Early medieval harbours between Wismar Bay and Danzig Bay (Germany/Poland)

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The aim of the project is a systematic and interdisciplinary study of the structures of early medieval maritime emporia between Wismar Bay and the Gulf of Gdansk. The activities carried out during the first phase of the project led to many new results regarding the landscape and settlement history of the individual study areas. Thus, first patterns of the choice of the locations could be examined: for the founding of landing places and ports protected areas in bays and lagoons or along rivers were preferred, while the associated settlement was often was established in close proximity on elevated locations. The landing sites and shore lines were partially stabilized by wooden installations. In several cases was the connection between port and settlement systematically expanded and fixed within the framework of larger infrastructure. If cemeteries are known, they are usually in an elevated position and offered a view over the emporia with their landing sites or ports. Particularly evident was the dependence of the settlement complexes on paleogeographic processes: sedimentation, changes in water level or multiple flood events led to extensive expansion and installation of infrastructural ameliorations within settlements and also the ports. For Bardy/Swielubie and Groß Strömkendorf is to assume that the high dynamics of the river and the relative sea-level rise respectively might have been a reason for the abandonment of the settlements. In the applyed second phase of the project existing knowledge will be tightly focussed and deepened with the help of additional geological, geophysical and archaeological prospection and analysis. In addition to the paleogeographic conditions for the establishment of ports it remains to be clarified, how the harbours were linked to their respective settlements, what social and economic function the harbors possessed within the settlement structure and whether for loading and unloading of boats and ships jetties or piers were built. Due to the excellent preservation of organic materials in all study sites it is proposed to do complementary paleobotanical and zoological analyzes. They certainly will allow the compilation of numerous details about the materials used, but also for the food aliment and the environmental conditions. At the end of the project the results and a synthesis of the research project will completely be published.