{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.04188357785139612, 'fraction_numerical': 0.037584792554030605, 'mean_word_length': 4.686701054047993, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Decline of antiquity and the beginning of a new era in the Polish Carpathians

The paper presents the cultural situation on the northern slopes of the West Carpathians during the Late Roman, the Early Migration and the beginning of the Early Medieval periods. At the close of antiquity, the western part of the area under discussion was inhabited by communities referred to as the North Carpathian group. Their settlement model in that period included single-household settlements situated in high locations, and big settlements in wide river valleys on the edges of overflowing terraces. People living in these settlements maintained contact with the northern, mountainous part of Slovakia, and also with the Carpathian Basin, the Danube River basin, and the post-Chernyakhov culture milieu. A new cultural cycle was initiated in the West Carpathians by the inflow of early Slavic groups representing the so-called Prague cultural province into the southern Vistula River basin. The decline of settlement of the North Carpathian group and the appearance of that linked with early Slavs both seem to fall around the middle of the 5th century, and there may have been a causal link between these two phenomena.

The development of archaeological cultures belongs among the most difficult questions in prehistoric studies. Periods of their more or less stable development are typically relatively well-defined, but issues related with their appearance and disappearance pose many more problems and often raise controversy. This also holds true with respect to the close of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages in the West Carpathians, a territory we have already paid much attention to, and which is the focus of this paper as well.
Thanks to field research carried out over recent years, the Beskid part of the Polish Carpathians has ceased to be a terra incognita on the archaeological map of Central European Barbaricum in the Late Roman and early Migration periods. Quite to the contrary, the region has turned out to have been intensively exploited in that period.
The Late Roman period saw expansion of settlement into the Beskid zone, into areas sparsely settled or uninhabited in previous periods -Beskid Zachodni, from where Púchov culture sites are known, and Beskid Wschodni on the San River, where Przeworsk culture sites from the Early Roman period were recorded.
A leading role in the settling of the Carpathians is ascribed in older Polish archaeological literature to Przeworsk culture populations expanding southwards from central Małopolska. This expansion is believed to have been caused by demographic growth and by adaptations in the economic model which allowed for exploitation of mountainous environments (Madyda-Legutko/Poleski/Krąpiec 2005, 310, 311, fig. 1;Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 2008, 245, 246). According to another view, the part of the Carpathians within the range of the so-called North Carpathian group was settled in the Late Roman period by a new population of unspecified origin (Pieta 1991, 376).
The natural environment of the Carpathian areas allowed for farming-herding economy, as has been demonstrated by results of paleobotanical and archaeozoological research. Settlement sites yielded remains of barley (Horodeum vulgare L.), rye (Secale cereale L.), common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum L.), spelt (Triticum spelta L.), millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and oat (Avena sp.;Lityńska-Zając 1993, 155;Lityńska-Zając et al. 2017, 719 -750), as well as bones of domesticated animals. unfortunately, the high acidity of Carpathian soils causes that bone materials hardly ever survive in settlement sites (Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 1978, 146;Tunia 2004, 347). In the few cases where bones have survived, the identified species included cattle (Bos taurus) and domestic pig (Sus domesticus). 2 It cannot be ruled out that the region may have also attracted settlers with its salt springs, which have been documented in the Carpathians (e. g. Góry Słone, Tyrawa Solna, Słonka River; Bochnak 2019, 25 -56, fig. 3;Cabalska 1971, 431 -436;Jodłowski 1985, 59 -69). It is also worth noting that the gentle landscape of the Beskid zone, with a number of low passes and longitudinal river valleys, does not make this part of the Carpathians any significant morphological barrier to communication between the valleys of the Danube and Vistula Rivers, to local contacts among inter-mountain valleys, or to communication between northern and southern foothills of the Carpathians.
