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silvercoins,dirhams,wasnotonlymonetary;althoughdirhamsdidnotcomedirectlyfromtheArab-Muslim
world,theydidconstituteanessentialelementofAraboriginthatinfluencedtheeconomicdevelopment
ofPolandaswellasCentralEurope.
WhatisofcrucialimportanceforthePolishhistoricalandculturalheritagearethenumerousfindsofthesilver
dirhamsfromthe9th–11thcentury.TheirmassiveamountshavepromptedDariuszAdamczyk,ahistorian,
toinvestigatethesourceoftheirinflowandcirculation,inthecontextoftheirpossiblesignificancetothe
beginningsofthePolishstate.Dirhamsreachedthisareathroughintermediaries–representativesofthe
communitythathaddirectcontactwiththeArab-Muslimempireasaresultoftrading(thispertainstothetrade
mentionedabove,includingfursorslaves).InthecountryofthePiasts,Arabiansilverwasameansofpayment
aswellasapoliticaltoolforMieszkoI.Basedontheanalysis,theauthorhasconcludedthattherelationship
betweenthedemandforfurandslavesintheArab-MuslimempireandtheinflowofArabiansilvertoPoland
isundeniable;besides,thisinfluxsignificantlycontributedtothedevelopmentofPolishlands.
WhatcomplementstheresearchonthecirculationofArabiandirhamsisTomaszNowakiewicz’sdescription
ofearlymediaevalimportsfromtheMuslimprovincefoundonPolishlands.Theauthor,anarchaeologist,
dividesthemintothreecategories:dirhams,objectsmadeofimportedrawmaterialsorusingtechnologythat
stemmedfromtheEast,andunusualfindings,thatisindividualandnon-standardluxuryitemsfromtheArab-
Muslimworld(orreferringtotheArab-Muslimtradition).Theanalysishasfocusedonthelasttwogroups
ofdiscoveries,theobjectsofnon-monetaryimport,suchasvitreousrelics(beads),finecraftsand,e.g.,
containers.ItishighlyprobablethattheobjectswereofMiddleEasternoriginorthatthetechnologyused
tomakethemwasMiddleEastern.
MałgorzataGrupa,anarchaeologist,hasbasedhersearchforArabicelements(accents)inthematerialculture
ofPolandonarchaeologicalsources.Shehasanalysed,amongothers,aribbonwithageometricornament,
apieceoffabricwithgoldenthread,andascrapofsilk.TheobjectswereluxuryproductsimportedtoPoland
fromsouthernEuropeandAsia,butitisdifficulttospecifywheretheyhadbeenproduced.Dirhamsremainthe
onlyobjectswithundoubtedlyMiddleEasternorigins.
***
Sincethepublicationisalsointendedforreaderswhoarenotspecialisedscholars,thisbookusessimplified
Polishtranscription[1]fortermsofArabicorigin.However,forreasonsofclarity,thefirstoccurrence
ofaparticulartermincludes,inparentheses,thespellingthatfollowsthescientificISOstandards.
ThegeographicalnamesarewrittenaccordingtothedirectivesoftheCommitteeforStandardisation
ofGeographicNamesfromOutsidetheRepublicofPoland.
AgataS.Nalborczyk
MustafaSwitat
JanTyszkiewicz
