This book is a contribution to efforts to understand the transformation that took place across the European continent, and in particular East Central Europe, during the second half of the first millennium. Its goal is to draw conclusions primarily on the basis of the archaeological evidence from important early medieval centres. A special emphasis is given to Pohansko near Břeclav (Czech Republic), perhaps the best studied centre of its kind in the entire region. In terms of methodology the book marks a new attempt to interlink a number of proven methodological tools used in western archaeology from the 1970’s, to new questions related to a cognitive approach to archaeology and the positivist tradition of Central European archaeology.