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1
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Cmentarzyska kultury pucharów lejkowatych na Wyżynie sandomierskiej. Historia i stan badań

100%
Florek M.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2008
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vol. LX
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issue 60
98-123
EN
Our present archaeological record of funerary sites of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) from the area of Sandomierz Upland – 38, includes 35 gravefields and 3 inhumations inside storage pits within settlements (Fig. 1). Out of this number, regular excavation was made of 12 cemeteries. Results from this research have been published, even if only in the form of brief reports on the fieldwork, or, as in the case of the recent discoveries at Czyżów Szlachecki and Złota, are at a stage of analysis. The most fully investigated cemetery is probably the one at Malice Kościelne, with an area of ca 1 000 m2 harbouring two trapeze-shaped megalithic tombs and flat graves close by. Another quite comprehensively investigated is site 3 at Pawłów, where an area of ca 1 400 m2 was subjected to five seasons of fieldwork. At Stryczowice (ca 1 000 m2) investigation was made of the eastern and central sections of three trapeze-shaped tombs and a flat inhumation cemetery nearby. At Broniszowice also, investigation was made only of the eastern and central area of a single large trapeze-shaped megalithic feature containing graves within, found under a so-called ‘tumulus A’. Excavation at the cemeteries was less extensive and yielding from 1 (Czyżów Szlachecki) to 7 graves (Dacharzów) occasionally with fragments of accompanying megalithic constructions (eg, Święcica and Czyżów). Research in the Sandomierz Upland has documented the presence of two classes of TRB cemeteries: megalithic, where next to flat inhumations are found large mortuary structures (tombs) with a stone-earth-timber construction (Fig. 2, 3, 10, 11) and non-megalithic, with flat graves only (Fig. 4, 5). There is some proof that the latter may be of later date than the megalithic cemeteries originating around the turn of the 3rd millennium BC or early during that millennium, ie, are associated with the late phase of the SE Group of TRB. As already mentioned, isolated burials inside storage pits are known from a number of settlements. The typical form of the tomb is on a plan of a high trapeze, oriented approximately along the E-W axis (Fig. 10), with a chamber in its wider eastern part containing the central grave covered by a mound, either having the form of two burial chambers parallel to each other or a single chamber, in which case it contains a double burial (Fig. 8:1.2). In both these types of cemeteries the prevailing form of burial are pit graves with various stone structures (pavement, settings, cists, etc); in non-megalithic cemeteries they invariably have a roughly E-W orientation, in megalithic cemeteries the orientation is E-W (most cases) or N-S (Fig. 6–9). The dominant form is single inhumation in an extended supine position. Double and, very rarely, triple burials are also noted. Some of the dead were given a different form of burial, eg, in a prone position, bound, disarticulated, secondary and fragmentary burials, which suggests some sort of anti-vampiric practices (Fig. 12). No significant differences were observed in the furnishing of the graves found in the megalithic and non-megalithic cemeteries, but it was observed that the flat graves associated with megalithic tombs had richer inventories than the central burials in the megalithic tombs. The burials inside storage pits within settlements followed the same rules of position and orientation documented in graves in the cemeteries.
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Wpływy ruskie we władztwie Piastów X-XI w. w kontekście badań interdyscyplinarnych nad wschodnią Wielkopolską i Kujawami

63%
Danielewski M.
Historia Slavorum Occidentis
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2020
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issue 2 (25)
109-129
EN
This paper discusses the problem of Polish-Ruthenian contacts at an early stage of the Piast realm (from the rule of Mieszko I to the end of Mieszko II’s rule), focusing on the significance of written sources. It also looks at place names, possibly related to the Ruthenian population, and archaeological sources.
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„Importowane” naczynia typu Tornow i Gross Raden na stanowiskach 2 i 2a w Cedyni, woj. zachodniopomorskie

63%
Porzeziński A.
Materiały Zachodniopomorskie
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2015
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vol. 11
107-121
XX
Abstract: The work concerns the finds of early medieval vessels of Tornow and Gross Raden type in cemeteries in Cedynia - the cremation (site 2) and the inhumation one (site 2a), which are the products of foreign origins, evidencing trade contacts of residents of western part of Western Pomerania with inhabitants of Lower Lusatia and eastern Mecklenburg.
