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Kultura jastorfska na Niżu Polskim. Próba określenia chronologii, zasięgu i powiązań

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Grygiel M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

127-181

EN

The Early/Late Pre-Roman Period transition was a time of a profound cultural change in the Odra and Vistula drainages, on the north-eastern periphery of the Celtic world. Its result was the decline of the “post-Hallstatt” Pomeranian-Cloche Grave Culture previously spread across much of Poland, now replaced by two formations deeply influenced by the La Tène Culture – the Przeworsk and the Oksywie cultures. The view dominant in the literature is that these two are a direct continuation of the “post-Hallstatt” cultures. According to currently accepted views the main cause of this major cultural transformation was impact from the La Tène Culture which triggered significant changes in the spiritual and the material culture, and in the economic systems of the “Pomeranian-Cloche Grave” communities. Only recently the role of the Jastorf Culture in this process has come to be recognized as vital. The number of Jastorf sites recorded across the Polish Lowland, far east of the lands on the lower and the middle Odra settled by the communities of the peripheral Gubin Group and the Oder Group of the Jastorf Culture. A special contribution to the recognition of Jastorf Culture materials and charting the current line of research on the archaeological situation at the onset of the Late Pre-Roman Period in Poland was made by the research of T. Dąbrowska and Z. Woźniak. Relics of Jastorf settlement are scattered mostly in areas of Wielkopolska, Kujawy, western Mazowsze and the Lublin region. Some rare finds have been recorded in Lower Silesia outside the range of the Gubin Group of Jastorf Culture. Others are known from the northern reaches of the Lowland, the cradle of the Oksywie Culture, and from the West Balt Barrow Culture (Fig. 1, 2). Jastorf settlement does not form any more obvious concentrations, this may partly reflect the status of research, i.a., the general failure to identify settlements of this culture. This is because in many cases we have to rely only on the sparse and poorly diagnostic surface finds. Jastorf Culture materials recorded in the Lowland, is mostly pottery, dated by analogy to other zones of Jastorf Culture settlement (Fig.3). Pottery assemblages of this culture from the Lowland (Fig. 4–10) are obviously in correspondence with materials recorded in Denmark – in Jutland and Funen, dated mostly to between phase Ib and IIIa acc. to C.-J. Becker, and to phases I and II acc. to E. Albrectsen, which corresponds to phases IB and IIA in the modified division of J. Martens. They are similar to some extant also to finds originating from the parent territory of the Jastorf Culture in the middle and the lower Elbe drainage linked with the Ripdorf phase acc. to G. Schwantes, or phases Id and IIa acc. to H. Hingst. On the other hand, there are no recognizable connections of this pottery with the wares of the Gubin Group and the Oder Group. Jastorf Culture pottery connects also with forms which are present in the earliest pottery assemblages of the Przeworsk and the Poieneşti-Lukaševka cultures, dating to phases A1–A2 of the Late Pre-Roman Period. Some of the objects recovered in the Lowland in settlements and in burials with Jastorf pottery can be dated with some precision. They are e.g., northern Jastorf pins from the Early/Late Pre-Roman Period transition and Celtic imports, mostly brooches characteristic for phase LTC1 (Fig. 12). The latter are noted in assemblages with pottery resembling the younger Danish materials from Becker phase IIIa, or Martens phase IIA (Fig. 13). The presence of this pottery has been confirmed also in Celtic settlements in Upper Silesia occupied during the Middle La Tène, mostly during its earlier segment, i.e., LTC1 (Fig. 11). A small group of metal objects of northern Jastorf origin recovered as stray finds or excavated from Jastorf sites in the Lowland has been dated to the close of the Early and the onset of the Late Pre-Roman Period. They include: winged pins of the Danish type, typologically late Holstein pins of Skovby/Bjerndrup type, early and later forms of crown neck-rings (Kronenhalsring) and cast bronze brooches characteristic for the Danish-northern German region (Fig. 14). It follows from the above remarks that the dating of Jastorf finds recorded in the Lowland is based largely on the analysis of the pottery, the most plentiful here, which is compared against the materials from Jutland, and in part, also from the northern Elbe region. Primarily on this evidence, but making use also of the chronologically diagnostic forms recorded in association with this pottery – the rare objects of a Celtic provenance and some of the Jastorf ornaments – we can attempt to separate the older and the younger materials. The older forms, datable to the close of the Early Pre-Roman Period, would include two- and tripartite vases, wide-mouthed mugs and cups which have correspondence with forms known from Jutland, assigned to Becker phases Ib and II. Their characteristic feature is a thickened and strongly folded out rim. Sometimes there may be a strap handle and a zone of an archaic, finely engraved geometric decoration. These forms are resembled also by large bowls with a wide, strongly folded out, nearly vertical rim, storage vessels with several lugs, or with a cordon set in the upper portion of the body, and jars which have a tall neck separated from the broad lower body by a distinct set off, decorated with deeply engraved designs, like in the “post-Hallstatt” inventories (Fig. 4:1.3.5, 5:7, 7:5, 10:4). So far no early Jastorf materials have been recorded in sites found in the eastern part of the Lowland. A much larger group, noted also in the region to the east of the Vistula, are pottery finds recognized as having a chronologically later position, dated to the onset of the Later Pre-Roman Period. These vessels have internally facetted rims and handles constricted in their middle section. This younger pottery includes “tableware” – neckless vases, mugs and large bowls with a folded out rim, but also, slender basin-like forms with a well defined neck reminiscent of the inversely pyriform vessels. On some of these wares, mostly vases, there is a zone of a finely engraved geometric decoration, sometimes filled with a pricked decoration, a feature which is encountered also on the younger pottery from Jutland. The much smaller group of “kitchenware” includes jars with a facetted rim and two constricted handles, and jar-like storage vessels with finger-impressed cordon near the rim (Fig. 5:6.8, 7:1, 11:6, 13:2.4.7.8). The legitimacy of the division of the Jastorf pottery from the Lowland into older and younger forms based on analogies from the northern Jastorf zone would be validated by metal finds found in the same context which are dated according to the system of chronological divisions developed for the La Tène Culture. The association of younger Jastorf Culture vessels with brooches corresponding to Celtic brooches from phase LTC1 should be stressed in this context. Of high importance is also presence of similar pottery in Celtic settlements in Upper Silesia, occupied mainly during LTC. The younger Jastorf pottery has parallels in materials of the Przeworsk and the Poieneşti-Lukaševka cultures. However, any dating made on this basis is imprecise because it covers a period which corresponds to phases A1 and A2. The absolute chronology of the Jastorf materials from the Lowland can be determined only through synchronization with the current system of dating the La Tène Culture. It has been concluded on this basis that the older Jastorf finds from the close of the Early Pre-Roman Period, ie, approximately from phase LTB2, may date to the late 4th century or the first half of the 3rd century BC. The much more abundant younger materials, dated to the onset of the Late Pre-Roman Period – phase A1, and presumably present also in phase A2, are likely to belong mostly in phase LTC1, i.e., the first half of the 3rd century and the first decades of the 2nd century BC. The latest possible dating for Jastorf finds come from around half of the 1st century BC. During the Pre-Roman Period there is a development in the Polish Lowland of four large culture units – the “post-Hallstatt” Pomeranian- Cloche Grave Culture, the even more archaic West Balt Barrow Culture, the Latenized Przeworsk Culture, and the Oksywie Culture related to it. There is no evidence for any connection between the Pomeranian-Cloche Grave and the Jastorf cultures. On the other hand, there is an evident similarity of the pottery, built structures and features of the burial rite shared by the Jastorf and the early Przeworsk cultures. More than once, the materials of these two units have surfaced in the same settlement and grave context. On the evidence of more precisely dated grave assemblages from phase A1, which corresponds to phase LTC2, the emergence of the Przeworsk Culture belongs in a period which followed the decline of the Jastorf settlement. Nevertheless, the latter unit did have some influence on the formation of the Przeworsk Culture. Definitely less easy to assess is the relationship between the Jastorf settlement scattered sparsely across the northern Lowland and the Oksywie Culture and the West Balt Barrow Culture. The presence of Jastorf communities in the Lowland used to be linked with the migration of the Germanic Bastarnae, who supposedly moved through the Odra and the Vistula drainages in the 3rd century making for the south-eastern regions. The result of this migration to the present-day Romanian-Moldovan border would be the emergence of the Poieneşti-Lukaševka Culture. It does not appear likely, despite the similarity of the Jastorf and Poieneşti-Lukaševka inventories, that the Jastorf communities of from the Polish Lowland played a part in the emergence of the latter culture. It is more likely that the makers of the Poieneşti-Lukaševka came from the parent territory of the Jastorf Culture, this is suggested by the presence of many “Elbian” elements in the material culture. On the other hand, the communities of northern Jastorf origin settled in the Lowland, whose first representatives may have moved into this region still at the close of the 4th century BC, had some share in the process of the formation of the Przeworsk Culture. It cannot be ruled out that at least a part of this population were Vandals, which tribe is regarded as one of the makers of the Przeworsk Culture. Mostly on the evidence from linguistic and toponomastic studies the homeland of this people has been placed in Jutland, with an offshoot also traced in the southern region of Norway.

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Nieznane zabytki okresu wpływów rzymskich z Muzeum Regionalnego im. Hieronima Ławniczaka w Krotoszynie

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Żyto K.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

332-334

EN

The Regional Museum in Krotoszyn has in its collections four archaeological objects dated to the Roman Period: a copper alloy brooch, type A.166 (Fig. 1:1, two iron spearheads, types XV and XXIII/1 according to Piotr Kaczanowski (Fig. 1:2.3), and an iron knife (Fig. 1:4). The provenance of these artefacts is unknown. They may have been offered to the museum by Dionizy Kosiński PhD, qualified archaeologist and history teacher at the secondary school in Krotoszyn who in late 1960s and early 70s excavated a number of sites in his local area (now Krotoszyn County). This conclusion is supported by the brooch, type A.166, variant Retkinia – brooches of this form cluster in the western part of the Przeworsk Culture territory. Marks of a fire patina observed on the spearheads suggest they were recovered from a grave-field.

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Dwa znaleziska skandynawskich zapinek płytkowych z terenów północnej Polski

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Rudnicki M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

283-290

EN

The settlement in site II at Tałty, Mrągowo County, discovered by accident before World War II, lies about 1 km to the south of the town Mikołajki, on the shore of Lake Mikołajskie (Fig. 1). The site came under a rescue excavation in 2001. A metal detector survey of the site resulted in the discovery of a bronze bow brooch with a head and foot decorated with stylised representations of animal heads (Fig. 2, 3:1a.b). This brooch appears to be a simplified variant, or an imitation, of an ornate brooch found at Stora Gairvide on Gotland (Fig. 3:2). The Tałty brooch would confirm evident Scandinavian influence exerted on the manufacture of bow brooches by the people of the Olsztyn Group during the Late Migration Period which are observed also in other brooches from Masuria (Fig. 4). Another, fragmented brooch (Fig. 6:1a.b) was discovered by accident in northern Greater Poland at Brzostowo, Piła County (Fig. 5). It is likely to be a derivative of richly decorated relief brooches, forms that are mostly recorded in Denmark (Fig. 6:2.3). Both brooches may be dated not earlier than to the second quarter of the 6th century. Despite sharing a link with Scandinavia they probably reflect different processes. The brooch from Tałty may be interpreted as a result of South-Eastern Scandinavian impact on the Olsztyn Group, which was developing vigorously during the 6th century. The brooch fragment from Brzostowo would document the movement of human groups down the route running from southern Scandinavia to the region lying south of the Carpathian range.

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Gajew, pow. kutnowski – nowe stanowisko kultury przeworskiej w dorzeczu Bzury

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Kowalska K.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

222-235

EN

The group of finds under discussion comes from a series of random discoveries made in 2007–2010 on the farmland on the eastern margin of the village Gajew, Kutno County. This locality lies in western Mazovia, c. 1 km west of the Słudwia, left-bank tributary of the Middle Bzura (Fig. 1). The group includes objects made of copper alloy, fragments of pottery and daub. Almost all the artefacts from Gajew can be tied to Przeworsk culture occupation. Their chronological range extends from the end of the Younger Pre-Roman period until the Early Migration Period. One of the earliest finds are a facetted rim sherd from a pottery basin (Fig. 7:37) and a very small fragment of a brooch, type A.2b or A.18b (Fig. 3:1). Most of the finds date from the Early Roman Period, e.g., brooches from groups A.II (Fig. 3:7), A.III (Fig. 3:4–9) and A.IV (Fig. 3:10–15), as well as a profiled strap-end (Fig. 4:24), a fragment of a rod bracelet Fig. 4:27), a dress pin with a biconical head (Fig. 4:29), and possibly, also a denarius of Trajan (Fig. 6). This situation corresponds to the period of the most intensive Przeworsk culture settlement in the Bzura drainage basin. Phase B2/C1 is represented by two brooches, Mazovian variant (Fig. 3:16.17) and a cylinder from a brooch, group A.IV or group A.V (Fig. 4:18). The Late Roman Period is represented by only two fragments of brooches from groups A.VI (Fig. 4:19) and A. VII (Fig. 4:20), as well as a denarius of Septimius Severus (Fig. 5), minted presumably in 193–197. For other finds, i.e. fragments of keys (Fig. 4:32.33), a closer dating is unfeasible. The mostly uncharacteristic fragments of Przeworsk culture pottery recovered at Gajew (Fig. 7:38–42) can be dated only broadly to the Roman Period. The youngest artefact that we can attribute to Przeworsk culture settlement is an oval belt buckle with a thickened frame, type H15 (Fig. 4:25). A find that documents later, “post-Przeworsk” occupation by largely anonymous Germanic groups is a sword scabbard pendant of a form similar to type Hemmingen-Pleidelsheim (Fig. 4:31). It is the first of its kind to be discovered in Poland. Pendants of this form are mostly recorded in the west of Europe, in assemblages from the Early Merovingian Period. Germanic artefacts from the 5th-6th century have been often recorded increasingly often in Central Poland – with, more notably, a larger number discovered recently in Kuyavia. At the current stage of investigation it is too early to say whether the site at Gajew is a settlement or a cemetery. The former interpretation is supported by the marks of distortion caused by high temperatures observed on almost all the metal objects and also on the pottery. Cemeteries of a similarly extended duration are frequent in the Bzura drainage basin, e.g., recorded at Żdżarów, Sochaczew County, at Komorów and at Wólka Łasiecka, both in Skierniewice County. The only doubts are raised by the presence of daub. With no information about the spatial relationship of the pottery and the metal finds discovered at Gajew the relationship of the daub to the rest of the finds is problematic. The origin of the artefacts can only be resolved by making a test excavation. Whatever may be the case, we have gained new important evidence on Przeworsk culture occupation from the previously only poorly investigated Bzura drainage basin.