The current picture of Late Roman and Early Migration periods settlement in the area under discussion (both in Poland and Slovakia) is naturally a reflection of the current state of research, and advances in research could bring some corrections to that picture in future. The relatively well-understood settlement in the mountain valleys of the orava, the Spiš, the Liptov, the Sącz Basin, and in adjacent mountain ranges, was described by Karol Pieta as the North Carpathian group. Accor ding to that scholar, the group in question occupied an area extending between the Malá fatra range to the west and the Torysa River to the east, with the northern and southern boundaries marked by the northern margins of the Sącz Basin and the Low Tatras, respectively (Luštíková 2018, 80, pl. VI;Pieta 1987;1991;2003, 156 -158, fig. 5;6;2008, 464 -467, fig. 5: 1 -21). K. Pieta argued that the populations recorded in the area in the Late Roman and Early Migration periods settled a territory which had previously been almost completely uninhabited (Pieta 1994, 254). The picture of settlement is different in eastern Slovakia. Although the region remains poorly recognised, the Late Roman and Early Migration periods occupation (Tunia 2001, 113, fig. 3;2008, 132, 133) was demonstrated to have been pre-dated there by settlement from phase C2 of the younger Roman period (Lamiová-Schmiedlová/Tomášová 1999;Prohászka 2006).
In the Sącz Basin and adjacent areas, the occupation from the period under discussion was pre-dated by that of the Púchov culture, dated from the La Tène period to the Early Roman period (Madyda-Legutko 1996, 47 -51;Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 2015). In addition, finds of Roman coins dated to the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (14 -37 AD) are known from the Jasło-Krosno Basin (Dymowski 2013, 275 -278, fig. 1; 2). Small amounts of pottery broadly dated to the Early Roman period have also been identified among surface materials in the Sącz Basin, Beskid Sądecki, and Beskid Wyspowy. 4 Settlement datable to the Early and younger Roman periods, linked with the Przeworsk culture, is confirmed in the upper San River Basin as well (Bulas/Kotowicz/Okońska 2019, 91 -106;Madyda-Legutko/Rodzińska-Nowak 2010, 65 -77;2019, 247 -258). Later, 3 rd century occupation of that area is evidenced by single finds, one example being an aureus coin of Emperor Tacitus (275 -276) from Gostwica, Nowy Sącz district ( fig. 3: 2), perforated and provided with a loop for suspension, which belongs to specimens having other than economic function (Morawiecki 1977, 175, 176, fig. 2a, b). A glass sword pommel recently discovered in Łukowica, Limanowa district, site 5, is a very interesting specimen ( fig. 3: 1), 5 which testifies to contacts with the Sarmatian milieu, and perhaps with northern Europe as well (cf. Biborski/Kaczanowski 2013, 423, 424, fig. 2;3;4). Imported terra sigillata vessels also reached the Beskid zone. In the Dynów foothills, in Bachórz, Rzeszów district, 4 unpublished materials from Krzysztof Tunia's research. 5 unpublished find, collection of the Regional Museum in Nowy Sącz; Bartłomiej urbański (in preparation). The vast majority of the sites known today from the Polish Carpathians are settlements. from the period discussed here only one small cemetery is known, in Rajbrot, Bochnia district, on the northern slopes of the Carpathians. It is a layered cremation cemetery, dated to the early phase of the Migration period (fig. 4: 1 -5;Biborski/Zagórska-Telega 2008, 87 -96;2009, 429 -440). In this context it is also worth mentioning an elite "princely" burial from Poprad-Matejovce, Poprad district, in the upper Poprad River basin -not very far away from the area discussed here. The burial has been dated to the close of the 4 th century based on a coin issued by Emperor Valens in 375 AD (Lau 2013, 16 -19;Lau/Pieta 2010, 343 -364;2017, 255 -265;Pieta 2009, 107 -122). These two discoveries exhaust the short list of Carpathian sepulchral sites from the period in question.
