On the ‘long 13th century’, an archaeologist’s comments

Abstract

This paper is a reflection on the specifics of the 13th century, understood as a time of dynamic transformations, including in the sphere of particular interest to archaeologists, i.e. material culture. Settlement and social transformations in the 13th century with the incorporation of towns and colonization under German law also changed the image of many spheres of production, i.e. artefacts available for study using the typical methods of archaeology. Therefore, a kind of chronological relativism of terms the ‘13th century’ or ’transformations of the 13th century’ should be noted, because depending on many factors they took place in a slightly different time, in different provinces of the Polish territory. The rate and extent of changes typical of the 13th century were generally the result of the dependence of a given Polish province on influences originating from more developed European countries, and especially from the Reich. The author suggests that the changes typical of the early 13th century started in Silesia because they took place from the end of the 12th century to the second half of the 13th century (with the turning point of events in 1241). In contrast, they were of the longest duration in Mazovia, and especially in Podlasie. In the first province they had admittedly already started in the second quarter of the 13th century, but they probably lasted at least until the turn of the 14th century, if not longer. The theses presented in this article are, in my opinion, still poorly documented and the problem of the chronology of changes typical of the 13th century in individual Polish provinces requires further, far more in-depth, research.