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Obozowiska mezolityczne ze stanowiska Ludowice 6, powiat wąbrzeski, siedlisko zachodnie

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Osipowicz G., Jankowski M., Makowiecki D., Weckwerth P.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

149-195

EN

Ludowice 6 lies at the centre of the Chełmno Lake District (Fig. 1), on a slope of a hill with a maximum elevation of 100 m a.s.l. (Fig. 2A), on the contact zone of an outwash plain and a large kettle hole now filled by biogenic deposits (peat). The site was discovered during a surface survey made in 1985. Excavations were started here in 2009 on the behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and continued until 2013 investigating a total area of 756 m2 (Fig. 2B). The prehistoric materials were found within three concentrations. The present study reports on the results of a dynamic analysis of finds recovered from one of the investigated concentrations which owing to its location is described as “western habitation” (Fig. 2B). Geomorphological and paleopedology studies show that the Mesolithic materials discovered in the site had not been subject to any major dislocation and were found resting within their original context. The area of the western habitation is covered everywhere by regular rusty soil, its main substratum loose, yellow sand. The Mesolithic finds were found resting mostly in its uppermost level. The investigation of the habitation led to the discovery and recording of the remains of 19 sunken features and a rich assemblage of finds: 4026 flint artefacts, 353 non-flint stone objects and 230 bone fragments. The horizontal distribution pattern of the flint finds revealed the existence of two partly overlapping major flint scatters (recorded as nos. 1 and 2 – Fig. 10). Also identified was a series of smaller concentrations, described as “flint concentrations”. A vast majority of the analysed material was in Baltic erratic flint, so-called variant A. Only a handful flints were in Pomeranian flint. The working the flint resource near to the habitation area was a complex and multi-stage process. Irregular pebbles were used, not more than a few centimetres in size. The first stage was typically preparation. It is documented by precores present in the assemblage (Plate 5:2–4) and a large number of cortical flakes (Table 2). When the crest was situated in the area of the future flaking face core exploitation started with the removal of crested blades and partly crested blades (Plate 2:7.6.10.11.14, 3:9.19.30–32, 8:1.2). The size of the cores discovered in the site ranges from 15 to 35 mm (Fig. 11). The prepared cores were intended mainly for the manufacture of blades (Table 4). Their vast majority are single platform forms with a cone-shaped flaking face positioned on a wider face of the core (Plate 1:5, 4:2, 5:5–10). Much more rare are narrow flaking surface atifacts (Plate 3:10, 4:1, 5:12.15, 6:1). Several bladelet forms were also present, presumably exploited using the pressure technique (Plate 1:4, 5:11, 6:2.4). It could happen that during working the flaking face of the blade core was made wider. This was done without any additional treatment or by preparing the face of the core and secondary crested blade removal (Table5, Plate 1:2, 2:5, 4:5, 8:3.4). After the deterioration of the angle of removal platform rejuvenation flakes or tablets were detached (Table, Plate 4:6, 8:5.6), alternately changes were made to the orientation of the core; in doing this an effort was made to keep the possibility of detachment of blade-sized blanks (Plate 1:6.7, 6:6–10, 7:1). Next to single platform cores and changed-orientation cores the assemblage includes a small number of double platform forms (Table, Plate 6:3.5). The blades recovered at Ludowice are a relatively uniform group. Most were struck from single platform cores (Table 4) and have a prepared butt or a punctate butt (Tab. 9). There were some microlithic blades, very small or small. Their width usually does not exceed 15 mm (Fig. 12). There is an observable substantial fragmentation of these blanks. Only 26.2% of all the blades are complete (Table 10). This most likely is a result of deliberate action (B. Knarrström 2001, p. 41; G. Osipowicz 2010, p. 211). Blades were intended mostly for the manufacture of insets and other backed forms, in which process a common method was microburin technique. The dimensions of the identified blade tools do not depart from what those typically observed in the unearthed cores and blanks (Fig. 13). During the final stages of working the blade cores were made into different flake cores which continued to be worked in the same way as cores worked for flakes from the beginning. A method of flaking rather special for the Mesolithic used on site was bipolar flaking technique. This situation is interesting because of the frequency of splinter pieces [łuszcznie], which makes the second largest group of cores (Table 3, Plate 1:3.33, 2:12, 5:13.14, 7:8–12). The assemblage includes 29 lithic artefacts recognizable as macrolithic tools (Table 12). These are mostly uncharacteristic morphological forms, i.e., stones with evidence of working or smoothing. Next to them there were hammerstones and rubbers of various size. Most of them were in quartz sandstone (Table 13). To a smaller extent use was made in the site of granitoids and – occasionally – of porphyry, quartzite and gneiss. The research yielded also an assemblage of 633 finds classified to a specific industry based on non-flint rock (Fig. 14). Most were in red quartz-porphyry, iron-rich quartz sandstone and red granitoid. The material and morphological structure of the assemblage recovered from the habitation area under analysis does not differ from that observed elsewhere in the site (Table 13; G. Osipowicz 2014, table 1). The finds assemblage from the western habitation includes 230 bone fragments. Species determination could be made for only ten of them (Table 14). They come from different animal species and in the main document exploitation of a forest environment. Also symptomatic is the presence of the remains of the European Pond Turtle, a species with a higher than average significance for Early Holocene communities which is observed already since the late Boreal Period (Pobiel 10, Góra County, Mszano 14, Brodnica County), but which found particularly favourable conditions during the period of the Atlantic optimum of the Holocene (D. Makowiecki, M. Rybacki 2001, pp. 99–100; D. Makowiecki 2003, p. 58). On the evidence of the technological and morphological analysis of the flints assemblage recovered at Ludowice it may be referred to the Komornica Culture and dated to the Atlantic Period. These conclusions were confirmed by a radiocarbon cross dating of charcoal samples taken from a hearth identified in the area of the flint scatter 1 (feature 10). The dates obtained from two different laboratories are very close: 6540±45BP (Poz-52082) and 6660±80BP (KML-1706) (Fig. 15) and place the described materials in a period immediately antedating the appearance in the Chełmno Lake District of early agrarian communities (R. Kirkowski 1994, p. 58). At the same time, they are analogous to the dating obtained for the technologically and morphologically highly similar Late Komornica materials from the not so distant Sąsieczno 4, Toruń County.

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Nowe znaleziska z neolitu i początków epoki brązu z polskich Bieszczadów Wysokich (rejon Wetliny-Moczarnego)

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Pelisiak A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

211-217

EN

A 2014 surface survey made on the Solinka and the Beskidnik streams in the eastern area of the Polish Bieszczady Wysokie mountain range resulted in a discovery of five previously unknown prehistoric archaeological sites (Fig. 1). They are represented by cores of siliceous sandstone (Fig. 2 & 3): single platform flake cores and flake cores with changed orientation. They were discovered along the course of the Solinka and the Beskidnik, on the river terrace within a narrow zone about 300 m in length, close to the outcrops of siliceous flint. The broad dating proposed for the finds is Late Neolithic and the onset of the Bronze Age. Chronologically, they correspond to the earliest manifestation of human activity recorded in the pollen diagrams secured in the Bieszczady region: Tarnawa Wyżna and Wołosate, Bieszczady County, and Smerek, Lesko County. The finds can be interpreted in two ways. They could document seasonal livestock grazing activity carried out far from a permanent habitation area. Transhumance was frequently practiced in mountainous regions of Europe starting from the Late Neolithic. An alternate explanation, one that does not rule out the earlier interpretation, would link at least some of these finds with a route running in a north-south direction through the Czerteż Pass. The flints would be the remains of camps, set up in convenient locations, with easy access to water but safe from flash floods in the Solinka and the Beskidnik, and close to a lithic resource which could be used, when the need arose, to make simple, possibly disposable, tools. In each case the flint finds are an important confirmation of diverse human use of this part of the Bieszczady in the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Their discovery shows also that there may be more similar material awaiting discovery to add to the understanding of the prehistory of this region. Fieldwork in the area around Wetlina is to be continued in the coming years. A recently formulated interdisciplinary project includes different kinds of fieldwork and analyses using data from “bird’s eye view” photographs, with special emphasis on data from LIDAR laser scanning.

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Niepublikowane materiały z Grodziska, pow. węgrowski, ze zbiorów Państwowego Muzeum Archeologicznego w Warszawie

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Kordowska M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

236-250

EN

A group of unpublished finds now in keeping of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw was discovered at Grodzisk, Węgrów County, some 80 km east of Warsaw (Fig. 1). It falls into two groups – a pottery assemblage collected in 1937 by Anoni Brzezik, inhabitant of Grodzisk, and finds from a surface survey of site 4 at Grodzisk made in 2009 by Mateusz Bogucki. The artefacts from site 4 fall into two groups. The first group is attributable to Younger Pre-Roman Period and the Roman Period occupation, with individual finds dated to the period lasting form the mature phase A1, possibly, onset of phase A2 until stadium C2b. The second group are artefacts from late 6th and early 7th century associated with the earliest phase of Slav settlement in Mazovia. The assemblage of finds with the earlier dating consists of the following: a copper alloy neckring with cylindrical terminals (Fig. 3:1), an iron brooch with a crest on the head decorated with impressed silver foil (Fig. 3:2), a denarius of Hadrian (RIC 141b) (Fig. 3:3), a copper alloy brooch, type Almgren 168 (Fig. 3:4) and a fragment of a bronze spring from a brooch (Fig. 3:5). Given their chronology these artefacts may be attributed to two culture units recorded in the Liwiec River valley: Przeworsk culture and Wielbark culture. The neckring of a form typical for Jastorf culture would be one more find of this culture recovered in a zone of the earliest phase of Przeworsk culture settlement. The character of finds from site 4 suggests that they originate from a bi-cultural, long-lived cemetery. However, because of its partial investigation it is unclear whether or not the cemetery was used without a break, like many cemeteries known from the eastern zone of the Przeworsk culture. The younger group of artefacts includes a fragment of a copper alloy radiate-headed brooch (Fig. 3:6) with a reduced ornamentation and a fragment of an openwork object, also in copper alloy (Fig. 3:7), possibly a belt mount of a type encountered during the late Migration Period on Balt territory. Chronologically, both these finds may be safely attributed to the earliest period of Slav settlement in eastern Poland, although it is also possible that their presence in our region is the result of exchange with Balt peoples. Another find from site 4 is a blue glass bead, type bisier (Fig. 3:8). The rather broad chronology of these beads precludes a more conclusive dating of this specimen. It is possible nevertheless that it has a connection to the nearby hill-fort (cf. Fig. 1) which has its first phase dated to the 10th century. The other segment of the assemblage from Grodzisk is a group of more than 170 pottery fragments collected in 1937 (Fig. 4). Their exact find-site is unknown – presumably, they were discovered in the garden of the farm of A. Brzezik, which was found within site 43C. The heavily burnt condition of most of these pottery fragments prevented reconstruction of a complete vessel. Where a partial reconstruction was possible the vessels had a form recorded in the Przeworsk culture during phases B2 and B2/C1 (Fig. 4). The preservation of the pottery fragments establishes their provenance from a funerary context. Consequently, we have to assume the presence at Grodzisk of two cemeteries (Przeworsk, or Przeworsk-Wielbark) separated by a small distance (c. 700 m). More finds from the same period have been recovered at Grodzisk. The remains of a Przeworsk culture settlement dated to phases A2–B1) were identified during the investigation of the interior of the early medieval hill-fort. From a farm lying in an area recorded as site 43C adjacent to the former “garden of A. Brzezik” comes a find of a copper alloy brooch, type Almgren 128, and a small quantity of pottery attributed to the Przeworsk culture. This could mean that, similarly as the cemetery in site 44, the cemetery in site 43C was used both by the Przeworsk and the Wielbark people.

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Siekierka brązowa z podniesionymi brzegami ze wschodniego Mazowsza

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Karczmarek Ł.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

217-222

EN

The bronze axe fragment under discussion is a stray find from Grabszczyzna, a village in Wołomin County, approximately 50 km NE of Warsaw (Fig. 1). The axe (Fig. 2) has an expanded, crescent shaped blade, on a separate wedge. The lightly asymmetrical cutting edge has on one of its faces an observably more compact and coarse surface. The flanges gradually taper off to the height of the differently shaped ends of the U-shaped concave depressions (Fig. 3). Lines observed on the outer faces of the axe (Fig. 4) could be the result of a faulty fitting together of a two-part casting mould. One of the faces is with marks from working (Fig. 5). The negatives left by air bubbles are present over most of the surface of the axe (Fig. 6). There is some dark green, noble patina. The axe from Grabszczyzna may be attributed to the mixed group of flanged axes (A. Szpunar 1987, p. 55–71). Some features of its construction have parallels in axes classified by A. Szpunar to types Kłodzisko, Wałowice and Czubin (1987, p. 58, 62–69). In its dimensions and form the axe find from Grabszczyzna is closest to type Czubin specimens (A. Szpunar 1987, pl. 22, 23). There is some evident similarity also to an axe, type Wałowice, from a hoard discovered at Rostkowo, Płock County (W. Blajer 1999, p. 199, pl. 157:1). A similarly rounded blade is seen in an axe, type Kłodzisko, variant C, discovered at Rudniki, Grudziądz County (A. Szpunar 1987, p. 64, pl. 20:362). In hoards from Mielnica Duża, Konin County, and from Rostkowo, both dated to the first half of Bronze Age III, an axe, type Czubin, was discovered in association with an axe, type Wałowice (W. Blajer 2001, p. 323, 325, 327); the hoard from Mielnica Duża included also a fragment of one more axe, presumably a type Kłodzisko (W. Blajer 1999, p. 185). The chronology of axes type Wałowice, Czubin and Kłodzisko is within the frames of Bronze Age II and III (A. Szpunar 1987, p. 63–64, 66, 68–69; W. Blajer 1999, p. 23; J. Dąbrowski 2004, p. 17); this is also a likely dating for Grabszczyzna axe. The users of this axe in eastern Mazovia may have been the people of Trzciniec culture (cf. H. Taras 1995, p. 91, map 1) or, the communities from the intermediate Trzciniec-Lusatian phase and the early Lusatian Culture (cf. J. Dąbrowski 2005, p. 62; M. Mogielnicka-Urban 2005, p. 69).

