Search results

1

Wstępne wyniki badań cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej w Linowie, gm. Świecie n/Osą, woj. kujawsko-pomorskie, stanowisko 6

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Bokiniec E., Sosnowski W.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2001

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vol. LIV

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issue 54

147-152

EN

A destroyed Wielbark Culture cemetery at Linowo was discovered in 1986, and excavated in 1991–93. At the cemetery 39 graves dated to the Roman Period were found (19 pit graves, 3 urn graves and 17 inhumation graves). The skeletons were orientated N-S, deceased were laid on back, heads toward north, what is typical for the Wielbark Culture. However, the skeleton from the grave 66 was laid on his left side with legs bent, and in three undisturbed graves (68, 69A, 69B) the skeletons were placed without any anatomical order, as if the dead were quartered before burial. The oldest graves from the cemetery came from the phase B2/C1 (grave 17 with brooches type A.96; fig. 2), or even from the phase B2c (grave 105 with abrooche type A.128, fig. 2). Grave 1 with a brooch type A.162 and a silver S-clasp type B may be dated to the phase C1a. Quite richly were furnished inhumation graves from the phases C1b–C2. Grave 89 contained abrooche to type A.168, a few clay vessels and a necklace with 6 silver lunula pendants, 12 amber beads and 26 glass beads (Fig. 4), while grave 66 produced a fibula similar to type A.167, a necklace of 14 amber eight-shaped beads, 22 glass beads and bronze bucket-shaped pendant (Fig. 3). The youngest grave at the cemetery produced the belt buckle with thickened frame typical for the phase D (Fig. 2).

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Cmentarzysko ciałopalne kultury wielbarskiej w uroczysku Wielka Kletna (Białowieski Park Narodowy, woj. podlaskie)

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Krasnodębski D., Dulinicz M., Samojlik T., Olczak H.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2008

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vol. LX

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issue 60

362-376

EN

The cremation cemetery of the Wielbark Culture located in Wielka Kletna Range in Białowieża National Park (Podlasie Province in eastern Poland) was discovered in 2003. During the archaeological excavations conducted in the strict reserve of Białowieża National Park, exploration methods minimising the disturbance to the natural environment were employed. Two trenches (23 m2 in total) were opened. Part of the cemetery was covered with a stone paving. Four graves, with no urns, containing bone fragments of four children and an adult man, were discovered. Burials were equipped with scarce ornaments (copper and bronze fibulae, glass beads), tools (spindle whorl), or elements of clothing (iron belt buckle), and – in one case – a set of five clay vessels. Moreover, in the surroundings of graves, over 200 potsherds (80% of them partly burnt), fragments of glass vessels and beads, and a few other artefacts (eg, a small copper knife) were also found. Both the artefacts found at the site and the radiocarbon dates of two charcoal samples from the graves pointed to the C1b–D phases of the Late Roman Period (ie, 3rd–5th c. AD).

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Zapinka gąsienicowata z Tumian, pow. olsztyński. Problem zaniku kultury wielbarskiej nad Łyną

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Cieśliński A., Wyczółkowski D.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2008

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vol. LX

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issue 60

179-187

EN

Archaeological excavation of a settlement of the Olsztyn Group at Tumiany, distr. Olsztyn, in NE Poland (Fig. 1), led to the discovery of a stray find of a copper alloy brooch with a caterpillar bow, a form which in literature may be known better as Raupenfibel (Fig. 2). The specimen from Tumiany has a roughly lozenge-shaped plate on its head and a lozenge-shaped foot, details which classify it as variant 1b of II series (M. Tuszyńska 1988) and as ‘Wielbark’ design (A. Kokowski 1995). Caterpillar brooches are first documented during phase C2/C3–D but presumably most of them belong in phase C3–D. The map of their distribution indicates concentrations in the Kaliningrad exclave (Samland Peninsula), Poland (lower Vistula River, northern Mazowsze and Podlasie, Mazury and Suwałki area), Germany (Mecklenburg, on the Lower Elbe River) and West Slovakia. Isolated finds are known from the Baltic islands of Bornholm, Öland and Gotland, as well as from western Mazowsze and Lublin Region in Poland. Recovered from a settlement of the Olsztyn Group from the Late Migration Period the brooch of interest is more likely to be associated with the Wielbark Culture. This is indicated by the generally accepted dating of brooch forms with a caterpillar bow, decidedly earlier than the time of crystallisation of the Olsztyn Group. Even more importantly – all analogies to the find from Tumiany occurred in Wielbark cemeteries found in the region on the lower Vistula River to the west (Pruszcz Gdański, Węgrowo, Malbork-Wielbark) and northern Mazowsze to the east (Kozłówko, Kleszewo, Niedanowo). Accepting the above attribution of the brooch from Tumiany to the Wielbark Culture the author gives an overview of the settlement and culture situation in the eastern reaches of the Olsztyn Lake District (Pojezierze Olsztyńskie) during the Younger and the Late Roman Period as well as during the Early Migration Period. At the same time, analysis is seriously constrained by the fact that most of the sites of the period were investigated before WW II and information on their subject is laconic and scattered in German regional literature and in archival sources. Despite these limitation of the database there is justification to place the eastern part of the Olsztyn Lake district within the range of Wielbark Culture settlement of the Younger Roman Period, with no conclusive evidence on its continuation in phase C3–D. At the beginning of the Late Roman Period we see the disintegration of Wielbark Culture settlement in a wider territory found in the drainage basin of the Łyna, Pasłęka and upper Drwęca Rivers caused presumably by the departure of the population on a great migration to the southeast (Fig. 3). Did everybody go away? The lingering of small groups is documented by isolated sites in a vast area of desolation eg, Woryty, grave 4. At the current stage of research it seems most likely that the caterpillar brooch from Tumiany is a relic associated with a small group of Wielbark Culture people who decided not to risk the long trek into the unknown or at least, to put it off for a time.

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Nieznane materiały z cmentarzyska z okresu wpływów rzymskich w Ostrowitem na ziemi dobrzyńskiej

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Kurzyńska M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2017

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vol. LXVIII

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issue 68

296-302

EN

The cemetery at Ostrowite was first published by K. Hahuła in her study of Wielbark Culture in the Dobrzyń Land. In this contribution this author mentioned a bronze brooch type Almgren 95, now considered as lost, and a fragment of a three-layer comb, using them to establish the dating of the grave-field as phase B2/C1–C1a (K. Hahuła 1988, p. 100, fig. 4, pl. VI:7). Recently, the rediscovery of a brief note referring on the site at Ostrowite in the archives of the museum in Grudziądz (Muzeum im. ks. dr. Władysława Łęgi) dating to 1948 was followed by the publication of a sketch (Fig. 2) and a description of an urned burial discovered at that location that same year (H. Błachnio, W. Błachnio 2016, fig. 155–157). With this input it is possible to reconstruct the history of this discovery, identify the inventory of the urned burial, and the assemblage of stray finds picked up from the surface of the cemetery (Fig. 3). Now lost, the burial ground used to lie in the village of in Ostrowite, Commune Brzuze, County Rypin, on a tract of elevated ground, now fully lost to a gravel mine (Fig. 1). Błachnio unearthed an urned burial (Fig. 2), consisting of pottery vessels: a bowl, type XaA (Fig. 3:1), two handled cups, type XVA (Fig. 3:4) and XVC (Fig. 3:2), two diminutive forms, type XVIB (Fig. 3:3) and group XVII (Fig.3:5), next to which there was also a fragment of a three-layer comb, presumably antler, retaining a bronze rivet (Fig. 3:6), a fragment of a small bronze cylinder originally covering the brooch spring (Fig. 3:7) and a clay spindlewhorl (Fig. 3:8). Stray finds picked up from the surface of the cemetery included three bronze brooches, type Almgren 95 (Fig. 3:9–11), a fragment of a solid spring from a bronze brooch (Fig. 3:12) and around 100 uncharacteristic potsherds (now lost). Another find, reportedly recovered at Ostrowite was a bronze crossbow brooch, type Almgren 161 at Ostrowite (J. Janikowski 1976b, p. 82) is far from substantiated. The urned burial and the two brooches lacking context are datable broadly to phase B2/C1–C1a, the third brooch (Fig. 3:9) could be older, possibly dating to the end of the Early Roman Period, stage B2c. While the newly disclosed sources helped identify the exact location of the cemetery within the village they have not altered in any major way its dating to phase B2/C1–C1a (K. Hahuła 1988, fig. 4). At the same time, the newly available record suggests that the grave-field originally had a great many graves, now lost, and as such it could have a much broader chronological span.

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Cmentarzyska z okresu wpływów rzymskich z Parsk, powiat grudziądzki

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Kurzyńska M., Andrzejowski J.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2017

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vol. LXVIII

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issue 68

287-296

EN

Two urned burials were discovered in the village of Parski, its western or south-western area presumably (Fig. 1:9.10), in 1900 and 1913 (see: W. Łęga 1930). Archaeological recovered at that time (Fig. 2, 3) entered the Stadtmuseum (City Museum) in Graudenz/Grudziądz (until 1920 in Prussia); of these only a bronze brooch, type Almgren 95, survived (Fig. 2:c) and is now in Muzeum Archeologiczne w Gdańsku (Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk); two cinerary urns and a glass jetton have gone missing. Further discoveries were made at Parski in 1939. At this time, the now Polish Muzeum Miejskie (City Museum) in Grudziądz acquired seven pottery vessels, some sherds and a bronze buckle; of these the buckle, type D29, one of the vessels (a jug, group IX), and a brooch possibly recovered the same year – type Almgren 162 (Fig. 5:a–c), are still in keeping of Muzeum im. ks. dr. Władysława Łęgi w Grudziądzu (The Father Dr. Władysław Łęga Museum in Grudziądz). In 1955, on a hummock in the north-eastern area of the village mined for sand (Fig. 1:1), the first head of the Muzeum w Grudziądzu after the war, J. Błachnio, collected a few dozen fragments of pottery, a jug (group IX), a bowl (type XaA) and two clay spindlewhorls (Fig. 5:d–l), provenanced to a Wielbark Culture cemetery. Fieldwork carried out in 1968 in the vicinity of the now obliterated hummock brought in an assemblage of pottery finds, daub, charcoal and animal bones, interpreted as the remains of Lusatian Culture and Wielbark Culture settlements (see: R. Boguwolski 1969; 1972). The materials recovered at Parski may derive from two separate cemeteries, in use in the Late Roman Period, phases B2/C1–C2, possibly even as early as phase B2 of the Late Roman Period. In the immediate vicinity of these cemeteries were two (or three) other grave-fields, of Roman Period date – one (possibly two) at Parski, in fields belonging to Reinhold and Hippke (identified in 1900 and 1913), another possible burial ground, at Nowa Wieś site 4a (Fig. 1:8), in use during phases B2–C1b, possibly as late as phase C2 (M. Kurzyńska, in print). Finally, a surface survey carried out in 1982 (R. Boguwolski 1982) recorded a group of settlements of Roman Period date (Fig. 1).

