Research project: Lake Powidz (Poland)

The sites have been surveyed in detail using a Total Station equipped with Pen Map for Windows datalogging software. This software, unlike other logging and processing software, is used on a pen-based portable computer, plugged directly into the Total Station, which displays each point on screen as it is taken. This is particularly advantageous for underwater survey, as the spread of points being taken on a site can be viewed in real time as they are being taken. This means that grids and tapes do not have to set up underwater and divers can position themselves at any point on the site at any given time (for a fuller description of this surveying method see Henderson and Burgess 1996). The use of this software allowed the production of accurate three-dimensional digital plans of each submerged site.

Image: A Nottingham student examines a timber pile at Powidz

Over one thousand ceramics were recovered from the two sites and all suggest a date sometime during the transition from the Late Bronze to the Iron Age (from the 8th to the 6th century BC). This dating has been confirmed from radiocarbon dating of structural piles from both sites and suggests they are contemporary with the so-called Lusatian culture - the Central European version of the Urnfield culture. The large fortified settlements of the Biskupin type (Lausitz fortifications) are the most characteristic settlements of the late phase of the Lusatian culture. These sites, although much larger than those at Powidz, were also situated near water, either on peninsulas or islands. Smaller settlements belonging to the transitional period from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age are extremely rare and indeed lake dwellings of this date are virtually unknown in continental Europe. The Powidz sites have a further importance by the fact that they lie within fifty kilometres of the famous Late Bronze Age fortified stockade of Biskupin.

Image: Structural pile from Powidz radiocarbon dated to 795 - 522 cal BC (2 sigma)

It seems likely that both Powidz and Polanowu were originally lakeside dwellings that became submerged after the 6th century BC. This would tie in with evidence from Biskupin where changes in climate after 700 BC led to a rise in the groundwater level of 2m which ultimately led to the abandonment of the site after 500 BC. The computer model below simulates the projected 2 metre rise in water level from the Late Bronze Age to the present day level at Polanowu.