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Głos tradycji. Cmentarzysko z okresu wpływów rzymskich w Wyszomierzu Wielkim, pow. zambrowski

63%
Rakowski T.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2020
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vol. LXXI
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issue 71
319-353
EN
The site at Wyszomierz Wielki, Zambrów County, is located on the border of the Northern Mazovian Lowland and North Podlasie Lowland in NE Poland. A cemetery from the Roman Period was situated at the edge of a vast wet meadow north-west of the village and south of a kame-moraine forming the characteristic landscape of this area – a cluster of longitudinal elevations called Czerwony Bór (Fig. 1). Rescue excavations at the site took place in 2015 during works preceding the expansion of the European route E67, the so-called Via Baltica (Fig. 2). The cemetery is interesting and unusual in many ways. It was located not on the top of the local elevation, which is common for Mazovian cemeteries from that period, but on a slope of a smaller nearby hill (Fig. 1, 3). It is also surprisingly small – 12 cremation graves, located on the NE-SW line, with a length of about 30 m, were discovered there. Some of the graves seem to be paired (features 138 and 139, 109A and 109B, 236 and 108, and 110 and 111) (Fig. 21:A). Eleven graves, including those with Almgren 41 type brooches (Fig. 4:1, 9:5.6, 10:5.6, 11:3.4, 13:1–4), one-layer combs of the Thomas AI type and antler pins (Fig. 4:3, 9:2, 10:1.9, 11:5), should be dated to phase B2/C1–C1a, i.e. the oldest horizon of the Wielbark Culture in Mazovia and Podlachia. The lack of inhumation burials is also characteristic of this initial phase, which corresponds to the historical migration of the Gothic tribes. The grave goods and results of anthropological bone analysis allow us to conclude that a man (feature 139) and women (features 109A, 111, 227 and 228, possibly also features 108 and 235) were probably buried there; feature 235 also contained the bones of a newborn, which may suggest the burial of a woman who died in childbirth. A several-year-old child was buried separately, in feature 229. The sex of the deceased from three graves (features 138, 109B and 236) cannot be determined (Fig. 21:B). The most interesting feature is the richly furnished grave of a warrior, who died at the age of about 40 (feature 110) (Fig. 5–8). Iron shield fittings, including a ritually destroyed boss with a blunt spike of type Jahn 7a and an iron grip with simple, undefined plates of type Jahn 9/Zieling V2 from the 5th and 6th group of armaments according to K. Godłowski and dated to phase B2/C1–C1a, were found in the grave. The most interesting elements of weaponry, with Scandinavian references, are a spearhead with the blade constricted in the middle, corresponding to spearheads of type 6 from a bog deposit from Illerup, Jutland, and a bent javelin head with large, asymmetrical barbs, whose curved ends point towards the socket, corresponding to type 8 of spearheads from Illerup, i.e. of the Scandinavian Simris type. In the areas north of the Baltic Sea, both of these types are dated to phase C1. Fragments of two rings made of deer antlers and delicate trough-shaped fittings made of copper alloy, probably from the edge of a decorative waist belt, are the only decorations and dress accessories found in the grave (Fig. 7:15–18). Two glass counters (Fig. 7:13.14, 15:8.9), and possibly traces of the third one (Fig. 7:10) are probably all that remains of a larger set, while a few iron fittings are most likely parts of a wooden folding game board. The ring and handle were probably used to open and close the board, while two corner fittings must have strengthened its edges (Fig. 7:7.10–12, 15:5). Similar objects, in addition to a full (?) set of counters, were found in the late Roman grave 41 from Simris in Scania, where a warrior was also buried (Fig. 16:1.2)62. Although no board hinges, as the ones known from the ‘Doctor’s grave’ from Stanway, SE England (Fig. 16:4–8), dating to the middle of the 1st century CE64, dating to the middle of the 1st century CE, were found in the grave from Wyszomierz Wielki, it seems that the two ornamental iron fittings attached with three rivets each could have fastened a leather belt that acted as such a hinge (Fig. 7:8.9, 15:4). This is supported by the shape and width of the fittings, and by the number of rivets, suggesting that they pressed against some not preserved element. Carefully bent nails of the handle, corner fittings and alleged hinges may indicate that the board formed a kind of a ‘container’ for counters when folded (Fig. 17). Fragments of an imported vessel of the terra sigillata type were also found in the grave (Fig. 8:19,15:6.7). The vessel that served as a cinerary urn (Fig. 8:20, 13:5) was wheel-made, i.e. made using a technique that was only just beginning to come into use in the lands north of the Carpathians in phase B2/C1–C1a93.95.96. The burial from feature 110 shows features characteristic of the Przeworsk Culture – primarily, the set of ritually destroyed weapons, although it should be noted that both spearheads are not typical of this culture 72.73.80. In phase B2/C1-C1a, only relicts of the settlement of the Przeworsk Culture, identified with the ‘Vandal’ peoples, were present in right-bank Mazovia, and the population of this culture had been replaced by the people of the Wielbark Culture, identified with the ‘Gothic’ tribes. It is then possible – as the other graves from this cemetery, undoubtedly attributed to the Wielbark Culture, seem to indicate – that it is a rare case of a burial with a weapon of a ‘Gothic’ warrior of this particular culture. Although Wielbark weaponry is very poorly known, it has Scandinavian references in the Late Roman Period123. The man buried in this grave, most likely a member of the local elite, must have been affiliated with an older cultural tradition. What is more, this tradition still had to be legible and acceptable for the people organising funerary rituals. Grave 110 from Wyszomierz Wielki is another of the burials from the end of the Early Roman/beginning of the Late Roman Period, combining features of the Przeworsk and Wielbark Cultures, that are being discovered more and more often in eastern Mazovia and Podlachia128–130 and constitute an important contribution to the study of the processes of cultural (and political) change that took place in Barbaricum during this turbulent period.
