The prehistory and protohistory of Poland can be traced from the first appearance of
Homo species
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely related ...
on the territory of modern-day
Poland, to the establishment of the Polish
state in the 10th century AD, a span of roughly 500,000 years.
The area of present-day Poland went through the stages of socio-technical development known as the
Stone,
Bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
and
Iron Ages after experiencing the
climatic shifts of the
glacial periods. The best known
archeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
discovery from the prehistoric period is the
Lusatian-culture Biskupin fortified settlement. As
ancient civilizations began to appear in southern and western
Europe, the
cultures of the area of present-day Poland were influenced by them to various degrees.
Among the peoples that inhabited various parts of Poland up to the Iron Age stage of development were
Scythian,
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
,
Germanic,
Sarmatian,
Roman,
Avar,
Vlach and
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
tribes. In the
Early Middle Ages, the area came to be dominated by
West Slavic tribes and finally became home to a number of
Lechitic Polish tribes that formed small states in the region beginning in the 8th century.
Historiography
As with other early periods areas of
human history
Human history, also called world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood and studied through anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Since the invention of writing, human history has been studied throug ...
, knowledge of these times is limited, since few written ancient and medieval sources are available; research therefore relies primarily on
archeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
.
Written language came to the Poles only after 966 AD, when the ruler of the Polish lands, Duke
Mieszko I
Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was the first ruler of Poland and the founder of the first independent Polish state, the Duchy of Poland. His reign stretched from 960 to his death and he was a member of the Piast dynasty, a son of Siemomysł and ...
, converted to
Christianity and educated foreign clerics arrived.
Stone Age
Poland's
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
is divided into the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
,
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
and
Neolithic eras.
The Paleolithic era extended from c. 500,000 BC to 8,000 BC and is subdivided into four periods: the
Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in ...
, c. 500,000 to 350,000 BC; the
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...
, c. 350,000 to 40,000 BC; the
Upper Paleolithic, c. 40,000 to 10,000 BC; and the Final Paleolithic, c. 10,000 to 8000 BC.
The Mesolithic era lasted from c. 8000 to 5500 BC and the Neolithic from c. 5500 to 2300 BC.
The Neolithic is subdivided into the Neolithic proper, c. 5500 – 2900 BC, and the
Copper Age
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
, c. 2900 – 2300 BC.
Poland's Stone Age lasted approximately 500,000 years and saw the appearance of three distinct
Homo species
''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus ''Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely related ...
: ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
'', ''
Homo neanderthalensis'' and ''
Homo sapiens (
humans)''. The Stone Age cultures ranged from early human groups with primitive tools to advanced
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
and stratified societies that used sophisticated
stone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
s, built fortified settlements and developed
copper metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
.
As elsewhere in
Central Europe, the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic stages of Poland's Stone Age were each characterized by refinements in stone-tool-making techniques. Paleolithic human activities (whose earliest sites are 500,000 years old) were intermittent because of recurring
glaciations. A general
climate warming and a resulting increase in
ecologic diversity were characteristic of the Mesolithic era (9000–8000 BC).
The Neolithic era ushered in the first settled agricultural communities, whose founders had migrated from the
Danube River area beginning about 5500 BC. Later, the native post-Mesolithic populations would also adopt and further develop the agricultural way of life (between 4400 and about 2000 BC).
Bronze and Iron Ages
Poland's
Bronze Age comprised Period I, c. 2300–1600 BC; Period II, c. 1600–1350 BC; Period III, c. 1350–1100 BC; Period IV, c. 1100–900 BC; and Period V, c. 900–700 BC. The Early
Iron Age included
Hallstatt Period C, c. 700–600 BC, and Hallstatt Period D, c. 600–450 BC.
Poland's Bronze- and Iron-Age cultures are known mainly from
archeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
research. Poland's Early Bronze Age cultures began around 2300-2400 BC, whereas the
Iron Age commenced c. 700-750 BC. By the beginning of the
Common Era, the Iron Age archeological cultures described in the main article no longer existed. Given the absence of written records, the
ethnicities and linguistic affiliations of the groups living in
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
Eastern Europe at that time are speculative; there is considerable disagreement about their identities. In Poland, the
Lusatian culture, which spanned the Bronze and Iron Ages, became particularly prominent. The most famous archeological discovery from that period is the
Biskupin fortified settlement (''
gród
A gord is a medieval Slavonic fortified settlement, usually built on strategic sites such as hilltops, riverbanks, lake islets or peninsulas between the 6th and 12th centuries CE in Central and Eastern Europe. The typical gord usually consisted ...
'') that represented early-Iron-Age Lusatian culture.