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Nietypowa sprzączka z Siemiątkowa. Wyrób lokalny czy import bałtyjski?

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

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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.

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Cmentarzysko kultury wielbarskiej w Kozłówku, pow. nidzicki (d. Klein Koslau, Kreis Neidenburg) w świetle publikacji i materiałów archiwalnych

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Woźniak M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2011

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vol. LXII

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issue 62

169-208

EN

The village Kozłówko, commune Kozłowo, distr. Nidzica, voiv. warmińsko-mazurskie (former Klein Koslau, Kr. Neidenburg) lies some 20 km to the south-west of the town Nidzica, on a small elevation on the left bank of the Szkotówka, right-bank tributary of the Nida R. During the 18th century relics of an ancient cemetery were identified near this locality. In volume II of his work Versuch einer wirtschaftlichen Naturgeschichte von dem Königreich Ost- und Westpreußen, F. Bock recorded the presence of fifteen small circular pavements which were to be found in the vicinity of the village Klein Koslau. In 1890 the Prussia Museum at Königsberg added to its collections a grave assemblage unearthed during farming on one of the small hills close to the village. In the autumn of 1891 Kozłówko was visited by J. Heydeck, vice-chairman of Altertumsgesellschaft Prussia. The discovery of further artefacts during this visit and survey of the site led to a decision to excavate. Archaeological investigation covering a fragment of the southern slope of the elevation identified eighty or so flat graves and a barrow. The material from Kozłówko passed to Prussia Museum where it remained until the evacuation at the end of the second world war. Its present location is unknown. Perhaps this material was not taken out of the city at all – this is suggested by the discovery made in 2000 in Kaliningrad, of a buckle originating from grave XXXVII. Heydeck published the results from the fieldwork in a brief report, providing a general description of the site and listing 39 grave inventories, illustrating twelve of them. This brief report is supplemented to some extent by information found in later works – E. Blume and R. Schindler, and in the private files of German archaeologists. Most of the flat graves were unurned cremations; only four appear to have contained cinerary urns (graves XVI, XXX, XXXV). The grave pits were basin-like, with a diameter of up to 1.5 m and a depth in the range of 35–45 cm. Individual burials had an irregular distribution within the cemetery, with larger and smaller spaces between them. A number of grave outlines were in contact and, in a few cases, later burials intruded on older grave pits. At the time of Heydeck’s investigation most of the graves were in good condition, only a few of them, found at the highest level, next to the northern margin of the cemetery, had suffered damaged from ploughing. A few graves were under circular pavements of fieldstones. The grave goods were discovered in 40 graves. The largest group of metal finds (17) were bronze brooches. Fourteen originated from grave assemblages (A, VII, IX, X, XVI, XVII, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXV, XXVII, XXXI, XXXIV, XXXIX) one was a stray find. Arguably the earliest form is the fibula type A 41 discovered in grave A; it is a form characteristic mainly for the area of the Odra and the Vistula basin during phase B2/C1–C1a. Tendril brooches, the largest group, were noted in eight graves, a ninth was a surface find lacking context. Specimens close to types A161–162 were discovered in four graves (X, XVI, XXV, XXXIV). Specimens recorded in graves XVI (Fig. 4/XVI:1), XXV and XXXIV, with an arched or a knee-shaped bow, belong in phases C1b–C2, and a fibula from grave X, with a flat ribbon bow, is datable to phases C3–D. The remaining five tendril brooches are specimens with the end of the foot hammered flat into a catch, types A172 and A168/172. Four of these come from graves (VII, IX, XXXI, XXXIV), one was a stray find. Type A172 brooches are characteristic mainly for deposits attributable to so-called Gothic cultures. They are dated starting from phase C2 until the early segment of the Migration Period although they are regarded by some researchers as forms restricted to phase C3. Nevertheless, fibulae A172 may probably be recognised as a form diagnostic for the final phase of Wielbark Culture occupation corresponding to phases C3–D. Grave XXII contained a fibula type A185 with “an openwork” foot. Its bow was decorated with cross-wise incisions to imitate coiled wire seen Almgren 1 series VI group brooches. Similar forms were discovered e.g., at Niedanowo, graves 539 and 549, and Pruszcz Gdański 6 (former Prauster Dreieck); their dating is confined to phases C2–D. Gave XXXI, datable to phases C3–D, contained a brooch with a lozengic foot, similar to type A175, known as Elbefibel. These forms are characteristic mainly for northern Europe where they are dated mostly to phases C2 and C3. In Wielbark Culture this fibula form is rare, is recorded at e.g., Bzowo, Malbork-Wielbark, grave 1334 [133?], Stary Targ, grave 241, and is dated mainly to phases C3–D. In grave XXVII there were two ‘caterpillar’ brooches (Raupenfibel), variant 1b, variety A, series II of M. Tuszyńska. This form is recorded mostly on the southern Baltic littoral, most often, in Wielbark Culture and in West Balt cultures, where it is dated mainly to phases C3–D. From grave XVII comes a fibula with a large half-round disc on the head, so-called Spiralplattenfibeln. This find from Kozłówko is related to type Soest-Ardey. The variant is observed mainly on the territory of Wielbark Culture and in the region between the Elbe and the Rhine; it is dated to the second half of the 4th and onset of the 5th century. Grave XXI contained a fragment of a brooch with a round disc on the foot, design ZG 47 of A. Kokowski. This form, quite popular in the Wielbark Culture, is dated to phase C3–D. Another group of finds from the cemetery at Kozłówko are ten bronze buckles – a single stray surface find and specimens originating from seven graves (VII, X, XIX, XX, XXI, XXVIII, XXXVII). Two specimens, type AC13–17, were discovered in grave XXVIII; graves VII and, probably, grave XX, contained type AD11 forms. Type AD30, dated to phases B2/C1–C2, is represented by the stray buckle discovered on the surface of the cemetery type AE4, from phases C1b–C2, is represented by a large specimen discovered in grave XXXVII. Grave XXI contained a buckle type AH11. A similar specimen, presumably, type AH14, was found in grave XX. A type AH16 or AH27 buckle was discovered in grave X. The three last finds are dated to phase C3–D. Fragments of thick-walled glass vessels, including types E 230 and E 237, were discovered in at least seventeen graves, not only in richly furnished burials but also assemblages with a very modest inventory. On most occasions they occurred in company of wheel-made vessels. This situation was recorded in no less than nine graves (IV–VII, IX, XI, XII, XXXI, XL). Hand-built pottery, mainly bowls from groups VI, XIV and XVIII of R. Wołągiewicz, were observed in twenty-seven features. Most of these vessels survived in fragmented form, their number in individual assemblages usually ranged from one to three, but in nine assemblages (VIII–X, XII, XVI, XXI, XXII, XXXI, XXIV) there were more of these pieces – up to no less than eight. These graves represented the best furnished burials in the cemetery. Finally, there were personal ornaments and dress accessories: a shield-headed bracelet (grave A), a finger-ring (grave XXXIV), bucket pendants (grave XXII), a bell pendant (grave XXXI), wire and bead pendants (graves VI, VIII, XXXI, XXXIV), glass beads (graves II, VI, VIII, X, XV, XVI, XVIII, XIX, XXVI, XXXI, XXXIV, XXXVII), and ornamental clay globular objects (grave XXXI). There was also a smaller group of items of everyday use: needles or awls (graves XXXVI, XXXIX, XXXVII), bone combs (graves VI, XXIX), an ear pick (grave XIX), spindle-whorls (graves VI, X, XXXI, XXXIV, XXXVIII, a stray find), fire-making tools (grave XXXII, a stray find) and metal casket mounts (grave XXXVII). The cemetery at Kozłówko was established during phase B2/C1–C1a, as is evidenced by the inventory of grave A. Very likely, graves XXX and XXXVI containing black cinerary urns also belong in this phase. The remainder of the reliably dated graves are younger and may be distinguished into two groups. Group I would include four graves (XVI, XXV, XXXVII, XXXIX) datable by the presence in their inventory of A161–162 brooches and a buckle with an omega-shaped frame to phases C1b–C2. Group II is larger and includes nine features (VI, VII, X, XVII, XX, XXI, XXVII, XXXIV, XXXI). The presence in them of brooches type A172, A VI series 2, glass bowls E 230 and E 237, and of buckles with a thickened frame, establishes the dating of this group fairly reliably as phases C3–D. The dating of late phase C2 or onset of phases C3–D is suggested for grave XXII by the presence in it of the fibula with the ‘openwork foot’ and of a glass bowl E 230. Left outside group I and group II, are seven assemblages furnished only with ceramic vessels and fragments of glasses which prevented their attribution to either of these groups. The exceedingly small number of graves attributable to the earliest phase of the cemetery and the domination of burials dating from a later period suggest that the investigation took in mainly the youngest fragment of the grave-site. What is striking is that a cemetery with such an large surface area contained so few features (on average, 3–4 graves per 100 m2); could it be that the boundaries of this site were identified incorrectly? The cemetery at Kozłówko belongs to a local micro-region of Wielbark Culture settlement defined as the Nidzica concentration which occupied the northern fringe of the present day province of Mazowsze, extended in the south to the Działdówka R., in the east, to the Nida R.; its northern boundary was defined by a series of lakes bordering on the moraine heights of Garb Lubawski. The western boundary is more elusive – the westernmost site attributed to the Nidzica concentration may have been recorded near the village Gródki, distr. Działdowo (former Grodtken, Kr. Soldau). Outside this relatively compact area we can probably attribute to the same group isolated sites identified on the left bank of the Nida R. – at Pokrzywnica Wielka, Szczepkowo Zalesie and Muszaki (former Muschaken, Kr. Neidenburg), all of them in distr. Nidzica. So far from this area we have a record on a dozen-odd sites of Wielbark Culture. Most were investigated before WW II and this affects the amount of data available at present. The beginning of Wielbark Culture settlement in this area started presumably during phase B2/C1. Numerous burials from this period were identified at nearly all the sites of the Nidzica concentration – at Kozłówko, Niedanowo 2, Turza Wielka, distr. Działdowo (former Groß Tauersee, Kr. Soldau), Litwinki, distr. Nidzica (former Littfinken, Kr. Neidenburg), Turza Mała, distr. Nidzica (former Klein Tauersee, Kr. Neidenburg), Wilamowo, distr. Nidzica (former Wilmsdorf, Kr. Neidenburg), and possibly, also Pielgrzymowo, distr. Nidzica (former Pilgramsdorf, Kr. Neidenburg) and Sławka Wielka, distr. Nidzica (former Groß Schlaffken, Kr. Neidenburg). During phase C1b–C2 most of the cemeteries already established earlier were still in use – as documented by substantial evidence from this period recorded at e.g., Kozłówko, Niedanowo 1 and 2, Litwinki and Sławka Wielka. Also noteworthy is the rich barrow burial no. I identified at Pielgrzymowo, which is placed mostly in late phase C2, or possibly at the onset of phases C3–D. At the close of the Roman Period and the beginning of the Migration Period the number of graves in some cemeteries visibly increase, e.g., at Niedanowo and Kozłówko. The presence of numerous objects foreign to the Wielbark tradition, e.g., glass vessels, suggest that the people inhabiting in northern Mazowsze took part in exchange with the outside world. The special role of the Nidzica concentration is confirmed by the grave inventories recorded at Kozłówko. The higher than average number of glass vessels and wheel-made wares discovered at this cemetery documents the existence of intensive exchange between the community of users of this grave-site with the Black Sea region. Individual finds (e.g., A175, A185 brooches), which may be referred to materials characteristic for western Pomerania, lands on the Elbe R. and Scandinavia, attest to connections with the south-western region of the Barbaricum. Both directions of exchange may be attributed to the existence at the close of Antiquity of a network of extensive contacts, in which – it seems – the local populations had a significant share. Connections with the eastern Baltic region are evidenced by the find of an iron pendant discovered in grave XXXI, a form distinctive above all for Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture.