The new wave of settlers who arrived in the Beskid zone had to adjust their economic behaviours to the mountainous environment. Analysis of the Late Roman and Early Migration period settlement network in the Polish Carpathians shows that people inhabiting these areas had deep understanding of the natural environment and were capable of making maximum use of it. Settlement sites from the discussed period were located in highly characteristic places. They can often be found in higher locations: on watersheds and on local plateaus in upper sections of mountain slopes ( fig. 5: 1, 2). In broad valleys of large rivers, however, they occupied the edges of higher terraces ( fig. 5: 3, 4). Such a pattern of site location can be observed throughout the entire Beskid zone, including the mountain ranges of Beskid Sądecki, Beskid Niski, and Niskie Bieszczady (Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 2008). These high-altitude sites were typically small, single-household settlements, while those occupying edges of overflowing river terraces were large settlements with complex build-up (Barłowska 1984;Bulas et al. 2019). The highest located Carpathian sites were recorded around 600 m a. s. l. in Poland (Piwniczna, Nowy Sącz distr. It can be thus reasonably assumed that the basic units in the Carpathian settlement network during the Late Roman and Early Migration periods were single-household settlements occupying openings scattered in mixed deciduous (Tilio-Carpinetum) and oak-pine (Pino-Quercetum) forests. They were accompanied by large settlements in broad river valleys, situated in safe locations above the flood plain, on the edges of river terraces. In terms of the economic model, these communities relied on agriculture -cultivation and processing of cereals -and probably animal husbandry (Tunia 1986;1989;2004).
Studies on the settling of mountainous areas have shown that, due to a combination of environmental factors (hypsometry and lay of land, soil, hydrology, climate, flora, and fauna), the locations best suitable for permanent human occupation and economy are those situated higher (Tunia 1989). The upper limit of the zone suitable for settlement in the West Carpathians is nowadays around 700 m a. s. l., and it must have been higher in the Subboreal period when the climate was warmer than today. An important question, one that still requires further research, is that of the ethnic structure of the community inhabiting the discussed part of the Carpathians at that time. In this connection, it is worth noting a significant representation of elements originating from other regions of Central Europe (the Carpathian Basin in particular), and from Eastern Europe in the material culture. The proportion of such elements is notably higher than in "classic" Przeworsk culture assemblages of that era. In light of the above, distinguishing the North Carpathian group as a cultural phenomenon -of as yet unknown range -characteristic of the West Carpathian zone seems to be a well-justified idea and a promising direction for future research.
Ceramic assemblages retrieved from the Polish and Slovak Carpathians during excavations and surface surveys comprise both hand-and wheel-made vessels. The latter are represented in Carpathian settlements with varying frequency and show certain local features (Madyda-Legutko 2011, 295 -306).
one well-represented group are large storage vessels with broad rim, known as Krausengefäß. They differ among themselves in terms of size, proportions, and form of the rim. They are known from settlement sites throughout the Polish ( fig The inhabitants of settlements in Beskid Sądecki were not an isolated population: they maintained contacts with the northern, mountainous part of Slovakia, and above all with the Carpathian Basin, the Danube River basin, and the post-Chernyakhov culture milieu. This is confirmed by single wheel-made vessels discovered in the above settlements. These vessels include jugs with cylindrical necks, the handle bent at a right angle, and with a groove inside, known from settlements at Rytro site A and Moszczenica Wyżna site A, both in Nowy Sącz district (fig. 8: 1 -3;Madyda-Legutko 1996, 82, pl. XXIII: 1 -3;2011, fig. 7: 5 -7;Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 1978, 130, fig. 9d -f;1993, 62 -64, pl. XIX: a; XX: a). Such forms are known from northern Slovakia as well (fig. 8: 4 -6). Jugs with handles formed in this manner are believed to be associated with nomadic tribes, the huns in particular (Madyda-Legutko 1996, 82, with older literature;Vaday 1994, 105 -114, pl. I: 1 -14). A two-handled vessel from Rytro, with both surfaces covered with a thin layer of brick-red engobe and decorated with a burnished pattern of hanging triangles, refers in style to two-handled vessels known from the Chernyakov- . Also of note is a fragment of a wheel-made bucket-shaped vessel from Rytro ( fig. 8: 7), a reference to vessels known from layered cemeteries of the Dobrodzień type (Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 1983, 33, pl. XXXVI: e). In terms of chronology, the above vessels represent the latest ceramic forms in the discussed settlements.
