The Archaeology.org roundup points to the Piast. The archaeology simply confirms historical accounts of AD 930-1000 Poland: the Poles tried to form a central state, it failed.
The Piast nobles came from the Warta watershed and moved upon the Oder. By AD 960 they'd conquered a path to the Vistula also. As of AD 1000 they had a pretty large Poland, as far as Bohemia up the Elbe. This attracted resentment; Bretislav of the also-Slavic Czech tribe called shenanigans on this new empire and, AD 1030, ended it.
The conclusion is, as too-often, Bayes': "Last In, First Out". This land although supportive of a large-ish kingdom owned no tradition of kingship. The Piasts tried to create one. The Piasts hoped for a divine-right theory in the Church. In the middle of the Middle Ages this seems reasonable-enough: to unite everyone against Vikings and Prussians, and to allow for some neutral party in disputes with Saxons and embryonic Russians, maybe Bulgars.
The Catholics weren't ready and the Byzantine Empire, impressive on paper, was at its high water mark. This far north, it appears that some locals remained too truculent in their native superstitions to think much of these new priests. Famously Lithuania never accepted Polish Christianity, which led to Teutons sending their Knights over there. The Piasts didn't dare raising such an order of which I am aware. As to the Czechs, although I am pretty sure Bretislav was Christian: his demesne traded with the Elbe, so didn't see much point in shifting moneys to the Oder.
But the decline preceded Bretislav. The Piasts' failure reminds me of Brian's failure except over three generations rather than, in Ireland, three years.
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