Early Bronze Age Stone Architecture Discovered in the Polish Carpathians

Abstract

European archaeology of the last decades tends to focus on the subject of distant contacts – the exchange of goods and ideas – and the influence they have on local populations and their development. One of the problems particularly often discussed in this context is the reception of cultural patterns of the Mediterranean by societies of the Central European Early Bronze Age. Archaeological sites outstanding from local cultural background deserve special attention when studying this issue. The example of such a location is the hillfort in Maszkowice (Western Carpathians). The site was subject to archaeological excavations already in the middle of the 20^th century. Studies carried out there again from 2010 resulted in setting the chronology of the oldest settlement remains for 1750-1500 BC, as well as proving the relations of its first inhabitants with the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin. An absolutely spectacular result of these works was achieved in 2015, when relics of massive stone fortifications dating from around 1750 BC, were discovered. It is one of the few oldest examples of advanced stone architecture in Europe, excluding the Mediterranean, and at the same time the oldest construction of this kind in the areas north to the Carpathians. The wall is about 2 m wide and consists of an inner part built of smaller stones, and the massive outer face. During the excavations in 2015 the eastern entrance into the fortified area was revealed, too – a ramp cutting across the stone wall and adjacent clay terrace and flanked by large sandstone slabs. As regards the type of masonry and architectonical solutions, the construction discovered from Maszkowice finds the closest, contemporary analogies in some sites from the Alps and the Caput Adriae region.