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Cmentarzysko kultury przeworskiej z Grzebska na północnym Mazowszu

63%
Andrzejowski J., Rakowski T.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2019
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vol. LXX
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issue 70
211-218
EN
In June 1927, two artefacts – an iron shield boss and a fragment of a small clay bowl – were donated to the National Museum in Warsaw; both were found under unknown circumstances at Grzebsk, Mława County. The shield boss can now be found in the collection of the Polish Army Museum, where it was moved as a deposit of the National Museum before 1939, while the bowl appeared – quite unexpectedly – in the pottery storage of the Iron Age Department of the State Archaeological Museum (PMA) in Warsaw, where it was ‘discovered’ in 1988. It is not quite clear how it found its way to the PMA; what is known is that this must have happened no later than in 1980. According to notes on the catalogue cards of both artefacts, drawn up still in the National Museum, they were found in a grave “covered with a flat stone, with smaller stones around it”, together with “a clay idol, which crumbled after unearthing, an iron sword, and a couple of spurs”. The grave marks an otherwise unknown cemetery of the Przeworsk Culture. We do not have any details about its location other than it was (is?) probably situated on the grounds of the former estate in the village of Grzebsk. The catalogue cards and inventory book of the National Museum list the artefacts as donated by Damian Gniazdowski, however, a different name – Wacław Gniazdowski – can be found in the delivery book of the Museum. The latter is true, as we know that Damian took possession of the Grzebsk estate no earlier than in 1889 and no later than in 1892, then sold the manor farm in 1902 or 1903, and moved with his family to Łępice, Pułtusk County, where he died in January 1922. The grave would have been discovered between 1889/1892 and 1902/1903, thus Damian’s son Wacław, born in 1894, must have recounted the description of the grave that he heard from his father. The small bowl from Grzebsk (Fig. 1) is typical of Przeworsk Culture pottery from the Early Roman Period and corresponds to type VI/1 in the classic typology by Teresa Liana; its unpreserved base could have been convex or concave, possibly – although this would have been completely unique – flat. Similar bowls are common at cemeteries in northern and eastern Mazovia, for example, Niedanowo 2, Nidzica County, Modła 2, Mława County, or Kamieńczyk 2, Wyszków County. Their chronology at the three cemeteries falls within the horizon of phase B1 and the older stage of phase B2. The characteristic star-like ornament on the body connects the bowl from Grzebsk with a group of vessels considered – with reservations – as more or less distant imitations of ribbed Roman glass bowls. Our specimen can be regarded – after Morten Hegewisch – as a “creative plagiarism”. The shield boss (Fig. 2:a.b) belongs to conical forms corresponding to interregional types Bohnsack 8, Jahn 5, and Zieling I1a, typical of the end of the Late Pre-Roman Period and the beginning of the Roman Period. Its surface, especially on the flange, is heavily corroded. Nevertheless, there are visible remains of so-called fire patina, attesting that the object was at some point on a funeral pyre. Only one rivet with a slightly convex, circular head has been preserved, however, rivet holes indicate that the boss was originally attached to a shield with twelve regularly spaced rivets (Fig. 2:c). Such a large number of rivets indicates that the boss should be counted among the older conical forms of Late Pre-Roman shield bosses of the Przeworsk Culture corresponding to type Bochnak 15 and dated to phases A3 and A3/B1, i.e. the end of the 1st century BC and very beginning of the 1st century AD. This fits with dating of other north-Mazovian graves with shield bosses type Bochnak 15, e.g. from Lemany, Pułtusk County, Legionowo, Legionowo County, and possibly also from Niedanowo 1, Nidzica County and Łysa Góra at Gródki, Działdowo County. The small iron nail stuck in the head of the preserved rivet is an interesting element (Fig. 3). Similar to the rest of the artefact, it is covered with fire patina, which indicates its original, ancient provenance. It may indicate an unusual manner of repairing the shield, probably following damage it sustained in a fight. Such a solution, consisting of hammering in another rivet, or a nail as it may be, instead of replacing the damaged rivet, may indicated the ad hoc nature of the repair or lack of access to a specialised workshop. The location of the cemetery remains unknown. It was certainly situated within Damian Gniazdowski’s estate. It is probably what a primary school teacher from Grzebsk referred to in 1926 as a “pagan cemetery” on the grounds of the manor farm, already in the possession of the Rudowski family, where “pots with ashes” were being unearthed. It may be the site registered during field walking in 1998 within the limits of a large gravel pit in the northern part of the village of Grzebsk (Fig. 4, 5). Potsherds and damaged graves in the walls of the gravel pit were discovered there – the site was identified as a Przeworsk Culture cemetery from the “Roman Period”. During verification of the site in 2018, traces of graves in the gravel pit could no longer be observed, however, fragments of characteristic sepulchral pottery of the Przeworsk Culture from the Early Roman Period were found in the gravel pit itself and its immediate vicinity. More information about this site can only be obtained through archaeological excavations. However, we will probably never know whether the cemetery that yielded the artefacts described here and the cemetery discovered in 1998 are one and the same.
