The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.

Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.

Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.

Nic tak nie mówi o nas jak nasze śmieci, dlatego pradawne śmietniki są dla archeologów nieprzebranym źródłem informacji.

Połączenie dwóch różnych technik pomiarowych, georadaru i magnetometrii, dało archeologom przełomowe narzędzie do rozwiązywania zagadek z przeszłości.

Wiślany piasek przenoszony przez wodę starannie ukrywa znajdujące się na dnie zabytki. Pozostają one niewidoczne dla ludzkiego oka, ponieważ woda wiślana jest prawie nieprzejrzysta. Co kryją jej odmęty?

In this article Author discusses the problem of false interpretations of the earliest history of the Slavic people undertaken by Polish 19th century historians. He also analyses the attitude of various historians towards their colleagues' forgeries.

The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.

Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.

Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.

Współczesne metody badań, m.in. analizy pierwiastków chemicznych i stosunków izotopowych poszczególnych pierwiastków, są pomocne w rozwiązywaniu zagadek z przeszłości. Badania nad wydobyciem rud metali prowadzone w Ameryce Południowej pokazały rozwój gospodarczy kultur prekolumbijskich na ogromnej przestrzeni tego kontynentu.

Dzięki badaniu hydrauliki koryta rzecznego Wisły w Warszawie znaleźliśmy odpowiedź na to, co stało się ze skarbami porzuconymi przez szwedzkich grabieżców w XVII wieku.

Edmund Husserl stwierdził: „F i l o z o f i a j a k o n a u k a, jako poważna, ścisła, a nawet apodyktycznie ścisła nauka – t e n s e n j u ż s i ę s k o ń c z y ł”. Potrzebę przeformułowania problemu uprawomocnienia nauk dostrzeżono wyraźnie w drugiej połowie XX wieku. Filozofia hermeneutyczna Hansa Georga Gadamera i archeologia wiedzy Michela Foucaulta to być może najambitniejsze rezultaty tych przeformułowań. Na czym polega podobieństwo miedzy Gadamerem a Foucaultem w sposobie widzenia tych kwestii? Jaki wspólny problem skrywa? Artykuł podejmuje obydwa zagadnienia.

The main aim of the article was to present two emerging discourses of contemporary historiography in the field of digital media. In the first example, the authors present the thought of Niels Brügger, called the Web History and Web-minded historiography, which concentrates upon the digital source itself. The other school is marked by the works of Friedrich Kittler and Wolfgang Ernst, and called media archaeology. It underlines the concept of the medium itself as a primary object of research.

An interview with Professor Stefan Skowronek (1928–2019), a historian, archaeologist, and classical philologist, particularly renowned as an expert in numismatics, about his education in his hometown of Przeworsk, studies at the Jagiellonian University and his scholarly career.

An obituary of Cecylia Zofia Gałczyńska, an archaeologist and librarian, who wrote among other things about the collection of ancient art in the Jagiellonian University’s Museum and the history of Szczecin, in particular prominent scholars from this city, Erwin Ackerknecht and Walther Amelung.

ABSTRACT:

The text discusses medieval and modern sepulchral finds of coins from Eastern Europe, conventionally referred to as the “obol of the dead”. For the first time the phenomenon was observed in 8th century graves of nomads in the Khazar Khaganate. In the 9th and 10th century, Arab dirhams and Byzantine miliarenses appear in graves in the areas of the Scandinavian expansion, mainly in the basin of the upper Volga and the Dnieper. In the 11th century the custom of equipping the dead with coins becomes common and it is mainly West European pennies that are used for the purpose. In the 12th and 13th century, the practice becomes virtually obsolete to experience a revival in the 15th century. In modern times the observance of the custom reaches its peak in the 17th century and remains to be recorded in ethnographic sources until today.

SUMMARY:

The text presents the custom of equipping the dead with coins, followed in medieval and modern Eastern Europe.

In this area coins appear for the first time in richly equipped graves of nomads, dated to the 8th century, along the lower course of the Don and Volga rivers in the Khazar Khaganate. They are predominantly gold issues — Byzantine solidi and gold-plated dirhams, placed in the mouth of the dead.

In the 9th and 10th centuries coins and their fragments, which can be referred to as “the obol of the dead”, occur in the barrow mounds in the north-west areas of ancient Rus’, on the east and south coast of Ladoga Lake, in the interfluve of the Volga and the Oka as well as in sites located along the upper and middle course of the Dnieper, particularly in the Czernichow Land. In the second part of the 10th and 11th century the custom becomes widespread, and most of the finds come from inhumation burial. Apart from those areas, coins appear in graveyards located along the upper course of the Volga River, in the areas of Lake Peipus and Lake Ilmen as well as in the basin of the Dnieper and further down to Kiev. Characteristically enough, all the sites are located in the area of the Scandinavian expansion and colonisation.

