Ażurowa zapinka ze wsi Szczeberka, pow. augustowski - import czy naśladownictwo?

• Authors: Aleksandra Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz , Cezary Sobczak

Title variants

EN

Openwork brooch from Szczeberka, distr. Augustów: import or imitation?

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

A remarkable cast bronze brooch discovered in July 2003 NE of the district town Augustów in the vicinity of the village Szczeberka (Fig. 1) has the form of a regular rectangular plate with a regular ornament (Figs. 2, 3). The form and ornamentation of this piece corresponds most to pins with a flat openwork head, brooches and pendants ornamented on their arms with a motif of concentric rings, characteristic in particular for the Liv-Estonian region. They are encountered in greater number in the island Saaremaa and in N Estonia. Circular disc terminals of these ornaments are, similarly as in the brooch from Szczeberka, connected by straight or curved rungs. Pieces of this type frequently appear among the furnishing in female graves from the 11th – 13th c. They may be derived from pins with a cruciform openwork head and similar brooches, well known from Lithuania, in particular, in Couronia, Semigallia and Samogitia, and dated 7th – 13th c. The unmistakable pseudo-filigree ornament and the distinct motif of an equal-armed cross seen on the plate of the brooch from Szczeberka visibly recalls the style of Letto-Lithuanian cruciform pins of groups 4 and 7, and cruciform brooches of group 2, dated to 9th – 12th c.; the presence of rungs which connect the arms of the brooch helps to links this piece with later Liv-Estonian ornaments. A unique feature of the brooch from Szczeberka are its ringed terminals – in all other pieces of this type the terminals have the form of circular discs, occasionally ornamented at centre with bosses or glass inlay. The brooch from Szczeberka is datable only indirectly on the basis of the chronology of related finds from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, broadly, to between 10th and 13th c. In Mazury, Suwałki Region and Augustów Lake District – regions of Poland during the prehistoric and the medieval period settled by Balt tribes – the brooch from Szczeberka is quite exceptional, but not entirely unique. Recently, a bronze cruciform brooch was discovered at Jałowo, distr. Suwałki. Even more to the SE, the site at Haćki, distr. Bielsk Podlaski, produced a pin with a typical cruciform head, classified to group 5 or 6. The pieces may be interpreted probably as traces of contact with areas of Lithuania but their character cannot be defined more closely owing to insufficient evidence. Alternately, the brooch from Szczeberka could be a local imitation of Lithuanian forms, as suggested by the ornament of its plate, unknown in Lithuanian specimens; its similarity to Liv-Estonian forms would be the result of a similar rhythm of stylistic change as in Finn lands.

Keywords

PL

zapinka ażurowa; import; nasladownictwo

EN

openwork brooch; import; imitation

• Publisher: Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne w Warszawie
• Journal: Wiadomości Archeologiczne
• Year: 2006
• Volume: LVIII
• Issue: 58
• Pages: 407-410

Dates

published

2006-12-31

Contributors

author

Aleksandra Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz

• Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Al. Solidarności 105, 00-140 Warszawa

author

Cezary Sobczak

• Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne, ul. Długa 52, 00-241 Warszawa

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