9

Terra sigillata z cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej w Jartyporach na zachodnim Podlasiu

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Andrzejowski J., Przychodni A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2008

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vol. LX

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issue 60

161-178

EN

The cemetery at Jartypory, distr. Węgrów in eastern Poland1 (Fig. 1), is one of the largest known gravefields of the Wielbark culture in right-bank Mazowsze and in Podlasie. So far, the excavated area of ca 1550 m2 yielded almost 400 graves, both inhumation and cremation, dated to phases B2/C1–C2 of the Late Roman Period; stray finds indicate that the site continued in use until the early phase of the Migration Period2. A cremation pit grave 106 (Fig. 2, 3) contained ca 50 fragments of terra sigillata, dispersed within the pit fill. They were reassembled into a bowl – H. ca 10 cm, R. 18 cm and B. 7.5 cm (Fig. 4a.b). The same grave assemblage also featured fragments of melted pale yellow glass from an undetermined vessel, sherds of locally produced hand--built pottery vessels (Fig. 5c–f), fragments of a tri-layer antler comb (Fig. 5a), and a bronze belt buckle (Fig. 5b). A small quantity of heavily burnt and very poorly preserved bones belonged to a male (?), 30–50 years old (adultus−maturus)5. Dating the assemblage is quite difficult. The only diagnostic element is a large and solid elbow handle (surviving length ca 11 cm!), presumably from a type IXA jug (Fig. 5d), datable to phase C1b–C28–16. Grave 106 partly intruded on the pits of graves 122 and 126 (Fig. 2, 3a,). Of these, grave 126 cannot be dated more closely and grave 122 is placed in phases C1b–C217. In any case, the top layer of grave 122 yielded two fragments of a terra sigillata vessel and further isolated fragments occurred in graves 102B and 107, with some stray pieces discovered in the direct neighbourhood of grave 106 (Fig. 6). It is interesting that a terra sigillata rim sherd, perhaps from the same vessel, was discovered at the bottom of the humus layer ca 22 m (!) to the west of grave 106. Since all these fragments may be refitted with the vessel from grave 106, presumably they must have become relocated from the upper layer of that grave. Grave 102B may be dated only broadly to the Late Roman Period, it is possible to define the chronology of grave 10719 reliably as phase C1b, which, at the same time, is the terminus ante quem of the burial in grave 106. All of which ultimately places grave 106 in phase C1b. The reconstruction of the terra sigillata vessel as a Drag. 37 bowl22 is beyond question. Bowls of this type prevail among finds of terra sigillata from the area of Middle European Barbaricum, in Poland they make up almost 95% of vessels determined morphologically. What is exceptional is ornamentation of the bowl from Jartypory. It includes (cf fig. 4a): 1. The raised potter’s stamp, (STA)TVT(VSF) (?), similar to the one published by W. Ludowici26 (cf fig. 7a); 2. Ovolo, Ricken-Fischer25 E28 (cf fig. 7b); 3. Bull turned right, Ricken-Fischer T119a (cf fig. 7c); 4. Deer turned left, Ricken-Fischer T82a (cf fig. 7d); 5. Lioness turned right, Ricken-Fischer T35a (cf fig. 7e); 6. Archer, Ricken-Fischer M174g (cf fig. 7f); 7. Unidentified animal turned left. Both the stamp and the surviving set of ornaments help in tracing the vessel from Jartypory to the wares of STATUTUS I from Rheinzabern, classified to group IIIb acc. to H. Bernhard27. The time of production of the bowl can be determined broadly as the second terce of the 3rd c. (AD 233–260/275). Most of the fragments of the terra sigillata bowl from Jartypory are burnt, but a few show no trace of fire or only light discolorations of its dark red slip. Combined all the bowl fragments from grave 106 comprise only 20–30% of the vessel, which must follow from the failure to recover all of the mortuary furnishings from the remains of the burnt pyre. At the same time it is hard to say whether the fact of the deposition in the grave of fragments of an incomplete vessel results from the application of the principle of pars pro toto or from other elements of the funerary ritual unclear to us at present. Finds of samian wares in the Wielbark Culture territory are exceedingly rare (Fig. 8): so far from 20 sites (including Jartypory) we have just 22–24 vessels. For comparison, the area of Przeworsk Culture has yielded not less than 395 terra sigillata vessels so far. To the list of samian wares from Wielbark Culture4 may be added also a new find from Czarnówko, distr. Lębork, grave 37345, a fragment from Warzawa-Dotrzyma46, and perhaps, also a fragment from Lubartów, distr. loco, both fragments attributed previously to Przeworsk Culture48. In the case of fragments of samian wares from Opoka, distr. Puławy50, and from Gościeradów, distr. Kraśnik51, it is possible equally well to link them with Przeworsk Culture as with Wielbark Culture. At the same time, it is necessary to remove from the list of Wielbark Culture finds the fragment from Masłomęcz, distr. Hrubieszów, grave 41754, which in reality is a sherd of a hand-built vessel of local make, and an unreliably dated and attributed fragment of terra sigillata from a southern Gaulish workshop discovered at Kopyłów, distr. Hrubieszów53. The Drag. 37 bowl from Jartypory, produced AD 233–260/275, is the latest terra sigillata find from the area of Wielbark Culture, younger than samian wares from Pfaffenhofen dated to the first and the beginning of the second terce of the 3rd c. known from a grave from Janowo30, and from a destroyed grave from Pomielin, distr. Iława31. At the same time, all the three sigillata finds come from assemblages dated reliably to phase C1b. The vessel from Jartypory is also one of very few pieces of evidence on the coming to the territory of Poland of terra sigillata from Rheinzabern produced after AD 230, noted, until recently, only on territory of Przeworsk Culture.68–70 The structure of terra sigillata finds from the area of Wielbark Culture does not show any regularity when it comes to the participation of individual workshops and gives an impression that the collection is quite random; at the same time, selection of vessels suggests that emphasis was placed on pieces of better quality. In most cases samian wares in Wielbark deposits are intact vessels from the furnishings of rich inhumations (region of Gdańsk88 [?], Gronowo, distr. Drawsko Pom., grave 1/2657, Odry, distr. Chojnice, grave 42357, Pomielin31, Weklice, distr. Elbląg, grave 20862, Malbork-Wielbark, distr. loco93) or – which is quite interesting – urns in cremation graves (Domkowo, distr. Ostróda95, Leśno, distr. Chojnice, site 196, Sadłowo, distr. Rypin33). In six cases (Ciemniewko, distr. Ciechanów58–60, Czarnówko45, Janowo30, Jartypory, Kleszewo, distr. Pułtusk, grave 150103, Warszawa-Dotrzyma46) occurred in cremation graves as burnt fragments; the remaining terra sigillata finds are from earlier discoveries, badly documented or not at all (Dębice, town of Elbląg65, Iława, distr. loco39), or from destroyed features (Gostkowo-Folsąg, distr. Toruń105, Sopot, distr. loco106). Urns from Leśno and Sadłowo are vessels from the workshop COMITIALIS SECUNDIN.AVI from Rheinzabern. A single vessel from this workshop is known from the area of Przeworsk Culture (Opatów, distr. Kłobuck98); similarly as only a single find of a late Severan complete Rheinzabern vessel (Lisów, distr. Opatów99). A context of discovery of sigillata definitely similar to the one at Jartypory was noted at Janowo and Kleszewo, and perhaps also at Ciemniewko; the grave from Czarnówko was decidedly much richer, with a bronze vessel, gold ornaments and glass gaming counters. The number of terra sigillata vessels in Wielbark Culture and the character of these finds suggests a greater importance of this category of imports as a mark of status than in case of Przeworsk Culture, perhaps due also to the smaller availability of samian wares in the Wielbark environment. At the same time, all our conclusions in this regard are seriously limited by the fact that in case of Wielbark Culture die wiederentdeckte Kultur is represented almost exclusively by cemeteries and stray finds. Nevertheless the differences in the number, dating of the influx, centres of production of terra sigillata vessel finds from the area of Wielbark and Przeworsk Culture are quite significant and – apparently – not random, even if compare only the material from graves and cemeteries.

