Revealing the first location of abandoned medieval town Toruń, Poland, with the use of integrated noninvasive research

Abstract

The article presents the latest results of the search for the first location of abandoned medieval town Toruń (Ger. Thorn), conducted in 2017–2018 by an interdisciplinary research team. Noninvasive research, including aerial, surface and geophysical prospection and geological soil coring, was preceded by archival and library queries and analysis of historical written and cartographic sources as well as contemporary remote-sensing digital images. These all pointed clearly to an area to the west of Toruń, north of the entrance to the Wood Port on the Vistula. A systematic aerial survey led to the discovery of an extensive anthropogenic structure in this area. Magnetic gradiometry survey revealed anomalies typical of human activity that were interpreted as, among other things, the remains of moats and buildings indicating the area of the town's first location. Their physical character was confirmed through geological tests. Moreover, the existence of an embankment surrounding the town is suggested by the traces of an alluvial fan formed within the fortifications by flooding. The authors point out the limitation of the possibility to identify such sites by field walking-method within the methodology of the Polish Archaeological Record. The acquired results provide strong grounds for a continuation in the form of further interdisciplinary archaeological research.