9

Znalezisko bałtyjskiej zapinki szczeblowej z warszawskiego Wawra

100%

Rakowski T.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

|

2013

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vol. LXIV

|

issue 64

227-234

EN

The copper alloy rung brooch (Armbrustsprossenfibel) discovered in the spring of 2013 on a wooded sand dune in Radość housing estate in southern district of Warszawa-Wawer is a stray find lacking in context. No other traces of prehistoric occupation were identified in the immediate vicinity of its discovery (Fig. 1). The brooch has a pseudo-crossbow construction – its chord is a purely element. On the surface of the fibula is a design of engraved straight lines and zigzag, presumably made with a roulette, and stamped sub-triangular and circular motifs (Fig. 3). Surviving almost complete the brooch misses only a fragment of its pin. The decoration on the bow and on coils of beaded wire on spring terminals are substantially worn, presumably due to extended use. The brooch is a late variant of rung brooches attributable to group IV variant B of M. Rudnicki, dated to phase E2b and onset of phase E3, which corresponds to late 6th or the very onset of 7th century (M. Rudnicki 2008, p. 297, pl. 13; cf. J. Kowalski 2000, p. 223–224). Their form is similar to the one illustrated by N. Åberg (1919, fig. 182, p. 27). Rung brooches are characteristic for the territory inhabited by Balt tribes, in particular the area settled by Prussians, between the Baltic Sea, the Vistula and the Neman rivers (cf. J. Okulicz 1973, p. 5); their largest number is known from grave inventories of the Olsztyn Group, i.a., from Tumiany and Kielary, Olsztyn County (Fig. 4:1–5), and of the Elbląg Group, i.a., from Nowinka, Elbląg County (Fig. 4:6.7). Outside these concentrations rung brooches are recorded in Sambia and, much more rarely, in Lithuania (Fig. 5). Two exceptional specimens were discovered in Brandenburg: a fragmented brooch of an older type at Seetz, Kr. Perleberg (H. U. Voß 1991, fig. 2) and a younger specimen, similar in form to the brooch from Warszawa-Wawer, at Prützke, Lkr. Potsdam-Mittelmark (Fig. 5:6a.b; W. von Unverzagt, J. Hermann 1958, pl. 1:b; W. von Unverzagt 1960, fig. 1a–c). The connection of rung brooches to the territory Prussian settlement is sufficiently strong to treat this form as ethnically diagnostic. Consequently, the brooch find from Wawer could document the presence of Prussians in Mazowsze at the time of emergence of a new tribal and demographic situation, i.e., in the period 6th–7th c. AD, between the decline of Roman Period settlement and the full emergence early Slav culture.

