EN
In the Przeworsk culture territory were produced of iron, while on other territories they were usually made of copper alloy or silver. Distribution of the iron fibulae of that type could be seen as a trace of the Przeworsk culture influences. The cross-bow tendril fibulae made of iron can be divided into three distinct groups: a.Prototypes with widened foot and triangular bow (Fig. 1) b.“Classic cross-bow brooches, mostly of type Almgren 161-162, and their richly ornamented variants (Fig. 4) c.Late brooches with short 4-coil spring and band-shaped bow (Fig. 5) The earliest “prototype form of iron cross-bow tendril brooches are, just as specimens made of bronze or silver, brooches with short 4-coil spring and slightly widened foot. Brooches of that type, not numerous, are known exclusively from the Przeworsk Culture assemblages of phase C1a. Similar brooches with a long many-coil spring (Fig. 2:1), dated to the same time, are their later stylistic forms. These brooches are also almost exclusively known from the Przeworsk Culture area. Three such fibulae found on Bornholm build an exception; they also came from the phase C1a. Two brooches with a bow made of triangular band which is widening towards head (Fig. 2:2) form a unique version of the “prototype fibulae. It is probably a result of local experiments in attempt to reconcile traditional version of the early Roman Period way of making brooches with new construction typical to the late Roman Period. Lack of the next specimens of that kind indicates that the experiment was hardly seen as a success. A vast majority of the “classic brooches are specimens of type Almgren 161-162 with many-coil spring, straight cord and strongly bent, almost knee-shaped bow. They are more widespread than the previous group (Fig. 4). The greatest concentration is, however, still on the Przeworsk Culture territory (Fig. 2:3–6), where they were in common use in the phase C1a, not so often in phase C1b and, very rarely in phase C2 (List 1). Finds from outside the Przeworsk Culture are dated to the same chronological period. Only a few finds of iron brooches type Almgren 161-162 were found on the Marcomanian or Quadian cemeteries (List 2; Fig 2:7). They were also rare on the Sarmatian sites (List 3) and in the basin of middle and lower Elbe (List 4a & 4b). Iron brooches of type 161-162 lack almost completely in Scandinavia. Quite astonishing is a concentration of such brooches on Bornholm (List 5), where nearly 20 specimens were found, and 3 more on Gotland (List 6; fig. 2:8). In the Baltic Sea zone clear concentration of that brooches was in the southern part of the territories of Western Balts, that is on Samland and in Masurian Lakeland, where 40–50 specimens were discovered (W. Nowakowski 1994). More than 20 iron brooches type Almgren 161-162 were registered in the area of the Wielbark Culture (List 7; fig. 2:9–11, 3:1, 2), what is rather surprising, because iron was almost totally excluded from a production of personal ornaments of the Wielbark Culture. The brooches mentioned above come almost exclusively from the zones E and F of the Wielbark Culture (i.e. Mazovia, Podlasie, Lublin Upland and Volhynia), that is from areas occupied in the early Roman Period by the Przeworsk Culture (Fig. 4). The brooches are dated there from the phase C1a to the phase C2. About 10 specimens were registered in the comparably not very large area of so-called Masłomęcz Group (List 8a, fig. 3:3), more then 10 came from the southern and western peripheries of the Chernyakhov Culture (List 8b), from the Sîntana de Mureş Culture (List 8c) and from the Culture of Carpathian Barrows on the middle Dniester (List 9). The substantial concentration of iron brooches type Almgren 161-162 in the Eastern Europe form nearly 30 specimens known from the Kiev Culture area (List 10; fig. 3:4–7). That number is really significant, concerning the state of investigations and publications of finds from Ukraine and southern Belarus. Quite exceptional finds are iron cross-bow tendril brooches ornamented with knobs and rings, similar to the types Almgren 163-164 and Almgren 167-168. Brooches with knobs on head come from the territory of the Masłomęcz Group (Fig. 3:9) and from the Przeworsk Culture area; specimens decorated with rings of notched bronze or silver wire (Fig. 3:10), or with a lyre-shaped chord are known exclusively from the area of Western Balts. Only very few richly ornamented variants of iron brooches clearly indicate that iron wasn’t the right stuff to produce them. The iron cross-bow tendril brooches of late version are less numerous than prototype specimens. Brooches with short, 4-coil spring or band shaped bow (Fig. 3:11, 12) are known only from few finds of phase C1b–D (Fig. 5). It seems that the Przeworsk Culture people invented use of iron to produce cross-bow tendril brooches. The distribution of finds, also late variants, indicates their links with the Przeworsk Culture, or other cultures being under strong “Przeworsk influences. There could be two ways of a diffusion of those brooches. First, traditionally accepted in archaeology, is the way of mutual exchange of goods and experience in direct contacts based mainly on economic grounds. In that way iron brooches of that type came to the Danube area, the Elbe basin, and, by much more intensive contacts to the territories of Western Balts, and through this area to Bornholm and Gotland. The other model, still under discussion, could be a co-existence of the Przeworsk and Wielbark Cultures in Mazovia and Podlasie, maybe also at the time of their further expansion. The result of it could be the “Przeworsk type brooches in the Kiev culture.