Familiarising the landscape: the development of prehistoric settlement in the middle Dunajec River valley

Abstract

Despite the continuous increase of archaeological data coming from the Polish Western Carpathians, the colonisation process of the Beskidy Mountains in prehistory is still relatively poorly recognized. The subject of discussion is, in particular, the impact of environmental and cultural factors on the formation of settlement networks in individual periods. This paper considers these questions on the example of a part of the middle Dunajec River basin in the chronological framework from the Neolithic to the La Tène period. Based on the archaeological and paleoenvironmental record, an analysis of settlement dynamics in terms of preferences and economy in the subsequent periods was carried out. The observations made were then interpreted in the context of cultural phenomena. A comparison of the results with the situation observed in other Central European mountain ranges made it possible to formulate some universal tendencies in the settlement development in these zones. In particular, the impact of climate and environmental conditions on the economy was considered, as well as the role of natural resources and communication routes. It has been demonstrated that three main stages can be distinguished in the process of prehistoric mountain colonisation. This mechanism was correlated with the gradual adaptation of the economy and the “familiarising” of the mountain landscape, which offered both some limitations and strategic values determining the specific cultural function of these areas.

“Late Hallstatt” hillforts in the Western Carpathians: new contribution to an old discussion

“…The fact of a thorough transformation of the area of many prehistoric sites during the construction of Early Medieval strongholds is of significant importance. Hence, although it is known that numerous naturally defensive hilltop settlements functioned in the Early Iron Age on the outskirts of the Moravian Gate, in the Carpathians foothills and on the edges of mountain valleys (Tunia 1977;Madyda-Legutko 1995;Przybyła, Skoneczna 2014;Chorąży, Chorąży 2015;Markiewicz 2020), only in the case of two sites do we have evidence confirming the existence of fortifications from that period. The situation is different in the territory of Slovakia, where not only the state of preservation of the prehistoric fortifications is better, due to the lower intensity of medieval settlement processes, but also the continuation of the tradition of erecting fortifications from the younger Hallstatt period to the La Tène period is discussed (Pieta 1982;Čaplovič 1987;Benediková 2006).…”

“…The Western Carpathians are one of the areas where the influence of these two traditions intersect. In this mountainous area, which now straddles the border of modern Poland and Slovakia, an apparent densification of the settlement network can be observed in the first half of the 1 st millennium, based on naturally defensive or fortified settlements (Miroššayová 1992;Madyda-Legutko 1995;Chorąży, Chorąży 2015;Markiewicz 2020). The latter category of sites is the subject of the research presented in this article.…”