The research conducted in the Polish Carpathians in recent years has filled some more gaps in the picture of human activity in the Beskid zone during the Late Roman and Early Migration periods. The archaeological fieldworks preceding the construction of the Świnna Poręba reservoir on the Skawa River (on the borderlands of Beskid Mały and Beskid Makowski) involved, among other things, exploration of Late Roman and Early Migration period settlement sites in Skawce (site 4) and Zagórze (sites 8 and 14), both in Wadowice district (Valde-Nowak 2014, 484 -487). In Skawce, a paleochannel of a small river was discovered at the foot of Mucharz hill, with traces of hearths, stone pavements, and undetermined pits re-corded along it. 7 The cultural layer yielded human bones, a buckle with a thickened frame, and two glass beads (Valde-Nowak 2014, 484, 486, fig. 2). The sites in Zagórze revealed remains of sunken houses (site 8) and rectangular hearths (site 14), characteristic of the Roman Period (Valde-Nowak 2014, 486, fig. 3: a, b; 4). In terms of pottery, the sites on the Skawa River produced handmade vessels ( fig. 9: 1), a large series of wheel-made vessels, as well as fragments of storage vessels of the Krausengefäß type ( fig. 9: 4, 5).
Intensive occupation in the upper basin of the Wisłoka River during the younger/Late Roman -Early Migration periods has been confirmed by settlement sites excavated in Lipnica Dolna site 8 (Kłosowicz/ Leszczyński 2017) and ujazd, site 1, both in Jasło district (Pęcherek 2018;Pohorska 1978), and by sites identified during surface surveys. The two settlements mentioned above lie within the Ciężkowice foothills, to the south of Mount Liwocz. In Lipnica Dolna, a pottery kiln was uncovered with no traces of a grate and no constructional elements potentially supporting it 8 (Kłosowicz/Leszczyński 2017, 463 -481, fig. 5; 7; photos 1, 2; pl. III: 1 -11; IV: 1 -12; V: 1 -12; VI: 1 -12; VII: 1 -12; VIII: 1 -13; IX: 1 -12; X: 1 -7). It was assigned to single-chamber kilns of type D in J. Henning's (1977) classification, which are most common in the 3 rd and 4 th centuries. Both the main chamber and the entrance pit contained large amounts of sherds belonging to storage and wheel-made vessels. The settlement in ujazd, in turn, is known from rescue excavations only (Pohorska 1978). A re-analysis of the distribution of archaeological features in the site suggests the presence of a post-built structure there (Pęcherek 2018). Apart from the above-mentioned storage vessel dug into the ground, the settlement yielded large series of wheel-made ( fig. 9: 3) and hand-made ( fig.  9: 2) pottery. 7 The authors would like to thank P. Micyk and I. Doniec for making the materials available. A settlement at site 59 -60 in Sanok, in the southern part of the Sanok Basin, produced important information concerning spatial layout of settlement sites functioning in the Late Roman and Early Migration periods (Bulas et al. 2019, 55 -81). Buildings formed three distinct concentrations within the site, which the authors of the research describe as household clusters. Apart from diverse post-built structures, each household comprised various other features including pits, hearths, pottery kilns, and clay pits (Bulas et al. 2019, fig. 9). In a natural depression in the central part of the settlement, four wells with wooden boardings and a pit interpreted as a flax rettery were uncovered. Standing out among a large series of pottery retrieved from the site, both wheel-( fig. 10: 2) and hand-made ( fig. 10: 4), are a fragment of a polygonal vessel ( fig. 10: 3) and a fragment belonging to a hand-made bucket-shaped vessel ( fig. 10: 5). Storage vessels of the Krausengefäß type are well-represented, as well ( fig. 10: 1; Bulas 2019, fig. 2: 2 -4; Bulas et al. 2019, fig. 12: 3 -5; 15: 1 -12; 16: 1 -7; 17: 1 -11). The settlement in Sanok dates within the Late Roman period -Early Migration period. A radiocarbon date obtained from a plank from one of the wells indicates that the well functioned in the first half of the 5 th century. Such chronology seems to be corroborated by the discovery of a fragment of a vessel interpreted by the explorers as belonging to a hunnic cauldron ( fig. 11: 7; Bulas 2019, 63, 64, fig. 3 fig. 18: 3). This find is unambiguous proof of contacts between the region and the Carpathian Basin.
