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Mateusz Sosnowski, Jerzy Czerniec, Paulina Lewińska, Krystian Kozioł, Stanisław Szombara, and Olaf Popkiewicz
Currently, the complementary application of interdisciplinary methods of research in fields dealing with humanity’s past, such as archaeology, historical geography, and paleoecology, measurably affects the development of those disciplines. Thanks to the implementation of modern research methods that provide for knowledge transfer, the results achieved far outweigh the results of research conducted exclusively within individual disciplines. As early as the 20th century, studies in the field of settlement archaeology, apart from field prospecting, based on archaeological terrain were aided by other methods, such as aerial archaeology and geophysical and geochemical research. It was also understood that it is necessary to refer to disciplines in the field of earth sciences to document correlations between colonization and the natural environment.1 In recent years, there has been significant progress in Polish archaeology in the context of the use of both modern remote sensing and geophysical methods in prospecting research.2 New techniques, such as airborne laser scanning (ALS), have revealed a number of potential archaeological objects in forest areas, which were previously poorly recognized. Nevertheless, the application of spatial analysis of the digital terrain model (DTM) should always be combined with field surveys to verify potential archaeological objects; due to limited access to some research areas (forested areas), this is not always possible.
One such poorly recognized area of Poland, in archaeological terms, is the southeastern part of Tuchola Forest. Despite the partial mapping conducted as a part of the Polish Archaeological Record (Pol. Archeologiczne Zdjęcie Polski, AZP),3 large, forest-covered areas still remain unexplored with regard to the presence of past human settlements. Only the use of analyses related to the digital terrain model showed the possible existence of the remains of a settlement in this area.
As already mentioned, the study area is located in the southeastern part of the Tuchola Forest, a forest complex whose range seems to be ambiguous (Figure 13.1). Depending on the scientific discipline and the definitions that are being used, it may consist in a completely different range. The archaeological definition will be dissimilar from that provided by botanists or by physical geographers. For our consideration, the archaeological definition of the Tuchola Forest will be adopted, because the study of humanity’s past in this area will be the subject of this work. It seems that the best definition of this area, archaeologically, was created by T. Grabarczyk in 1992, at which time he assumed that the Tuchola Forest complex starts in the west of the gully of Lakes Charzykowskie and Karsińskie and the Brda valley. In the north, it is limited by Lake Kruszyńskie and the foreground of the Kaszubskie and Starogardzkie lakeland region. The eastern border of the Tuchola Forest is the valley of the lower Vistula and the Grudziądz Basin. From the southern side, the Tuchola Forest borders the area of the Świecie Plain and the Krajeńskie Lake District.4 From this perspective, the area on which we focused our attention is located in the southeastern part of this forest complex, near the middle reaches of the Wda River, north of Osie and Miedzno, in the Natura 2000 area Sandr Wdy, in the immediate vicinity of the Brzęki nature reserve, at the Wdecki Landscape Park (Figure 13.2). As part of the spatial division of the Polish Archaeological Record, the space of this work is located in two areas of AZP numbered 26-41 and 27-41.
FIGURE 13.1 Localization of the study area.
Source: Figure by S. Szombara.
FIGURE 13.2 Localization of the discovered settlement.
Source: Figure by M. Sosnowski.
This area, in terms of archaeological surface surveys, was subject to field prospecting conducted as part of the Polish Archaeological Record. In the areas of AZP (nos. 26-41 and 27-41), the entire archaeological surface survey was carried out; however, due to environmental conditions (the greater part of the area is forested), the results of these studies may, in only an insufficient way, present the development of past human settlements. Only the direct, deforested area of the villages of Osie and Miedzno allowed for detailed field prospection, while the rest of the areas listed above AZP, under the forest cover, required the use of other methods to determine the fact of functioning past human settlements in this area. Therefore, the idea of using DTM for localizing possible archaeological traces of past settlements was ideal.
