Świadki ziemne świadkami historii. Znaczenie badań archeologicznych dla poznania dziejów Wielkiej Wagi i przeszłości południowowschodniego rejonu Rynku Głównego w Krakowie

BAULKS AS WITNESSES TO HISTORY: ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT SCALES AND THE PAST OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN SECTION OF RYNEK GŁÓWNY IN KRAKÓWArchaeology is commonly associated with a search for treasures. In the case of the research in the area of the Great Scales, such treasures would be metal finds informing us about the function of city scales, including the aspects that are not mentioned in historical sources. The significance of archaeological investigation lies principally in its contribution to expanding our knowledge of unearthed items and the history of an area, which in the case of our research covers a small but important segment of Kraków; the earliest settlements in the area of Rynek Główny (Main Market Square), dated back to the 10th century, were based in the south-eastern part of the plaza. The development of an early medieval smelting settlement was interrupted with the incorporation of the area into the newly founded town. Still, the traditional affiliation of the site with metals was not discontinued. City scales were built here, used to weigh lead, copper and iron. Lead storehouse and lead market were here as well. As it has been evidenced by recent archaeological research, production-related activities connected with melting metals and most probably also obtaining precious metals were pursued in the area until Late Middle Ages. Excavation works in the area of the Great Scales have also provided some idea of how the level and the surface adjoining the local buildings – and the buildings themselves – were changing over a few hundred ages. Our findings were based on knowledge obtained from observations and analyses documented during the investigation of cultural layers, from which historical transformations to the south-eastern sector of the square can be read like from a book.