The Piotrówka Hillfort is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

located near

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is one of the earliest elements of Radom's history and is a protected monument in Poland. The site held the first Christian church in the region and features archeological significance including a

coin hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

.Paszkiewicz, B., & Simonyi, E. (2021). A Sandomierz penny of Vladislas the Ell-high (1305–1333) from the graveyard in Felsőzsolca, Hungary. Archæologiai Értesítő, 146(1), 187–196.

Name

The site once housed a small church named for St. Peter, and the settlement itself adopted this name.Dariusz Kupisz. (2016). Nekropolie Radomia w drugiej połowie XVIII wieku. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 64(1).

History

The original settlement of Radom dates to the 8th century and evolved into the Piotrówka hillfort in the 10th century. In the mid-14th century, the castle portion of Piotrówka was destroyed around the time of a Lithuanian attack. Radom was then legally established in the 1360s, several hundred years after Piotrówka initially emerged. A cemetery was added to the site in 1795. In 2018, iconic wooden poles that symbolized the hillfort had to be removed due to disrepair. In 2021, the city announced plans for a new cultural park at the site.

Archeology

Piotrówka hoard

The hoard predates 1350. It contained coins from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

groschen Groschen (; from "thick", via Old Czech ') is the (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in parts of Europe including Kingdom of France, France, some of the Italian states, and various states of the Holy R ...

of Wenceslas II, and more than twenty Polish

pennies A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

Medieval culture

Archeological work at the site has revealed the types of foods consumed by the original residents. Diets featured foods like bryja, spinach, and oregano.

References