The use of ALS methods in archaeology made it possible to conduct prospecting research in forest areas, which prior to this have been poorly recognized due to the AZP surface method that predominates in Polish archaeology. ALS allows the registration of archaeological objects with their own field form, which were previously unnoticeable in the landscape, due to difficult access and limited visibility in forest areas, in the case of smaller forms, such as relics or objects of relatively small height. Their visibility in the area is affected by vegetation cover, which causes residues of this type to be most often violated and subject to transformations and, thus, difficult to be identified. Therefore, field prospecting in forest areas should be preceded by preliminary analysis of ALS data, because otherwise it may turn out to be ineffective and its results unreliable. DTMs created on the basis of the point cloud and subjected to analysis allows the depiction and capture of reliefs of various forms found in open areas, such as fortified settlements, burial mounds and moats, and also those with small changes in height discernible in micro-sintering, such as traces of plowing, field systems, and relics of roads.5
ALS data were obtained from the ISOK (Pol. Informatyczny System Osłony Kraju, IT System for the Protection of the Country against Extraordinary Hazards) program, which for the area discussed have a density of 4 points per m2. After automatic classification, a class of points representing the ground was exported to develop DTM and later derivative models. In order to obtain high-resolution images, enabling later observations at small scale, we decided to generate DTM with cell size 0.1 m on the basis of the nearest neighbor method. Then derivative DTM models, Hillshade, Simple Local Relief Model (SLRM) and minimum curvature, were made. As a result, a model of the submeter landform of the terrain was obtained, showing the subtle terrain forms along with the microrelief. The applied analyses made it possible to identify landscape transformations of an anthropogenic character. Among the contemporary and historical traces associated with the use and management of the forest, landscape forms that were unnatural for forest areas were noticed, which resembled the relics of an336 agrarian economy with their structure. In order to improve visibility, the Hillshade model derived from SLRM (50% visibility) was applied.
Thanks to the application of the spatial analyses presented in the area of research, an area of nearly 200 hectares was separated, on which objects of anthropogenic origin were registered. Their shapes indicated the preserved relics of the spatial layout of the former human settlement. DTM analysis permitted us to identify objects whose structure could indicate the area in which agriculture was likely to have been (arable fields), as well as indicate the place of the probable human settlement (living space). In addition, the preserved communication system related to the functioning of this housing estate (road relics) has been detected. With the use of high resolution with the resulting models, observation made it possible to assess the state of preservation of the field relics on a map with a scale of 1:300. The boundaries of blocks of fields are visible in the depictions, including the division into nivas. The size of individual blocks varies from 12 to 20 ares. The width of the balks separating the blocks is 5–10 m (Figure 13.3). Such a spatial arrangement did not seem to be representative of the late medieval or modern human settlements that dominate in the immediate vicinity of the studied area. The observed arrangement of fields rather seemed to match the spatial arrangement of fields registered in northern Europe in the areas of the Jutland Peninsula, the British Isles, and the Netherlands, interpreted as so-called “Celtic Fields” and dated to the Iron Age.6
FIGURE 13.3 Boundaries of the site (on the left) and local relief model of the site: A, spatial layout of the settlement; B, spatial layout of the field system; C, close-up of the settlement (living space); D, close-up of the single block of the field.
Source: Map by J. Czerniec and M. Sosnowski.
The analyses of the field system made it possible to identify, among the complex of blocks, an area of 250 ares in the central part of the system. It is characterized by a structure of anthropogenic forms, different from that of the surrounding fields. Thanks to the use of higher resolution products, it was possible to recognize the spatial layout among them, possibly reflecting the structure of fences or the housing system of the settlement (Figure 13.3). At the same time, linear structures were found in the east-west and north-south directions, running east from the mentioned area. The system of linear structures indicates the relics of the communication network (roads), which probably connected the research area with the main communication route – the Vistula river, which is about 20 km away from the research area.
