EN
The locality Suchodół (comm. Iłów, distr. Sochaczew, woj. mazowieckie) lies on the left bank of the Vistula river. Site 1 occupies a small elevation among the fields in the eastern part of the village (Fig. 1). In 1964 the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw received information that urned graves and pits containing a burnt layer were being discovered in the area of Suchodół. The next year the site was excavated by H. Różańska, followed in 1980–1983 by A. J. Tomaszewski. Of 170 features documented at the site Przeworsk Culture was represented by 144 graves and assorted features, Pomeranian Culture by 8 burials. Bronze Age occupation was evidenced by 10 pits and finally, 8 obscure features produced contained no finds at all (Fig. 2). Excavation results from Suchodół were published to a limited extent with only the first season of investigation recorded in a longer report, the later seasons described in short notes; all Bronze Age finds and a small number of Przeworsk Culture finds were published (H. Różańska 1968; 1970; A. J. Tomaszewski 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984; 1997; A. Maciałowicz 2004). Przeworsk Culture features clustered in a narrow strip of ground ca 75 m in length, at the foot of a small elevation (Fig. 3). There were 140 cremation graves or cenotaphs and 4 hearths (?) found in SW area of the cemetery (nos. 4, 19, 22, 31). Typically the graves contained a very small quantity of very finely fragmented bones; only the somewhat better preserved material from graves 5 and 6 was analysed and found to be adult burials (grave 6 containing also fine bones from probably a juvenile individual). Most features were pit graves but graves 20 and 164 bear some resemblance to urned burials: each contained a pottery mug which, subsequent to deposition in the pit, was filled with cremated matter which was also spread around the vessel. The typical grave inventory consisted of potsherds from 1 to 7 vessels; 19 graves additionally contained an isolated iron brooch, intact or in fragments (grave 8 produced a pair). An exceptional item, discovered next to pottery vessels in grave 139, was a clay spindlewhorl. Mugs, definitely the most frequent vessel form, occurred in almost every grave. Relatively often (unlike other vessel types) at least one mug in each grave survived intact or largely intact, suggesting indicating significance of these items during the funerary rite. In some graves (nos. 17, 27, 40, 82, 83, 147) the mug rested in a position – upright or inverted – suggesting intentional arrangement; in two graves (nos. 20, 164) the mug was used as a quasi-urn. In 31 graves (25%) pottery was represented by a single vessel, nearly always a mug. These graves clustered mainly in the NE part of the cemetery (Fig. 8). Feature 23, containing a mug and bowl, and feature 119a, which produced a cracked mug, did not contain any trace of bone and have been interpreted as symbolic graves (cenotaphs). The decided majority of vessels are forms typical for the first ceramic phase in Przeworsk Culture; vessels with rims diagnostic of a later style are very infrequent (eg 2/3, 7/1.2, 166/1). More rare vessel forms included a bowl with a drooping handle (98/2), and a bowl with conical sides and a nearly punctiform base (59/2). Their presence may be liked with the so-called Bastarni Route (A. Maciałowicz 2004). Grave 63 produced a large mug (?) of a form typical for Przeworsk Culture vessels but decorated with comb-hatched ornament (63/1). A small number of similarly ornamented but – usually – much larger vessels recorded in Przeworsk Culture assemblages are interpreted as imitations of Celtic pottery, mainly graphite situlae (T. Dąbrowska 1988, p. 129–130, map 15:4). The mug from Suchodół, despite its different form, is most probably an expression of southern influence, presumably from Małopolska. A miniature footed cup (120/4) and a bowl of similar form (2/3), are forms which by their distribution testify to exchange between different communities of Przeworsk Culture settled on the middle Vistula (Z. Woźniak 1994, p. 134; T. Dąbrowska 1997, p. 103; 2001, p. 31–32). The main brooch form is type H (11 specimens), considered a female ornament (cf eg R. Hachmann 1961, p. 80, note 339; Th. Völling 1995, p. 162), although in Przeworsk Culture such specimens have occurred also in juvenile burials. Other brooch forms include types C and K, and a specimen similar to type F repaired during antiquity recovered from grave 37 (Fig. 5a). The latter is an exceptional form, although a similar specimen is known also from the cemetery