Teresa Dunin-Wąsowicz

Abstract

The peculiarity of Polish source materials in relation to WesternEurope (till the beginning of the 12th century we can speak nearly exclusivelyof archaeological materials) induces particular stress on excavation research.Owing to intensive archaeological works, conducted initially by the Managementof Studies on the Beginning of the Polish State, and for the following 25 yearsby the Institute of History of Material Culture, Polish Academy of Sciences,further by the Archaeological Departments of Poland's Universities and Centralas well as Regional Museums — the material base has now grown to be an imposingbody, exceeding by far the achievements of our neighbours. Comparativematerials from Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic alreadyallow to appreciate that kind of sources as the most useful in our research.After having regarded these materials as written documents (very scarce forthe area of Poland up to the 13th century), to toponomastic materials, applyingretrogressive methods and making use, as far as possible, of specialistic geographic-historical research, we have managed to achieve several synthetic conceptionsthat give a lively picture of a few particular microregions of Poland(among others the papers of W. Hensel, Z. Hilczer, H. Łowmiański, Z. Podwińskaand T. Wąsowicz).