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Relikty cmentarzyska kultury przeworskiej z Błonia, pow. warszawski zachodni

63%
Woźniak M.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2019
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vol. LXX
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issue 70
225-238
EN
In the middle of April 1969, an urn cremation grave from the Roman Period (Fig. 2) was discovered by accident in Błonie, now Warsaw West County (Fig. 1). Several days later, a rescue excavation was carried out in the area of the find, during which four trenches with a total surface area of 130 square metres were opened. Another burial from the Roman Period, two settlement features from the Neolithic and the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, and three modern graves were registered within their limits (Fig. 3). In 1974, 1985, and 2015, fieldwalking surveys took place in the vicinity of the site. The material discovered at this time was interpreted as traces of a multicultural settlement and, in the Roman Period, also a place of iron production. These assumptions were confirmed by excavations that took place in recent years and were prompted by the intense residential development in the area of the site. However, no Przeworsk Culture graves were found during the excavations. The accidently discovered grave 1 is an urn cremation burial of an individual at the age of infans II/iuvenis. In addition to burnt bones, an iron axe (Fig. 4:1), fragments of a melted glass vessel (Fig. 5), and pieces of a burnt multilayer antler comb (Fig. 4:2) were found inside the urn. The clay vessel that served as a cinerary urn was made on a potter’s wheel (Fig. 4:3). Specimens of similar morphology are known from other Przeworsk Culture sites occupied in the Late Roman Period. The closest analogies, both territorially and stylistically, come from sites located not far from Błonie, on the Middle and Lower Bzura River. The iron axe corresponds to the Żarnowiec type. Objects of a similar shape are found in different parts of barbarian Europe, where they are dated within the range of the Late Roman Period. The slender specimen from Błonie, with a rectangular shaft-hole, finds its best parallels in the territory of the Przeworsk Culture in central Poland. It is not easy to date grave 1 based on local artefact forms. The destroyed glass vessel is the most problematic. The better preserved fragments suggest that it was a mould-blown cup decorated with vertical and fairly shallow grooves (Fig. 5). I am not aware of any such specimen found in the territory of Poland. The most similar vessels are found mainly at Roman cemeteries in the area of present-day Cologne, where they were also most likely made. They are usually dated to the 4th century AD. They are quite diverse – some differ from the specimen from Błonie by having narrower grooves; all have concave bottoms. Out of these specimens, the closest analogies are finds from the vicinity of Hambach, Lkr. Düren (Fig. 6:1), Cologne-Neußer Straße (Fig. 6:2), and Krefeld-Gellep, Lkr. Krefeld (Fig. 6:3), characterised by grooves of a similar size. Vessels with vertically ribbed bodies could have also been made in other regions, e.g. in the late Roman (phases C2–C3) glass workshop in Komarìv, Černìvcì Province, on the Dniester River. Unfortunately, we do not know of any glasses from that workshop that are decorated in the same manner as the preserved fragment from Błonie. In conclusion, grave 1 from Błonie should be dated to no earlier than phase C2, and most probably to phases C2–D. Grave 4 (Fig. 7) is a destroyed urn burial. Burnt bones of a child at the age of infans I, sherds of two smaller clay vessels, and a lump of melted glass were found inside the urn. Burnt bones, a fragment of a glass bead, and a spindle whorl (Fig. 7:1), all scattered by ploughing, were found within a 25 cm radius of the urn. The clay vessels found in grave 4 (Fig. 7:2–4) are forms typical of the Przeworsk Culture. They appear in phase B2 and are most often encountered in assemblages from the Late Roman Period. The assemblage from Błonie should most probably be dated to that later stage. The cemetery in Błonie together with neighbouring settlements formed a settlement complex (Fig. 1). A settlement, located several hundred metres to the east and registered at site AZP 57-63/1, was in use at the