As part of the DTM spatial analyses, a minimum curvature derived model was also made to assess the microrelief of the studied area. As an outcome of the classification of the resulting raster value and the rendering process, a model showing the forms of small depressions and ditches was obtained. The aim of the analysis was to check the studied area for the presence of relics indicating traces of modern, historical and prehistoric plowing. In order to improve visibility, a supermodel of superimposed Hillshade models and a transformed minimal curvature rim were created, thanks to which a relief of terrain microregions on which traces of plowing were visible was obtained.
The analysis of the obtained supermodel showed that, in the central part of the complex boundary, transformation of the land surface associated with modern forestry is visible. This is illustrated by the visible traces of plowing. In the north part of the settlement, the disappearance or limited interference of forestry in the form of the presence of traces of historical plowing of the 19th century was noted, which is connected with the inclusion of this area under legal protection as the Brzęki reserve. At this stage of the study, no unequivocal traces of prehistoric plowing were found that would fit into the field systems. On the basis of the obtained image of the range of modern plowing, the area on which archaeological surface surveys were carried out was selected. We decided to carry out these studies within the area, which is interpreted as a residential part of the settlement and its surroundings. During the surface surveys, it was possible to obtain several fragments of pottery and several fragments of the burned clay from this part of the settlement (an area of about 250 ares). The obtained ceramic material was entirely consistent, mainly on the basis of technological features, with the late Roman Period. It should be emphasized that the acquired collection of pottery is homogeneous in this respect; all acquired fragments of ceramics are inscribed, in technological terms, in the ceramics characteristic of this period.
On the basis of the conducted DTM analyses and the results of surface surveys, this area was selected for conducting excavations. The excavations have confirmed the hypothesis about the living space function of this area. However, the excavations have also brought new findings regarding the site under investigation. First of all, thanks to the artifacts discovered during the excavations, it was possible to confirm and narrow down the chronology of the site, which now falls within the range between the 2nd and 5th centuries ad. Additionally, the artifacts from the surveys conducted at the site showed a wider cultural context of the discovered settlement.
Apart from the findings typical of this chronology (ceramics, fibulae), among the artifacts discovered during the research were also those known as “imports”, showing a wider cultural horizon of the discovered site. On this basis, it was possible to identify two cultural spaces from which artifacts flowed into the area of the test site. The first direction points to the area of the Roman Empire, which is a commonly found occurrence in sites from that period that are located in this part of Europe. An artifact from the territory of the Empire was a scallop shell–shaped plate from a horse harness found at the site in 2018.7 Due to the economic and political power of the Empire, imports of items from its territory to the barbaricum area were very common. However, in the case of this plate, it should be noted that it is one of the first items of its type found this far beyond the borders of the Empire.
In the case of the scallop shell–shaped plate, the direction of its origin from the territory of the Roman Empire is a commonly known route found in this part of Europe. The next direction from which the artifacts discovered at the site came is a complete novelty in the sphere of the reconstruction of supraregional contacts in central Europe, in the middle of the first millennium ad. During the last two research seasons at the site, a set of artifacts was found showing connections between the discovered settlement and the Nordic cultural circle. The set of items includes an iron weaving sword with a whetstone, an iron socket axe, a richly decorated spindle whorl and T-shaped iron keys (or girdle hangers)8 (Figure 13.4). Among them, the iron weaving sword with a whetstone deserves special attention.
FIGURE 13.4 Artifacts related to Scandinavia and northern Europe discovered at the settlement: A, iron weaving sword with whetstone; B, close-up of the whetstone; C, two T-shaped iron keys (or girdle hangers); D, richly decorated spindle whorl; E, iron socket axe.
Source: Photo by W. Ochotny.
The iron weaving sword is the first artifact of this type found in this part of Europe. Similar items of this type, from this period, appear in the southern part of today’s Norway,9 and that is probably where the origin of the artifact discovered at the site in Tuchola Forest should be sought. Along with this weaving sword, a large stone whetstone was also found, bearing traces of intensive use. Most likely, the sword and the whetstone were an inseparable pair of objects that were used while weaving on the loom.
