EN
The greater part of site no. 1 at Oronne (comm. Maciejowice, distr. Garwolin, mazowieckie voiv.) was destroyed by earthworks and lost to a series of modern period cut features (Fig. 1, 2). The site was discovered by accident, reported to the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw in June 2004 and excavated in September 2004 and June 2005. Of 45 pits identified a vast majority are regularly spaced modern period features of unknown purpose (Fig. 4). Most of the archaeological material rested within the ploughsoil. Only pits 4, 9 and 44, are prehistoric features. Feature 8 and feature 18 have a Late Medieval date chronology. Feature 4 (Fig. 5) had the form of a pit with a non-uniform fill containing a small quantity of ceramic finds, including a few modern period sherds, lumps of daub, the handle of a clay spoon, type IV:2 of A. Michałowski, and fragments of pottery. Feature 8 (Fig. 6) was lost to a large modern period feature. Its black-coloured fill contained a concentration of stones, a segmented bead of opaque glass and a small quantity of pottery fragments. Its dating is late medieval – modern. Feature 18 (Fig. 7) is a pit, irregular of outline, with a fill containing fine fragments of ceramics, animal bones, lumps of daub, small lumps of corroded iron, 2 fragments of bronze sheet and a small glass bead. Its dating is late medieval-modern. Feature 9 (Fig. 8) is a small, deep pit with a fill containing several stones, isolated ceramic fragments and lumps of daub. Its chronology is hard to establish. Feature 44 (Fig. 9–11) was destroyed almost completely and survived only in its bottom part, which yielded a concentration of large stones and ceramics as well as the skull of a horse. The fill of this feature contained animal bones, a fragment of a clay spindlewhorl and several dozen larger and smaller vessel fragments, dated to the Late Pre-Roman Period. Attribution: Przeworsk Culture. The quantity of ceramic material discovered scattered within the ploughsoil and underneath is substantial, more than 10 kilograms, all of it greatly fragmented. This causes serious problems to chronological determination and culture attribution, which at times were unfeasible. The Lusatian Culture occupation (late Bronze Age to early Iron Age) is documented by a few dozen stray finds of pottery fragments (Fig. 14). The next phase is associated with material attributable to the Jastorf environment (Fig. 15). There are two incomplete clay spoons and a fragment of a firedog. Outside the territory of the Jastorf Culture and the Poieneşti-Lukaševka Culture (A. Michałowski 2004; T. Dąbrowska 1988, p. 186–188; 2008, p. 95–96) finds of these objects, not too common in any case, together with Jastorf type ceramics, attest to contacts and exchange with the Jastorf Culture which are still imperfectly understood. The large assemblage of Przeworsk ceramics discovered in the ploughsoil and the culture deposit (Fig. 16–18) mostly belongs in ceramic phase I, corresponding to the older segment of the Late Pre-Roman Period. In the group of stray ceramics there are fragments of vessels we can date to phase B2 (Fig. 19:149–152) and to the Late Roman Period (Wielbark Culture – Fig. 19:153.154). The stray find of a type A.128 fibula (Fig. 12:1), dated to phase B2/C1–C1a, is evidently associated with the Wielbark Culture. A cast fibula with a knob and a ‘frame’ foot similar to type A.185 (Fig. 12:3), belongs to a group of objects which, according to the recent analysis of J. Schuster (2004), are forms diagnostic for phases C2–C3 and have a distribution mostly in the region of the Vistula River mouth, Pomerania and western Brandenburg. Isolated specimens have been discovered on Bornholm (Kannikegård, grave 336) and in northern Mazowsze. The find from Oronne suggests contacts with the region of the Wielbark Culture settlement in the Vistula River mouth region. More problematic is culture attribution of a fibula classified to 2nd series of group VI (Fig. 12:2). It corresponds to type 122 or 124, of M. Schultze (1977, p. 76, pl. 9:122.124). Many specimens of this type, described as having ‘a stepped catchplate’, are recorded on the Przeworsk Culture territory – especially its southern part (K. Godłowski 1977, p. 28; P. Kaczanowski 1987, p. 62). They are assigned to phase C1 (M. Schultze 1977, p. 76; K. Godłowski 1977, p. 28). The form is unknown in the Wielbark Culture. Nevertheless, the fibula from Oronne