10

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.

11

Wybrane groby z importami rzymskimi z cmentarzyska w Weklicach, pow. elbląski, stan. 7

75%

Natuniewicz-Sekuła M., Okulicz-Kozaryn J.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2007

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vol. LIX

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issue 59

45-75

EN

In archaeological literature Elbląg Heights, in the eastern reaches of Vistula River delta, have been considered for some time as an important meeting ground for different peoples settled on the Baltic Sea during the Roman Period. This was suggested by the dense network of settlements and cemeteries dating from that period and grave inventories rich in prestigious local ornaments and Roman imports. Of 20 sites clustered along the margin of the upland (Fig. 1, 2) of special interest is the Wielbark Culture cemetery at Weklice, comm. and distr. Elbląg, site 7 (former Wöklitz vel Woeklitz, Kr. Elbing). In 2006 excavation was made of more than 1900 m2. Jointly with graves identified before 1945 the investigation produced 529 features; among them, 478 cremation and inhumation burials; a large percentage of grave deposits had been destroyed still during antiquity or the modern period. The dominant form of burial was inhumation (308); of 170 cremation graves the majority were urned, with no legible traces of the grave pit; pit burials were much less common. A special feature at Weklice was that graves crowded in a relatively small area, and – except in a small number of cases – there was no legible planigraphy. Many of the inhumation graves cut into other similar deposits and were themselves similarly disturbed; many cremation graves cut into inhumation graves and there were several robber trenches both of the antique and later periods. A preliminary analysis of cemetery chronology helped distinguish six phases (I–VI) early phase B1 to C2 (possibly even C3–D1?). Inhumation burials no. 208 and 495 belong the small number of well-preserved richly furnished graves dated to phase III of the cemetery, synchronized with phase B2/C1–C1a. Grave no. 208 (Fig. 3) discovered on the S slope of an elevation, disturbed in its upper layer by later burials. Rectangular 3.6×12 m outline of the grave pit, aligned NW-SE, detected at the depth of 1.2 m, ca 20 cm above the level of the burial. Traces of an oak box coffin survived at pit bottom; originally a stela had stood in S part of the grave pit. Incomplete skeletal remains of a senilis woman: teeth, fragments of the cranium and fragments of bones of forearms. Dress fittings in their original position within the outline of the skeleton. Above the cranium in N corner of the coffin, three imported vessels. 1.2. Pair of silver brooches type A II 41 (Fig. 4:1.2). 3. Silver brooch, group A VII, series 1, similar to type A VII 201 (Fig. 4:3). 4.5. Pair of silver snake-shaped bracelets, type Blume B, similar to type Wójcik IIIBb (Fig. 4:4.5). 6.7. Pair of silver wave-shaped bracelets (Wellenarmringe) (Fig. 4:6.7). 8. Gold S-clasp, type B (Fig. 4:8). 9.10. Two gold conical beads (Fig. 4:9.10). 11. Bronze needle fragment (Fig. 4:11). 12. Gilded silver disc brooch: round silver sheet disc wrapped in gilded foil, soldered on with tin-lead solder, on gilded foil, impressed image of emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, foil with its own soldered on border of gilded foil impressed with laurel wreath pattern (Fig. 5:12.12a). 13. Bronze belt buckle with buckle plate, type similar to AG29 (Fig. 5:13). 14. Bronze strap end, group JII, possibly type JII3 (Fig. 5:14). 15. Terra sigillata bowl, Dragendorff 37, variant of profile 168,14. Handsome good quality pure dark orange glaze (Fig. 6). 16. Cantharos (discovered inside the terra sigillata bowl); green slipped with light gold glaze; on the body, three horizontal rows of barbotine (Fig. 7). 17. Bronze kettle, type E 48, fractured handle mounts: the original stylised swan’s head mount, probably soldered flush with the handle; the other – quite crude, riveted on (Fig. 8). In Central European Barbaricum finds of imported Roman disc brooches are exceedingly rare. Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus identified on the fibula from grave 208 were co-emperors in AD 161–169. Here they are shown in high detail in an official double portrait expressing the idea of Concordiae augustorum. According to the analysis of this particular composition the image could have been impressed onto the foil from an intaglio while the laurel wreath motif was impressed from a different object, presumably, a medallion. The provenance of the brooch is unknown. A small group of disc brooches ornamented with foil decorated with the image of an emperor have been traced to Roman provinces and areas across the limes. The belt buckle differs from local bronzes discovered at Weklice by its unusual olive green patina, excellent casting and perfect polish of its surface. It finds correspondence in imitations of provincial Roman buckles, type Třebusice. The strap end was cast from similarly high class copper alloy and was equally well polished. Characteristic stylistic features of the entire decorative ensemble seen on the terra sigillata bowl suggest its origin as Central Gaulish workshops centred on Lezoux active in the latter half of the AD 2nd c. as well as association with the potter Cinnamus. Finds of glazed cantharoi north of the Danube are rare. Only six specimens are known from territory of Poland. Similarity of form, ornamentation and glaze suggests that the vessel from Weklice belongs to a group of vessels produced in central Italian workshops, in Latium or northern Campania. Their time of influx to Poland was probably ca AD 150, which corresponds to the wave of influx of Central Gaulish terra sigillata. Bronze kettles type E48, variants with oblique grooves, are the most popular form recorded in Barbaricum. Their two largest concentrations are known from the Danish Islands and the Vistula delta. Provenance of E 44–49 kettles is not fully clear given the almost complete absence of these vessel finds in Roman provinces. Grave no. 495 (Fig. 9) discovered on top of the elevation; the northernmost burial in the cemetery so far. Grave pit, aligned N-S, sub-rectangular, with rounded corners. Two small pits of irregular shape in NW and SE corners of the pit (resp., pits 495b and 495a) contained stones. The central part of the grave destroyed by animal burrow. Upper layer of grave pit contained a small number of tiny burnt human bones, charcoal and 10 heavily burnt sherds. An incomplete burial of a maturus female and grave furnishings found ca 62 cm below ground level; no burnt bones found in this layer. Local ‘Barbarian’ dress elements (brooch and amber bead) discovered on a secondary deposit; in the N part of the pit in situ deposit – set of imported vessels arranged around the remains of wooden casket still retaining metal fittings. 1. Bronze brooch, type A II 41 (Fig. 10:1). 2. Bronze needle or brooch pin, two fragments (Fig. 10:2). 3. Amber disc bead, hand-polished, type TM 389 (Fig. 10:3). 4. Glass bead fragment, transparent yellow glass (Fig. 10:4). 5. 10 sherds of miniature vessel (Fig. 10:5). 6–10. Wooden casket. Traces of two sides and two fragments of lid. On underside of lid, bronze rectangular lock mount fastened to wood by 4 bronze rivets (Fig. 10:6.7a–e); 2 further bronze rivets attached to both edges of lid (Fig. 10:9.10). Under the lock mount, rectangular bronze sheet plaque (Fig. 10:8), presumably part of the lock mount covering one of the key holes. At centre of casket, bronze lock spring with double wing made of two separate rods; in the longer wing at ⅔ of its length an opening, presumably for attaching the spring to casket (Fig. 10:11). 12. Bronze saucepan, type E 142, with stamp of manufacturer TALIO.F. (Talio fecit) on the handle; tinned inside and outside on upper body (Fig. 11, 12). 13.14. Bronze ladle and strainer set, type E 161 (Fig. 13). 15.16. Two glass cups, type E188a, transparent light green glass; ornamented on body with two applied glass threads interlaced in a figure-of-eight pattern (Fig. 14). According to a new system of classification of vesselsstamped with their maker’s name the Roman bronze saucepan, type E 142, from grave 495 is classifiable to type V,4b (grouping types Eggers 139–142), specimens having a deep bowl a ring handle. The find from Weklice has only two known parallels in Poland: variant V,4c, from Łęg Piekarski, distr. Turek (phase B1c) and variant V,4b, from Żegocino, distr. Sławno (phase C1). The bronze saucepan from Weklice is one of only six specimens stamped TALIO.F known from Barbaricum and Roman provinces (Fig. 15). A craftsman by the name of Talius may have been associated with early 2nd c. AD Gaulish metalworking workshops. The bronze ladle and strainer set, type E 161, belongs to the so-called late forms which arrived to Poland by sea from the mouth of the Rhine by way of Danish Isles. Production of such sets in Gaul intensified around AD 150; similar sets may have been manufactured also in Pannonia. Outside the Empire the largest number of complete ladle and strainer sets is recorded in Scandinavia, mostly Zealand and Fyn. Taking into account the Weklice find, type E 161 forms are now represented in Poland by 23 items, complete sets or otherwise. Glass cups, type E 188, are extremely rare in Barbaricum. A pair analogous to the specimens from Weklice occurred at Linówiec, distr. Starogard Gdański, in an assemblage from phase B2/C1–C1a. The deposit of imported Roman vessels from grave 495 represents a typical Roman wine-drinking set which included a bronze bucket, cauldron or a pan, a ladle and wine-strainer set as well as a pair of metal or glass drinking vessels. The set of ornaments discovered in grave 208 – 10 local forms in the so-called ‘Wielbark baroque style’, and three items apparently imported from the Roman Empire – are of great value for refining the chronology of phase III of the cemetery at Weklice, corresponding to phase B2/C1–C1a. Especially significant are the paired silver brooches, type A II 41, and the silver crossbow brooch with a high catchplate, similar to type A VII 201. The gravefield at Weklice yielded 63 brooches which by their attributes correspond to type A II 40–41, all the variants recently distinguished by Jan Schuster (Fig. 16–19). Additionally, site produced 12 brooches less easy to fit into the typology which correspond by their parameters and details of construction both to type A II 38, and type A II 40–41 (Fig. 20). In their majority they are in bronze, but in no less than 15 cases – in silver. Different variants of type A II 40–41 brooches occurred in association with brooches of having an ‘Early Roman’ construction (type A V 126–128 – graves 250, 452, 467; type similar to A V 130 – grave 252; type A V 132 – graves 402, 434) but also others which had a ‘Late Roman’ construction (type A VII 201–202 –graves 208, 256, 342, 455; type A VI 161/162 – graves 192, 353; type similar to A VI 167 – grave 452). This second group evidently define the younger horizon of phase III of the cemetery; other local forms also co-occurred with Early Roman and Late Roman finds. It is notable that all of type A II 40–41 specimens recorded in association with Late Roman fibulae have a relatively high catchplate, a detail characteristic for group VII brooches; this is also true of the brooch type A II 40–41 from grave 495. The large number of cases of co-occurrence at Weklice of ‘Early Roman’ and ‘Late Roman’ brooches lend weight to the proposition made in the past by Ryszard Wołągiewicz that in Wielbark Culture. Early Roman brooches continued in use until phase C1b. It is worth noting that grave assemblages no. 208 and 495 from Weklice define the later chronological sub-phase of phase B2/C1C1a with a greater affinity with the Late Roman Period which at the present stage of research cannot be specified in greater detail.