10

Miseczki z omfalosem w kulturze łużyckiej na ziemiach polskich

75%

Orlińska G., Karczmarek Ł.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

|

2015

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vol. LXVI

|

issue 66

3-125

EN

Bowls with an omphalos, in which the vessel base has been pushed out from the bottom up to form a raised bump inside the vessel, are mostly known from south-western Poland (Fig. 1). In the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean region vessels with an omphalos, or with a differently shaped base, form part of wine-drinking sets. Phialae – small libation bowls – were used during traditional feasts – symposia. We catalogued 707 small bowls, with an opening diameter not exceeding 15 cm (in miniature forms – 7.5 cm), with the depth coefficient, calculated as the ratio of the vessel’s maximum horizontal dimension to its height, of at least 1.5. Specimens with a coefficient of 1.5–2.99 were defined as “deep, with a coefficient of 3–3.99 – as “shallow, the rest – as “flat. Bowls assigned to category I (in the form of an oblated globe) were divided into the following types: type I/A – with the wall expanding upwards, and I/B – with the wall folded in at the top; and subtypes: with a straight rim I/A1 and I/B1, with a folded rim I/A2 and I/B2, flared, cup-like I/A3, sharply flared I/A4, broken biconically I/B3 (Fig. 2). Bowls assigned to category II (profiled) were classified as follows: type II/A – S-profiled, II/B – necked (tall neck – subtype II/B1, short neck – subtype II/B2) and with a marked carination, II/C – with a funnel-like, flared rim and a biconical belly, II/D – with a pronounced, funnel-like rim (in subtype II/D1 bowls the rim diameter is approximately the same as the maximum body diameter, in subtype II/D2 it is larger), II/E – with an indentation under the lip, II/F – with a pronounced, cylindrical rim, II/G – with a folded out rim (subtypes II/G1–II/G4 depending on the shape of the vessel body) and II/H – broad-bodied, usually with a poorly marked rim (Fig. 3, 4). The omphaloi were divided into “narrow (the diameter not exceeding ¼ of the maximum horizontal diameter of the bowl), “broad and “low (with the coefficient of at least 10, calculated from the diameter: depth of the indentation ratio), “moderately high (5–9.99) and “high (up to 4.99). In omphaloi classified to variant 1 the protuberance is rounded, sporadically – truncated flat (variant 1/a), or, with a depression in the apex: a dimple (1/b), a dent (1/c), or a shallow, circular depression with a knob at centre (1/d). In omphaloi classified to variant 2 there may be a knob (bulb) – rounded (2/a), truncated flat (2/b), with a depression (2/c). Grooved decoration found on the bowl exterior was classified to group I: on the belly (Ia), on the lower body (Ib), on the rim (Ic); arrangements of dimple motifs were classified to group IIa; groove-and-dimple compositions – to group IIb. Group III are decorations around the omphalos: hollow depressions at bottom (IIIa), and circles built by grooves or small dimples (IIIb), usually on the interior, similarly as equal-armed crosses – group IVa, and “rays – group IVb. Group V are compositions of multiple motifs covering the interior of the bowls, VI – colour applied in some way (by slipping, painting the walls or decorative motifs), VII – profiling of the wall (VIIa) or of the lower part of the omphalos (VIIb), VIII – plastic decoration of the rim (knobs VIIIa, excisions VIIIb), IX – pseudo-handles (in the form of knobs IXa and cordons IXb), X – finger impressions (dimples). Over 80% bowls belong in category I (mostly, type I/A) classified to 19 variants depending on the shape of their base (Table 1, 2). There is a large group of forms classified to subtypes I/A1 (Fig. 5) and I/B1 (Fig. 7) with a plain omphalos 1/a, the rest of the variants comprise up to seven vessels (Fig. 6, 8). Among profiled bowls assigned to category II, with 19 variants of omphaloi (Table 5), the largest number have an omphalos 1/a, specimens of subtypes II/B1 (Fig. 9:f.g.j.k–n.p.r) and II/G1 (Fig. 11:a–p.u.v). We classified several specimens each to type II/A (Fig. 9:a–e.h.i) and subtypes II/G2 (Fig. 12:a–h.k) and II/G3 (Fig. 12:i. j.l–r), the rest of the variants of the omphaloi belong to nine vessels (Fig. 9:d.i.o.s–w, 10, 11:n.s.t, 12:s–z). The percentage of the miniature bowls included in the two categories is around 10% (cf. Table 1, 6, 9). Most of the bowls assigned to types I/A (58%) and I/B (72%) are deep (Table 1, 2). All proportions are represented by vessels I/A1/1/a, predominantly deep (Fig. 5:f.i.k.m–o), and mostly, shallow I/A1/1/b and I/A1/2/c (Fig. 6:c.e). Some deep (Fig. 7:b–d.h.l), shallow (Fig. 7:a.e.g.i–k) and flat (Fig. 7:f) bowls were classified to I/B1/1/a. Most of the profiled bowls are deep forms (73%; Table 5). The widest range of proportions is observed in vessels II/G1/1/d (Fig. 11:s.t) and II/G2/1/a (Fig. 12:a–h.k). Miniatures – 14.5% specimens classified to type I/A (Fig. 5:c.d, 6:g), ca. 5.5% to type I/B (Fig. 8:f) and ca. 3% to profiled forms (Fig. 11:h) – mostly are deep forms. In most of the bowls assigned to category I the omphalos is narrow (Table 3, 4), in specimens of category II – broad (Table 6). A narrow, a moderately high and a high protuberance more frequent in the oblated globe bowls than in the profiled specimens. Broad omphaloi observed in bowls assigned to category I tend to be of a moderate height, in specimens from category II – they are low. Omphaloi of variants 1/b–d are seen in vessels of either category (Fig. 6:b, 8:a.d.g.j, 9:d.i.v.w, 10:k, 11:n.s.t), those of variant 2 – only on the unprofiled forms (Fig. 6:c–j, 8:b.g.i). Hand-built, many of the bowls are asymmetrical (Fig. 5:a, 7:a, 12:z). In ca. 17.5% the wall was deliberately made of an uneven height (Fig. 5:f.j, 6:k, 8:e, 9:e.j.t.u, 10:a, 11:r, 12:b.c.l.m.z, Table 7). This shape would make it easier to empty the vessel without the need to tip it sharply. Some 20% bowls have blackened or graphitted walls (Table 8, 9). Only a small number of vessels I/A1/1/a (Fig. 5:j.o) are blackened (very rarely, graphitted) mostly, on the interior; this treatment is observed on both faces in forms assigned to type I/A with a special form of the omphalos (Fig. 6:d.g), and to subtype I/B1 (Fig. 7:c.e.k, 8:a.c.d.j). The percentage of vessels from category II with darkened walls – one (Fig. 9:a.f.n.u, 10:b), or both surfaces (Fig. 9:j.o.p.v, 10:d.f.m.o, 11:a.b.k.s–u, 12:a.o) – was twice that of specimens assigned to category I. Decoration was observed on 71 oblate globe bowls (category I, ca. 13% specimens; Table 10, 11) and 137 profiled bowls (ca. 85%; Table 12–14). Bowls assigned to category I most often had on them designs of grooves and dimples belonging to different ornamentation groups, and very seldom – finger impressions (Fig. 5:g.k) and painted motifs (Fig. 7:f). Circles of group IIIb (Fig. 6:e.h.i, 8:h), motifs of group IV (Fig. 5:m–o, 6:f.j, 7:g, 8:j), compositions consisting of motifs classified to groups IIIb and IVb (Fig. 5:e, 8:i), and finger impressions (dimples) were present only on vessels from subtypes I/A1 and I/B1 (Fig. 5e.g.k.m, 6e.h.i, 7g, 8h–j). Popular decorations on bowls from category II include groove-and-dimple designs (Fig. 9:b–d.f–h.k–m.r, 10:b.d.f.g.k.m.o.s.t.v.w, 11:a.b.k.n.p.r.u, 12:a.i.o) and coloured motifs (10:i.h.n, 11:c.f.h–j.m.v, 12:b–h.j–n.p–z). Plastic decoration is seen mainly on specimens of type II/A (Fig. 9:a.e) and subtypes I/A2 (Fig. 6:k.l), I/B3 (Fig. 8:e) and II/B1 (Fig. 9:j.n), and also, I/B1 (Fig. 7:b–e), exceptionally, also on II/G1 (Fig. 11:g). Dimples classified to group IIa (Fig. 6:m, 10:m) and compositions classified to group V (Fig. 5:l, 7:f.h–l, 8:g, 9:t.v.z, 10:g, 11:s.t) appear on vessels of both categories. We divided the distribution range of the bowls into two zones: eastern (where a grave holds a single vessel with an omphalos) and western (often, more than one omphalos bowl to a grave inventory). During the Bronze Age the eastern zone (mostly with profiled bowls) covers southern Poland, the Silesia-Cracow Upland, the eastern area of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland (cf. I. Lasak 1996, p. 6–7, fig. 1) and the Kalisz Heights. The western zone (here forms classified to category I are typical) covers Lower Lusatia, Lubusz Land, the western portion of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, the Lake District of Poznań and the Lake District of Chodzież, the Flatland of Września and the region between the Warta and the Noteć rivers (ie, the western fragment of the Gorzów Basin and the eastern fragment of the Lake District of Chodzież). The scarcity of grave assemblages in the upper Noteć drainage (an area on the border between Kuyavia and the Lake District of Gniezno) prevents a reliable attribution of this area to either of the two zones. Forms classified to category I of Bronze Age date make up 83%. Bowls I/A1/1/a outnumber, more than four time, bowls I/B1/1/a. Nearly a half of specimens I/A11/a are deep forms (Fig. 5:f.m), with only a slightly smaller number of shallow vessels (Fig. 5:a.c.d.g.h.l), and a dozen-odd flat forms (Fig. 5:b.e, 13, Table 27). In more than 70% the omphalos is narrow, mostly of a moderate height (Fig. 5:b.e, 14, Table 28) with broad omphaloi noted in the eastern part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, in Lower Lusatia and some sites in Greater Poland (Fig. 5:m, 14, Table 29). Deep bowls I/B1/1/a make up ca. 66% (Fig. 7:b, 15, Table 27), the remainder are shallow (Fig. 7:a.i), and exceptionally – flat. In nearly 80% of these vessels the omphalos is narrow, mostly of a moderate height, with high omphaloi (Fig. 7:a.b.i, Table 28) slightly outnumbering low omphaloi. A very small number of broad omphaloi were of a moderate height, or low (Fig. 16, Table 29). In the eastern zone, where typical forms include I/A1 (Fig. 6:k.l), II/A (Fig. 9:a.e), II/B1 (Fig. 9:f.g.j.n) and II/C (Fig. 10:a.b) bowls I/B1/1/a (Fig. 7:b) were used more often than in the western zone (here their frequency was higher only in Lower Lusatia; cat. 4). Special omphaloi (Fig. 21, 22) in the eastern zone – 1/b (Fig. 6:a, 8:j) and 2/a – were made only rarely during Bronze Age V. In the western zone, the characteristic form of omphalos is variant 2. Recorded starting from Bronze Age IV, knobs 2/b (Fig. 6:h, 8:h.i) outnumber bulbs 2/a (Fig. 6:d.i.j, 8:b) and 2/c (Fig. 6:c.f). In just 37 vessels the line of the rim is diagonal (Fig. 5:f, 6:k, 9:e.j, Table 7, 30), and 27 specimens are blackened (Table 8, 9, 31). In the eastern zone vessels darkened on the inside are noted starting from Bronze Age III (Fig. 6:k, 9:a.f.n, 10:b), and in Bronze Age V some specimens are entirely black (Fig. 5:e, 8:j). In the western zone, the blacking – of the interior, or of both surfaces – is noted starting from Bronze Age IV/V only on a limited number of specimens, classified to subtype I/A1 with a special form of omphalos 1/b or 2/a (Fig. 6:d). Only ca. 22% bowls are decorated (Table 32–34). Most of them are recorded in the eastern zone, where during Bronze Age III the decorations consisted of grooves (Fig. 9:f.g, 10:b), in Bronze Age V – plastic elements (Fig. 6:k.l, 7:b, 9:a.j.n, 10:a) and more rarely, other motifs (Fig. 5:e, 8:j, 9:e.k). In the western zone, from Bronze Age IV/V onwards, mostly on shallow and flat bowls, is observed a decoration of grooves and small dimples (Fig. 5:l, 6:f.h–j, 8:h.i), or there is a groove around the omphalos (Fig. 5:b), and grooves (Fig. 8:f) or knobs (Fig. 6:d) on the edge. During the Hallstatt Period the eastern zone encompassed southern Poland, eastern Greater Poland (Turek Heights and Łask Heights) and very likely, the upper Noteć drainage, as well as the adjacent margin of the Lake District of Gniezno, the western zone – the cemetery in Kietrz, Głubczyce County, Central Silesia (the drainages of Ślęza, Kaczawa and Widawa rivers), the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, the Middle Obra Valley, the Lake District of Poznań, the northern part of the Kalisz Heights, and the eastern part of the Flatland of Września, Lower Silesia, Lower Lusatia, the Lower Silesian Wilderness (Bory Dolnośląskie) and the Western Sudetes Foothills. The percentage of vessels assigned to category I (ca. 62%), of which a significant group during this time are forms I/B1/1/a, is smaller than during the Bronze Age. Most of the unprofiled bowls are deep (Table 27): nearly 70% specimens classified to subtype I/A1 (Fig. 5:i.k.n.o, 17) and nearly 80% – to I/B1 (Fig. 7:d.h.l, 19). The omphaloi in bowls I/A1/1/a – narrow (Fig. 5:i.j.n) and broad (Fig. 5:k.o) – in all the defined height brackets, have a frequency similar to that recorded during the Bronze Age (Table 28, 29), suggesting that the technique of their execution remained the same, and still involved modelling with fingers. Narrow omphaloi in bowls classified to I/B1/1/a have become more standardised than in the past, possibly explaining the increased percentage of protuberances of intermediate height (Fig. 7:g). More frequent than the narrow are broad omphaloi, among which low forms (Fig. 7:j.l) are slightly more numerous than the moderately high ones (Fig. 7:d.f.h.k). The unification of the parameters of omphaloi in bowls classified to subtype I/B1, and the substantial percentage of protuberances of a larger diameter, suggest they were modelled over a stencil (Fig. 7:d.e.f.h.k.l). In the eastern zone (except for south-eastern Poland, where only bowls of category I are noted), similarly as during the Bronze Age, the vessels in use represented types II/A (Fig. 9:d.h) and II/C (Fig. 10:c), and subtype II/B1 (Fig. 9:l.m.p.r), sometimes decorated, and sporadically featuring an omphalos, of a form classified to 1/b or 1/c (Table 19A, 20A, 21A, 34). Category I bowls were decorated very rarely (Fig. 5:k, 6:m, Table 34), and a few of them have a bulb – 2/c, modelled inside (Fig. 6:g). In the western zone, within the range of the Silesian Group, bowls of both categories occurred with a different frequency. In Kietrz (cat. 34; Table 19B), blackened vessels type I/B (Fig. 7:c, 8:d) tended to prevail over specimens classified to II/G (Fig. 11:a, 12:c.o.s), and in the Middle Obra Valley (Table 20B, 21B), forms I/A1 outnumber those classified to I/B1 (Fig. 8:a), I/B3 (Fig. 8:c), II/E (Fig. 10:k) and II/G1 (Fig. 11:l). In Central Silesia and in the western part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, profiled forms were the most dominant (Table 22), mostly attributed to type II/G – in Silesia, a mixed selection, the majority blackened (Fig. 11:i.s.t.u, 12:f.g.i.k.n), in the borderland – with a higher frequency of coloured specimens, almost always belonging to subtype II/G1 (Fig. 11:b.c.f.g.o, 12:e). Specimens I/B1 were usually shallow, in Central Silesia – attractively decorated (Fig. 7:f.j). In the eastern part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, bowls classified to category I – most of them deep, subtype I/B1, decorated with patterns of group V (Fig. 7:k.l), or knobs on the edge (Fig. 7:d.e, 8:e) – only in HaC1/2 were outnumbered by profiled specimens (Table 23). At this time and during HaC1, vessels classified to subtypes II/G2 and II/G3 are well represented, some of them decorated with a zone of grooving and painted motifs (Fig. 12:j.l.m.p.r). Some of the bowls had a characteristically thickened edge (Fig. 11:v, 12:b.d.g). Forms typical for the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland – a deep specimen classified to I/B1/1/a, and another classified to II/G2/1/a, with a thickened edge (Fig. 12:h) – were recovered in Gorszewice (cat. 22), in the Lake District of Poznań (Table 20B, 21B). The same cemetery also yielded vessels subtype II/G4 (Fig. 12:t.u.v) with an analogy in Kietrz (Fig. 12:s). In Greater Poland, we recorded also bowls type II/F – coloured (Fig. 10:n), and not blackened, as in Central Silesia and the borderland, and subtype II/G1 (Fig. 11:d.e.k.l), exceptionally, with an omphalos 1/b (Fig. 11:n). In a small group of unprofiled vessels, similarly as during the Bronze Age, we observed a bulb – rounded 2/a, or with a depression 2/c (Fig. 6:e). In the region on the Middle Odra, in the Białowice Group, the widespread form were bowls classified to category I (Table 24–26), some of them with an omphalos, form 1/b (Fig. 6:b) or 1/c. The decoration of specimens classified to I/B1/1/a (Fig. 7:h) and the form of the profiled vessels II/G1 (Fig. 11:j.m.r) and II/H (Fig. 12:y) from the Lower Silesian Wilderness have much in common with the pottery of the Silesian Group. Bowls forms in use in Lower Silesia and Lower Lusatia include types II/A (Fig. 9:b) and II/E (Fig. 10:l), and also, subtype II/B2, decorated with traditional motifs. At the earliest during the first half of Bronze Age III, profiled specimens with an omphalos occur in the eastern zone in Kietrz (Fig. 9:f, 10:b, 26, 27), lying at the approaches to the Moravian Gate, an important route of the influx to our territory of inspirations from the region to the south of the Carpathian range. At the transition from Bronze Age III and IV, bowls classified to category II found their way to the region around Cracow (Fig. 9:g), perhaps even during Bronze Age IV – to the upper Noteć River drainage (Fig. 9:c), in Bronze Age V to the Silesia-Cracow Upland (Fig. 9:a.e.j.n, 10:a) and to south-eastern Poland (Fig. 9:k). Chronologically the earliest, oblated globe specimens appeared during the first half of Bronze Age IV in the Lubusz Land, with a delay in comparison to the lands on the other bank of the Odra River (Fig. 13–16), where similar specimens were observed even during the older phase of Bronze Age III, coinciding with the onset of Fremdgruppenzeit – the period of foreign influences of Southern European origin. Starting from Bronze Age IV, bowls classified to category I were used in Lower Lusatia (Fig. 5:m, 8:b), on the western margin of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland (Fig. 5:b.f, 6:d.h, 8:h) and in Greater Poland (Fig. 5:d.h.l, 6:f.i.j, 8:i). In the eastern zone, at the transition from Bronze Age IV to Bronze Age V, they were present in the Kalisz Heights (Fig. 5:g), noted during Bronze Age V in Kietrz (Fig. 5:e, 6:k), in the eastern part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland and, most of them reduced to a diminutive form, in the Silesia-Cracow Upland (Fig. 5:c, 6:a, 7:b), and, during the Early Iron Age – in south-eastern Poland. Hallstatt period bowls which have parallels across the Carpathian range have been discovered in Kietrz (Fig. 6:o, 12:s), Gorszewice (Fig. 12:t–v) and Komorowo (cat. 37; Fig. 9:p.r), found on the so-called Amber Road (Fig. 26, 29). Biconical specimens, subtype I/B3 (Fig. 24), appeared first in Kietrz and in the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland (Fig. 8:c), and later, in the Valley of the Middle Obra River (Fig. 8:e). The “Road also contributed to the spread of coloured or blackened luxury ceramics. Forms characteristic for the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland and for Central Silesia (Fig. 26–29) – types II/F (Fig. 10:m.o) and II/G (Fig. 11:b.c.f–j.l.p.s–v, 12:a.b.d–g.i–n.p.r), and also subtype II/B2 (Fig. 9:o.t–w) are