may be associated with either culture. The connection with the Wielbark Culture is suggested by is raw material: bronze, since fibulae of this type discovered in Przeworsk deposits almost always are iron specimens. That the fibula has a design characteristic for the Przeworsk Culture while being made of raw material typical for the Wielbark Culture would be another argument to support close, neighbourly contacts and ties between the two culture groups. Among stray finds datable to the Roman Period is an iron awl (Fig. 12:5), a key (Fig.12:6), a fragment of a knife and fragments of metal sheet and wire (Fig. 12:7–11), attributable both to the Przeworsk and to the Wielbark Culture. This is true also of six spindlewhorls and a fragment of a clay weight, their form is too uncharacteristic to establish their culture attribution conclusively. An exceptional find from Oronne is a bronze coin discovered within the culture deposit (Fig. 12:25, 23): a fraction of a Maximianus Herculius follis struck in Alexandria around AD 296–297 (A. Bursche, K. Czarnecka 2006). Occupation of site 1 at Oronne during the Early Medieval Period is documented, next to some stray ceramics (Fig. 20), by the dating of feature 8, presumably a sort of a hearth, which yielded a segmented glass bead, a form dated to the 12th–13th cc. (Fig. 6:1). To the north of site 1, on a wooded scarp, is Oronne, site 2, a grave-site attributed to the Przeworsk Culture, possibly also, to the Wielbark Culture. The distance between the two sites in a straight line is small, about 250 m. The burial ground is known from an accidental discovery and never came under more regular archaeological excavation. The materials submitted – a sword, two shield-bosses, a shield-grip and a spear-head, a small knife and ring – are typical furnishings of the Przeworsk Culture graves during phases A3 and B1. Two buckles – type AH15 and a bronze buckle plate, presumably a type AH29 (Fig. 22:9.10), are forms datable to the end of the Roman Period, but also to the Migration Period, and their connection with the grave-site is obscure. Chronologically the oldest item is the heavily corroded shield-boss (Fig. 21:2), type B.8 (type 15 of T. Bochnak 2005, p. 108, pl. XXXIX), dated to phases A3 and A3/B1. The shield-boss, type J.5 (Fig. 21:3) and the shield-grip, type J.6 (Fig. 21:4), dated to the onset of phase B1, may be elements of the same shield. The spear-head, type V (P. Kaczanowski 1995, p. 17), is an Early Roman Period form (Fig. 21:5). This is probably also the dating of the knife and the ring (Fig. 22:7.8) which is interpreted as a grip. These objects were submitted together and could represent a single assemblage. The shield-boss with the shield-grip, the spear-head, the knife and ring, are typical furnishings of the first group of weapon graves of K. Godłowski (1992, p. 72, fig. 1). The sword (Fig. 20:1), may be classified to type A2 of M. Biborski (1978, p. 117, fig. 62), dated to the Early Roman Period, chiefly to phase B1, or to type G of T. Bochnak (2005, p. 69, pl. XX:1). Its Early Roman Period dating, phase B1, suggests that we can place it a single assemblage together with the earlier discussed shield-boss type J.5, and shield-grip, type J.6. The difference of chronology between the sword types named here may be deceptive as in the Przeworsk Culture weapons there is not clear cut dividing line between the end of the Late Pre-Roman Period and the onset of the Roman Period (T. Bochnak 2005, p. 171). Basing on the incomplete archaeological record from Oronne we can only conclude that there used to be a grave-field of the Przeworsk Culture, presumably during the Late Pre-Roman and the Early Roman Periods and that the site was penetrated also during the Migration Period. Despite serious destruction of the site, and consequently, the patchy archaeological record, the investigation made at Oronne furnished an interesting input: evidence on the Lusatian Culture occupation, occupation during the Late Pre-Roman Period attesting to connections with the Jastorf environment. The site may have been under the Przeworsk Culture settlement during the Early Roman Period, this is confirmed indirectly by archaeological material from the neighbouring grave-field (site 2) dated to phase B1. The Wielbark Culture occupation is suggested by the presence of fibulae and the coin although we cannot establish whether the settlement continued over a longer period.