12

Materiały krzemienne z cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej w Weklicach, stan. 7, pow. elbląski

75%

Natuniewicz-Sekuła M., Werra D. H.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

197-210

EN

The article reports on a group of 22 flint artefacts (Table 1, fig. 1–4) recovered in 2012 and 2013 from the fill of graves and a feature (graves nos. 586, 587, 588, 590; feature 590A – a robbery tunnel leading to grave 590), and from a layer [100A-B] underlying the bottom of the pits of the graves named above. The flint assemblage is marked by the diversity of its raw material in terms of colour, translucence and lustre (Table 1). Most specimens were struck from a local resource (Baltic erratic flint, Pomeranian flint). Flakes form the largest group, followed by, blades and flint waste. The absence of diagnostic flints and core forms prevents closer chronological determinations. The flints could be the remains of activity by prehistoric communities spanning the Final Palaeolithic through to the Early Bronze Age. A more outstanding find in the group is an endscraper struck from Baltic erratic flint recovered from layer [100B] below grave 586 (Fig. 1:8) and a side crested blade of Pomeranian flint – recovered from layer [100B] below grave 586 (Fig. 1:5). However, the chronological and cultural attribution of these finds cannot be determined basing on their metric and technological attributes. The most interesting in the presented assemblage is a retouched blade discovered in grave 588 (Fig. 1:12). Its material is Cretaceous flint (Volhynian flint?). Basing on its metric parameters, its material and the presence of trough-like retouch this piece may be assigned to Eneolithic flint working (A. Zakościelna 1996, p. 105). Similar retouched blades struck from Cretaceous flint with a stepped and trough-like retouch are known from the assemblages known from the Lublin-Volhynian, Funnel Beaker and Tripolye Cultures (A. Kulczycka-Leciejewiczowa 1979; J. Libera, A. Zakościelna 2006). The stratigraphic situation not understood sufficiently enough to allow more general conclusions on the character and dating of the layer containing the flints. Nevertheless, the presence of worked flints in a Roman Period cemetery suggests a number of possible interpretations: 1) the flints are residual artefacts, introduced into the fill of the Wielbark Culture graves when they were cut into an older stratigraphy; 2) the flints are part of Wielbark Culture flint working; 3) they are flint artefacts from an earlier age that were deposited intentionally in the graves by the Wielbark community.

13

Kopce kultury wielbarskiej z Mazowsza i Podlasia a tzw. typ rostołcki – próba nowego spojrzenia na związki cmentarzysk kurhanowych z północnej i wschodniej Polski

75%

Cieśliński A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2014

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vol. LXV

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issue 65

45-93

EN

A more remarkable feature of the burial customs practiced by the Wielbark culture people during the Younger and the Late Roman Period and early phase of the Migration Period are distinctive barrows recorded in the right-bank Mazowsze and Podlasie, described in the Polish research tradition as Rostołty type. According to their rather general definition these are large barrows (diameter range of c. 20–60 m), some set apart by the presence of one of more of the following structural elements: internal, round core of several layers of stone, an overlying earth mound and an additional layer of stones laid over the mound, so-called “mantle” (cf. Fig. 2, 5). In earlier analyses barrows of Rostołty type most often were treated as a regional phenomenon (J. Jaskanis 1976; 2012), this despite the occurrence in Wielbark culture territory of one more area with barrow cemeteries, namely, in Pomerania and in the northern reaches of Greater Poland (Fig. 1). In fact, the tumuli of the Wielbark culture from the two zones display a close relationship, one that was pointed out at one time by R. Wołągiewicz (1977; 1986). This fact does not surprise because the area of present day northern Poland is where we have to locate the source area of the migration Wielbark culture people to south-eastern Europe, so well confirmed by the archaeological record and the written sources. The aim of the present text is thus to find out whether the appearance of the barrow cemeteries in Mazowsze and Podlasie may be interpreted as an expression of translation of certain elements of the burial tradition by the migrating Wielbark culture communities. The first requisite step towards grasping the relationship between the barrow cemeteries of northern and eastern Poland was determining the chronological frames of their use. Chronological analysis of the precisely dated cemeteries showed that, except for the cemetery at Nowy Łowicz, the youngest burials from northern Poland have a dating of phase B2/C1–C1a, while the earliest burials in eastern Poland date from stadium C1b. Also known from both these zones of Wielbark culture settlement are assemblages with artefact dated within the broader frames of phase C1 indicating that the date of the decline of the barrow-building tradition in Pomerania may be moved to stadium C1b (cf. Fig. 7), and the time of appearance of the first tumuli in Mazowsze and Podlasie – to stadium C1a (cf. Fig. 8–9). This surmise becomes more plausible once we include in our analysis flat graves, for example, those at Odry (Pomerania) which are dated at least until stadium C1b, and at Cecele (Podlasie) as early as starting from phase B2/C1–C1a. The chronology of barrow cemeteries presented here corroborates the argument that Wielbark culture communities migrating from northern Poland carried the custom of barrow-building to the eastern region. This hypothesis had to be tested by studying the similarities and differences displayed by the barrow cemeteries known from the two settlement zones of Wielbark culture. The analysis focused on several questions: the siting of the cemeteries, their surface area, number of barrows in a cemetery, presence of flat graves between the barrows, use of the cemetery space, barrow size and construction design, burial rite and grave goods models. The result of the study was identification of a series of similarities shared by the barrow cemeteries of northern and of eastern Poland. One example would be two models of siting of the cemetery observed in both zones: the first, near rivers, and at the same time, at a relatively small elevation above the floodplain, the second, at some distance from the watercourse, on a prominent elevation (Fig. 11–13). Similarities are observed also in the main rules of construction design of the tumuli, as is shown e.g., by the presence of stone circles around the cores (type 4 acc. to Wołągiewicz; cf. Fig. 16, 24) or at some distance from them (type 5; cf. Fig. 16, 18). Also recurring in the northern and the eastern zone of barrow cemeteries are elements of the burial rite: the occurrence of graves in the so-called flat areas (Fig. 14), bi-ritual character of most cemeteries, identical types of cremation and inhumation graves (also of the more rare types, as e.g., burials in the form of a cremation spread out in a layer at the base of the barrow) or the remains of similar ritual activities (ritual hearths; Fig. 30). Analysis of the grave inventories, unfortunately rather limited due to the destruction of many tumuli, reveals similar models of grave furnishings as well as differences in their wealth, both in northern and in eastern Poland. At one end of the scale are burials without grave goods altogether or with their limited selection (cf. Fig. 8, 9), at the other end - graves with elaborate inventories intimating the connection of the dead individual to the ruling elite (cf. Fig. 31–33). Next to the prevailing similarities shared by the barrow cemeteries in northern and eastern Poland in some specific aspects differences are also visible. Most notable is the different frequency of specific features of the barrows in the two zones, something that is well apparent during the analysis of their size and construction design. In northern Poland the dominant form is a small mound (less than 15 m in diameter) with a stone core covering almost the whole base of the barrow, whereas in eastern Poland the prevalent form is a large tumulus (over 15 m in diameter) with a visibly domed and centrally situated core. In Pomerania and in Greater Poland barrows with a stone core are encountered only exceptionally, but despite this it is possible to indicate a series of constructions which presumably are their prototypes (cf. Fig. 19, 20). We mean here arrangements in the form of flat stone pavements surrounded by a stone circle, or pavements and circles covered by earth mounds which resemble in their form the construction of mounds known from Mazowsze and Podlasie. This suggests that differences between northern and eastern Poland may have been caused by evolutionary change at work in the burial ritual of the Wielbark Culture people during the Younger Roman Period. The comparison made of Wielbark Culture barrow cemeteries recorded in northern and eastern Poland presented here definitely does not exhaust this complex and until now very superficially understood problem. But it does indicate without ambiguity the close relationship of barrow cemeteries from their two zones of occurrence and undermines the legitimacy of isolating a regionally confined Rostołty type. What is more, a closer look at the criteria used in separating this type makes it evident that a large group of barrows, assigned in earlier literature to Rostołty type, do not meet one, or even several, of the criteria. We mean here first of all small mounds with a several layers of stone covering nearly the entire base of the tumulus (cf. Fig. 18:2, 24), not infrequently laid over a grave containing only average grave goods, showing the greatest similarity to Wielbark culture barrows known from Pomerania and Greater Poland.

