Editing Poland (section)

=== Prehistory and protohistory ===
{{Main|Stone Age Poland|Bronze and Iron Age Poland|Poland in antiquity|Early Slavs|West Slavs|Lechites|Poland in the Early Middle Ages}}
[[File:Biskupin brama od zewnatrz.jpg|thumb|right|A reconstruction of a [[Bronze Age]] [[Lusatian culture]] settlement in [[Biskupin]], 8th century BC]]

The first [[Stone Age]] archaic humans and ''[[Homo erectus]]'' species settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fabisiak |first=Wojciech |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_8jAQAAIAAJ&q=500%2520000%2520lat%2520temu%2520polska%2520homo%2520erectus |title=Dzieje powiatu wrocławskiego |date=2002 |publisher=Starostwo Powiatowe |isbn=978-83-913985-3-1 |location=Wrocław |page=9 |language=pl |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724235907/https://books.google.com/books?id=g_8jAQAAIAAJ&q=500%2520000%2520lat%2520temu%2520polska%2520homo%2520erectus |url-status=live }}</ref> The arrival of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' and [[Early European modern humans|anatomically modern humans]] coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the [[Last Glacial Period]] ([[Weichselian glaciation|Northern Polish glaciation]] 10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jurek |first=Krzysztof |title=Poznać przeszłość 1. Karty pracy ucznia. Poziom podstawowy |date=2019 |publisher=Nowa Era |isbn=978-83-267-3653-7 |location=Warszawa (Warsaw) |page=93 |language=pl}}</ref> [[Neolithic]] excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish [[Kuyavia]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Subbaraman |first=Nidhi |date=12 December 2012 |title=Art of cheese-making is 7,500 years old |url=http://www.nature.com/news/art-of-cheese-making-is-7-500-years-old-1.12020 |journal=Nature News |doi=10.1038/nature.2012.12020 |s2cid=180646880 |access-date=7 August 2021 |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508085311/https://www.nature.com/news/art-of-cheese-making-is-7-500-years-old-1.12020 |url-status=live | issn=0028-0836}}</ref> and the [[Bronocice pot]] is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Attema |first1=P. A. J. |last2=Los-Weijns |first2=Ma |last3=Pers |first3=N. D. Maring-Van der |date=December 2006 |title=Bronocice, Flintbek, Uruk, Jebel Aruda and Arslantepe: The Earliest Evidence Of Wheeled Vehicles In Europe And The Near East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqEqjtKJQ3YC&dq=%22Bronocice,+Flintbek,+Uruk,+Jebel+Aruda+and+Arslantepe:+The+Earliest+Evidence+Of+Wheeled+Vehicles+In+Europe+And+The+Near+East%22&pg=PA10 |journal=Palaeohistoria |publisher=[[University of Groningen]] |volume=47 |pages=10–28 (11) |isbn=9789077922187}}</ref>

The period spanning the [[Bronze Age]] and the [[Early Iron Age]] (1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment of [[palisade]]d settlements ([[Gord (archaeology)|gords]]) and the expansion of [[Lusatian culture]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XoxoAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22bronze%2Bage%2Bpoland%2Blusatian%22&pg=PA772 |title=The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age |date=2020 |publisher=University Press |isbn=978-0-19-885507-1 |location=Oxford |pages=766–783 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002180454/https://books.google.com/books?id=XoxoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA772&dq=%22bronze+age+poland+lusatian%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Price |first=T. Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ_KBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22lusatian%2Bculture%2B1300%2BBC%2B%25E2%2580%2593%2B500%2BBC%22&pg=PA212 |title=Ancient Scandinavia: an archaeological history from the first humans to the Vikings |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023198-9 |location=New York |page=212 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002180455/https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ_KBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA212&dq=%22lusatian+culture+1300+BC+%E2%80%93+500+BC%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> A significant archaeological find from [[Prehistory and protohistory of Poland|the protohistory of Poland]] is a fortified settlement at [[Biskupin]], attributed to the Lusatian culture of the [[Late Bronze Age]] (mid-8th century BC).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ring |first1=Trudy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfPYAQAAQBAJ&q=biskupin&pg=PA96 |title=Northern Europe: International Dictionary of Historic Places |last2=Watson |first2=Noelle |last3=Schellinger |first3=Paul |date=28 October 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-63944-9 |language=en |access-date=31 March 2019 |archive-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824094046/https://books.google.com/books?id=yfPYAQAAQBAJ&q=biskupin&pg=PA96 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Throughout [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notably [[Celts|Celtic]], [[Scythia]]n, [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]], [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]], [[Balts|Baltic]] and [[Early Slavs|Slavic]] tribes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkcSDAAAQBAJ |title=Heart of Europe. The Past in Poland's Present |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280126-5 |location=Oxford |page=247 |language=en |author-link=Norman Davies |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=18 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518111254/https://books.google.com/books?id=mkcSDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence of [[Roman Legions]] sent to protect the [[Amber Road|amber trade]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zdziebłowski |first=Szymon |date=9 May 2018 |title=Archaeologist: We have evidence of the presence of Roman legionaries in Poland |url=https://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news%2C29414%2Carchaeologist-we-have-evidence-presence-roman-legionaries-poland.html |access-date=8 August 2021 |website=Science in Poland |publisher=Polish Ministry of Education and Science |archive-date=15 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215225927/https://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,29414,archaeologist-we-have-evidence-presence-roman-legionaries-poland.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Polish tribes]] emerged following the [[Migration Period#Second wave|second wave of the Migration Period]] around the 6th century AD;<ref name="Buko 2014" /> they were [[Slavs|Slavic]] and may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.<ref>{{Citation |last=Mielnik-Sikorska |first=Marta |title=The History of Slavs Inferred from Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequences |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=e54360 |year=2013 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...854360M |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0054360 |pmc=3544712 |pmid=23342138 |display-authors=etal |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brather |first=Sebastian |year=2004 |title=The Archaeology of the Northwestern Slavs (Seventh To Ninth Centuries) |journal=East Central Europe |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=78–81 |doi=10.1163/187633004x00116}}</ref> Beginning in the early 10th century, the [[Polans (western)|Polans]] would come to dominate other [[Lechites|Lechitic]] tribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKenna |first=Amy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ef2cAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22polanie%2Btribal%2Bmonarchy%22&pg=PA132 |title=Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland |date=2013 |publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing |isbn=978-1-61530-991-7 |page=132 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002180456/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ef2cAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA132&dq=%22polanie+tribal+monarchy%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>