An Early Medieval pre-state stronghold in Demblin, Tarnów district

An Early Medieval pre-state stronghold in Demblin, Tarnów district is located at the confluence of the Vistula and Dunajec rivers the stronghold in Demblin is the largest (35 ha) early medieval stronghold in the Polish lands. Its layout is bipartite and semi-circular in shape, with the main part being separated and set out on a triangular plan (with the surface of 1.7 ha including the ramparts). Test research performed by E. Dąbrowska in the mid-1960s and A. Szpunar in the mid-1990s revealed the presence of most probably two construction phases of the rampart (the older rampart was probably built as wooden box construction, while the wall of the younger rampart was formed by a palisade). On the basis of a comparative analysis of the pottery sherds discovered during the excavations the period of the functioning of the stronghold is broadly dated to the time between the 9th and the 10th century. During the excavations a bone bow lath was encountered, on which there was an ornament analogous to the ones used on bone components of horse tacks in the culture of the Hungarians from the end of the 9th to the 1st half of the 10th century. The surface survey and geomagnetic survey confirmed that the stronghold was destroyed by a powerful fire. At the present stage of the research it is not known whether the mentioned bow lath, most likely belonging to a Hungarian warrior, might be correlated with this fire. Also, the function served by the stronghold in Demblin, undoubtedly the largest tribal stronghold from the Polish lands, remains unclear.