14

Ceramika kultur oksywskiej i wielbarskiej z Pucka na Pomorzu Wschodnim

75%

Chrupek S.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2019

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vol. LXX

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issue 70

203-210

EN

The article presents an analysis of the settlement pottery of the Oksywie and Wielbark Cultures obtained during excavations of the medieval town hall at Plac Wolności (Liberty Square) in Puck in the county of the same name in the years 2007–2010 (Fig. 1). The works yielded 988 potsherds, the majority of which represent the Oksywie culture and are dated to the Late Pre-Roman Period. Wielbark culture pottery from the Roman period was recorded in smaller numbers, as were the sherds characteristic of the Lusatian and Pomeranian Cultures not included in this study. Ceramic material occurred in a single layer under the primary humus, with only a few secondarily displaced fragments found in medieval layers. Neither settlement features nor distinct pottery clusters were observed in the prehistoric layer. The pottery of the Oksywie and Wielbark Cultures was classified based on the findings of A. Strobin (2011) and the study by R. Wołągiewicz (1993), respectively. Most of the very fragmented ceramic material consists of rim sherds and upper body sherds from large (Fig. 2:1–4, 3:1.2), medium (Fig. 3:3. 4:1), and small (Fig. 4:2–4) vessels of different forms and with mouth diameters smaller or equal to the greatest diameter of the body. Among the few identified specimens, there is a medium-sized, Oksywie Culture type V.L vase (Fig. 3:3) and a type VI.C cup (Fig. 4:5) acc. to A. Strobin (2011). A fragment of an inturned rim (Fig. 4:6) probably comes from a handleless type IA pot acc. to R. Wołągiewicz (1993), a form prevalent throughout the entire Roman Period. The shape of the rims (Fig. 2, 3, 4:1–5, 5:2–10) of the Oksywie and Wielbark vessels is characteristic of the pottery made from the end of phase A2 / beginning of phase A3 to the beginning of phase B1, which would indicate continued settlement of the both cultural units at the turn of the era in the area of the present-day market town square in Puck. The few ornamented sherds decorated predominantly with vertical, horizontal, or oblique grooves (Fig. 5:12–14) came from the vessels of both the Oksywie and Wielbark Cultures. The sherd with an obliquely incised applied band of clay separated from an ornament of grooved oblique chevrons forming a zigzag by a smooth band (Fig. 5:11) as well as another fragment covered with lines made with a comb (Fig. 5:15) are typical of the Wielbark Culture. An interesting find is the ceramic disc (Fig. 5:16). Until recently, such objects of unclear purpose have been encountered solely at the Przeworsk culture settlements and have appeared in the features associated with the Wielbark culture only at the multicultural sites in Juszkowo-Rusocin, Gdańsk County (J. Bednarczyk, A. Romańska 2011, 181, fig. II:4.5.8–11, pl. II:4.2) and Lipianki, Kwidzyn County (A. Strobin 2015, p. 138–139, figs. 14:2, 20:4, 33:9). The settlement of the Oksywie and Wielbark Cultures in Puck was situated near a cliff over the Bay of Puck (M. Starski 2011a, pl. 66, fig. 2); such a location is characteristic of the Kashubian Coast sites from the Late Pre-Roman Period (K. Przewoźna 1974a, 172; 1974b, 37). It could have belonged to the Oksywie Culture settlement cluster, composed of the settlements in Jastarnia, Ostrów, Białogóra, and Tupadły and the cemeteries in Karlikowo, Krokowa and Połchowo, all in the County of Puck. Unfortunately, it is difficult to characterise the settlement of the Oksywie and Wielbark Cultures in the area of Kępa Pucka and its surroundings in more detail, as for most of the local sites we only have very sparse information at our disposal.

15

Sadłowo – nowa karta w badaniach osadnictwa kultury wielbarskiej na ziemi dobrzyńskiej

75%

Kurpiewski A., Lewandowska J.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2013

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vol. LXIV

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issue 64

172-190

EN

The Roman Period cemetery, published under the name of the village of Sadłowo, is noted as a site of two outstanding Roman imports: a terra sigillata bowl and a glass vessel discovered in 1927 during the construction of a narrow gauge railway (W. Antoniewicz 1930; J. Andrzejowski 2003). An archaeological surface investigation made in 2011 (incl. metal detection) identified the location of the cemetery at Nowe Sadłowo, distr. Rypin, some 600 m south-west of the village buildings, to the south of the main road running from Sadłowo to Rypin (A. Kurpiewski, J. Lewandowska, in print). Much of the site has been lost to a gravel mine, in 1970s converted to farmland, and at present occupies a rectangular area of 200×40–60 m (Fig. 1). Archaeological excavation commenced in the autumn of 2012 focused on the central, most elevated part of the site. A total of c. 130 m² was investigated, exposing 27 features: 21 graves of Wielbark Culture, two medieval features and four features not determined as to function and chronology. All the graves were detected underneath the humus, their uppermost level only slightly disturbed by ploughing. The grave-field is biritual, with five inhumation and sixteen cremation graves (three urned and 13 pit graves). The inhumation burials were deposited, in keeping to the practices observed at other Wielbark Culture cemeteries, in pits with N-S alignment. Close to 150 small finds were excavated, dated to the Roman Period: 31 brooches, 10 complete and five fragmented buckles, two strap ends, 10 belt mounts, seven antler combs, four bracelet fragments, four clay spindlewhorls, two needles, 25 glass and amber beads, four pendants (gold, silver and iron) and a fragment of a denarius. With only a small fragment of the cemetery investigated its conclusive chronological analysis is unfeasible. The earliest of the excavated graves, no. 18, held a type A 41 brooch, dated to phase B2/C1. Other objects from the same phase were all stray finds (types A 41, A 95/96, A 128 brooches, fragments of a snake-headed bracelet). Grave 2 was assigned to phase B2/C1–C1a by the presence in its inventory of a type A 95 brooch, it also held another brooch, type A 162. Two assemblages were dated to the onset of the Late Roman Period (C1a) by e.g., a type AD18 buckle (grave 9) and brooches types A 161 and AD17 (grave 16). Two graves (10 and 15) were dated broadly to phase C1. Four graves belong in phase C1b–C2. Grave 19 held a brooch, type A 167, and a buckle, type AD29; in grave 8 there was e.g., a buckle, type AB7, a silver brooch, type A 167, with multiple coils of beaded wire; in grave 18 a brooch type A 167 was found together with a type AE13 specimen, and in grave 4 a brooch type A 167 with single coils of beaded wire, was discovered in company of a buckle, group AH, with an oval, unthickened frame.

16

Cmentarzysko kultury wielbarskiej w Litwinkach, pow. nidzicki

75%

Woźniak M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2016

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vol. LXVII

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issue 67

195-226

EN

The village Litwinki (former Littfinken, Kreis Neidenburg) lies about 4 km to the north-west of the centre of Nidzica. Two cremation graves were unearthed here in 1910 when a clamp was being dug for the storage of potatoes. In 25–27 August of that year Felix Ernst Peiser excavated the site, uncovering 26 features. The archaeological finds passed to the Prussia-Museum in Königsberg where they continued until the evacuation of the museum in mid-1940s; their fate today is unknown. Preliminary study results were published by F. E. Peiser (1911), references to particular artefacts have been found in the works of archaeologists who made a study of the collections of the Prussia-Museum (cf. N. Åberg 1919, p. 155; W Gaerte 1929, fig. 141:a.e; R. Schindler 1940, passim). The main source of information about this find is at present a transcript of Peiser’s field diary, now in the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin (SMB-PK/MVF, PM-IXd 1, PM-A 1460/1), with additional data found in private files completed before World War II (N. Åberg, Archiwum; H. Jankuhn, Archiwum; F. Jakobson, Archiwum; M. Schmiedehelm, Archiwum). The surviving archival record has made it possible to locate the site with some confidence about 130 m to the north of the pre-war Nidzica--Olsztynek road (Neidenburg-Hohenstein), immediately behind the buildings of the former Litwinki farm (Fig. 1:A). The size of the excavated area is unknown. The distance between the outlying features measured W-E and N-S was ca. 55 m and ca. 15 m respectively. However it is unclear whether the whole area lying between them was studied; moreover, a part of site had been damaged earlier. Out of 26 archaeological features uncovered in the cemetery 21 were graves,the other five were features with an obscure function. All features which could be determined as to their cultural attribution are associated with the Wielbark Culture. The largest group of graves (12) are cremations, deposited in a pit together with pyre debris, a smaller group (5) are cremations, deposited in a pit without the remains of the cremation pyre. There was also a single urned burial with pyre debris. The only burial identifiable with some confidence as an inhumation had a W-E orientation, uncharacteristic for the burial rite of the Wielbark Culture people (cf. R. Wołągiewicz 1981, p. 151). Two other features (nos. 14 and 15) are possible inhumation burial (or burials) but this interpretation is tentative (Fig. 9). Grave goods occurred in 21 features. Next to a modest quantity of pottery grave inventories included a few objects (mostly 2–4), mostly surviving fragmented. Fibulae, complete or fragmented, were found in nine graves. In seven graves they occurred singly (1, 3, 10, 12, 20, 21, 25), in two there was a pair (7, 22). According to the data in H. Jankuhn and M. Schmiedehelm’s files brooches were present in grave 27 as well but this disagrees with the data in F. E. Peiser’s field diary. Eight brooches were determined typologically. Stylistically the earliest form is represented by two brooches found in grave 7, from phase B2/C1–C1a (Fig. 2:3). They correspond in their construction to a spring-cover brooch variant with the spring covered by a cylinder, similar to type Almgren 42 dating to the younger segment of phase B2. The shape of the brooch bow is similar to that of late spring-cover brooch variants classified to type Almgren 41. Brooches similar to type Almgren 41 provided with a cylinder covering the spring are rare finds. They are noted across a broad territory occupied by the Przeworsk Culture (Fig. 5:5–7), Wielbark Culture (Fig. 5:1–4) and the region settled by Balt tribes (Fig. 6), first of all, by the Dollkeim/Kovrovo Culture, where they represent the youngest stage in the developmental of Almgren 42 brooches. Other brooches determined typologically are tendril brooches characteristic for the Late Roman Period. A specimen found in grave 1, corresponding to early type Almgren 161–162 brooches, dates to stadium C1a. A younger form of this type are brooches decorated with coils of notched wire, type Almgren 167. A brooch of this description was found in grave 3, two more (cf. N. Åberg 1919, p. 155) were mentioned in the context of grave 27 but are likely to have been included in this inventory only after the excavations. In the Wielbark Culture Almgren 167 brooches are dated to phases C1 and C2, their largest number is noted in phase C1b and the older segment of phase C2 (J. Andrzejowski, T. Rakowski, K. Watemborska 2010, p. 145–146). Brooches found in graves 21 and 22 were form with returned foot and so-called dead spring, type Almgren 168. The specimen from grave 21 was made of silver, the specimen from feature 22 of bronze. In the so-called Gothic cultures brooches of this type are recognized as a key marker of phase C2 (K. Godłowski 1974, p. 39; R. Wołągiewicz 1993, p. 25; A. Kokowski 1995a, p. 33, 45). The other elements of the grave goods were much less numerous and in most cases little is known about them. Buckles were discovered in at least five graves. Four were made of bronze (graves 4, 7, 22, 25), one of iron (24). Their shape and dimensions are not known. A bronze bipartite buckle was mentioned by M. Schmiedehelm (Archiwum) in the context of grave 27 but this is not confirmed by other sources related to this feature. A bronze strap end of an unknown form was found as a stray find on the surface of the cemetery (so-called feature 5), near grave 6. Personal ornaments are represented by bronze shield-headed bracelets typical for the Wielbark Culture people (graves 1 and 7). From grave 1 came a silver S-shaped clasp (Fig. 2:2) and a gold pyriform pendant, type von Müller III (Fig. 2:1). Blass beads, most of them burnt, were recorded in five features (1, 21, 23, 25, 27). Grave 27 held a dress pin made of antler or bone with a head of triangular cross-section decorated with concentric rings, so-called ‘eyes’ (Fig. 4:1). Antler/bone pins are much more common in Wielbark Culture sites than previously thought (Fig. 7, 8; List 1). Everyday objects include clay spindle-whorls (1, 2, 7, 20, 21, 22, 23?, 27), antler/bone combs, some of them composite, one unipartite (Fig. 2:4), and a bronze needle (7). At least 23 pottery vessels (complete or fragments) were recovered from 15 features, one to three in in individual assemblages. Most of them are forms characteristic for the Late Roman Period, i.e., jars, group XIVA (2, 3, 19, 21, 22), bowls, types VIA (26), VIB (1) and VIB/C (16), also, their miniature forms, types XVIIIB (22) and XVIIIC (2). Additionally, there were individual specimens of bowls, type Xb (2, 7, 15), a beaker, type XIIIA (25) and tripartite vase-shaped forms, group IVA or XVIA (14, 21). The earliest burials discorede in the cemetery at Litwinki date to phase B2/C1–C1a (graves 1 and 7). The onset of the Late Roman Period (B2/C1–C1) is presumably the dating of grave 25 with a type XIIIA beaker, and more tentatively, grave 27 with an antler/bone pin, also, grave 26 with a type VIA urn, and graves 4, 6, 11, 13 and 24 containing burials in the form of clusters of bone deposited in a pit without the pyre debris. A younger group are graves from stadium C1b–C2, with brooches, types Almgren 167 (3) and 168 (21, 22). The rest of the features with no recorded furnishings can be dated only broadly to the Late Roman Period. Most of the features were located in part W of the excavated area (Fig. 9). Graves with a dissimilar dating and burial rite were found next to each other, but all of them were cremation burials. Inhumation graves (16 and possibly, burial/burials 14 and 15) were discovered at the centre of the investigated area. The situation in the E part of the cemetery was quite different, here there was a several metres’ wide strip of empty ground. Just three features were found here – a cremation grave (19) and two not easily interpreted pits (17, 18). The presence of this broad, archaeologically barren space is hard to explain. Possibly, this area had been damaged, not covered by the excavations, alternately, it could represent the periphery of what originally used to be a much larger site. Despite the discovery of only 26 features at Litwinki the material record from this cemetery helps improve our understanding of the burial rite practiced by the Wielbark Culture people living in Mazowsze and Podlasie. It is important to note the uncharacteristic orientation of the inhumation grave, and also, the presence of different forms of cremation burial. Furthermore, the materials from the cemetery confirm the fact that this diversity of cremation graves is characteristic for the earliest phases of the Wielbark Culture in the region. Also worth noting is the presence of uncharacteristic brooches in grave 7 and the gold pyriform pendant, unique in the Mazowsze-Podlasie province of the Wielbark Culture.

