny Potok, whose source is located on the wetland west of the settlement.
The current landscape is the result of a significant transformation of the area by man, especially in the last 150 years (since the start of drainage of the Odra valley). In addition to open areas, mainly meadows, pastures and arable fields, the landscape is diversified by numerous forest communities in the alluvial type and small clumps mainly of oaks.
The area south of the sites changes into a high terrace and a zone of frontal moraine hills, now covered with pine monocultures and occasionally with mixed forests.
Non-invasive geophysical surveys were carried out on both the settlement and the stronghold. In the first case they brought the discovery of magnetic anomalies, which, due to the verrifying excavation trench, can now be quite clearly interpreted as relics of small rampart surrounding the stronghold, made of earth and wood. On the stronghold courtyard few traces were recorded, requiring excavation verification. At the current stage of research, it is difficult to clearly determine their origin.
Research on the remains of the settlement brought the discovery of numerous magnetic anomalies of varying origin. They allow to draw several hypotheses regarding the shape and function of the settlement. However, full understanding of the obtained results requires invasive verification excvations. This will allow for a more accurate recognition of the nature of the features and archaeological layers located on the site. Excavations may also provide answers to a number of more detailed questions, especially regarding the time of construction and functioning of the settlement.
In the stronghold, analyzes were also made of the phosphorus content in the soil. The analysis did not document the increased content of phosphorus in the soil within the outlines of relics of the fortified settlement in Przytok, which could constitute a geochemical trace of intensive settlement and economic activity in the past. The spread of the highest, but also sporadically recorded, values covers areas adjacent to the site from the south. The obtained results of geochemical prospectus may suggest the refugial nature of the object. At the same time, it should be emphasized that, carried out in recent years, surrounded by castle strongholds located at the bottom of the Warta, Luciąża and Warsaw-Berlin valleys, tests of phosphorus content in the ground have resulted in the registration of a generally poor geochemical record in the surroundings of the features.
The elaboration of the results of archival research concerned both movable artefactss, mainly fragments of vessels, wooden items, animal bones and artefacts made of stone material, as well as analysis of the relics of the rampart and the few features that are remains of the structures of the stronghold courtyard and the nearby settlement.
In the case of wooden artefacts, attempts were made to recognize the type of artefacts, the way they were made, the nature of deposition, the specifics of the selection of wood raw material, as well as environmental conditions and potential directions of logging. The analyzed samples came from moat and were mostly waste generated during carpentry works related to the construction of wood and earth rampart of the stronghold in Przytok.
Assemblage of the stone artefacts from Przytok is an example of a typical set of everyday items, often obtaines during the research on sites from the early Middle Ages. Regarding the use of raw materials, selection in terms of rock hardness and technical properties is clearly visible. None of the tested products was made of weathered rock, which proves the correct selection of the right raw material from glacial material.
Pottery analysis especially, supported by radiocarbon dating results, allowed the chronological considerations to be verified. Currently, dating of the stronghold functioning can be determined in the second half of the 8th-first half of the 9th century. In contrast, the settlement may be even older. Fragments of pottery discovered there allow to date the settlement to the end of the 7th-8th century.
The analysis and publishing of this publication were possible thanks to the co-financing of research by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, under the Protection of Archaeological Monuments program and the Archaeological Museum of the Middle Odra river Area in Zielona Góra and funds from the City of Zielona Góra. Part of the research results presented in the publication, including geophysical, phosphoric, 14C dating of wooden rampart and excavations carried out on the stronghold in 2016 were completed and financed due to the National Science Center grant FUGA 4 (UMO-2015/16/S/HS3/00274), Early medieval settlement in the middle Odra river basin until the mid-11th century in archaeological studies.