Modern-period stoneware excavated in Poland

Abstract

Archaeological excavations in late-mediaeval and newer sites reveal fragments of stoneware among other ceramics. For forty years stoneware has been an object of interest for the ever increasing circle of Polish archaeologists researching historic periods. Publications on modern-period fi nds of stoneware from the present territory of Poland concern 52 places (fig. 1). An analysis of the map of the sites indicated that stoneware had been found mostly in western Poland and Baltic-coast towns. Most of the finds come from towns (over 49%) (fi g. 3), with signifi cant percentages from monasteries (over 14%) and castles (12.28%).
Leaving aside production centres (e.g. Bolesławiec and Trzebiel), most stoneware dishes were excavated in Baltic-coast towns. Inland areas, far from pottery centres and from the coast, had limited access to modern-period stoneware. Therefore, systematic stoneware trade until the mid-18th c. can be assumed to have functioned only in the largest towns of Pomerania (Gdańsk/Danzig, Elbląg/Elbing, Szczecin/Stettin,
Kołobrzeg/Kolberg), in the vicinity of pottery centres in Lusatia and in Lower Silesia. The finds of stoneware along the present western border of Poland are connected with its distribution by the rivers Bóbr/Bober, Nysa Łużycka/Lausitzer Neisse and Odra/Oder from production centres in Saxony, Lusatia and Lower Silesia.
Sites in present-day Poland reveal modern-period stoneware manufactured in some of the most significant European production centres in Rhineland, Westerwald, Hesse, southern Lower Saxony, Lusatia, Lower Silesia and mid-western England (fig. 1). In central and northern Poland Westerwald stoneware was used most frequently. In the towns on the Gdańsk Bay, Westerwald stoneware dishes were found along with Rhineland, Silesian and English products and single Saxon and Lusatian items. In north-western Poland, on the other hand, Lusatian and Silesian products were excavated, with some addition of Westerwald and English stoneware, and rare Saxon, Rhineland and Hesse items. In south-western Poland, due to the closeness of the pottery centres in Boleslawiec, Trzebiel and Mużaków, most fi nds were fragments of vessels produced there. In eastern Poland isolated items of modern-period stoneware were found in few places. The overview presented in the article is based on published research, therefore conclusions as to the distribution of stoneware from different production centres across Poland may need to be modified after the publication of new finds. Nevertheless, the data available now point to locations in which this type of ceramics can be expected to be revealed by further excavations.