observed also in the lake district belt in Greater Poland (Fig. 9:s, 10:n, 11:d.e.k.l.n). Bowls in which the omphalos is modelled at the centre of the flat base were manufactured during HaC in Central Silesia (Fig. 5:j, 12:i) and in the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland (Fig. 12:p), during HaD – in the upper Noteć River drainage (Fig. 9:d, 10:c) and in eastern Greater Poland (Fig. 5:i). In analysing the grave inventories we separated groups of pottery forms defined by us as selections, or recurring arrangements consisting of a bowl (or another bowl-like form, with or without an omphalos) and a vessel inserted into it: in selection A – a scoop or a handled cup, in selection B – a jug or a diminutive jug with a pointed base, in selection C – a basin or an amphora, in selection D – another bowl-like vessel, in selection E – a biconical vessel, in selection F – a jar. We refer to a bowl placed inside a scoop (or another vessel) as a reversed selection A–F. Specimens placed in the grave side by side, or one placed one over the other (also included here are cinerary urns covered with a bowl) are elements of a selection. A set is understood as a jar with a scoop, or a handled cup, placed inside it; these vessels, placed side by side, or covering one another, are elements of a set. Bowls were placed next to the burial, presumably so to have the dead individual join in the ritual being performed, and – specimens used in other ritual activities – were placed around the burial (understood here as between the vessels grouped next to it, or on the margin of such a cluster) and separately. The funerary pottery (except for cinerary urns) was recognized by as a service (set of dishes), consisting of containers – jars, or basin-like forms (basin, amphora, biconical vessel, broad-bodied vessel), vessels for scooping and pouring beverage (scoops, handled cups, jugs, diminutive jugs with a pointed base) and small bowls. A service was defined as non-standard if it did not include a bowl or a scoop-like form. We distinguished services with a jar-container (of a large form), with a basin-like container (at least of an intermediate size), a mixed service – with containers of both types, a pseudo-mixed service – with a container of one type and a small “model of the other type, a substitute service consisting of small sized “models of actual containers. Libation services (for performing a sacrifice) consist of bowls, smaller or larger (selections D, or elements of selections D), or bowl-like vessels and scoop-like vessels (selections A or B, reversed selections or their elements). In settlement contexts, small bowls have been found within the remains of built structures (Fig. 6:m, 9:p, cat. 112:1), storage and other utility features (cat. 112:2.3, 136:1), a refuse pit (Fig. 9:h) and pits serving an obscure function (cat. 35:1, 94:1, 108:1, 147:1.2). A few specimens were discovered within a hearth (cat. 123:1, 136:2, 148:1), in a votive offering (cat. 136:3), in a pit, together with other vessels belonging to a “pseudo-mixed service consisting of a container –an amphora (cat. 40:1). A small number of specimens – in a hearth (cat. 148:1), next to a semi-sunken pit dwelling (cat. 146:1) or within a symbolic feature (Fig. 9:g) – they formed part of a libation service. We analysed the pottery furnishings of 103 graves from the Bronze Age containing 144 omphalos bowls (Table 35–42), and 156 assemblages from the Early Iron Age – with 229 of the pottery forms under discussion (Table 43–57). Also taken into account were inventories which included bowls with a flat, a concave or a rounded base, used parallel with services containing omphalos bowls, and services with vessels provided with an omphalos recorded in features left out from a closer analysis due to incomplete data. During the Bronze Age, in the eastern zone (Fig. 55, Table 35–37) bowls (more often, without an omphalos) were usually placed next to the burial. The percentage of graves furnished with these vessels in Kietrz and Bachórz-Chodorówka (cat. 1), did not exceed 1.9%. In the eastern part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, the corresponding value was ca. 6%, and in the Silesia-Cracow Upland – 4–16%. There was a large number of substitute services (73.5%), most of them consisting of a jar (57%) and including, as a standard, the selection A (Fig. 31). The more common form of container was the jar and not the basin-like vessel. Rituals involving the use of bowls performed when bidding farewell to the dead are documented for individuals of different ages suggesting that the high frequency of infant burials in Silesia-Cracow Upland may be uncharacteristic. A few vessels served as covers of a cinerary urn (Fig. 9:k, cat. 8:1) and a miniature basin (Fig. 5:e, 30), one served as a cinerary vessel (Fig. 10:b). In the western zone (Fig. 56, Table 38–32), small bowls with an omphalos predominated in Lower Lusatia (Białków – cat. 4; Jasień – cat. 30), in the western part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland (Przyborów – cat. 85), and in some sites in Greater Poland (Wartosław – cat. 121; Wieleń – cat. 125). In other cemeteries in Greater Poland, at Terespotockie (cat. 114), and Biernatki (cat. 5), they were outnumbered by specimens with a different type of base, and in Spławie (cat. 105), only forms with a flat base are recorded. The percentage of grave inventories including small bowls ranged from 8% in Biernatki and Kaliszany (cat. 32), to 54% at Białków. The largest percentage was represented by services with a container (58%), most often, a basin-like vessel, over 40% of them of the pseudo-mixed type; “suites containing a jar form the smallest group. Inventories with a basin-like container, at times of substantial size (Fig. 38, 39) may be seen to cluster on the Middle Odra. In this area, burials were furnished on occasion with two (Table 41:6, 42:2. 3.12.13.18) or even a larger number of services (Fig. 32:a, 38, Table 41:8). In graves with three to six “suites of vessels, some services did not include the small bowls (these presumably, had been “taken away, to be used in further ceremonies, and the used, no longer needed pottery was put away), in others the scooping vessel was missing (Fig. 36, Table 40:1, 41:3.12), used repreadly, as suggested by the archaeological context (Fig. 34, 35), until the backfilling of the burial. In Lower Lusatia and in the western part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland, where there is a domination of bowls with an omphalos and of services with containers, the funeral rituals seem to have had the nature of feasting. Their complexity is confirmed by the deposition of bowls not only next to the burials, but also around them, as well as separately. In other areas, the ceremonies were mostly limited to the act of libation, which sometimes preceded the deposition of the cinerary urn in the grave (Fig. 33). Use was made for this purpose of libation services and substitute services which most often were deposited next to the burial; the vessels were placed inverted, or on their side, in a position we can describe as “the offering has been made (Fig. 31, 32:b, 33–36, 38). Most often, the bowls formed a group with a scoop or a handled cup (Fig. 32:b, 37, 39), and with other bowl-like forms (Fig. 33, 34, 36, 37), more rarely, with basin-like vessels of a small size (Fig. 34, 38), jugs (Fig. 38) or with jars (Table 41:15, 42:11). A bowl could be used as a cover of a cinerary urn: a specimen classified to I/B1/2/b (Fig. 8:h, cat. 85:5), or serve as a cinerary urn – specimen I/B1/1/a with a narrow and high omphalos (cat. 84:4). The limited number of osteological data prevents analysis of the sex and age of burials furnished with the omphalos bowls. In Spławie, the small bowls were discovered in adult burials. During the Hallstatt Period, in the eastern zone (Fig. 57, Table 43) the frequency of assemblages provided with small bowls (between ca. 3% and 17–18%) was similar as in the Bronze Age. In the biritual cemeteries in the Silesia-Cracow Upland, the dominant form continues to be the substitute service with a jar. Libation services were recorded chiefly in south-eastern Poland, and services with containers – in eastern part of the Greater Poland (a mixed service with a fragment of a strainer found in Zalew II – cat. 137) and in the Kalisz Heights (a pseudo-mixed service without scoop-like vessels, Topola Wielka – cat. 115; Table 43:3). The burial in a small bowl-urn set over a zoomorphic figurine included among its furnishings a pair of scoops (Fig. 40), the same as this Late Bronze Age assemblage with a rattle (Fig. 34). In the western zone, within the range of the Silesian Group (Fig. 58, Table 44–51), the percentage of inventories featuring small bowls (most of them without an omphalos) was the following: in Kietrz – at 14% (ca. ⅓ found in imposing chamber features or in features provided with a posted construction), in Central Silesia – between 35% and 60%, in the western part of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland – 60%, and its eastern part – 32–36%, and only in Cieszków (cat. 10) – 80%. In Gorszewice, services with small bowls were recorded in 9.4% graves, in Spławie – in 40%. A popular form were “suites incorporating basin-like containers, and also mixed substitute services. In Kietrz, services with containers occurred three times more often than substitute services (Table 44). Imposing graves were furnished mostly with pseudo-mixed services (apparently, with the most sophisticated array of ritual pottery, often with large basin-containers, usually a single jar with a lid, and pottery in typical arrangements; Fig. 41), used in rituals alongside metal objects. In traditional graves mostly substitute services were deposited, furnished with a basin-like container (and no jar) or with a mixed service. In Central Silesia substitute services were more numerous than groups incorporating basin-like containers (Table 45). Often, the use of some container is confirmed by the presence in the grave of only a fragment of this vessel. It may be surmised therefore that at least some of the substitute inventories are the remains of services originally including a container, damaged during the ceremony or alternately, meant for multiple use, not deposited in the grave. On the western margin of the Silesia-Greater Poland borderland the number of services with basin-like containers is nearly equal to the number of substitute services (Table 46). In the eastern part of that region, as in Central Silesia, there was a slightly larger number of substitute services (Fig. 43–45, Table 47–50), and the basin-like containers were mostly found in pseudo-mixed services (Fig. 42, 45, 46). In HaC1/2 there was an increase in the number of “suites which incorporate special pottery, first of all, flask vessels (Fig. 43, 44), in HaC2 jars gain in importance, included in services and used as cinerary urns (Fig. 45). Analysis of the limited data from Greater Poland revealed a marked divergence in the selection of services in particular sites (Table 51). In the areas under discussion small bowls were mostly left behind in the area “around the burial. A small number served as lids (Table 44:7.14, 46:2, 50:2) or cinerary vessels (Fig. 11:a, 45). Similarly as during the Bronze Age, bowl-like forms are associated with scoops (Fig. 43, 44), jars, or vessel sets, next to which they stood (Table 44:4.6, 45:7.8, 46:6, 47:6–9.12), or formed an arrangement with them (Table 47:17, 48:1, 49:1.3, 50:1, 51:1.3), with basin-like forms (Fig. 41, 42, 47) or other bowls (Fig. 42, 43). They accompanied metal objects (Fig. 41, 46) or small stoves (Table 45:6, 47:1.12.15, 48:5.13). Found placed inside one of the small bowls was an iron knife (Table 47:17), in another, a flask vessel (Table 48:5). Osteological determinations available at present confirm no definite relationship between the age or sex of the deceased and the type of grave or the pottery service found inside. Some men were apparently singled out by rituals which called for the use of a larger number of services (Table 46:4, 47:3.14). In Kunice (cat. 41), there is an observable domination of burials of women, and in sites in Greater Poland (Gorszewice, Spławie, Poznań-Psarskie) an almost entire lack of infant graves furnished with small bowls. In the Białowice Group (Fig. 59, Table 52–56), in the Lower Silesian Wilderness in Żagań-Kolonia (cat. 141), small bowls (almost all of them with an omphalos) were found in nearly a half of the inventories. In Lower Silesia, in Trzebule (cat. 117), these forms (most of them with an omphalos) were present in 38% graves, and in Stary Kisielin (cat. 106), in 52% (mostly, forms with a different form of base). In the Western Sudetes Foothills region, in Rakowice Wielkie (cat. 86), small bowls (as a rule, without an omphalos) were recorded in 41% assemblages. In Żagań-Kolonia, small bowls come into use during the Hallstatt Period (Table 52–54). Nearly a half of the services were pseudo-mixed forms with a basin-like container (Fig. 48), with substitute services, mostly of a mixed type accounting for 36% (Fig. 49), and libation services – for 15% (Fig. 51). In HaC the most dominant form are pseudo-mixed inventories, in HaD1 – substitute services. Bowls evidently were popular and are found next to the burials, and starting from HaC2, also around the burial. Many services include a small stove, some of them accompanied during HaC1 by a flat dish. In HaC2 more often than flat dishes, double vessels were used, which in HaD1 occurred interchangeably with small stoves (Fig. 51). In Lower Silesia (Table 55, 56) services incorporating small bowls (most often, placed in the area around the burial) were noted only in HaC2, a period dominated by substitute inventories. In HaD the prevailing form are “suites with basin-like containers, complete with pseudo-mixed services not observed previously (Fig. 52). A substantial number of furnishings included a flat dish and a small stove, more rarely, a double vessel. It does not follow from the analysis of human skeletal remains found at Trzebule that there was any correspondence between the age and the sex of the dead individual and the type of the pottery vessel service offered to him or her. In the Western Sudetes Foothils region (Table 57:6), during HaC1, bowls formed part of substitute services (mostly together with amphorae), during HaC2 – provided with basin-like containers, some of them pseudo-mixed in their composition. In sites found in Lower Lusatia we identified, for the most part, substitute services dating to the late Hallstatt period, mixed, or containing amphorae (Table 57:1). A small number of bowls had been used as covers of cinerary urns (Fig. 53, Table 52:4.12, 55:13, 56:10), one contained a rattle (Table 52:6), most of them classified to category I. Bowls with an omphalos (cat. 141:15), and larger bowls, were in an arrangement with jars (Table 52:11, 54:5), standing next to them, or to sets of vessels (Fig. 48, 52, Table 53:4.9, 55:11, 56:6), and also, next to typically ritual forms, like small stoves (Fig. 48, 50, Table 52:1.2.12, 53:4.5.10, 54:2, 55:2.3, 56:3) and double vessels (Fig. 51). Standard in cemeteries of the Białowice Groups, selections B containing impractical diminutive jugs with a pointed base (Fig. 49, 50, 52, 53) presumably were used when performing the libation. In the Silesian Group, a similar function may have been served by eg, flask vessels, equally often placed on their side (after the offering was made), right on the ground, or inside a small bowl. Imaginably, one element of the ritual feasting, performed using a service with a container, was to “make an offering. This was done also, similarly as during the Bronze Age, using substitute “suites, and libation services, later left behind next to the burials. The cemetery of the Górzyca Group in Sękowice 8 (cat. 95), where small bowls (most of them lacking an omphalos) were found in 12% graves, is set apart by the near absence of substitute services (Fig. 59, Table 59:3.4). Similarly as in Kunice in Central Silesia there was a predomination of burials of women. It does not seem that the idea of the omphalos could have been adopted from the Mediterranean region along with the small bowl form. The only apparent exception are shallow or flat specimens classified to category I, in use primarily during the Bronze Age (Fig. 5:b, 6:h.i, 8:h), which both in their proportions and the character of their decoration resemble the ritual phiale, and forms provided with a high protuberance in the vessel base, or with a special omphalos of either variant, found in graves, often in a prominent place (Fig. 33, 38, 52). Manufactured en masse, the moderately high and the low omphaloi are more likely to have had a practical purpose: they made it easier to grip the vessel and ensured stability when the vessel was put down. Presumably, small plastic artwork or a small vessel with a convex base was placed over protuberances with a dimple, form 1/b, and depressions, forms 1/c and 2/c, and over bulbs 2/a, 2/b and omphaloi with a flattened apex (Fig. 5:n) – articles with a broad, recessed bottom. The figurines could have been secured inside some of the depressions in the omphaloi (Fig. 6:c.e) using pins. The plastic artwork and other objects placed onto the omphaloi presumably were meant to be above the level of the liquid with filling the vessel. Flat, circular impressions with a central knob, variant 1/d, seem to convey the idea of the omphalos bowl – a circular form with a central protuberance on its bottom. A symbolic significance has been ascribed to groups of irregular grooves (Fig. 9:e), and also to crosses and “rays observed during the Bronze Age (Fig. 5:e.m, 6:j, 8:i.j) and the Hallstatt period (Fig. 5:k.o.n, 7:g, 10:h, 27:s), and to Early Iron Age designs based on the motif of a star (Fig. 7:f.i–l, 8:g, 9:w.z), triskeles (Fig. 27:i.w), triangles (Fig. 11:h–j.w, 12:a.h.p), diagonal crosses (Fig. 10:g), zig-zag (Fig. 9:z), Embleme (Fig. 11:f.j, 12:b.x) and hour-glasses (Fig. 11:m, 12:n). Some of these decorations (interpreted in terms of Sun and fire worship) were found inside the bowls, suggesting that during the ceremony they must have been held the right side up. The dimples placed during the Bronze Age on the vessel base around the omphalos (Sun image?) were visible when the vessel was held upside down. Presumably, also the knobs on the edges of the bowls had a special meaning, this is suggested by circumstances of discovery of vessels decorated in this way. The co-occurrence in the western zone, both during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, of jars, bowl-like vessels and scoop-like forms (three main vessels in use in the eastern zone since Bronze Age III) shows that the funeral ceremonies requiring the presence of bowls had evolved from a common substrate. This is suggested also by the persistence of specific arrangements of pottery present in graves (first of all, selections A, sets and their elements) for almost ten centuries. The varied rituals making use of pottery services incorporating small bowls would have been only one fragment of ceremonies practiced by the Lusatian Culture communities.

