1_This article uses several examples to describe transformations of early medieval settlement structures-mostlyfrom pre-urban central agglomeration-to the communal town as it is reflected in archaeological finds. The attention was focused on three main questions: 1) What were the dynamics of the early medieval settlement? 2) Is thereany evidence for a communication network in the pre-urban period and after the town was founded? 3) What arethe changes in organisation of space and how does the pattern of a built-up area in this period appear? The sitesselected include-Prague, Chrudim and Hradec Králové in Bohemia, Brno in Moravia, Opava in the Czech partof the Upper Silesia, Wrocław in the Lower Silesia, Gdansk and Szczecin in the Polish part of Pomerania. Mostpre-urban centres experienced growth in the 12th century. The street network was still tentative although there was agreater tendency towards a stable street network. Polish towns which had well preserved timber structures experienceda development of complex homesteads from the 11th century at the latest. A system of rectangular lots emerged onlyin Prague and probably slightly later in Wroclaw. With regards to new elements in the architecture of timber dwellings,house foundations in the 13th century employed framed houses constructed using two main techniques: 1) posts setin the ground 2) posts set in foundation beams. The latter technique is exemplified by dwellings where a cellar ispresent underneath an overground floor. Stone houses were built in Prague as early as the 12th century., 2_ At other sites,construction of such dwellings dates back to the 13th century, in Gdansk even to the 14th century. This comparativestudy has revealed common patterns in the urbanisation of Central Europe during the transformations in the 12th and13th centuries, although the speed of diffusion of the various new trends differed between the various urban centres., Rudolf Procházka., and Obsahuje seznam literatury