Among the items related to weaving, we should also pay attention to the richly decorated spindle whorl, found in a small trench where the remains of fabric production had been found. In the group of relics related to the ancient weaving workshop, traces of the place where the loom stood and a set of five clay spindle whorls were found, among which one deserves special attention due to the rich decorations on its surface. In the midst of the lines engraved on its surface, we find symbols, perhaps stylized as runes. Amid items related to Scandinavia, we can also find the iron socket axe, which according to the typology corresponds to the form of tax 4 that was widespread in Norway,10 and two T-shaped iron keys or girdle hangers, which were also common in northern Europe and the British Isles.11
The northern European direction of intercultural contacts, the traces of which were discovered at the site in Bory Tucholskie, deserves special attention, because up to this point there was no clear evidence of such far-reaching contacts with the Scandinavian cultural zone for the areas of the Vistula Basin in the middle of the first millennium ad. In addition, we should also pay attention to the nature of items discovered from Scandinavia, as they are artifacts of a completely utilitarian or functional nature. This may mean that these were not items whose appearance at the site was the result of trade, as it could have been in the case of luxury items (jewelry, ornaments, weapons, etc.). Strictly functional artifacts are associated with specific knowledge about their use (technology), which may indicate that, along with these items, people directly related to the Scandinavian cultural circle (perhaps coming directly from Scandinavia) settled on the site. Therefore, the discovery of these objects, in the context of the site (settlement), is very valuable, because it can provide us with a completely new perception of the directions of migratory movements that took place in northern and central Europe in the middle of the first millennium ad.
Notes
· 1 Herbert Jankhun, Wprowadzenie do archeologii osadnictwa (Poznań: PTPN, 2004).
· 2 Michał Pawleta and Rafał Zapłata, “Nieinwazyjne rozpoznanie zasobów archeologicznych Bobolic, woj. zachodniopomorskie – wprowadzenie w problematykę badan,” in Nieinwazyjne rozpoznanie zasobów dziedzictwa archeologicznego: potencjał i możliwości, eds. Michł Pawleta and Rafał Zapłata (Lublin: E-Naukowiec, 2015), 9–29.
· 3 A research project, created in the mid-1970s, according to which the entire area of Poland was to be covered by systematic surface surveys carried out according to a conventional and unified system.
· 4 Tadeusz Grabarczyk, Rozwój osadnictwa pradziejowego w Borach Tucholskich od schyłkowego paleolitu do III w. n e (Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 1992), 25.
· 5 Włodzimierz Rączkowski and Łukasz Banaszek, “Osadnictwo w rejonie Jarosławienki,” in Środowisko glebotwórcze i gleby dolin rzecznych, eds. Jerzy Jonczak and Wacław Florek (Poznań and Słupsk: Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 2013), 115.
· 6 Osbert Guy and Stanhope Crawford, “Air Survey and Archaeology,” The Geographical Journal 61, no. 5 (1923): 350.
· 7 M. Sosnowski et al., “Examining a Scallop Shell-Shaped Plate from the Late Roman Period Discovered in Osie (site no.: Osie 28, AZP 27–41/26),” Northern Poland, Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia 14 (2018): 91–98.
· 8 Kathrin Felder, “Networks of Meaning and the Social Dynamics of Identity. An Example from Early Anglo-Saxon England,” Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 25, no. 1 (2015), fig. 1, 1–20.
· 9 Thomas Fischbach et al., “Des pièces d’armes au service de l’artisanat textile? le cas des lames de tisserand mérovingiennesen contexte funéraire,” Revue Archéologique de l’Est 64 (2015): 301–31.
· 10 Anne Nørgård Jørgensen, Waffen und Gräber. Weapon Chronology in Southern Scandinavia in Late Iron Age – Merovingian Period – Vendel Period (København: Det Kongelige Nordiske Ordskriftselskab, 1999), fig. 92–93, 106.
· 11 William Manning, Catalogue of Romano-British Iron Tools, Fittings and Weapons in the British Museum (London, 1985), www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1866-1203-194.