In the early first century AC, in the north of Poland (predominantly in Pomerania), the Wielbark culture developed with its group of specific features. Among them were numerous items of jewellery. It seems that their use was related to an extended social hierarchy and distant inter-regional trade contacts. The raw material used by the jewellers was most probably obtained from melted Roman coins. Amber exports were at the economic basis of obtaining the coins. The most frequent forms of trinkets:snake- and adder-inspired bracelets, reverse pear pendants, S-shaped buckles and others, are of entirely foreign origin. Their prototypes can be traced back to the pre-Roman areas along the Danube occupied by the Thracians and the Dacians or the La Tène culture population.
In the Roman Period (1st–4th century AD), the territory north of Pannonia (SW Slovakia) was settled by the Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi. The contacts between the Romans and Germans in this area were far from ordinary. Italian and provincial wares (vessels, jewellery, parts of clothes and military equipment, toilet and work tools, coins, etc.) found their way to Barbaricum via ancient routes, most often by long-distance, cross-border and local trade. Raw materials and products from the outlying barbarian territories to the Roman Empire and the adjacent barbarian areas are much less common. The most significant among these were amber and amber artefacts, which prove connections between the Middle Danube region and the Baltic Sea. They are mostly beads and pendants, found in Roman burials on the frontier and in Germanic burials and settlements in Barbaricum.
The debate over possible connections between Bronze Age Greece and the rest of the European continent, to which Jan Bouzek made major contributions throughout his career, is reviewed in the light of new con tributions and finds. Particularly important is recent work on the north Italian site of Frattesina. Other categories of evidence are considered in turn. In the light of these advances, it is possible to imagine a much more interconnected Bronze Age world than was possible 40 years ago.
Discovered in a settlement context during archaeological fieldwork made in 2009/2010 in advance of motorway construction at Zamiechów, site 1 (woj. podkarpackie) in the carpathian foothills region grave 345 was a double burial of an adult and child with a fairly rich inventory dated to roman Period phase B2/C1. The article reports on the results of analysis of the grave form, its construction, grave goods and on the input from specialist human and animal bone analysis and metallography studies. Some elements of the inventory of grave no. 345, not the least the peculiar features of the burial rite, are highly unusual in the Przeworsk culture environment and attributable, to some extent, to the wielbark culture environment. grave no. 345 discovered at Zamiechów may be associated with the “eastern Zone” of the Przeworsk culture and with the interaction and trade exchange associated with the operation of an amber workshop in the settlement at Zamiechów.
Amber is a mineral covered by the land ownership right. The exception applies to deposits located outside the spatial borders of the land, including ones located within the borders of maritime areas. They are covered by mining ownership, vested in the State Treasury.„Amber fishing” consists in collecting amber nuggets washed out of submarine deposits and located under water at a small depth near the shoreline. The subject of Geological and Mining Act is, among others, prospecting for (exploration) and mining of minerals from deposits. There are many indications that the above-described amber nuggets cannot be considered as a deposit within the meaning of Geological and Mining Act. As a consequence, „fishing” them will not require fulfilment of the requirements set out in the aforementioned Act. However,the unclear legal situation means that it is difficult to determine detailedrequirements regarding the activity in question.
PL
Bursztyn jest kopaliną, która jest objęta prawem własności gruntowej. Wyjątek dotyczy złóż znajdujących się poza granicami nieruchomości gruntowych, w tym w obszarach morskich. Stanowią one przedmiot własności górniczej, która przysługuje Skarbowi Państwa. „Połów bursztynu” polega na zbieraniu bryłek bursztynu wypłukanego ze złóż podmorskich i znajdującego się pod wodą na niewielkiej głębokości obok linii brzegu. Przedmiotem prawa geologicznego o górniczego jest m.in. poszukiwanie (rozpoznawanie) oraz wydobywanie kopalin ze złóż. Wiele wskazuje na to, że opisane wyżej nagromadzenia bryłek bursztynu nie mogą być uważane za złoża w rozumieniu prawa geologicznego i górniczego. W konsekwencji ich „połów” nie będzie wymagał spełnienia przesłanek określonych wspomnianym prawem. Niejasny stan prawny powoduje natomiast, że ustalenie szczegółowych wymagań dotyczących omawianej działalności jest trudne.
