CAROLINGIAN OR NOT? AN ANALYSIS OF THE FITTING FROM HALICZANY IN THE CONTEXT OF OTHER EARLY MEDIEVAL FINDS FROM SELECTED AREAS OF THE WESTERN SLAVIC TERRITORIES

The paper presents some remarks on the chronology and spatial distribution of the Late Avar, Carolingian, and Great Moravian finds in selected areas of the Western Slavic Territories. The main subject of this paper is to analyse a particular item found in Haliczany, Chełm County in Poland. The fitting from Haliczany has already been subjected to typological and chronological analyses twice. In each case, however, it led the authors to entirelly different conclusions and since the space for its interpretation remains broad, it requires some clarification. The purpose of the study is to indicate possible origins of the fitting from Haliczany in terms of both typology and the route it travelled to finally reach the areas of today Eastern Poland. There are two competing explanations that are examined in this paper concerning either Carolingian or nomadic origins of the item in question. In the methodological dimension the paper provides arguments in favour of considering even single finds in a context broader than only stylistic speculations, including also cultural, historical, and when possible also ‘geopolitical’ determinants.