As mentioned, a similar pattern of spatial organization was recorded at the site 4 in Lesko, on the San River where five household clusters were identified, consisting of alleged above-ground or sunken dwellings accompanied by pits, hearths, and concentrations of daub (Barłowska 1984 fig. 1; Rau 1972, 167, fig. 52).
Both in the Polish and Slovak Carpathians, settlement of the North Carpathian group correlates with the close of the Roman period and the early phase of the Migration period, which is with phases C3 -D1 and D2 in Jaroslav Tejral's periodisation. In a more recent approach to the chronology of the Migration period, this settlement is dated to AD 380 -390/400 -440/450 (Tejral 2011, 15 -24). It should be emphasised that the functioning of the settlements of the North Carpathian group falls to a time which in Central Europe is marked by great ethnic shifts, the disintegration of old cultural-settlement structures, and the domination of hunnic tribes. North Carpathian group is assumed to have vani shed before the mid-5 th century (Pieta 2002, 18), as was also the case with other cultural structures within Central European Barbaricum.
The settlements most likely ceased to exist in a violent manner, which is suggested in the archaeological record by traces of fires, clearly discernible for example in Rytro, Nowy Sącz district (Madyda-Legutko/ Tunia 1993, 37) and Lesko, Lesko district (Barłowska 1984, 74). The collapse of settlement structures in the discussed period is also evident in the palinological record. A pollen diagram from Wołosate in Bieszczady district shows the regeneration of forest and a drop in human activity indicators. This is linked with the settlement regress in the Migration period (Ralska-Jasiewiczowa 1980, 158).  fig. 12: 3), is the latest Roman coin found in the Polish Carpathians (Bodzek 2009, 187, fig. 4: 7;Skowronek/Ślawski 1966, 204). Late Roman solidus coins are believed to have been possibly inflowing into southern Poland, the Carpathians included, in the last third of the 5 th century (Bodzek/Fedyk/Kotowicz 2019, 275).
In this context, important questions emerge, namely who were the people who infiltrated the mountainous areas in the San River basin after the mid-5 th century, and who caused the fires that ravaged settlement sites of the North Carpathian group? At the present stage of research, these questions are still a bit rhetorical.