The article deals with the collection of Jacob Theodor Klein and the beginnings of scientific interest in amber in early modern Gdańsk. The text is intended to show the importance of this forgotten collection and the ongoing research into succinite (Baltic amber). The objects from Klein’s collection themselves have been dispersed, and have not survived to the present day, but Klein’s written inventory, which in 1740 ended up in the collection in Bayreuth to later reach Erlangen, allows the collection to be analyzed thoroughly. It is the numerous drawings of amber exhibits that are of particular importance. Thanks to the activities of Klein and his contemporaries, including Johann Philipp Breyn, and the drawings made at their request by their daughters, it is possible to trace the flow of objects between collections and reconstruct the meaning of the ‘paper museums’ they created. The text points to the key role of illustration as an element of information exchange in the respublica litteraria of the time and collaboration of scholars. The role of Gdańsk collections as the basis for the great collections being created at the time in St Petersburg and Dresden is also highlighted.
The article discusses the issue of stoneware in the time of the Grzybowo stronghold’s operations. Special emphasis has been placed on imports and contacts between the stronghold’s communities and various distant areas, ruled by the Piast dynasty and others.
The Vistula and Nemunas rivers formed the Curonian Lagoon and the Curonian Spit Vistula Lagoon (Zalew Wiślany) and the bay of Gdańsk with its Hel peninsula. The inhabitants of these lands always held the gates to the Baltic Sea. One of the main factors that decided present land advantages ahead of the other Baltic areas was amber. The tradition of collecting amber and making and trading amber jewellery and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures in the eastern and southern regions of the Baltic Sea began to form about 4400 BC in the Ertebølle, Narva and Comb-Market cultures. People of those cultures were the first to gather amber on the south-eastern shore of the Baltic, near lagoons and gulfs and along the shores of lakes (Figure 1). The Polish archeologists Józef Kostrzewski and Konrad Jażdżewski began systematic investigations of Rzucewo Culture settlements (pol.) (Haffküstenkultur (ger.), Pamarių (lith.), Bay Coastal culture (eng.) in Rzucewo in 1927-29. In 1954 Jan Żurek published 14 amber ornaments with drawings and photographs . The amber of Bay Coastal Culture was also described by Lotar Killian i Jerzy Okulicz . Systematical archaeological excavations of this standard site were conducted by Danuta Król, from Museum Archeological Gdańsk. A large collection of amber artefacts was found in 1985-2005. Analysis reveal 354 items of amber. These include amber artefacts, trial pieces of raw amber and production waste. The Nida Late Neolithic settlement on the Curonian Peninsula in West Lithuania belonging to the same Bay Coastal Culture was investigated by E. Hollack in 1895 and 1900. The large-scale (4,640 m2) excavations in Nida (in 1973–1978) by the famous Lithuanian archaeologist R. Rimantienė revealed a very rich cultural layer containing amber artefacts, trial pieces, raw amber and production waste. A small-scale excavation (about 105 m2) was conducted in Nida by G. Piličiauskas in 2011–13 and 2016. During all of these investigations 910 pieces of raw amber and production waste, and 51 amber artefacts and fragments were found At Šventoji 1A (Bay Coastal Culture) also remains of intensive amber processing was discovered by R. Rimantienė in 1967–69, when she excavated 1860 m2 to find a large collection of 957 pieces of raw amber and production waste, and 134 amber artefacts . Amber finds were made at the Daktariškė 5 Neolithic settlement, in which strong influences of Bay Coastal and Globular Amphora Culture can be seen: 138 pieces of raw amber, production waste, the blanks in various stages of completion were found. Among these amber artefacts we discovered 40 pendants, 18 amber buttons with V-shaped drilling, 4 cylindrical beads, 5 disks, 5 beads, 1 ring, and 1 double button. Some of these artefacts are decorated with incisions and dots . It remains unclear whether the amber was brought from the Baltic coast or local raw amber washed up from the nearby Lake Lūkstas was used. We have gathered statistics about all raw amber, amber production waste and amber ornaments from Rzucewo, Nida, Šventoji 9 and Daktariškė 5 settlements. All of them date to the Late Neolithic and belong to the Bay Coastal culture or the influence of this Culture (Daktariškė 5 