Recent Developments in the Archaeology of the Pomeranian-Prussian borderland in the Early Middle Ages. The case of the settlement complex in Węgry, northern Poland

Abstract

Between the late 8th and the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries territories eastern of the lower Vistula valley represented a borderland between eastern Pomerania and Prussia. The frontier area was a zone generally uninhabited at least until the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries. Since then colonization from both sides (Pomeranian and Prussian) started. Significant changes in the colonization of the investigated area may be dated back to the 11th century, when a large settlement complex in Wegry was established. The centre developed approximately in the mid-11th century in the area between Żulawy Wiślane and the Ilawa Lake District, on the east bank of the Nogat river. For at least seven decades, with its military, economic, trade, political and administrative functions, it was the most important culture-generating East Pomerania-related centre situated to the east of the lower Vistula river. Undoubtedly the stronghold in Wegry had a central function within Pomeranian territories situated to the east of the lower Vistula river. The paper discusses new research on the issue of the making of the Pomeranian-Prussian borderland, and especially on the significance of the settlement complex in Wegry and its role in the cultural development of the area in the 11th–12th centuries.