Industry in the Prehistory of Poland

Abstract

The history of material production in the Polish lands before feudalism has been investigated mainly within the archaeological framework of individual cultures or periods. A comprehensive economic-historical synthesis of prehistoric industry - understood in the broader sense rooted in the Latin industria as specialized production for social needs, as distinct from domestic Heimfleiß and Hausfleiß - has been lacking in the literature.
This article analyzes the development of industry in the Polish lands during the primitive community formation from the Palaeolithic to the proto-feudal period, distinguishing four epochs: craft among hunters-gatherers, among the earliest farmers-herdsmen, among the Lusatian Culture tribes, and in the dissolution of gentile society - with a systematic description of the main craft branches in each epoch.
The study draws on the archaeological literature on the prehistory of Poland (Kostrzewski, Chmielewski, Jażdżewski, Hensel, Łowmiański), on basic economic-historical concepts (M. Weber, Wirtschaftsgeschichte; O. Lange, Ekonomia polityczna), and on the author's own monographs on the trade relations of West Slavic societies.
The analysis shows that the industry of prehistoric Poland developed in five main craft branches: stone-working (Palaeolithic through Neolithic), metalworking (professional iron-working in the Świętokrzyskie iron basin and non-ferrous metalworking), pottery, amber-working, and comb-making. All essential technical elements of early feudal industry had already formed in the primitive community period; the sole innovation of early feudalism was glass production. Professional craft emerged at the transition from primitive community under the influence of provincial Roman trade and the Lusatian Culture. Proto-feudalism created the organizational preconditions - the private workshop replacing the communal production site - for the full development of professional craft in the early feudal period.