11

Nietypowa sprzączka z Siemiątkowa. Wyrób lokalny czy import bałtyjski?

75%

Szela A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

334-337

EN

An uncharacteristic prong of a buckle cast in bronze was found in 1983 during a rescue excavation of a multi-phase cemetery of the Lusatian, Przeworsk and Wielbark Cultures at Siemiątkowo, Żuromin County (Fig. 1). One part of the prong has the form of a decorative plate, with two recessed sides and a central opening (Fig. 2:1.2). It continues into the prong proper – slender, triangular of section, with a bowed terminal. The unusual form of the prong identifies it as a fragment of a buckle, type 8 group B, in the typology of R. Madyda-Legutko (1987, p. 13–15, 213, pl. 5). Finds of these buckles are extremely rare. To date, they have been recorded in three sites of the Luboszyce Culture and in two sites of the Wielbark Culture: Niedergurig, Distr. Bautzen in Saxony, Marxdorf, Distr. Märkisch-Oderland in Brandenburg, Grabice, Krosno Odrzańskie County, Ulkowy, Gdańsk County, and Gródek nad Bugiem, Hrubieszów County (Fig. 2:3–5). However, none of these finds has an openwork prong. The only type B8 specimen with a similar prong comes from the locality Wyszka, Pisz County (Fig. 2:6), which may suggest Balt roots of the buckle from Siemiątkowo. Similar decorative motifs may be found on openwork elements of the so-called Samland belts (Fig. 2:7.8). This suggests that the buckle fragment from Siemiątkowo could be one more example of Balt influence on the area of northern Mazowsze. Among the cited analogies only the artefacts from the Wielbark Culture cemeteries have a closer dating. In both assemblages of this culture the buckles were found together with brooches type Almgren 168, characteristic for the younger phase of the Late Roman Period. Thus, it seems justified to date the buckle prong from Siemiątkowo in the same way, and to link it with the Wielbark Culture which by the Late Roman Period had moved into areas of Mazowsze.

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Plastyka antropomorficzna ludności kultury trypolskiej w zbiorach Państwowego Muzeum Archeologicznego w Warszawie

75%

Różańska-Tuta Z.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

247-282

EN

The State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw has in its keeping 26 anthropomorphic figurines deriving from sites of the Tripolye Culture in Podolia, in Ukraine (Table 1). Most of the artefacts discussed in the article were excavated in 1911–1913 by Marian Himner (1933) at Popudnia (Popudnya/Попудня; Fig. 1) and Pieniążkowo (Peniozhkove/Пеньожкове, nowadays Богачівка; Fig. 2). Three more statuettes, provenanced to Sokołówka (Sokolivka/Соколівка), Skipcze (Skipche/Скіпче) and Żurawińce (Zarivintsi/Заривинці) – are stray finds. The group was examined within the research frames proposed by Richard Lesure (2002; 2011, p. 54–62). This model consists of four principal elements, ie, analysis of iconography (Fig. 4:A), interpretation of the uses of the statuettes (Fig. 4:B), social analysis (Fig. 4:C) and symbolic studies (Fig. 4:D). All the figurines were made of good quality clay, containing fine-grained sandy temper and, in two specimens, cereal grains (No. 1, 20); the colour of their surface indicates uniform firing in an oxidising atmosphere (S. Ţurcanu 2013, p. 58). Some of the statuettes have a coat of reddish-coloured engobe. Some retain marks from a modern-period fire to the storage-office facility. None of the figurines is complete (Fig. 5–7), thus the groups mostly includes fragments of the upper portion of the artefact, or its legs. The original (medium) size of the figurines man be reconstructed as ranging between 8 and 25 cm (D. Monah 2012, p. 136; S. Ţurcanu 2013, p. 61). Dated to the middle phase BI–BII, the figurines from Penizhkove have a distinctive engraved decoration which covers most of their surface. Iconographically this ornamentation is related to designs known from phase Cucuteni A, confirming that the co-called Eastern Tripolye Culture has its roots in an earlier, southern unit – the Precucuteni Culture (M. Vìdejko 2004a, p. 404). Because all of the incomplete statuettes survive with the genital area missing, their gender cannot be determined. The figurines from Popudnya, date to phase CI and represent several morphological types, namely: erect forms with legs forming a cone-shaped terminal (No. 10, 11, 18, 24), or with a flat base (No. 12, 20, 21, 26), or with each leg modelled separately (No. 22, 23); finally there are some seated forms (No. 13, 19). Some of the statuettes have represented on them the pubic triangle and knob-shaped breasts. There are no male or androgynous representations in the examined group. Engraved decoration is used only to lend emphasis to the morphological features of the images. In one figurine some pigment was used to represent the hair (No. 20). The motifs decorating the figurines, regardless of their interpretation, imaginably were a specific culture code, recognizable within the ancient communities. Also significant is the occurrence of the same motifs across a large territory, and the continuity of some of the patters, which continue in evidence from the early until the late chronological phase. The figurines from Penizhkove are decorated with engraved designs of an unusual form and composition. The vertical herringbone motif seen on the back of three statuettes (No. 4, 6, 9) has been observed on plastic art present in phase BI–BII (A. Pogoževa 1983, p. 40–49, fig. 12:8, 14:4). On the other hand, almond-shaped marks (No. 5, 6) are a decoration unique in this anthropomorphic plastic art. Similar designs identified on pottery have been interpreted by Ukrainian researchers as representations of plants or grains (M. Vìdejko 2004, p. 446–448). Similarly, the motif of a necklace, shaped like an ear of corn (No. 4, 5), may have had a symbolic meaning. The coating of some figurines, like the finds from Popudnya (No. 10, 11, 18, 19, 22, 23), with a red pigment, presumably has a significance other than aesthetic. Not only the colour (associated with blood), but also the antiseptic and embalming properties of ochre, a pigment noted often in funerary contexts, intimate a connection of these representations with the dead (W. Gumiński 2014, p. 25). An abstract, miniature form of the figurines permitting their easy manipulation, gives to their user a sense of control. Regardless of their function figurines could stimulate thinking about identity and indicate the fundamental importance of being a man of understanding for the Neolithic existence (cf. D. Bailey 2005, p. 30–42; 2007). Many archaeologists have stressed the integrity of the spheres of the sacred and the profane in the everyday life of prehistoric communities, including even technological action. It is safe to recognize the function of the grains included in the clay as other-than-utilitarian (No. 1, 20). Their presence suggests a ritualization of the entire chaîne opératoire, beginning with the preparation of the ceramic paste. Also of some interest are the intentional cut-marks observed on the protruding belly and side of the figurine from Sokolivka (No. 2). Examined under a stereoscopic microscope (Plate 6:4–6) these grooves appear to have been made prior to the firing of the statuette. It is likely that a “destruction/scarring” of the image was, in this case, a significant stage in the process of its creation and function. When attempting to recognize the function of the anthropomorphic figurines we neglect to consider their archaeological context. It could be established for all the anthropomorphic representations from Penizhkove. The figurines had been discovered in two (Fig. 8, 9) of the thirty-eight investigated platform features. Two of the figurines (No. 4, 9) had surfaced, resting only a small distance apart, among the remains of building 17. A hearth was identified in the corner of the same building. The other four anthropomorphic representations (No. 5–8) were found among the remains of platform 20. Two statuettes were found next to each other. The inventory from dwelling 20 included an animal figurine with broken off horns. The remains of a building at Penizhkove where anthropomorphic artwork was discovered do not differ in their location, form or size, or for that matter, by the remainder of its furnishings, from other features in that site. The only more notable find is a concentration of statuettes found in platform 20. In the series of anthropomorphic figurines from Popudnya original context could be established only for six specimens. Two statuettes (No. 10, 11), from feature 24 (Fig. 10), had rested in the eastern part of the dwelling, in the immediate vicinity of quernstones. Nearby stood a clay pithos containing grains of wheat (M. Himner 1933, p. 46). In platform 28 (Fig. 11) two leg fragments were found only a small distance apart, presumably belonging to a single figurine (No. 22, 23). Dwelling 20 (Fig. 14) contained a clay model of a house, next to which was discovered a statuette of a seated individual (No. 19). Finds excavated from platform 8 (Fig. 13) include a figurine with a flat base (No. 12) and a model of a house. Anthropomorphic statuettes were found also in platforms 1 and 30 (Fig. 12) but can no longer be identified in the analysed group. Statuettes have been mostly discovered in ordinary dwelling features, or in storage pits in their vicinity, often nearby a hearth or an oven, or alternately, by the wall or the doorsill. (A. Pogoževa 1983, p. 112–114). It is likely that the idols with perforated projections on their arms and on the sides were suspended. An indirect proof of this would be the statuette from Sokolivka (No. 2). A fragment of the right-hand projection on its arm had fractured at the perforation while the object was in use. The left-hand projection is visibly worn, possibly from rubbing against a cord. Fragmentation is a common feature of the Neolithic anthropomorphic artwork known from central and south-eastern Europe. John Chapman (2001, p. 99–102) has stressed that the recovered artefacts not only are broken but also incomplete. This led him to argue about the importance of dismembered objects (figurines included) in social interaction. Their fragments would have been a symbol of links (“enchainment”), not only between individual homesteads in a given settlement, but possibly also between different settlement units. In one scholarly approach the diversity of representations evident in assemblages of figurines would be something like a window on an ancient society. They intimate the emergence of a social identity, made manifest using attributes of gender or age (R. Lesure 2011, p. 62–63; M. Mina 2006, p. 264–265). All the figurines analysed here are depictions of women, unless their fragmented condition prevents identification of their sex. All of them were recovered from the remains of domestic structures. Therefore, it is impracticable to examine this material with the aim of comparing the archaeological context dependent on sex or other iconographic attributes. In the assemblage under discussion all fragments have marked breasts, in the form of small, round knobs, in some specimens the belly is rounded, possibly indicating the young age of the represented individuals. Iconographic and technological variation of the statuettes originating from sites under analysis, and even, from the same sites, would support the conclusion that these figurines were manufactured by different individuals to suit their needs. An interpretation also possibly more convincing in this context would that the fired clay figurines are images of individual personages, rather than deities worshipped by the community in general. The only find from Popudnya which suggests some social role related to gender is the model of the house. Inside, to the left of the entrance, is a figure of a woman working a quern in a kneeling attitude. Opposite, near the stove, is seated figure, idle, lacking marked sexual attributes. Given the lack of cemeteries documented in the Tripolye Culture (prior to phase CII when they are noted for the first time), our understanding of social differentiation can only be very limited. Figurines of individuals sitting on a chair or a stool may be representations of individuals with a special social status (M. Mina 2008, p. 227). In Cucuteni-Tripolye materials there are representations of this type, of individuals of both sexes, and of androgynous figures as well (I. Mareş 2009, p. 112–113; D. Monah 1997, p. 368, fig. 116:3.4.7). This suggests that the social status of an individual was divorced from his or her sex. No fired clay model of a seat was discovered at Popudnya near the statuette of the sitting woman (No. 19). Nevertheless, the form of this figurine would have prevented standing it on a flat surface. One of the main research assumptions which appears most often in the literature of the subject is that the larger the number of figurines in an archaeological context, the larger the number of rituals within the systemic context (R. Lesure 2002, p. 591). This in turn may be understood as a response to stress triggered by societal or economic change (e.g. L. Talalay 1993, p. 46–48). For their part, D. Bailey (2005), p. 91) propose to interpret the accumulations of figurines (and not only figurines) in dwellings, especially those destroyed by fire, as the remains of a sacrifice made before that building was ritually burnt. Communal deposits of this type would have been a symbol of integration, with a major significance for social practices. The series of human figurines from Tripolye Culture held by the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw has been used as a starting point in a broader discussion of issues addressed by the research in the Neolithic anthropomorphic art. In Polish archaeological literature there has been very little discussion of this sort. The article does not exhaust the subject and only cites some of the many research possibilities.

13

Obiekty kremacyjne z cmentarzysk kultury przeworskiej z dorzecza Liswarty z młodszego i późnego okresu wpływów rzymskich oraz wczesnej fazy okresu wędrówek ludów

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Zagórska-Telega J.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