same time. The complex is a part of the Przeworsk Culture settlement cluster, where signs of intense iron production have been registered (The Mazovian Centre of Metallurgy). Only a small number of cemeteries is known from this region, which led to a theory that local iron production was isolated to the settlement base usually placed within the Przeworsk Culture settlement clusters situated several dozen kilometres to the west, on the Lower and Middle Bzura River. However, this hypothesis resulted from research focused on examination of the local metallurgy. Over a dozen cemeteries are known from the area of the metallurgical centre; they are usually poorly explored and unpublished. An analysis of the material from these sites is necessary to better understand the character of the local settlement of the Przeworsk Culture population. The cemetery in Błonie is also relevant to another research aspect, i.e. the nature of the late Roman settlement of the Przeworsk Culture in the area in question. In light of established findings, at the end of the Early Roman Period and the beginning of the Late Roman Period, the local settlement structures underwent a kind of regression, which is believed to be associated with a decline in large-scale iron production. The results of the latest archaeological research only partly support these findings. Some of the settlements were in fact abandoned at the beginning of the Late Roman Period. On the other hand, the well-examined sites founded near the end of the Early Roman Period do not demonstrate symptoms of a settlement crisis in phases C and D. What is different is the nature of these sites, as they do not show signs of the intense metallurgical activity known from the Early Roman Period.
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Zgliczyn Pobodzy. Niepozorna nekropola z północnego Mazowsza

63%
Szela A.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2018
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vol. LXIX
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issue 69
121-147
EN
The village of Zgliczyn Pobodzy is situated on a small plateau located between the backwaters of the Wkra and Mławka Rivers. The site itself lies north of the Wkra, near a small creek called Luta that flows into it (Fig. 1). First discoveries there were made already in the 1930s, when “pottery kilns” – in reality probably cremation graves containing clay vessels – were unearthed. In 1945, a cremation grave with a bronze bucket and skillet was uncovered in the course of planting fruit trees. In the years 1977–1979, the Museum of Ziemia Zawkrzeńska in Mława carried out archaeological excavations. At that time, an area of 825 square meters was explored, revealing 25 archaeological features. The analysis of the features discovered in Zgliczyn Pobodzy showed that 13 of them are cremation pit graves, two are urn graves and one is an inhumation grave. In addition, a triangular stone paving, a kiln for burning lime and small pits of undefined function were discovered at the site (Fig. 16). In most cases, pottery constituted the only grave deposit. Only graves 3 and 12 contained fragments of antler combs, while two atypical bronze brooches combining features of brooches with covered springs and brooches of series 1 group V were found in grave 10, which also contained a clay spindle whorl. In stark contrast to the aforementioned features, grave A, discovered in 1945, contained a bucket type Eggers 18 and a skillet type Eggers 131. A brooch of the type A.110 but equipped with a stop plate was found inside the bucket (Fig. 2). The bucket, which served as a cinerary urn, was covered with a clay bowl. The presence of the bucket type Eggers 18 together with the brooch type A.110 proves the significant longevity of Roman imports in the area of Barbaricum. Grave 4 is unique among other discoveries (Fig. 6–9). It was an inhumation burial placed in a stone chamber. Grave deposits consisted of a bronze skillet type Eggers 131, a set of 24 glass counters (six of each colour: white, yellow, celadon and black-blue), a pair of bronze terminals of drinking horns type C.5, bronze belt buckle type D2, bronze strap-end, two bronze chair-shaped spurs type Jahn 35, two bronze brooches – a trumpet brooch of the variant Liana 1 and a brooch type A.110 – and three clay vessels, one of which is an imitation of a glass vessel. This grave should be considered as a princely burial of the type Lubieszewo, although due to the presence of the fibula type A.110 it should be dated to the stage B2a of the Roman Period. Currently, it is one of the youngest graves of the type Lubieszewo, and also the only burial of this kind located east of the Vistula. As a result of the excavations carried out in the 1970s, only a small part of the site was explored. It is currently impossible to determine the size of the cemetery or establish its chronology. Due to the importance of the site and severe modern damage it suffered, the work at the site has been resumed in 2018
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Przestrzeń cmentarzysk pradziejowych w teorii i praktyce archeologicznej.

