Horses in the Early Medieval (10th–13th c.) Religious Rituals of Slavs in Polish Areas—An Archaeozoological, Archaeological and Historical Overview

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The military and prestigious importance of the horse as a cavalry mount (hussars and lancers) in post-medieval Poland has been well recorded in the pages of chronicles and historical records. However, information about the horse from Poland’s earliest Slavic history (10th–13th century) is very modest and can be found in few written sources. Therefore, to change this state of knowledge, data from archaeozoological and archaeological research were used to complement the information from chronicles. This was undertaken as part of a project focusing on the early medieval period. This article presents issues related to the role of the horse in religious rituals. This is discussed through a presentation of older and current views resulting from new research. The article presents and discusses textual and archaeological data supported by archaeozoological sources. The horse is known to be a military, elite and magical animal but also as the source of meat for food and bones for the manufacture of items. Although there is no doubt of treatment of the horse as a magical animal among the Slavs in Poland, it is clear that this animal was not buried in cemeteries in separate graves or with riders, as seen amongst contemporary neighbouring tribes. ABSTRACT: Knowledge about horses from early medieval (10th–13th c.) Poland has been largely based on historical and archaeological data. Archaeozoological information has only been used to a limited extent. Therefore, this article aims to present the current state of knowledge on this subject, drawing on archaeozoological data from studies of horse bones. Apart from confirming earlier reflections regarding the sacred significance of the horse, additional information was obtained about specific individuals who were the subject of magical treatments. It turned out that sites with horse skeletons and skulls are few compared to the familiar presence of horse remains among kitchen waste. This contrasts with the neighbouring regions, where horses were buried more frequently among the Germans, Scandinavians and Prussians. Some new data have been obtained thanks to taphonomic analyses, which demonstrated that horse skulls of apotropaic status were not only exposed to public viewing but were also deposited under stronghold ramparts. Horses suffering from infectious diseases could also be buried under such ramparts. Considerations in the article lead to conclusions that horses were used in religious rituals as sacrificial animals, apotropaic deposits, as fortune-telling animals and cosmological figures.