201-246

EN

Introduction In the territory of the Przeworsk Culture throughout the entire Roman Period and in the early phase of the Migration Period there is evidence of specific changes in funeral rite. They can be seen in the introduction of new methods of disposal of the corpse and models of grave furnishings, but also in a wide array of previously little known sepulchral features now recorded in the cemeteries. The most notable change in the Younger Roman Period is the decrease in the number of urned burials deposited in pottery vessels in comparison to other forms of disposal, namely urned burials in a container made of organic material, or burials in a grave pit (K. Godłowski 1981, p. 109; R. Madyda-Legutko, J. Rodzińska-Nowak, J. Zagórska-Telega 2005, p. 184). Also on their way out are meticulously furnished burials containing sets of numerous, diverse items which now are replaced by less opulent offerings made to the dead, sometimes on the pars pro toto principle (J. Szydłowski 1974a, p. 74; K. Godłowski 1969a, p. 132–133; 1981, p. 117; J. Skowron 2005, p. 257). Simultaneously, there is an observable decline in the care taken to pick the cremated remains out of the cremation pyre, which is evidenced by small quantity of bones typically discovered in burials of this period. Also introduced in the Przeworsk Culture cemeteries during this age, new forms of sepulchral features include “layer features”, “cremation layers” and “groove features of the Żabieniec type” (K. Godłowski 1981, p. 117; J. Rodzińska-Nowak, J. Zagórska-Telega 2007, p. 269; J. Zagórska-Telega 2009, p. 265–266; 2013); they may co-occur in the same area of a burial ground, and at times form an extensive complex. All the phenomena mentioned above are well apparent in the Przeworsk Culture cemeteries in the Liswarta River basin. The settlement concentration situated in the Liswarta River basin appeared at the transition from the Early to the Younger Roman Period (Fig. 1). The earliest materials deriving from sites in this region may be dated to phase B2/C1, possibly the very end of phase B2, the youngest – to the early phase of the Migration Period, which corresponds to the period from approximately the second half of the 2nd century AD until the beginning of the 5th century. The archaeological record from the settlement concentration on the Liswarta includes a total of 120 or so archaeological sites associated with the Przeworsk Culture (M. Gedl, B. Ginter, K. Godłowski 1970, 1971; M. Fajer 2009). Of this number, research excavations were made in cemeteries at Opatów, site 1, Mokra, site 8, Rybno, site 1 (now Kłobuck-Zakrzew, site 2), Walenczów, site 10, all in Kłobuck district, and in the cemetery at Żabieniec, site 1 (now Częstochowa-Żabieniec). Most of these cemeteries were set up approximately during the same age, which means in phase B2/C1 or at the close of phase B2, only the burial ground at Żabieniec came into use during phase C2. Despite this fact, and also despite the relatively small distances between individual sites, they are far from uniform in their funeral rite. Horizontal stratigraphy, recoverable in the longer-lived cemeteries, has been used to trace changes in burial customs practiced by Przeworsk Culture communities settled in the Liswarta River basin in the Younger and the Late Roman Period, and in the early phase of the Migration Period. The record obtained from the burial grounds of the Przeworsk Culture identified on the Liswarta includes 1500 or so features. Of these, a vast majority (around 1400 features) have been interpreted as graves, which means the place of intentional deposition of the burnt remains of one or more deceased individuals, usually provided with grave goods, the whole deposited in a specially prepared grave pit. The latter was most often, although not always, situated outside the site of cremation. Features of the describe sort are the last stage of a burial ceremony which is recognizable using archaeological methods. Another category encountered in the burial grounds in the Liswarta River basin are features which are definitely related with the funeral rite although – despite the presence of a certain amount of cremated human skeletal remains within them – cannot be interpreted as “graves proper”. In this category belong groove features, layer features, cremation layers, pyre sites, and hearths. These features form clearly discernible complexes in the cemeteries. Layer features Layer features are better documented only in the cemetery at Opatów (cf. note 34). They are marked by often having an irregular, sub-rectangular outline which ranges in size from 130 × 50 cm (feature 1194; Fig. 11) to 260 × 200 cm (feature 299). The fill of the layer features is non-uniform in colour, and contains multiple charcoal intrusions, usually in the upper part of the feature (feature 299). Also encountered are large fragments of charred wood (429). A number of features contained a layer of sand, burnt to a brick red colour (feature 429, 443; Fig. 12). At Opatów, layer features are observed for the entire duration of the cemetery, with their number clearly on the increase in the youngest phase of this burial ground (Fig. 13). This is indicated by single artefacts and also by the spatial analysis. The amount of skeletal remains found in layer features is very small. Nevertheless, most of them contained burnt bones belonging to a single individual. Groove features A distinctive form associated with mortuary behaviour which is noted in all of the better preserved cemeteries in the Liswarta River basin are groove features of the Żabieniec type (K. Godłowski 1981, p. 117; J. Rodzińska-Nowak, J. Zagórska-Telega 2007, p. 269; in print; J. Zagórska-Telega 2009, p. 265–266; cf. note 4). The term “groove feature” is used to describe a regular, rectangular feature, typically 200–300 cm long and 30–40 cm wide. Usually these features are thought to have enclosed the site with funeral pyre. The cremation process over, the pyre debris, complete with the cremated grave goods and bones, was swept from the central area and deposited in a shallow ditch (groove). In the view of some researchers, the groove was also meant to aid proper circulation of air during the cremation (J. Szydłowski 1964a, p. 87; 1965, p. 442; J. Piontek 1976, p. 255). In the interpretation of K. Godłowski, the groove features are burials made at the place of cremation (K. Godłowski 1969b, p. 52; 1981, p. 117). The 24 groove features recorded in the cemeteries in the Liswarta River basin were variously preserved (cf. note 5). Some of them were identified for what they are only by re-examining the drawn documentation and the written site records. The largest number of groove features was recorded in the small necropolis at Żabieniec (13 features; Fig. 2). The fills of the groove features found in the cemeteries on the Liswarta were dark brown, dark gray, or deep black earth mixed with charcoal. On a number of occasions distinct concentrations of charcoal were observed, or large fragments of partly burnt wood, presumably belonging to the pyre debris (K. Godłowski 1965, p. 165; M. Gedl, B. Ginter, K. Godłowski 1970, p. 188). Most of the groove features enclosed an area identified as undisturbed soil, although in some of them blotches of earth burnt brick red were observed in the central part (Fig. 9) (K. Godłowski 1965, p. 165; M. Gedl, B. Ginter, K. Godłowski 1970, p. 188). The fills of groove features contained an appreciable quantity of metal objects. It is also important to note that most of the small finds were recovered from the upper levels of the groove features or from the overlying deposit, while virtually none were found in the lower levels of the fill. A particularly large accumulation of archaeological material was recorded at Żabieniec in the upper levels of groove features 30, 24W and 24E, above them and immediately next to them (in sectors XXIII and XXIV) (K. Godłowski 1969b, p. 51). Alternately, these finds could have been associated with layer feature no. 35, identified between groove features 30 and 24W. Nevertheless, it is safe to conclude that all of the features named earlier (nos. 30, 24W, 24E and 35) rested underneath a cremation layer (cf. Fig. 8). It needs to be stressed that the artefacts cannot be attributed with any confidence to either the groove features or the layer feature. The archaeological material and the analysis of grave distribution establish the dating of the groove features as between phases C1b and C2 and the early phase of the Migration Period (stadium D). Groove features contain a relatively small amount of cremated human bones, dispersed as a rule within the fill of the shallow ditch. Only in a few of them a larger quantity of bone was recorded (features 24W, 24E and 30 at Żabieniec). According to anthropological analysis, the assemblage from features 24 and 30 included bones of several individuals. Layer features and cremation layers A different category of remains observed in cemeteries on the Liswarta are layer features and cremation layers. In the past they were interpreted as sites of cremation and burial, both on the same spot (K. Godłowski 1969a, p. 123; J. Szydłowski 1964a, p. 43). Based on more recent findings they may be separated into features of a relatively small size, dug into the ground only to a small depth, defined as “layer features”, interpreted with some confidence as the remains of a single cremation, and much larger features, recognizable on the ground surface as a 10–20 cm deep cremation layer, spread over an area ranging from a few to a dozen odd square metres. Burial grounds with a compact cremation layer at times have been described as “cemeteries with layer features” (F. Pfützenreiter 1937; K. Godłowski 1969a, p. 122–123; 1981, p. 117; J. Szydłowski 1964a; A. Błażejewski 1998, p. 110; 2007, p. 21, 23; J. Schuster 2005). Some authors suggested that the repeated use of a single site, and the repeated spreading of the pyre debris, created a layer rich in charcoal, cremated bones and pottery (J. Szydłowski 1964a, p. 42–45; K. Godłowski 1969a, p. 122–123). Differently, A. Błażejewski has interpreted both the layer features and the cremation layers not as the remains of cremation performed on that site but as the result of a deliberate removal and scattering of the cremated remains away from the pyre site (A. Błażejewski 2007, p. 25). Cremation layers Except for the burial ground at Walenczów, cremation layers (cf. note 40) have been identified in most of the Przeworsk Culture cemeteries in the Liswarta River basin (Opatów, Mokra, Żabieniec, Rybno). The most recoverable and best documented are the cremation layers found in the cemetery at Opatów. These features were recorded across a large area, up to a few dozen odd square meters , and take the form of a layer of dark brown or black earth 10–20 cm thick. The entire layer is rich in charcoal fragments, lumps of fire-hardened clay, a substantial quantity of burnt human bones, as well as fragments of ceramic vessels, metal objects and lumps of melted glass. Some cremation layers contained a concentration of pottery and bone fragments. At the same time, in the lower parts of some cremation layer features larger and smaller pits filled with a deeper black deposit were found, as well as concentrations of a larger number of artefacts, described at the time of detection either as concentrations or as graves. Next to them, also confirmed are relatively small pits (about 30 cm in diameter) – the remains of posts, used presumably to strengthen the construction of the cremation pyre. Their lower levels were mostly free of artefacts. In the cemetery at Opatów cremation layers cluster in two opposite ends of the cemetery, the south-western and the eastern (Fig. 14). Similar cremation layers, definitely smaller in area, are known also from the cemetery at Rybno (cremation layer and groove features 16/1967, 18/1967) and Żabieniec (feature 35, between groove features 24 and 30). All have been dated to the closing phases of the burial grounds, i.e. phases C3–D. Anthropological analysis of the material found in the cremation layers identified the at least a few adult individuals, women and men, from different age groups, as well as children. Pyre sites Another type of feature which is associated with cremation, known in the Polish literature as ustryna, is the pyre site (cf. note 45). Usually, it has the form of a medium-sized hollow, rectilinear, rather deep, containing a deep black or a dark brown fill, often interspersed with a great quantity of charcoal. As a rule the walls and bottom of this feature have on them discoloration from high temperatures. Many pyre sites contained structural elements, e.g. a layer of stones or the remains of posts which made it possible to use the site repeatedly (H. Zoll-Adamikowa 1979, p. 50; R. Madyda-Legutko, J. Rodzińska-Nowak, J. Zagórska-Telega 2002, p. 339). Very few pyre sites have been recorded in prehistoric cemeteries and they have been given relatively little attention in literature (J. Szydłowski 1964a, p. 86–88; H. Zoll-Adamikowa 1979, p. 50; J. Woźny 2000, p. 47–58; R. Madyda-Legutko, J. Rodzińska-Nowak, J. Zagórska-Telega 2002; A. Błażejewski 2007, p. 34; B. Józefów 2008, p. 213; 2009a, p. 226–228; 2009b, p. 543–544; J. Zagórska-Telega 2009, p. 266). Recently, a more extensive discussion of these features was made by B. Józefów who, similarly as most authors, uses the term “pyre site” to describe a permanent site of cremation, one that never served as a site of burial, and as such is not a grave (B. Józefów 2008, p. 213; 2009a, p. 226–228). Eighteen features discovered in the cemeteries in the Liswarta River basin (Opatów, Mokra, Żabieniec) may be interpreted with confidence as pyre sites (cf. note 46). They are relatively large, ranging from ca. 110 × 70 cm to ca. 330 × 140 cm in size, their shape sub-rectangular. A pyre site usually includes a large quantity of charcoal, and even charred timber (Opatów feature 234; Żabieniec feature 15C; Fig. 18), on occasion, also lumps of fire hardened construction daub (Mokra feature 455). Some of these features contained moreover the remains of stone-built structures (Fig. 19) or structural timber elements, e.g., postholes (Fig. 20). In the cemeteries from the Liswarta River basin the first pyre sites are recorded in phase C1 of the Younger Roman Period, and the last in stadium D. The fill of nearly all of these features contained a relatively small quantity of burnt human bones, between 3 and 42 g, suggesting that little care was taken to retrieve the cremated remains from the pyre sites. To summarize the observations concerning the features discussed earlier, discovered in Przeworsk Culture cemeteries on the Liswarta, we have to say that all of them were associated with practices attendant on the cremation burial rite. Both the layer features and the cremation layers as well as the groove features and pyre sites, are the remains of sites where cremation was carried out, thus, their function was similar. Their variation observed during research excavations boils down in essence only to differences in size, depth and outline. Pits of larger size, observed in the case of layer features and pyre sites, originally would have been found underneath the pyre. They were dug to assist circulation of air during the cremation process (J. Szydłowski 1964a, p. 87; 1965, p. 442; J. Piontek 1976, p. 255). The same function was served presumably by the rectangular groove features surrounding the pyre. It is also notable that in cemeteries in the Liswarta River basin features associated with cremation often occur in groups. This situation was observed in the cemeteries at Opatów and at Mokra in their eastern and western parts, as well as in the smaller burial grounds, at Rybno and Żabieniec. In the two latter cremation layers were identified in the neighbourhood of groove features or above them. As already suggested in literature, the burial rite in the Przeworsk Culture evolved in the direction of only a symbolic burial, in keeping with the pars pro toto principle. On this same principle only a small part of the grave goods passed into the grave. One frequently revisited issue is what happened to the rest of the remains of the cremation and the grave goods (recently on this subject T. Makiewicz 2008; 2009 – with a list of reference literature). Some researchers were inclined to conclude that the very small quantity of cremated bone in the grave is due to their very heavy burning on the pyre (A. Niewęgłowski 1981, p. 123–124; A. Błażejewski 1998, p. 174). However, it seems that most of the cremation and the grave goods could have been left behind on the site of the cremation (K. Tackenberg 1925, p. 74; J. Szydłowski 1964a, p. 39–41; 1977a, p. 76; K. Godłowski 1969a, p. 135), and the groups of cremation features observed in the cemeteries consisting of groove features, layer features and cremation layers, are only the evidence of this “abandonning” of the pyre debris, not collected for deposition in a grave. It is hard to credit that an area of this sort, used repeatedly as the site of cremation, was at the same time regarded as a burial site. As to the origin of cremation features recorded in the cemeteries of the Przeworsk Culture people, presumably their introduction was associated with some new ideology, conceivably having an interregional range, from the sphere of eschatology. What the sources of these new beliefs were is much less clear. In an alternate interpretation the features would be a manifestation of changes in the way the burial ceremony was organized, changes presumably motivated also by religion, which involved moving the site of cremation within the confines of the burial ground. It is possible that the shift in the funeral custom had been triggered by impulses from the Roman Empire given that in provincial Roman cemeteries the remains of similar complexes of cremation features are also observed, similar to those which have been recognized, for one, in the Liswarta River basin.

