Hill-Forts from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in Pomerania: An Overlooked Problem

Abstract

Although hill-forts from the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age associated with Lusatian culture appear in vast areas of modern Poland, they are absent in Pomerania beside the Lower Oder region. This scarcity is surprising, especially taking into account the relatively numerous appearances of hill-forts in Greater Poland, the region directly neighbouring Pomerania to the south. On the other hand, investigations conducted in the 1960s and 1970s to verify Pomeranian hill-forts described as originating from the Early Medieval and Medieval periods resulted in the detection of at least a dozen sites with material from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The aim of this paper is to present the problem of the supposed presence of Lusatian culture hill-forts in the central part of Polish Pomerania. It is highly probable that this kind of settlement played an important role in interregional contacts between eastern and western parts of Pomerania, together with Greater Poland and probably also Nordic Bronze Age zones. In a wider perspective, their role in the course and working of the Amber Road at the end of the Bronze Age should also be taken into account and investigated. It seems that new tools available for archaeologists, like Lidar data, modern geophysics and aerial photography, may provide new openings and new perspectives on research into this case study. Key words: Central Pomerania, Lusatian culture, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, hill-forts, fortified settlements, trade/exchange routes, archaeological cartography. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v24i0.1565