17

Nieznane cmentarzyska z okresu wpływów rzymskich w Żmijewie Kościelnym i Żmijewie Gajach, w pow. mławskim

75%

Andrzejowski J., Stanaszek Ł. M., Grzymkowski A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2006

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vol. LVIII

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issue 58

401-407

EN

In 2005 the regional museum in Mława (Muzeum Ziemi Zawkrzeńskiej) entered into its collections pieces from a cremation grave which had been discovered by accident at Żmijewo Kościelne, comm. Stupsk, distr. Mława. According to their finder, the clay vessel holding burnt bones lay at the foot of the side of a small gravel pit, in an area where it extended down to 2–3 m. The location corresponds to an archaeological site recorded during the 1983 fieldwalking survey as a settlement of Przeworsk Culture from the Roman Period, registered as Żmijewo Kościelne, site 1 (Fig. 1). Objects found mixed with cremated bones inside the bowl included a brooch of copper alloy and two uncharacteristic fragments from a three-layer bone and antler comb (Fig. 2:1–3). The funerary vessel – a bowl –may be classified either as type VIC, or 3rd variant of type XaA of Wielbark Culture pottery, acc. to Ryszard Wołągiewicz (1993, p. 14–15, 17, cf pl. 19, 27:5–7, 73). Both forms were as long-lived (phases B2/C1–D) as they were widespread across Wielbark Culture territory (op. cit., p. 26, 30, 102 list 6C, p. 110 list 10aA, maps 6, 11). The brooch corresponds in general to type 170 acc. to Oscar Almgren (1923, pl. VII:170). In Poland brooches similar to the specimen from Żmijewo are chronologically confined to phases C1b–C2 (K. Godłowski 1974, p. 39; 1985, p. 89; 1994, p. 487; R. Wołągiewicz 1993, fig. 1; A. Bursche, J. Okulicz-Kozaryn 1999, p. 143–144), although admittedly, some variants are given an even later attribution (type FG98; cf A. Kokowski 1995, p. 49; 1997, p. 723, 823 list 14a). In the brooch from Żmijewo the terminal of the foot is ornamented by two cross-wise incisions. A similar design is noted on some of the early variants of Almgren 161 brooches, eg specimens with arched bow and knobbed head, or type FM25, with incised/notched top of the bow, which are thought to be restricted chronologically on the whole to phase C1a. Ultimately the grave from Żmijewo may be dated to phase C1b. Definitely, it may linked with an as yet unidentified cemetery of Wielbark Culture. The funerary deposit from Żmijewo consisted of only a small amount of cremated human bones (209.3 g) of relatively poor diagnostic value. They all belonged to a single individual of unknown sex whose age was identified tentatively as maturus. It would appear from traces of fire which have been observed on the bowl that the vessel with the cremated bone remains was placed in a grave pit which was filled with smouldering remains of the funerary pyre. A small number of similar cases is known from other cemeteries of Wielbark Culture from the Late Roman Period in Mazowsze and Podlasie (Nadkole 1, distr. Węgrów, graves 23 and 25 – J. Andrzejowski, A. Żórawska 2002, p. 35, 36, 53; Cecele, distr. Siemiatycze, grave 378 – J. Jaskanis 1996, p. 52; Kłoczew, distr. Ryki, grave 68 – B. Balke 1971, p. 337). However, caution is needed in analysing similar cases as it is relatively easy to mistake for a cinerary urn a vessel which although admittedly it contained cremated bones but actually was an element of the grave goods which, placed in the grave pit prior to deposition of pyre remains, came to be filled with cremated bones by accident. The sandy workings of the gravel mine produced a dozen odd pottery fragments – prehistoric to medieval or possibly, early modern. Two were characteristic enough for attribution to Przeworsk Culture from the Early Roman Period (Fig. 3:1.2). A further site was recorded in 2006 at Żmijewo-Gaje, some 3 km SE of the gravefield at Żmijewo Kościelne, site 1 (Fig. 1). The area produced two stray finds of copper alloy brooches: Almgren 97 (Fig. 4:1) and Almgren 128 (Fig. 4:2). Both specimens are dated reliably to phase B2/C1 and linked with Wielbark Culture. Of special interest is the Almgren 97 brooch (cf O. Almgren 1923, p. 51, pl. V:97; Th. Hauptmann 1998, p. 164–165, fig. 9; T. Skorupka 2001, pl. 44/155:4, 149/481:2), a representative of a rare variant of brooches with three crests (Dreisprossenfibeln). The specimen from Żmijewo has morphological traits distinctive for type 97 brooches (crests on the head and bow, a crestless foot flared at the terminal), but stylistically it is evidently close to late forms of crest-headed brooches, Almgren V series 8, and late spring-cover brooches, eastern series, in particular, variants X2 of Almgren 41 brooches. Their area of discovery, state of preservation and dating indicates that the two brooches originate from a previously unrecorded cemetery of Wielbark Culture (Żmijewo-Gaje, site 2). May it be added that surface survey of 1983 identified in the immediate neighbourhood of this site, west of the road running to the village Żmijewo-Szawły, a site defined by ceramic finds as early medieval (Żmijewo-Gaje, site 1). The gravefields from Żmijewo Kościelne and Żmijewo-Gaje belong to a local ‘Mława’ cluster’ of settlement which continued with varying intensity starting from phase A1 of the Late PreRoman Period as far as the early phase of the Migrations Period. At a small distance from Żmijewo lie cemeteries at Trzpioły (T. Dowgird 1889, p. 23–25, 32, pl. IIIA), Stupsk (E. Reinbacher 1964; A. Niewęgłowski, J. Okulicz 1965; A. Grzymkowski 1996, p. 167–179), Dąbek (A. Grzymkowski 1996, p. 182–185; A. Mistewicz 2005), Modła (A. Grzymkowski 1986; 1996, p. 154–167; J. Andrzejowski, in print). A further number of corresponding sites, less well investigated include Garlino-Zalesie (J. Okulicz 1965a; A. Kietlińska 1972; PMA, IV/500), Budy Garlińskie (A. Grzymkowski 1987), Kitki (J. Antoniewicz, M. Gozdowski, 1951, p. 54–55; J. Okulicz 1965a; 1965b; 1970, p. 427 note 24, pl. I:2; M. Wyczółkowski 1990), Konopki (A. Grzymkowski 1983, p. 11; MZZ), Purzyce-Trojany (unpubl., Muzeum Szlachty Mazowieckiej in Ciechanów), Stare Kosiny (J. Okulicz 1965a; A. Niewęgłowski 1972, p. 242; A. Grzymkowski 1996, p. 198), Stara Sławogóra (T. Dowgird 1889, p. 25–30, 32, pl. IV) and Mława (S. Krukowski 1920, p. 89; J. Okulicz 1965; A. Grzymkowski 1983, p. 12). Pottery finds dated generally to the Roman Period are known from a further dozen-odd sites discovered during fieldwalking surveys. Almost all of the better investigated cemeteries of the ‘Mława’ settlement cluster produced material of Przeworsk and Wielbark Cultures (Modła, Dąbek stan. 5, Kitki, Stupsk), in which they resemble the situation at numerous gravefields dating from the Roman Period to the east of the Vistula in Mazowsze and Podlasie (cf J. Andrzejowski 1989; 2001, p. 108–109, fig. 9; 2005b, p. 117).