settlement). Raw amber and production waste. Perhaps the majority of the raw amber used in Rzucewo, Šventoji 9, and Nida for producing amber ornaments was collected along the Baltic Sea coast, but the state of preservation of finds in the sandy dune environment (Rzucewo, Nida settlements) is very poor. Very poor quality pieces covered with a thick crumbling cortex have survived and for this reason it is sometimes very difficult even to determine which were true blanks and which were only fragments, and sometimes a given find may even be production waste or a fragment of ornamentation. It appears that some pieces may have been in a fire, as they were found in fireplaces or around them. The same may be said about the Nida and Suchacz settlements]. For this reason, sometimes statistical analyses of Rzucewo and Nida amber artefacts made in this article may not be very exact. The artefacts in Rzucewo are very small in comparison with the very well preserved amber material from the Šventoji 1A or Daktariškė 5 wetland settlements. COMPA RAT IVE ANALYSES OF AMB ER ORNAM ENTS We made comparative analyses of the main amber artefacts from Rzucewo, Nida, Šventoji 1A (Bay Coastal Culture) and the Daktariškė 5 Late Neolithic settlement with the strong influence of Globular Amphora- and Bay Coastal Cultures . We can see clearly, that elliptical button-shaped beads are found only in the Rzucewo settlement (25 examples), while round button-beads are spread in Rzucewo (12 examples), Nida (4), Šventoji 1A (62) and Daktariškė 5 (18). Cylindrical beads, as well as examples of rings of form 1-to 3 are spread through all the settlements under analysis;, pendants are also very numerous and are spread in large amounts (between 18 and 38 examples) in all settlements. We also made a percentage diagram of amber finds in from the same Late Neolithic settlements . THE CHRONOLOGY OF BAY COASTA L CULTURE AMBER ARTEFA CTS: FROM RZUCEWO TO THE WEST LITHUANIAN COAST According to the earliest calibrated dating from cemeteries and peat-bog settlements, the production, use and exchange of amber in the Eastern Baltic region – in the territories of what are today Lithuania and Latvia - started during a time span between 4400 and 4000 BC among people of the Narva Pottery Culture and Pit Comb Ware Culture. In the territories along the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, in Rzucewo, Osłonino and Żuławy region (the Vistula Delta), an area inhabited by people of the Globular Amphora-, and Bay Coastal Cultures, the earliest sites with amber are dated, according calibrated dating to around 3000 BC. In Bay Coastal Culture sites in the South-Eastern Baltic at Rzucewo and the Vistula Delta use of amber started about 2800 BC and ended ca 1900 BC; this is connected with the people of the Globular Amphora-, and Rzucewo Cultures The production of amber artefacts in areas of Bay Coastal Culture in the Eastern Baltic can be related to the transgression of the Litorina Sea, when sediments of Blue Earth with pieces of amber were washed up by prevailing directions of wind on the Eastern Baltic Sea coast and lagoons (Šventoji 1A, Nida, Daktariškė 5, etc.). We used only carbon dates obtained from the cultural layers. According these, during the period of the Bay Coastal Culture amber production in West Lithuania can be dated from around 3100 BC to ca 2000 BC. Thus, amber production at Rzucewo, Osłonino (near the Hel peninsula) and Šventoji 1A, Nida, Daktariškė 5, and Daktariškė 1 in Western Lithuania should be regarded as a contemporaneous phenomenon. CONCLUSIONS Analysis of worked amber and amber artefacts from late-Neolithic settlements at Rzucewo (Poland) the westernmost site of the Bay Coastal Culture and the most northeastern sites of this culture (Nida, Šventoji 1A) and its zone of influence (Daktariškė 5) in Lithuania, and reference to published material of other amber artefacts from this culture allows us to draw the following preliminary conclusions: 1. When comparing amber artefacts, raw material and production waste found at these sites we should pay attention to the fact that the amber artefacts found in the standard Bay Coastal Culture sites of Rzucewo and Nida survive in very poor condition because a great part of the cultural layer there was in sand and thus their typological statistical data are not completely reliable. Meanwhile amber artefacts, raw material and intermediate products survived much better in the cultural layers of the Šventoji 1A and Daktariškė 5 peat sites, making their typological statistical data much more reliable. 