63%
Woźny J.
Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia
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2014
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vol. 60
29-34
EN
The ways of interpreting prehistoric burial grounds were modified several times within last decades. However, still dominant is the approach in which the most important is to document well, to systemize and to specify grave findings. The present paper considers the researches emphasizing the space relations in the burial ground area as well as the interrelations between ritual structures situated there. The grounds, in historical depiction, were analysed on the basis of the following methods: cultural evolutionism, positivism, structuralism, and also hermeneutics and phenomenology. Gradually, the attention was paid to the new research problems: distances between graves, directions of the burial grounds’ development, establishing their inner and outer boundaries, settlement of ritual structures (hearths, funeral pyres, concentration of pottery and stones) and the tradition of using the space of burial grounds in later historical periods. The conclusions presented in the paper show that the biography of archaeological structures, such as burial grounds, is initiated in primeval history but is completed by other generations of observers and researchers of those relics. Their space „text” is unceasingly read and interpreted.
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Produkcja późnych typów bransolet wężowatych na przykładzie znalezisk z cmentarzyska w Weklicach, stan. 7, pow. elbląski

51%
Natuniewicz-Sekuła M., Strobin J.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2020
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vol. LXXI
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issue 71
161-187
EN
The subject of this study is the technology of manufacture of late forms of silver shield-headed bracelets. The analysis is based on the bracelets from the Wielbark Culture cemetery at Weklice, Elbląg County, in N Poland (Fig. 1–3). They correspond to Blume III or Wójcik IVB and V types, and appear in single- and double-spiral variants. They are dated to the beginning of the Late Roman Period. The majority of such bracelets come from cemeteries located along the shores of the former bay of the Vistula Lagoon, whose remnant is present-day Drużno Lake. In antiquity, richly ornamented snake-headed bracelets with regular, strap and multi-spiral bodies were a distinctive type of women’s accessories. They are known from the Hellenistic Period (Fig. 4). They were also manufactured in goldsmith’s workshops of the Roman Empire (Fig. 5–7). In Roman goldsmithing, they were in fashion in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE; interest declined at the beginning of the 3rd century. The technique used (forging), the similarity of shapes and the regularity of profiles indicate that matrices or dies (swages) were used in their manufacture. The best-known example of blacksmithing and goldsmithing tools used to make ornaments utilising this method is the deposit from Daorson (BIH), the former capital of Illyria (Z. Marić 1979). Similar technology was used to craft the Roman snake-bracelets and snake-rings from the jeweller’s hoard from Snettisham, Norfolk (GB), dating to the mid-2nd century CE (C. Johns 1997). It is assumed that barbarian goldsmith’s workshops used raw materials imported from the Roman Empire. So far, no traces of exploitation and processing of non-ferrous metal ores in the Roman period have been recorded in Poland, allowing a conclusion that local workshops melted down Roman imports. The share of silver in the denarii varied and generally decreased as a result of successive reforms introduced by ruling emperors. However, metallurgical analyses (Table 1) show that shield-headed bracelets were made from high-grade raw material containing about 92–97% Ag, which excludes the possibility that the alloys were created by melting coins with varied silver content, e.g. fourrées. No archaeological sources confirm that the ‘barbarians’ had the ability to refine precious metals. Therefore, the raw material probably came from scrap vessels made of alloys containing 92–97% Ag. Given the enormous practical knowledge of goldsmiths of that time, the metal they had available was probably selected with respect to alloy composition. Raw material could also have been obtained by importing bars containing 94–95% Ag; however, such finds (known mainly from the frontier areas of the Roman Empire) date only to the 3rd and 4th century (K. Painter 1981). The fragments of cups discovered at the cemetery of the Wielbark Culture in Czarnówko, Lębork County, are an indication that high-grade silver from Roman vessels was used in Pomerania in the Roman Period. Metallurgical analyses show that they were made of alloys containing 96–99% Ag (J. Schuster 2018). In recreating the technology of manufacture of the bracelets in question, we also used our own observations concerning the assessment of alloy quality. Raw material was forged into long strips (up to 25 cm in length in the case of single-spiral forms, and up to 50 cm in length in the case of double-spiral forms) on which delamination and chipping could occur. They were the result of both the heterogeneity of silver and errors made during forging and are often still visible on final products (Fig. 8). This was possible due to the reduced hardness and resulting ductility of high-grade silver alloys with only a few percent of copper added. A common way of making the basic form of metal objects, both in Roman and ‘barbarian’ craftsmanship, was forging. Dies were used to create ornaments of repetitive shapes. They were usually two-piece sets (Fig. 9), with a top and bottom swage. The technique involves placing a heated rod or strip between the parts of a die and