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Fig. 20, Wolin. The second tempie. A - the tempie, B - the yard, C - the stable, D - the pallisade.

After Filipowiak 1993, p. 27

surrounded with hollows was found. It was used sińce the 7thc. and en-circled with houses at the turn of the 9th c. As there were no buildings on the yard, the archaeologist interpreted it as an open-air cult place. In the 9th/l0thc. a building was erected in this place. Not all of it has been explored, but we know that it was orientated along the east-west axis and had a framework construction. It consisted of two rooms, which is indicated by the remains of a partition wali. In the smaller room, opposite the en-trance from the other one, in the middle of the floor, there was a square construction of thick planks, which might have constituted the foundation of a statuę. There was a smali fire-place in the south-eastem comer. The main entrance was probably situated in the eastem wali and led to the bigger room. In 966 according to dendrochronological datation (Ważny, Eckstein, 1987, p. 155-156), in place of this tempie and some neighbouring houses, a new, grander one was built. It was constructed of high-quality oak wood cut in broad planks-laths, put horizontally between vertical pillars. The walls were strengthened with joists preventing them from sinking into the ground, which testifies to their significant height. The tempie was sur-rounded with a fence, which separated its square yard from the town area densely covered with buildings. Its south-western comer housed a stable. The entrance to the yard was probably situated in the eastem side. Numer-ous remains of resinous chips used as torches were found stuck in cracks underneath the fence pales. Other.finds, such as fragments of carpets and silk textiles, and several one-faced wooden figurines representing a bearded person wearing a pointed cap, come from the time when this tempie existed. In the close neighbourhood of the tempie the four-faced statuette of “Svan-tevit from Wolin” (Hensel, 1978) and a mouthpiece of a wind instrument were found. These are not remains of the tempie described in The life from Prufening, which was situated outside the town walls, probably in the south, and possibly had its own fortifications. The tempie excavated by W. Filipowiak lay in the very centre of the town and existed in the 9th/10th c. A part of it was a stable, which suggests that Wolin might have had an oracie using a horse for divination, but no mention about it is found in St Otto’s Lives, so we should assume that it was no longer active at the end of the 11 the.

The name of Wolin may be derwed from ovel (convex), which refers to an island or a stronghold situated on a hill. There are also some other etymologies, but this one seems to be supported by the Scandinavian name of the town, Jom, coming from hjome = hill (Labuda, 1960-1975, vol. 2, p. 188; SSS, vol. 6, p. 561).

Thus, at the beginning of the 12th century there was at least one tempie in Wolin. It lay to the south of the town, but very close to it, and was surrounded with water and morass. Inside the town there was a sacrosanct pole and statues which formed an open-air sanctuary. The house of the prince, which provided asylum, might have functioned as a cult hall. Per-haps there was another tempie near the pole. Excavations show that the place had been reserved for cult purposes, as two temples were erected there subsequently, the second one equipped with a stable. The temples were fumished with statuettes, which was recorded by the written sources and confirmed by archaeological finds. A group of priests functioned at the tempie described in The life from Prfening. We know that one of the rituals was held at the beginning of summer. Analyses of animal bones suggest that another celebration took place in early autumn, as in Arcona (Filipowiak, 1979, p. 116-117; 1979a, p. 94; 1982, p. 120-121). The celebrations were accompanied by merrymaking, feasts and even some kind of scene perform-ances. The torches prove that they were continued at night.

The name of the town - Wolin in Slavonic and Jom in Scandinavian

-    means “hill.” This may symbolise the belief that the stronghold was situated in the centre of the universe, stressed by the centrally placed pole

-    the axis of the world. The stronghold and the sanctuary lay at the western bank of the arm of the Oder called Dziwna. This name can be derived from the root div, which has very strong religious connotations (Gieysztor, 1982,