2. The main types of Bay Coastal Culture amber artefacts from the Rzucewo settlement – round amber buttons with a lens-shaped cross-section, quadrangular buttons with a drilled v-shaped perforation for hanging, equilateral pendants and pendants with undulating side edges, tubular beads, discs, chains and fragments thereof are found in almost all Bay Coastal Culture sites, including those in what is now Western Lithuania. 3. Elliptical buttons, pendants with a hole drilled straight through the middle for hanging, tubular beads with quadrangular edges are typical only of the settlement at Rzucewo and are not to be found at all (or only very seldom) in settlements of this culture in Lithuania. 4. Typological statistical differences may have been determined by different bases for their cultural origin – the settlement at Rzucewo was influenced by Globular Amphora and Funnel Beaker Culture, while the origin of many amber artefact types in Lithuania lies in early- and middle-Neolithic Narva Culture amber artefact types. 5. There is no single artefact type which dominates particularly clearly in all the sites we have analysed – we cannot assert that amber workshops at almost every site manufactured serial artefacts or intermediate products for trade, as is typical of the Bay Coastal Culture settlements in the Żuławy region studied by Prof. Ryszard Mazurowski. Inhabitants of the region at the centre of Bay Coastal Culture were much more involved in the amber trade, the main artery of which was the River Vistula, than were Rzucewo or West Lithuanian Bay Coastal Culture people living in the marginal zones of this culture. It seems they manufactured more and diverse types of amber artefact for their own use rather than identical serial artefacts for trade.
The paper presents results of technological analyses executed on selected finger‑rings prevalently from the Stradonice oppidum. Analysed were the elementary composition of the metal parts of the finger rings; the technology employed for the manufacturing of the metal parts and for the setting of the gems in the bezels; as well as the material of the inlays.
This paper presents early medieval amber cross pendants that display a great degree of diversity not only concerning form and morphology but also with regard to chronology and – as we assume – functionality, with the pendants examined herein sharing one common denominator: the raw material from which are made. This paper analyses amber artefacts discovered in Pomerania, shown in a broad comparative context. Thus, the research objectives undertaken are twofold: first, to present the sources of the relevant materials, which are formally, chronologically, and contextually diverse, and second, to point out the main interpretative problems relating to the possibility of deciphering their original meanings and functions.
Celem artykułu jest zbadanie procesów nominacji i sposobów wzbogacania zasobu leksyki specjalnej dotyczącej bursztynu na podstawie nazw zgromadzonych w Słowniku leśnym, bartnym, bursztyniarskimi orylskim (wyd. 1846-1847) Wiktora Kozłowskiego. Autor notował słownictwo o różnym zasięgu terytorialnym (głównie z Polski centralnej) i socjolektalnym. Utrwalone w słowniku nazwy możemy uporządkować pod względem semantycznym w trzy nadrzędne grupy: I. nazwy dotyczące samego bursztynu; II. nazwy osób zajmujących się zawodowo wydobyciem bursztynu; III. nazwy związane z wydobyciem bursztynu. Jest to leksyka profesjonalna, używana przez bursztynników przy wydobywaniu żywicy z ziemi. W zbiorze odnajdujemy przede wszystkim nazwy nomenklaturowe obiektów. Znajdują się w nim leksemy zaczerpnięte z języka ogólnego oraz z gwar, a także – konwencjonalnie wzbogacające zasób leksyki specjalnej – zapożyczenia, neologizmy słowotwórcze oraz neosemantyzmy.
EN
The aim of this article is to examine the processes of nomination and ways of enriching the stock of special lexis concerning amber on the basis of the names collected in Wiktor Kozłowski’s Słownik leśny, bartny, bursztyniarski i orylski (Dictionary of Forestry, Beekeeping, Amber and Oryls, published 1846-1847). The author recorded vocabulary of varying territorial (mainly from central Poland) and socio-lectal range. We can arrange the recorded names semantically into three overarching groups: I. names pertaining to amber itself; II. names of people professionally involved in amber mining; III. names related to amber mining.This is the professional lexis used by amber workers when extracting amber from the ground. In the collection we find mainly nomenclatural names of objects. It contains lexemes taken from the general language and from dialects, as well as – conventionally enriching the stock of special lexis – word-forming neologisms, neosemantisms and borrowings.