forging while shifting it until a suitable profile is obtained. Dies were basic elements of a blacksmith’s shop (Fig. 10, 11); in goldsmith’s workshops, a simplified version consisting of only the bottom swage was used. The technological properties of the alloys required the ‘cold’ forging method, during which the material changed to a fine-crystalline structure and hardened. The workpiece was occasionally soaked to recrystallise and plasticise the alloy. The use of this technology in barbarian metalwork is confirmed by the find of an anvil with ‘nail headers’ from Vimose on the island of Funen (DK), with a negative impression of a profile for forging on its underside (Fig. 12, 13). The bows of the Weklice bracelets were also forged in the manner described. Based on precise measurements, it can even be assumed that almost identical forming swages, with a negative impression of the design of approx. 10.5 mm in width, were used. Slight differences in shape may result from the finishing treatment of an already forged bracelet (Fig. 14). Creation of a shield-headed bracelet was time-consuming work, requiring a lot of knowledge and skill. First, a silver bar was cast, which was then forged into a long strip. Forging a semi-finished product in a swage required the involvement of two people and excellent work organisation. The use of a metal stamp, shaped in the outline of the profile on the swage, made it possible to obtain a deep relief (Fig. 15). Observation of the undersides of bases and heads of snake bracelets indicates that they were formed slightly differently. The underside of the heads shows traces of irregular impacts (Fig. 16:1–3), which indicates that these parts were made using the free forging technique. Such a bracelet creation process was applied in the reconstruction presented here, with the body forged on a swage, and the heads hammered on a wooden and lead pad (Fig. 17, 18). Forged heads of the original Weklice bracelets are irregular in shape, and even the subsequent application of engraved and punched ornaments on the face did not fully mask this asymmetry. Free forging and die forging were the initial techniques that made it possible create a certain section of a decoration. Bracelets forged in this manner have uneven face surfaces. The next step was to even and refine the body by smoothing and grinding, first with a file and then with grindstones. To smooth the surface of ornaments made of soft alloys, a flat iron burin or a small chisel with a wide, hardened blade could also be used. Traces of such treatments in the form of scratched, parallel lines are visible on the analysed examples of Weklice bracelets. The edge of a polygonal file was used to divide the heads and collars and make grooves accentuating raised ridges (Fig. 19:1.2). An ornament in the form of two main motifs made with punches, i.e. incised lines imitating a twisted or beaded wire and an alternately stippled snake-zigzag (Fig. 19, 20), was later applied on the face surfaces of the bracelets. During these operations, washers were used to prevent damage to the thin sheet metal. A tool with flat blade, a type of small chisel, was commonly used (Fig. 19:3.4). Chasers with a curved undercut in the blade and pronounced, lateral teeth, which gave a clear semi-circular imprint, were rarely used. Usually, such a punch would leave a distinct mark of fangs on the sides (Fig. 19:5). Oblique, parallel lines imitating twisted wires were made with similar punches in imitation of beaded wires. In the case of the former, a better effect was achieved using a chisel with a semi-circular notch in the blade and thickened teeth on the sides. The stamped pattern had the shape of an oblique, slightly S-shaped line (Fig. 19:6). Another variant of this ornamentation consisted of incised ridges separated with an undecorated band (Fig. 19:7). The decorative snake (zigzag) motif was made by punching regular points on alternate sides of a raised ridge (Fig. 19:8.9). The final step was polishing, giving the decoration a shine. In ancient times, gold and silver jewellery was commonly polished with semi-precious stones. Polishers made of iron were also used, providing decorations made of silver, gold and even tin alloys with a perfect shine (Fig. 21). Another method of finishing ornaments was patination. In antiquity, blackening of silver products was fashionable and was probably also used by barbarian communities. In the case of the described shield-headed bracelets with flatly displayed patterns, it was even advisable to leave the blackened depressions in the stamped ornaments, as it intensified – against the background of the polished smooth surface – the impression of the ornament’s three-dimensionality (Fig. 22). The appearance of shield-headed bracelets in the Wielbark Culture was undoubtedly the effect of contacts between the local communities and the Roman Empire. The result of these contacts was a huge transfer of technical knowledge, crafting skills and aesthetic concepts, among others. The ancient, naturalistic snake motif, fashionable and common in the 1st and 2nd century CE, was adapted and stylistically transformed into its own ‘barbarian’ design. This phenomenon intensified in the second half of the 2nd century and the early 3rd century. The bracelets from Weklice described here were probably made in a local blacksmith/goldsmith workshop to the order of elites living in the settlement clusters of the Wielbark Culture, which stretched around the shores of the then bay of the Vistula Lagoon. These workshops based their manufacturing on their own technological tradition, preferring blacksmithing techniques, including the use of dies with elaborate profiles. This phenomenon can be observed not only in the metalwork of the Wielbark Culture, but also in other Germanic societies living in the south-western regions of the Baltic Sea coast.