Bronze objects were brought to Poland around 2300 BC from the
Carpathian Basin. The native Early Bronze Age that followed was dominated by the innovative
Unetice culture in western Poland and the conservative
Mierzanowice culture in eastern Poland. These were replaced in their respective territories for the duration of the subsequent Older Bronze Period by the (pre-Lusatian)
Tumulus culture and the
Trzciniec culture
The Trzciniec culture is a Bronze-Age archaeological culture in East-Central Europe (c. 1600 – 1200 BC). It is sometimes associated with the Komariv neighbouring culture, as the Trzciniec-Komariv culture.
History
The Trzciniec culture develop ...
.
Characteristic of the remaining bronze periods were the
Urnfield cultures, in which skeletal burials were replaced by cremation throughout much of
Europe. In Poland, the
Lusatian culture settlements dominated the landscape for nearly a thousand years, continuing into the Early Iron Age. A series of
Scythian invasions beginning in the 6th century BC, precipitated their demise. The Hallstatt Period D was a time of expansion for the
Pomeranian culture, while the Western Baltic
Kurgan culture
The Kurgan hypothesis (also known as the Kurgan theory, Kurgan model, or steppe theory) is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out Indo-European migrations, t ...
dominated Poland's
Masuria-
Warmia region.
Antiquity
The period of the
La Tène culture is subdivided into ''La Tène A'', c. 450–400 BC; ''La Tène B'', c. 400–250 BC; ''La Tène C'', c. 250–150 BC; and ''La Tène D'', c. 150–0 BC. The period from 200 to 0 BC may also be considered a younger pre-
Roman period. It was followed by a period of Roman influence whose early stage lasted from c. 0 to 150 AD and its later stage from c. 150 to 375 AD. The period from 375 to 500 AD constitutes the (pre-
Slavic)
Migration Period
The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
.
Peoples belonging to numerous
archeological cultures identified with
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
,
Germanic,
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
, and in some regions
Slavic tribes inhabited parts of Poland during the era of
classical antiquity, from about 400 BC to 450-500 AD. Other groups, difficult to identify, were most likely also present, as the
ethnic composition of archeological cultures is often poorly recognized. Short of using a written language to any appreciable degree, many of them developed a relatively advanced material
culture and
social organization, as evidenced by the archeological record, for example by richly furnished, dynastic "princely" graves. Characteristic of this period were high rates of
migration, often involving large groups of people.
Celtic peoples established settlements beginning in the early 4th century BC, mostly in southern Poland, the outer limit of their expansion, as representatives of the
La Tène culture. With their developed economy and crafts, they exerted a lasting cultural influence disproportionate to their small numbers in the region.
Germanic peoples lived in what is now Poland for several centuries, during which many of their tribes also migrated southward and eastward (see
Wielbark culture). With the expansion of the
Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes came under Roman cultural influence. Some written remarks by Roman authors that are relevant to developments on Polish lands have been preserved; they provide additional insights in conjunction with the archeological record. In the end, as the
Roman Empire was nearing its collapse and the nomadic peoples invading from the east destroyed, damaged or destabilized the various Germanic cultures and societies, the Germanic peoples left
Eastern and
Central Europe for the safer and wealthier southern and western parts of the
European continent. According to
Tacitus and
Ptolemy, the
Goths left the lower
Vistula region in the mid-2nd century AD.
The northeast corner of what is now Poland remained populated by
Baltic tribes. They were at the outer limits of any substantial cultural influence from the Roman Empire.
Slavic peoples
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic language, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout ...
may have lived in the southern and southeastern regions, some perhaps associated with the ancient
Przeworsk and
Zarubintsy cultures of the 3rd century BC (with the Przeworsk culture being considered likely of Slavic or of mixed Slavic and Germanic origin
[Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia. New York 2013]
''The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic''
"The Przeworsk Culture has most often been considered to be Germanic or of mixed Slavic and Germanic nature." Page 64.). It has been suggested that the early Slavic peoples and languages may have originated in the region of
Polesia, which includes the area around the Belarus–Ukraine border, parts of Western Russia, and parts of far Eastern Poland. More of Poland would be settled by Slavic tribes in later periods, in the early centuries of the common era.
See also
*
Tunel Wielki
Tunel Wielki (literally "Big Tunnel") is a cave in Ojców National Park, Poland. It is an archaeological site, located in the karst area of Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, about 20 km north of Kraków.Michelle StarrHalf-a-Million Year Old Signs ...
References
Further reading
* Various authors, ed. Marek Derwich and Adam Żurek, ''U źródeł Polski (do roku 1038)'' (Foundations of Poland (until year 1038)),
Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie is a publishing company founded in 1986 with cooperation with Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany ...
, Wrocław 2002,
* Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski - ''Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.)'' (Oldest history of Polish lands, up to the 7th century CE.), Fogra, Kraków 1998,
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prehistory And Protohistory Of Poland
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Poland
Poland