The predominant types of coins found in graves dated to the 10th century are Arab dirhams as well as Byzantine folles, miliarenses and solidi. It should also be noted that graves with pendant-coins become more frequent. At the end of the 10th century there is an observable decrease in the inflow of Arab gold into the Baltic region. At the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century, coins from Western Europe appear and dominate the entire next century. They are usually German issues, but also English and, to a smaller extent, Bohemian and Hungarian coins. Interestingly enough, the number of coins left in the form of “the obol of the dead” is much higher than that of pendant-coins. Sometimes the local, Rus’ coins occur, although rather infrequently.

In the 12th and 13th century the custom of equipping the dead with coins disappears completely from the forest zone of Eastern Europe, which is caused by the cessation of the inflow of Western European coins into Novgorod Rus’ and predominantly, by the evolution of burial practices, manifesting itself in abandoning the custom of equipping the dead. In the 13th and 14th century, after the Mongol invasions, coins reappear in the graves of the nomads of the Golden Horde, who bring the custom from the grasslands of Central Asia. The finds are dominated by Golden Horde issues.

In the 14th century, coins are occasionally used in the burials of Lithuanian and Slavic population in the Polish-Rus’ and Lithuanian-Rus’ border areas (today’s Eastern Poland and Grodno Region). In the latter case, the finds of coins are particularly frequent in graves from the 15th century. Similarly to the 11th century Rus’ this is an area of intensive Christianisation and transformations of burial practices. Outside the Grodno Region, the coins appear frequently in graves across Lithuania, Samogitia, Semigallia, Latgale, Livonia and Courland. In the 16th century, coins start to appear in graves of newly Christianised Finno-Ugric peoples of Mari, Mordva and Udmurt. They appear both as the “obols of the dead” and pendants in lavishly decorated necklaces and hats.

The culmination of the practice of equipping the death with coins falls on the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. The areas of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the Grand Duchy of Moscow are dominated by local issues, mostly small coins of low nominal value.

In archaeological sources, there is a rapid decrease in the number of sepulchral finds of coins in graves from the second half of the 18th century. We know of only one burial with coins from the 19th century. Similarly, coins were discovered only in one 20th-century grave, which does not, however, signify that the practice of equipping the dead disappeared — it only reflects the current state of examination of contemporary archaeological sites. Ethnographic sources frequently record the tradition of equipping the death and confirm the presence of such practices in the areas of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

Stary Testament jest wyraźnie mieszanką mitów i prawdziwych postaci historycznych z ich wydarzeniami. Nie ma wątpliwości co do wkładu mitologii, ponieważ większość Księgi Rodzaju została utworzona na podstawie wspólnych mitologicznych relacji z całego starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu. Opowieści o stworzeniu, pierwszej parze, ogrodzie Eden, Kainie i Ablu, wielkim potopie i wiele innych są znane w narracjach całego regionu. Chociaż relacje te są mitologiczne, nie oznacza to, że nie zostały ukształtowane przez prawdziwe wydarzenia. Specjaliści spekulują o wielkiej powodzi, która miała miejsce na Bliskim Wschodzie w wyniku podniesienia się poziomu wody pod koniec ostatniej epoki lodowcowej (około 5000 lat przed Chr.). Zbiegło się to w czasie z rewolucją rolniczą, która opanowała Żyzny Półksiężyc i Egipt. Różne ludy Lewantu przyjęły mitologiczne narracje i przeformułowały je, aby stworzyć własne, unikalne i oryginalne opowieści. Niektóre z głównych postaci biblijnych, jak Adam i Ewa, Noe, Lot, wreszcie patriarchowie (Abraham, Izaak i Jakub), były własnymi kompozycjami, ale jak widać na przykładzie patriarchy Abrahama, który nie był postacią wyjątkową wśród narodu hebrajskiego, jego nawrócenie na monoteizm jest jednak czymś charakterystycznym dla duchowej twórczości Żydów. Tu, podobnie jak w Nowym Testamencie, archeologia jest niezbędną pomocą w zlokalizowaniu rzeczywistości i prawdy historii sakralnej i religijnej oraz jej rozwoju w dziejach ludzkości.

The Author discusses in this paper the usefulness of the Foucault's term "knowledge-rule" in the historical analysis of a discourse on everyday life of the workers in Polish kolkhozes in communist time.