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Nowe materiały z okresu wpływów rzymskich z Osówki, pow. lubelski

51%
Kuzioła A.
Wiadomości Archeologiczne
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2020
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vol. LXXI
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issue 71
384-388
EN
Until now, Osówka (Fig. 1) has been known from the scant mention by Stefan Nosek who described an accidentally discovered grave of the Przeworsk Culture. In 1994, attempts were made to localise the site, but they proved unsuccessful. The breakthrough came in 2008 thanks to three bronze brooches that were handed over to Ass. Prof. Piotr Łuczkiewicz from the Institute of Archaeology at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. In the same year, a local site inspection was carried out to further verify the find. During exploration of the site, several fragments of pottery were found, including possibly shards of Przeworsk Culture vessels. The brooches from Osówka were typologically identified as a late form of the Almgren 41 type, an Almgren 96 type, and a provincial Roman knee brooch of the Almgren 247 type. Almgren 41 brooches are widespread in Wielbark Culture areas and much less common in Przeworsk Culture areas. Such brooches are traditionally dated to the late stage of phase B2 and above all to phases B2/C1 or B2/C1–C1a. Based on size, the Osówka copy (Fig. 2:a) was determined as type X1 according to the classification proposed by Jan Schuster. This is an interregional form mostly found in female burials. Almgren 96 brooches (Fig. 2:b) are typical of the Wielbark Culture, however, in much smaller numbers they also appear in the Przeworsk Culture area. The type is the guiding form of the B2/C1 phase. The third brooch (Fig. 2:c), having a semi-circular head plate ornamented with a so-called wolf teeth pattern should be assigned to type 13D after Werner Jobst or to variant 3.12.1 according to the classification by Emilie Riha. These types of brooches are characteristic of the Danube and Rhine provinces of the Roman Empire where were in use mostly in the 2nd and 3rd century CE. Osówka brooches confirm that that the site was a Roman Period cemetery. The grave published by Stefan Nosek proves that in phase B2 it was used by a local Przeworsk community. Three brooches found in 2008 are evidence that the cemetery remained in use in phase B2/C1. However, it is very difficult to determine its cultural affiliation in this phase. In eastern Poland (i.e. right-bank Mazovia, Podlachia, and the Lublin Region) at the turn of the early and late Roman Period, the current Przeworsk settlement was gradually replaced by the Wielbark settlement.
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Barrow cemeteries in the Neolithic of north-west Europe. The case of Western Mecklenburg (Germany)

45%
Behrens A., Darvill T.
Materiały Zachodniopomorskie
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2021
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vol. 17
125-162
PL
Neolityczne grobowce w Europie Północno-Zachodniej występują w postaci pojedynczych nasypów i skupisk kurhanów. W pracy przedyskutowano ich podstawowe cechy z uwzględnieniem dostępu do głównej komory i jej lokalizacji wewnątrz nasypów. W zachodniej Meklemburgii zarejestrowano 238 grobowców megalitycznych, które sklasyfikowano pod względem liczby konstrukcji na stanowisku oraz porównano pod względem rozprzestrzenienia. Opisano przykłady oraz możliwe przyczyny pojawienia się cmentarzysk z wieloma konstrukcjami, rozważane na tle organizacji społecznej i relacji do elementów krajobrazu.
EN
Neolithic funerary monuments across north-west Europe are considered as cemeteries and here divided into two types: single-mound cemeteries, and multi-mound cemeteries. Their general characteristics are discussed in relation to models of access to the internal chambers, and the distribution of chambers within their cover-mounds. The 238 megalithic tombs recorded in Western Mecklenburg are classified according to whether they are single-mound cemeteries or components of multi-mound cemeteries, and the distributions compared. Examples and case studies are described, and possible understandings of the emergence of multi-mound cemeteries are considered in relation to social organization and connections with the landscape.
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