14

Skarb przedmiotów brązowych odkryty w Słupsku, pow. loco

75%

Rembisz-Lubiejewska A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

318-320

EN

The group deposit recovered in autumn of 2013 in an arable field in Gdańska street in Słupsk (Fig. 1) includes three fragments of a brooch, a chisel and two sickles (Fig. 2). Brooches with two oval, slightly domed, undecorated plates (Fig. 2:1) are classified to the type alte Plattenfibel. During Bronze Age period V double-plate two part brooches are the most widespread in Western and Middle Pomerania, and in central Mecklenburg, where they start being manufactured, presumably as a result of Nordic influences (Z. Bukowski 1998, p. 339). Chisels with a round-sectioned socket and a narrow blade (Fig. 2:2) date to Bronze Age periods IV and V (Z. Bukowski 1998, p. 314–315). Due to the similarity of the form of specimens recovered in Pomerania, Greater Poland and Mecklenburg, the provenance and typological position of these chisels cannot be established and they must be regarded as local (E. Sprockhoff 1956, p. 101; Z. Bukowski 1998, p. 314). Bronze sickles (Fig. 2:3.4) are simple forms with an integral rivet on the handle. Almost all of these specimens have been found in hoards dating to Bronze Age period V. In Pomerania chisels of this type are recorded in the Odra estuary and in the belt extending between Koszalin and Puck (M. Gedl 1995, pl. 44B; Z. Bukowski 1998, p. 327). This range suggests a local provenance of these sickles, leading to their classification as Pomeranian type (J. Kostrzewski 1958, p. 150, 356, lists 42, 43). In the earlier literature group deposits of damaged objects used to be interpreted as hoards of itinerant bronzesmiths, their occurrence mostly linked to the reduced influx of raw bronze at the end of Bronze Age period IV and to the hoarding of bronze scrap for recasting (J. Kostrzewski 1953, p. 201). However, it is also possible that the deposition of damaged objects was a form of hoarding goods by their owners, rather than their makers. The aim of ritually destroying and disposing of these objects may have been dictated by the wish to sustain, or to acquire, a suitable social rank (R. Bradley 1990, p. 145; Z. Bukowski 1998, p. 257, 264; W. Blajer 2001, p. 288; A. Rembisz 2009, p. 24).

15

Znalezisko ostrogi krzesłowatej z rejonu Ciechanowa

75%

Jarzec A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

330-332

EN

In 1994 the then district museum in Ciechanów was presented with forty-seven metal objects dating to Bronze Age through to the modern age, stray finds from the area near the village of Rzeczki, Ciechanów County, in northern Mazowsze. The group included a fragment of a chair-shaped spur found at the village of Grędzice a few kilometres away (Fig. 1). This bronze base of a spur with an hourglass-shaped heel band still retains a fragment of its profiled neck, with some traces of corrosion, suggesting the presence of an iron prick (Fig. 2). Based on the surviving fragment the artefact has been attributed to spurs of group IIc according to Roman or type 20 according to Jahn (E. Roman 1997, p. 170; M. Jahn 1921, p. 65, fig. 20). The largest number of specimens of this type is known from Mazowsze, although some individual spurs were recorded in the region of the Vistula River mouth, and in Lower Silesia. Their chronology falls within the Early Roman Period, suggesting that the spur should be attributed to the Przeworsk Culture.

16

Neolityczna antropomorficzna figurka kamienna z miejscowości Tupadły, stan. 1, pow. inowrocławski

75%

Pelisiak A., Wójcik A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

313-317

EN

The anthropomorphic stone figurine was discovered at Tupadły 1 in Kujawy (Fig. 1, 2), during a rescue excavation made in w 2014, directed by Andrzej Wójcik. The material of the figurine is an amphibolite pebble, presumably from a postglacial deposit. The local origin of its lithic resource suggests tha t the figurine was manufactured in the region. The figurine was discovered outside an archaeological feature, within the subsoil stratum. This prevents a closer determination of its chronology and culture attribution. Basing on indirect evidence, its similarity to figurines recorded elsewhere in Europe and their dating, and the broader context of the early Neolithic settlement in the region of present day Inowrocław, the figurine’s chronology may be assigned generally to the 5th millennium BC and attributed to the settlement of late Banded Pottery culture groups. If this proposal is accepted, this would be the first anthropomorphic stone statuette from Poland dating to the early Neolithic. Similar images are observed in the art dating to the 5th millennium recorded across much of Europe to the south and the south-east of the Carpathians. It is in this region, and in different cultural environments, that we need to seek the source of inspiration of the maker of the artefact from Tupadły. The exact location or even the region of origin cannot be specified. In any case, the figurine from Tupadły must be taken into account when studying the network of contacts and the information flow covering much of Europe in the 5th millennium BC.

17

Grób z Łazówka koło Sokołowa Podlaskiego – ślad nieznanego cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej?

75%

Andrzejowski J., Cędrowski R.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2015

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vol. LXVI

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issue 66

338-348

EN

The cremation burial dated to the Roman Period was discovered in 2014, during agricultural drainage work, at the village of Łazówek, ca. 100 km NEE of Warsaw, in Sokołów Podlaski County. The find spot lies on the high, left-bank flood terrace of the Bug River ca. 2,5 km to the east of the valley of a minor stream, the Cetynia (Fig. 1). The upper level of the grave pit had been partly ploughed out, and was damaged to small extent by the mechanical digger; the surviving fragment was documented and excavated in full (Fig. 2). Underneath the topsoil, the pit was detected as a circular outline, ca. 95 cm in diameter, its section basin-like, with a depth of ca. 35 cm. Cutting fully into the culture deposit of a Przeworsk Culture settlement layer, the pit had a uniform, dark brown fill, without charcoal. Inside it was a cluster of pottery fragments, most of them not affected by fire with, next to them and below them, a small quantity (ca. 120 g) of cremated bones of a woman (?) age adultus (25–35 years old), resting in a compact concentration suggesting deposition inside an organic container. The grave goods consisted of (Fig. 3): 1. Fragments (approximately a half) of a large, wheel-made pottery bowl, weakly profiled, not affected by fire. Surface light brown, carefully smoothed. H. 9 cm, D. 18 cm. 2. Fragments (approximately ¼) of a large, wheel-made bowl, weakly profiled, not affected by fire. Surface light brown, carefully smoothed with on the shoulder, a burnished triple wavy line. H. 10 cm, D. ca. 21 cm. 3. Small wheel-made vessel (ca. ¾ complete), affected by fire, deformed. Surface originally smooth, brown (?) with on the shoulder, a row of delicately engraved chevrons. H. ca. 7,5 cm, D. 7 cm. 4. Hand-made vessel (ca. ¾ complete) affected by fire. Surface dark brown, smooth, irregular. H. 8 cm, D. ca. 10 cm. 5. Uncharacteristic fragment of coarse, hand-made pottery. Surface rough, brown in colour. 6. Copper alloy wire ring with extremities coiled into a flat spiral bezel and wrapped around the shoulders; affected by fire. D. ca. 30 mm. 7. Globular or round bead in pale green, transparent glass, melted down and deformed. 8. Two polyhedral beads in purple, translucent glass, burnt through. 9. Small fragment of an antler plate from the grip of a composite comb, deformed by fire. 10. Biconical clay spindle-whorl, not affected by fire. D. 30 mm. The grave inventory recovered at Łazówek may be safely dated to the Late Roman Period and attributed to the Wielbark Culture. At the same time, wheel-made vessels are quite rare in this culture, especially as compared to the pottery recorded in the territory of the Przeworsk and the Chernyakhiv cultures. Most of the wheel-made vessels found in Wielbark Culture sites date to phases C1b–D1, and are recognized as imports from the territory of the Chernyakhiv/Sântana de Mureş Culture, transferred via the Masłomęcz Group. Each of the wheel-made bowls from Łazówek finds good analogies in Chernyakhiv Culture pottery, this applies also to the wavy decoration on one of them. In contrast, the miniature vessel has no closer analogies. The engraved chevron decoration is typical for the hand-made pottery of the Wielbark Culture but is very rarely seen in wheel-made pottery, this is true also of the Chernyakhiv and the Przeworsk cultures. The deposit from Łazówek is unique because of the presence inside a single grave inventory of three wheel-made vessels, given that Wielbark Culture burials usually hold one, more rarely, two vessels. Two large cemeteries near Łazówek – at Jartypory and at Cecele – yielded only individual wheel-made vessels or sherds of such pottery (respectively, 11 out of ca. 450 and 6 out of ca. 580 graves). Their larger number is known from graves from cemeteries in the southeasternmost reaches of the Wielbark Culture, graves of the Masłomęcz Group, and in particular, graves of the Chernyakhiv/Sântana de Mureş Culture. Characteristic of the wheel-made vessels from Łazówek, and the chronology of the glass beads attributed to type TM128, and – to some extent – chronology of the metal rings type Beckmann 16, allow us to refine the dating of grave from Łazówek to phase C1b and the older stage of phase C2. The grave must belong to a larger cemetery, given that in the light of our present understanding of the burial customs of the Wielbark Culture people it is unlikely that this was an individual, isolated burial. This supposed cemetery would be associated with the settlement microregion in the valley of the Cetynia River, known only from surface fieldwork and random discoveries (Fig. 4). Nevertheless, some traces of Wielbark Culture occupation have been recorded in several sites in the region, of which a few (Ceranów, Sabnie and Zembrów, also coins from Sabnie and Hołowienki) may be dated reliably, or at least with some confidence, to phases B2/C1–C1 (cf. Fig. 5). In the immediate vicinity, just on the northern side of the valley or the Bug River, we have two larger and partly investigated sites of the Wielbark Culture: the cemetery at Nur, and the settlement at Kamianka Nadbużna.

18

Cmentarzysko z okresu rzymskiego w Waplewie, pow. olsztyński

75%

Skóra K., Troszczyńska-Antosik M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2012

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vol. LXIII

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issue 63

145-159

EN

Waplewo lies about 11 km to the south of Olsztynek (Olsztyn distr., warmińsko-mazurskie voiv.). The archaeological site is situated near the rim of the valley of the Marózka, left-hand tributary of the Łyna River (Fig. 1). Archaeological excavation of 6300 m2 made in the spring of 2011 helped in recording a total of 49 features of different use (storage pits, post-holes and hearths) and chronology among which there were just four graves from the Roman Period of interest to us here (Fig. 2). One grave is attributed to Przeworsk Culture (feature no. 4 – the pit cremation of an adult individual). The rest were Wielbark culture burials (2 cremations: male, aged 25–50, and of undetermined sex, age 15–50; and an infans II inhumation, age 7–8 years). The cremation graves were furnished with pottery only. The inhumation (no. 49) next to a number of vessels contained a silver fibula, close to A VI 161–162 (Fig. 5:1). The grave pit retained traces identified as remains of wooden shoring, or some other timber construction, and stones from a setting or from a destroyed stone construction. Fragments of the cranium and long bones of a child lay at the bottom of the pit in its northern area, their arrangement evidently disturbed. Intruding on the inhumation was a feature containing stones and an upper layer of dark coloured humus which yielded animal bones and ceramics (see Annex). Its purpose is hard to determine, other than robbery it may document some ritual practices which are not unknown from Wielbark Culture cemeteries. At the same time, these are rarely observed in case of burials of children. Basing on the four surviving graves it is hard to establish the actual chronological confines of the cemetery all the more so because they mostly yielded ceramic material. A Przeworsk Culture cemetery presumably is documented by feature no. 4, dated by the form and ornamentation of its pottery inventory to phase B2, whereas features nos. 25 and 49, and possibly no. 23, may be associated with a later, Wielbark culture use. In this case an object useful for dating was the fibula from feature no. 49 (grave 4). Its chronology fits in phases C1b–C2. The form and ornamentation of the pottery is typical for phase B2/C1, and the idiosyncratic zigzag motif, for phases C1b–D. Thus, we have insufficient data to establish when the grave-field ceased being used by the Przeworsk community and the time of appearance of the first Wielbark Culture burials. The construction of the inhumation grave pit and the surviving items of its inventory such as the silver fibula suggest high social status of the dead child. Material symbols of special status within Wielbark culture society are not a common occurrence in the burials of children.

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Zapinka typu mazurskiego z wyspy na Jeziorze Legińskim, pow. kętrzyński

75%

Jaremek A., Nowakowska M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2012

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vol. LXIII

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issue 63

232-234

EN

The triple-crest fibula, Mazurian variant, surfaced in spring of 2012 during a surface survey made on the island on Lake Legińskie in the Mazury region. The artefact rested directly on the surface of the ground within a layer of plant litter. The surface reconnaissance was carried out at the time to complement an archaeological excavation started at this location in 2011. According to already held archaeological there was stable settlement on the island during the Early Iron Age (Leginy IX). The place of discovery of the fibula was investigated by excavation in July 2012 but did not reveal the presence of a culture deposit or archaeological features making the fibula a stray find devoid of stratigraphic and chronological context. In the classification system of T. Hauptmann the fibula belongs to variant 2, series 3, of triple-crest fibulae. Finds of Mazurian variant fibulae are widespread on the territory of Bogaczewo Culture and relatively numerous in Sambia, in Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture, where they have been recorded in assemblages dated to phase B2/C1–C1a. The fibula from Leginy has a length of 10 cm, is made of bronze and retains a fragment of an iron pin attached hinge-like to the axle. The fibula bow is solid and recessed, the foot is turned upwards and extends beyond the catchplate. The crests on the head and bow are richly ornamented with a design of parallel lines and triangles. The third crest, reduced to a tongue-shaped terminal of the foot, is decorated with lines arranged at centre and on its perimeter. The fibula is unique in being decorated on its head plate with a zigzag line and having two polygonal loops. Finds of Mazurian variant fibulae with a loop at the upper edge of their head plate are relatively rare and are known from e.g., Stare Kiejkuty and Mojtyny. The specimen from Leginy is the only fibula recorded so far to have two loops. Loops or openings on Mazurian variant fibulae are interpreted as attachments for other elements, e.g., a strap or a string of beads. The hypothesis that two fibulae were worn symmetrically at shoulder level and used for attaching additional ornaments is supported by finds of “paired” fibulae from Kosewo, Mojtyny and Kamień. The presence of the Mazurian variant fibula on the island on Lake Legińskie may not be completely random. Let us note that an iron axe with a Bogaczewo Culture attribution was recovered from the bottom of the same lake and the record found in archival documentation on a Bogaczewo Culture grave-field on the eastern shore of the lake.

20

Materiały ze stan. 1 w Wólce Łasieckiej, gm. Bolimów, pow. skierniewicki

75%

Dąbrowska T., Bender W.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2012

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vol. LXIII

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issue 63

161-225

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