of Oksywie Culture at Pruszcz Gdański, distr. Pruszcz Gdański (pow. gdański) site 4, grave 41 (Fig. 5b; D. Bohnsack 1938, p. 12, fig. 4:1). Type F brooches are known in Poland mainly from assemblages of Oksywie Culture; a limited number is also recorded in SW zone of Przeworsk Culture neighbouring the Gubin Group of Jastorf Culture, whose population probably acted as intermediaries in passing this brooch form on to Silesia and south Wielkopolska (Fig. 6). As the gravefield at Suchodół lies at some distance from the territory of Gubin Group settlement the brooch from grave 37 more probably documents the existence of exchange with Oksywie Culture people residing on the lower Vistula. Another exceptional form is a brooch of late La Tène construction from grave 122 (Fig. 7a) which combines a number of traits proper to different brooch forms but lacks closer analogies. The specimen shows some similarity to brooches reminiscent of type Kostrzewski fig. 17 (Fig. 7b–d), known from cemeteries of Oksywie Culture at Podwiesk and Bystrzec. The arable layer close to grave 40 produced a stray iron point, most probably an arrowhead (Fig. 4a). Its association with the gravefield is not certain but nevertheless quite likely, given that a few similar specimens are recorded at other Przeworsk Culture sites (R. Mycielska, Z. Woźniak 1988, p. 69, pl. XCVII/A1; G. Martyniak, R. Pastwiński, S. Pazda 1997, p. 13, pl. XXII:12) The cemetery at Suchodół is dated by the presence of brooch forms discussed earlier strictly to phase A2 of the Late Pre-Roman Period. This dating is not inconsistent with pottery forms present in grave assemblages. Site planigraphy (Fig. 9) does not make for phasing the cemetery; neither does it confirm the different chronological confines proposed in literature for type H and K brooches (Z. Woźniak 1994, p. 130; T. Dąbrowska 2001, p. 31). The gravefield at Suchodół is the only funerary complex of its size investigated comprehensively in this part of Przeworsk Culture territory. It is made exceptional by a highly unusual distribution of graves, densely clustering within a narrow strip of ground, and funerary practice, widely different from standards known from other cemeteries of Przeworsk Culture. In contrast to typical Przeworsk Culture gravefields which are rich in grave goods, particularly, weapons (in male burials), grave inventories at Suchodół are extremely poor, none of the 140 assemblages contained weapons (the only arrowhead discovered at the site is a stray find) whereas tools and ornaments are represented by isolated specimens. Pottery occurred in equally low frequencies and mugs are the dominant form. Some of the latter apparently had some special significance during the burial ceremony, as indicated by their typically intact condition and way of placing within the pit. Graves furnished with just a mug and, occasionally, a single metal object, so common at Suchodół, are known from other Przeworsk Culture cemeteries but there they are a minority. In the rare cases where a better condition of bone remains made anthropological analysis possible they were usually identified as remains of children (cf footnote 20). The poor degree of preservation itself of bone remains (ie, substantial degree of fragmentation) and small quantity tends to be associated by anthropologists with burials of juveniles (cf footnote 27). It would appear therefore that most graves at Suchodół are of juvenile burials. Anthropological analysis confirmed that grave 6, adult burial, also contained child’s bones. Two cemeteries most comparable to Suchodół are Gledzianówek (site 3), distr. Łęczyca (A. Nadolski 1951), and Bodzanowo, distr. Aleksandrów Kujawski (B. Zielonka 1958). At Bodzanowo, in particular, cremation graves had a similar close-knit arrangement within a narrow strip of ground. Poor level of preservation of the bone material from both Gledzianówek and Bodzanowo precluded anthropological analysis but judging by the form of graves most of them presumably are mainly juvenile burials, perhaps with a small percentage of adult graves. The cemetery at Gledzianówek (site 3) is remarkable in that it lies close to a parallel and more ‘typical’ Przeworsk Culture cemetery (site 1) with rich grave inventories. It is possible that the more ‘poorly’ furnished cemeteries were sites used specifically for burying a special group of individuals, eg, people of lower social and economic status. Another as interesting question concerns the origins of these special type of gravefield in the region of Kujawy and in the area between the Vistula and its tributary the Bzura.