Succinite, called Baltic amber is defined as true amber because it contains 3 to 8% of succinic acid. Other fossil resins do not have the succinic acid, or the amount of the acid is less than 3%. Despite this fact, it has been difficult to distinguish them from each other. In many cases, it is possible only by using proper laboratory analysis. The purpose of this paper is to show that archaeologists often describe artefacts found in the territories of the former Roman Empire as made of amber and imported from the North, taking this for granted without proper research, what in the light of the current analyses seems questionable. New archaeological finds and laboratory tests of already known amber artefacts throw new light on our understanding of amber craft in Antiquity.
PL
Sukcynit, nazywany również „bursztynem bałtyckim”, definiowany jest jako bursztyn prawdziwy, ponieważ zawiera od 3 do 8% kwasu bursztynowego. Inne żywice kopalne albo nie mają go wcale, albo jego ilość jest w nich mniejsza niż 3%. Wykorzystanie zarówno bursztynu, jak i innych żywic kopalnych, potwierdzone jest – za pomocą znalezisk archeologicznych – już od epoki neolitu. Współcześnie możemy je od siebie odróżnić za pomocą odpowiednich badań laboratoryjnych, jednak dla społeczności żyjących w pierwszych wiekach naszej ery wszystkie wyglądające jak bursztyn minerały – nim były. Rozróżniano tylko jego jakość po barwie oraz stopniu przezroczystości. Celem artykułu jest ukazanie, iż według najnowszych badań, żywice kopalne stosowano w większym stopniu niż dotychczas sądzono. Praca w żaden sposób nie neguje dużego wykorzystania bursztynu bałtyckiego w pradziejach, pragnie jedynie naświetlić, że należy trochę zmodyfikować obecne w literaturze, czasami bezkrytyczne podejście wielu badaczy do tematu występowania i zastosowania sukcynitu w przeszłości. Autorka stara się dotrzeć do w miarę aktualnych prac z zakresu archeologii, które potwierdzają wysuniętą hipotezę. Wskazuje również, że stan badań nad tą problematyką jest wciąż niewystarczający.
Research on soils, stone products and rocks is part of a scientific discipline known as forensic geology. Among the police forensic laboratories, this type of studies are performed only at the Chemistry Department of the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police (CFLP) in Warsaw and comprise approximately 2% of all opinions issued annually. Despite a relatively low workload in recent years, the interest of law enforcement agencies in the use of this type of analyses in the criminal proceedings is on the rise. This article presents three exemplary opinions issued in recent years at the CFLP. The first opinion relates to murder, whereby concrete slabs were used to commit the criminal act. The second is related to an agricultural machinery fire, whereby evidence included soil samples recovered at the scene and from the suspect’s clothing. The last opinion concerns the falsification of semi-finished products used for amber jewelry craftsmanship.
PL
Badania gleb, wyrobów kamieniarskich i skał są związane z dyscypliną naukową zwaną geologią sądową. Spośród policyjnych laboratoriów kryminalistycznych badania tego rodzaju wykonywane są jedynie w Zakładzie Chemii Centralnego Laboratorium Kryminalistycznego Policji (CLKP) w Warszawie w liczbie ok. 2% wszystkich ekspertyz rocznie. Pomimo dość niewielkiego napływu tego typu opinii w ostatnich latach z roku na rok rośnie zainteresowanie organów ścigania wykorzystaniem wspomnianych badań w procesie karnym. Poniższy tekst przedstawia przykładowe trzy opinie wykonane w ostatnich latach w CLKP. Pierwsza dotyczy zabójstwa, a do dokonania czynu zabronionego wykorzystano płyty betonowe. Kolejna jest związana z pożarem maszyn rolniczych, materiałem dowodowym są zaś gleby z miejsca zdarzenia i z ubrania podejrzanego. Ostatnia dotyczy fałszowania półproduktów do wytwarzania wyrobów jubilerskich z bursztynu.
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