In autumn 2000, teams of workmen from the electric company began digging a trench from the market square in Cieszyn, along Głęboka Street and then on through the Old Market to Fredry Street near Theatre Square. The excavation, carried out in connection with the laying of a low voltage power line, was not very deep – varying from 0.5 to 0.7 m below the present street level. In the case of Głęboka Street, which had been rebuilt several times in the past and had its surface raised before, no stratum or relics from the medieval period were unearthed, nor even strata from the 17th or 18th century.
It was quite a different situation around Theatre Square and Fredry Street, however. In the history of Cieszyn’s development, this was one of the oldest parts of the medieval city, so it was to be expected that beneath the modern paving were hidden many more reminders of the earliest period of its past.
Whether or not Cieszyn developed in three distinct stages is still subject to debate among historians, but this assumption seems to tie in most closely with the historical facts. Stage 1 – an early-urban type settlement situated east of Castle Street in the area of Stroma Street by today’s Theatre Square as a peripheral town; stage 2 – a medieval town stretching as far as the Olszak Street area with a market square on the site of today’s Old Market and a parish church around where the theatre currently stands; stage 3 – covering the land marked out by the lines of the defensive walls around the now developed town. This was the state by the late 15th century, when a new site was earmarked for the marketplace and the new town hall was erected, still operating today as the seat of the city’s municipal authorities, to replace the old town hall which probably stood by the Old Market and which was demolished at the order of Duke Kazimierz II.
Against this historical background, it seemed promising that earthworks around Fredry Street and the Old Market may strike upon the remains of earlier buildings, possibly even from the 13th or 14th century.

THE OLD MARKET: At this location, the excavation for the power line cut across the square along an east-west axis. Unfortunately, the trench was not a very deep one, and only reached 0.7 m below the current pavement level. In the cross-section formed by the trench, the remains of cobbled paving were discovered lying directly under the present day pavement. Underneath this, there was a mixed layer consisting of small stones, brick rubble and grey-brown clay. A layer made of large, grey coloured cobble stones was discovered at the bottom of the trench. This layer was regular in both layout and content, and both the way these cobbles had been laid, and the level at which they appeared, suggested that this had been the level of a medieval square (second market square), which had been in use before the end of the 15th century. It may seem surprising that a medieval stratum appeared so close to the surface, but this fact was confirmed a few days later by a discovery made along Fredry Street.

FREDRY STREET: The trench ran right along the northern edge of the street, and did not reach any deeper than 0.7 m. At the beginning, on the eastern section, a stone construction was discovered with a diameter of around 40 cm and a width of almost a metre, which continued crosswise from north to south along the street. The excavation was not expanded, due to the time constraints on the cable-laying work. The object found here begs the question whether it was the remains of the early town’s former fortifications, or perhaps the remains of a gateway running along Fredry Street. Only traditional archaeological investigation of this area will provide an answer to this question. A few metres further on in the direction of Theatre Square, the excavation revealed another important fact. A typically medieval layer of black earth was discovered along an 8 metre section, at a depth of 0.5 – 0.7 m, in which were found over a dozen fragments of ceramic pots and lids, pieces of leather and a figure of a woman carved from animal bone. Based on the objects unearthed, this strata was provisionally dated to the 14th century. A construction made of wooden beams fastened by wooden discs cut through the western section of the trench, which suggested the existence of some kind of wooden building, perhaps the remains of a home.
Particularly noteworthy is the bone figure of the woman, around 8.5 cm tall. The small hole at the base of this beautifully and skillfully carved relic indicates that it is a cutlery handle (from a knife, fork or possibly spoon). The cut of the woman’s dress and the decoration on her apron are recognisable from medieval clothing iconography of the 14th century. From the position of her arms, it seems the women is holding some unidentifiable object. There are minor blemishes in the hair and left arm of the figure.
This rare type of find is known not only on Polish territory, but the specimen from Cieszyn stands out by virtue of its artistic merit. The carved figure-handle is probably only one part of a larger set which may have belonged to a family of burghers.
The investigations made confirmed the previous presumptions as to Cieszyn’s development and indicate that in order to properly understand the city’s origins some basic, at the very least, proper archaeological research is necessary in the areas of the old town already partially identified. This research seems all the more important considering that written sources cannot provide any new insight into this period, nor fill what seems to be a gaping hole in our knowledge of the city’s medieval history.

W. Kuś, translation Skrivanek Centrum Tłumaczeń