Zutok regni custodiam et clavem.
(Gall: 84)
V. Santok is the watchtower and key of the kingdom
Welcome to Santok – a town with over a thousand years of history!
In the Middle Ages, Santok was a Piast gord and played an important role in shaping the structures of the state of the first Piasts. Located on the border of the Great Poland, Pomerania and Brandenburg, as a powerful and fully formed „gateway centre”, it was an important strategic point. It was also a trading post, as well as the seat of the castellany and prepositure.
Gallus Anonymous in the Polish Chronicle from the 12th century wrote that: „Santok is the watchtower and the key of the kingdom.”
Following in the footsteps…
VI. Following in the footsteps…we discover the oldest traces of settlement in Santok and the surrounding area
After the „forest trappers” living in the Mesolithic – e.g., the Middle Stone Age (8000-5000 BC) – tools and flint products remained in the area of today’s Santok and its vicinity. The warming and humidification of the climate caused the spread of mixed forests – rich in edible plants and animals. The inhabitants of Santok gained food by hunting animals near the houses (huts, semi-dugouts), collecting plants and fishing. Tools and weapons made of flint, such as arrowheads, were of small size. As a result of limited access to flint deposits, they underwent geometrization and microlithization.
In the Neolithic – Younger Stone Age (approx. 5000-2000/1600 BC) there were huge economic transformations, which resulted in changes in the system of social organization and forced a sedentary lifestyle. „Neolithic farmers” began to cultivate wild plants and cereals, domesticated animals, learned the art of weaving and making clay vessels. Axes made in this period by Santok farmers are an example of a new type of tools.
The invention of bronze smelting (an alloy of copper and tin) led to the development of metallurgy, and thus – the ability to manufacture tools, weapons or beautiful jewelry – e.g. pins – from this metal. The ability to make and use bronze tools gave the name to the next era – the Bronze Age (from 1800 to 650 BC). In Santok and the surrounding area, no traces of a „foundry workshop” from this period have been found, but beautiful inlaid ceramics have been obtained.
The Iron Age (from 650 BC) in historical periodization continues to this day, and in archaeological periodization it ended in the 13th century. It owes its name to the ability to smelt iron and then make tools, weapons and everyday objects from this metal. We can imagine, for example, what dishes were used by the Santok’s inhabitants living in the heyday of the Roman Empire, and in which ones – during the construction of the Polish state.
Our journey in the footsteps of our ancestors in Santok ends in the early Middle Ages. At that moment, the history of the „floating island”, e.g. the famous settlement in Santok, began.
So let’s go and look for more traces that have been left by generations before us…
