This paper examines the notion of infant and child burials in early and late medieval Poland which differed significantly from the normative funerary behaviour. Particular attention is devoted to the so-called 'atypical' or 'deviant' inhumation graves that contained allegedly apotropaic objects or stones placed directly on the deceased as well as the peculiar burials of infants in ceramic vessels. In addition to discussing archaeological materials, the authors also examine historical sources and folkloristic evidence for unusual and magic practices associated with newborns in the Middle Ages.
KeywordsInfants; children; revenants; deviant burials; burials in vessels; apotropaic practices.Note: When the above article was first published online, some words were misspelt in the caption to Figure 3. This has now been corrected in both the print and online versions of the article. For more details, see Erratum http://dx.
This paper is the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary presentation of stone walls in the Central European mountains from the perspective of landscape archaeology based on field surveys and analysis of cartographic and LiDAR data. The stone walls in the Izera Mountains of southwestern Poland are the largest ones in the region, as they represent a rare case of fully enclosed fields in the Sudetes. The niches constructed within the walls are not found anywhere else. The paper discusses the origins, functions, chronology, construction techniques, spatial distribution, and diversity of stone walls and also their significance for the cultural landscape, which was subject to substantial land abandonment after World War 2. Stone walls marked field boundaries, protected arable lands from erosion and their niches provided storage places, and provisional dwellings. Nowadays they are spectacular remnants of past land-use and unique features of the regional cultural landscape.
Origins of medieval lead artefacts are hard to establish due to re-smelting and mixing. One can obtain conclusive evidence from ingots that served for bulk trade and originated directly from the mines. This paper aims to analyse the thirteenth century lead ingot from Wrocław (Poland). To establish its origins we analysed its structure and chemical composition. We used archaeometric methods: light and electron microscopic observations, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry and Pb isotopic analysis. We compared our measurements with measurements of analogical ingot found on Kraków Market Square and a database of lead ores from Europe and the Middle East. The research indicated that both ingots originated from -Kraków and Silesia Upland Pb–Zn ore deposits (Poland), intensively mined from the twelfth century. The results complement the view of trade routes established based on written records and add valuable data for future comparative studies.
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