A new cultural cycle began in the West Carpathians when Early Slavic settlement (linked with the socalled Prague cultural province) started to move into the southern basin of the Vistula River. Accor ding to the current state of knowledge and in light of the constantly growing body of evidence, concentrations of Early Slavic settlements can be identified on the San River not only in its middle course, but also further to the south, up the river, in the Dynów foothills and as far as the Sanok Basin (fig. 14;Parczewski 2003, 191 -209;2011, 97 -106, fig. 3). Early Slavic settlements on the mountainous section of the San River, in the Dynów foothills, reveal roughly square semi-sunken houses, typically with the remains of a heating device in the northern corner, which date to the 5 th /6 th -7 th centuries (Parczewski 2011, 97). The largest number of such houses, as many as sixteen, were found in site 16 in Bachórz, Rzeszów district (fig. 14;Parczewski 2003;2011, 101), with two more found in site 11 in Dynów, Rzeszów district (Parczewski 2011, 101), and one in site 1 in hłomcza, Sanok district (Muzyczuk/Pohorska-Kleja 1994, 61, fig. 4;Parczewski 2011, 101). Early Slavic materials have also recently been discovered at the borderlands between the Dynów and Przemyśl foothills, in a settlement at Jabłonnica Ruska, Brzozów district, in site 1. 11 further to the west, Early Slavic materials are unambiguously confirmed in the Sącz Basin on the Dunajec River: in site 9 at Podegrodzie, Nowy Sącz district (Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 1991, 83 -93;1992, 123 -146). Early Slavic occupation is represented there by a unique cremation burial in urn of a male aged over 30 ( fig. 13: 2), and a pit a few metres away from the grave, in which many fragments of handmade vessels ( fig. 13: 3 -5) were found along with a significant amounts of animal bones and plant remains (Madyda-Legutko/Tunia 1992, 126 -133, 140 -142, fig. 3 -9).
Early Slavic occupation is also confirmed in the Spiš region in Slovakia (fig. 14;Kučerová et al. 2012). four sunken houses with stone stoves in the northern and north-western corners were discovered at Spišský Štvrtok, Levoča district, in site Pod Šibeničnou horou. The fills of the houses contained fragments of pottery and animal bones (Kučerová et al. 2012, 19 -22, fig. 1 -6 fig. 4: 7). a stove in the northern corner was found at Iliašovce, Levoča district, in site Za hostincom (Kučerová et al. 2012, 22, 23, fig. 7;8). The chronological position of the above materials falls within phase Ib acc. to G. Fusek (1994, 101), which means the turn of the 5 th and 6 th centuries. In addition, Early Slavic materials have been mentioned at Žilina in north-western Slovakia (Fusek 1994, 266, 267).
Due to the absence of precise chronological indicators, it is impossible at the present stage of research to precisely date the beginning of the Early Slavic settlement in Małopolska and the West Carpathians. K. Godłowski (1979, 34 -36) andM. Parczewski (1988, 106 -108;1993, 88 -94) formulated a hypothesis positing that the earliest Early Slavic settlement could not have appeared before the decline of the settlement structures characteristic of the Late Roman and Early Migration periods, which means not before the second half of the 5 th century. however, Early Slavic materials credibly dated to such an early period remain so far unknown, due to the mentioned absence of precise chronological indicators. Therefore, the beginning of the Early Slavic phase in Małopolska has been conventio nally set around 500 AD, which is in line with the information provided by Jordanes (Labuda 1999, 34, 35;Madyda-Legutko/Poleski/Krąpiec 2005, 312). In this context it is worth referring to a view expressed by H. Łowmiański (1963, 245, 246), who regarded the Battle of Nedao in 454 AD (which triggered the disintegration of the multi-ethnic hunnic empire) as a milestone in overcoming the barrier blocking Slavic expansion.
In general, the populating of the territory of present-day Poland by a Slavic element was a staged process. The older stage would encompass the historical migrations of the Sclaveni and, according to Jordanes, was confined to the upper basin of the Vistula River. According to Michał Parczewski and archaeologists of the new generation, the term "Early Slavic phase" refers to a period spanning from the mid-5 th century until the close of the 7 th century (Szmoniewski 2016, 31). Thus, the decline of the settlement of the North Carpathian group and the beginning of that linked with early Slavs both seem to fall around the middle of the 5 th century, and there may have been a causal link between these two phenomena. It can also be assumed that the replacement of settlement structure was not always a peaceful process, as possibly indicated by the archaeologically evidenced traces of fires that brought the existence of settlements in Rytro and Lesko to an end.