Biskupin (prehistoric village)
Biskupin [ bʲi'skupʲin ] is a prehistoric village near Biskupin in the powiat Żniński in the municipality of Gąsawa (German: Gonsawa / Gerlingen ), Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship ( Poland ). Biskupin is dated to around 700–400 BC today. A part of the culture is placed in the older Iron Age ( Hallstatt Period ), another part is stylistically attributed to the Late Bronze Age Lausitz culture .
history
The formerly fortified village was discovered in 1933 by the Polish teacher Walenty Szwajcer. He informed Józef Kostrzewski from Poznan about the discovery of wooden stakes on the shores of the lake. Archaeological excavations and research by Polish scientists began in 1934 and lasted until the outbreak of World War II. During the occupation of Poland, the special SS excavation department in Urstätt carried out excavations on the Biskupin peninsula under the command of Hauptsturmführer Hans Schleif . The aim of these excavations was to construct possible references to the primitive Germanic origin of the settlement for National Socialist propaganda. After the war, the excavation site was further investigated by Polish archaeologists and is now considered one of the most important examples from the older Iron Age. There are also a number of less well-preserved settlements of comparable construction and culture in the north of present-day Poland.
The village offered space for around 1000 residents along with cattle, pigs and small livestock. The village lay on a 6900 m² island in the Biskupiner Lake and was built on stilts in the lake, with access via a single bridge and by boats.
A large part of the wooden structures was preserved thanks to the damp subsoil. Wooden groynes and a circumferential wood-earth ring wall, which gave support to the wooden interior structures, surrounded the island. A single gate lane cut through the ring wall. A wooden dam connected the island to the lake shore. The settlement itself consisted of a little over 100 log houses, which were arranged in 13 parallel rows. Planked streets ran between the rows of houses. The houses were the same size (8 × 9 m). Each had an anteroom on the south side, plus a main room (often divided into a larger and a smaller section) with a stone hearth. The appearance of the settlement shows uniform planning.
open air museum
Today a reconstruction of the village can be visited as an open-air museum. The facility is managed by the Warsaw Archaeological Museum .
reception
The Toronto-based writer Anne Michaels created a literary monument to Biskupin and his discoverers in her 1996 novel 'Fluchtstücke' (original title 'Fugitive Pieces').
literature
- Rudolph Grenz, Zdzislaw Rajewski: Biskupin. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1978, ISBN 3-11-006512-6 , pp. 46-50.
- LitDok East Central Europe (Herder Institute Marburg)
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 47 ′ 18 ″ N , 17 ° 44 ′ 40 ″ E
- Spherical panorama
- Museum Biskupin (Polish, English)