18

Grób kultury wielbarskiej z cmentarzyska z wczesnej epoki żelaza w Tynwałdzie na Pojezierzu Iławskim

75%

Żórawska A.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2006

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vol. LVIII

|

issue 58

201-2007

EN

The region around Lake Tynwałd is one of the best investigated archaeologically in the Iława Lake District. This is mainly thanks to lively activity in 1930ies of Waldemar Heym, head of the Heimatmuseum in Marienwerder (now, Kwidzyn) and Alfred Ruppelt – schoolteacher at Tillwalde, Kr. Rosenberg (now, Tynwałd), subsequently head of the Heimatmuseum in Marienburg (now, Malbork). An outstanding concentration of Early Iron Age sites east of Lake Tynwałd, on a small elevation known as Mittelwald, included the largest flat cemetery of Westbalt Barrow Culture as yet recorded, numbering no less than 109 features (Tynwałd, distr. Iława, woj. warmińsko-mazurskie, site XXVII), situated on the southern and south-western slope of the elevation. The material from the site was analysed and interpreted by A. Łuka basing on surviving pre-1945 documentation. A deposit of special interest at the cemetery at Tynwałd is grave labelled ‘no. 102’; not published in full the assemblage gave rise to some confusion in its identification and culture attribution. The grave had the form of an urn deposited in natural sand; the urn, type XVIIIB was covered by a bowl, type XaA in the classification system of R. Wołągiewicz. Grave goods consisted of a bronze bucket-shaped pendant fashioned from horizontally profiled sheet foil (Fig. 1), type HI in I. Beilke-Voigt’s classification (at present in the Museum in Kwidzyn). The vessel forms and the pendant classify the assemblage unmistakably as Wielbark Culture of the Late Roman Period; this overthrows earlier culture attribution and dating of the feature to Westbalt Barrow Culture of the Late Pre-Roman Period or the beginning of AD 1st century. At the same time archaeologists lose their main argument in favour of survival of Westbalt settlement in the Iława Lake District until AD 1st century, a hypothesis largely based on the cited incorrect dating and culture attribution of ‘grave no. 102’ at Tynwałd. Equally interesting is the geographic context of the grave. It is the only Roman Period site recorded in this part of the micro-region of Lake Tynwałd. Zones of ‘Early Iron Age’ and ‘Roman Period’ settlement visibly do not overlap ie, Westbalt settlement clusters east of Lake Tynwałd, Wielbark settlement – south and west of the lake. Given the thoroughness of investigation of the Mittelwald it is highly unlikely that a larger gravefield of the Wielbark Culture should have escaped detection. It is a perplexing question why ‘grave no. 102’, with its Wielbark inventory, was deposited in an older, ‘strange’ burial ground rather than in one of the gravefields of the Wielbark Culture then in use in the region. Answering this question calls for some strenuous mental exercise and a separate discussion with little hope for much assistance from archaeological evidence at present available.

19

Nowe materiały kultury wielbarskiej z Pojezierza Iławskiego – Jawty Wielkie, pow. iławski

63%

Baczewski M.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2021

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vol. LXXII

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issue 72

179-193

EN

The site at Jawty Wielkie, located in the Iława Lakeland in northern Poland (Fig. 1), was discovered in May 2015. A search carried out with the use of metal detectors yielded 50 copper-alloy artefacts (including 25 brooches, 11 bracelets, five belt buckles, two strap-ends and a spur) and an iron razor (Figs. 4–9). The finds were transferred to the collection of the Museum of Warmia and Masuria in Olsztyn. Some of the artefacts bear traces of burning; on several objects, traces of intensely black earth and charcoal have been preserved. These traces, as well as the structure of the discovered artefact assemblage, indicate that the site was used as a cemetery. The vast majority of the artefacts date to the Roman Period and the early phase of the Migration Period. At that time, the area of the Iława Lakeland belonged to the so-called zone D of the Wielbark Culture settlement. The oldest confidently dated artefact is a fibula of type A.III.53 (Fig. 4:1), which is a marker of phase B1b. What is interesting is that, until now, no brooches of this type were known from the area in question. Zone D was thought to not have been settled until stage B2b, however, the aforementioned brooch as well as the recently published, similarly dated finds from Bajdy, Przezmark and Zawada (A. Cieśliński 2020) indicate that the penetration of the Iława Lakeland by the people of the Wielbark Culture began earlier, in stage B1. The youngest artefact in the assemblage is a beak-shaped strap-end (Fig. 6:32), indicating that the cemetery was (continuously?) used until the early phase of the Migration Period. While the iron razor has analogies in the material of the Oksywie Culture from the Late Pre-Roman Period, no sites of this culture are known from the vicinity of Jawty Wielkie. In the northern part of the site, there is a group of small hills with a fairly regular, round bases, which resemble barrow mounds in shape and size (Fig. 10). Although the characteristics of these “tumuli” indicate that they are most similar to the mounds known from Wielbark culture cemeteries, it cannot be ruled out that they were built earlier – in the later phases of the Bronze Age or in the Early Iron Age. It is only possible to reject their later, early medieval provenance. The issue can only be resolved via archaeological excavations.

PL

Stanowisko w Jawtach Wielkich zostało zlokalizowane w maju 2015 roku po przekazaniu informacji przez lokalnego mieszkańca do stowarzyszenia miłośników historii. Po przeprowadzeniu poszukiwań we wskazanym miejscu odnaleziono zabytki archeologiczne. Przekazany do Muzeum Warmii i Mazur zbiór liczył 51 przedmiotów wykonanych głównie ze stopu miedzi. Jedynym wyjątkiem była żelazna brzytwa. W skład zbioru wchodzi ponadto: 25 zapinek, 11 bransolet, 5 sprzączek, 2 okucia końca pasa oraz ostroga. Pozostałą część materiału stanowią przedmioty, które ze względu na stan lub fragmentaryczność zachowania nie mogą być jednoznacznie zinterpretowane. Zabytki zostały podjęte z niewielkiej głębokości, maksymalnie dochodzącej do kilkunastu centymetrów. Niektóre z nich noszą ślady przepalenia. Widoczne na powierzchni przedmiotów są również ślady intensywnie czarnej ziemi oraz węgli. Opisywane stanowisko należy łączyć z ludnością kultury wielbarskiej. Wskazuje na to spektrum pozyskanych zabytków, które wykonane są w zdecydowanej większości ze stopów miedzi i stanowią głównie ozdoby. Zabytki datowane są od okresu wpływów rzymskich do okresu wędrówek ludów. W tym czasie obszar Pojezierza Iławskiego zajęty był przez ludność wskazanego ugrupowania kulturowego. Stanowisko było wykorzystywane jako nekropola. Świadczyć o tym mogą, wspomniane wyżej, ślady spalenizny oraz pozostałości węgli na zabytkach. W tym aspekcie interesująca wydaje się także obecność w północnej części stanowiska grupy niewielkich wzniesień o dosyć regularnej, okrągłej podstawie, które swoim kształtem i wielkością mogą przypominać nasypy kurhanowe. Najstarszym zabytkiem w zbiorze jest fibula A.III.53 będąca wyznacznikiem fazy B1b. Zapinki tego typu do tej pory nie były znane z terenów Pojezierza Iławskiego, które jest częścią tzw. strefy D osadnictwa ludności kultury wielbarskiej. Według ustaleń R. Wołągiewicza obszar ten miał zostać zasiedlony w fazie B2b, jednak na podstawie wspomnianej zapinki oczkowatej serii głównej, a także niedawno opublikowanych odkryć z Bajd, Przezmarka i Zawady, wydaje się prawdopodobne, że sporadyczna penetracja tych ziem przez ludność kultury wielbarskiej zaczęła się wcześniej, w fazie B1. Na podstawie całego zbioru zabytków można również stwierdzić, że cmentarzysko było nieprzerwanie użytkowane do wczesnego okresu wędrówek ludów. Najmłodszym przedmiotem w kolekcji jest dziobowate okucie końca pasa. Interesująco przedstawia się kwestia nasypów ziemnych o okrągłych podstawach położonych na terenie, na którym zostały odkryte zabytki. Należy rozstrzygnąć czy grupa wspomnianych obiektów jest formą naturalną czy pochodzenia antropogenicznego. Przy przyjęciu drugiego założenia pojawia się również problem ustalenia bezpośredniej atrybucji kulturowej. Analiza wykazała, że konstrukcje te najbardziej przypominają kurhany znane z cmentarzysk wielbarskich. Nie można jednak wykluczyć, że konstrukcje te zostały wzniesione przez starsze kultury archeologiczne – grupę warmińsko-mazurską kultury łużyckiej lub kulturę kurhanów zachodniobałtyjskich. Rozstrzygnięcie tego problemu mogą przynieść wyłączne weryfikacyjne badania wykopaliskowe.

20

O Gotach w gazecie – czyli znane i nieznane informacje o grobach kultury wielbarskiej z miejscowości Sławianowo w pow. złotowskim

63%

Kokowski A., Niemirowski W.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2021

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vol. LXXII

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issue 72

145-158

EN

By analysing the contents of a note published in the “Oder-Zeitung” newspaper on 9 August 1937, three hitherto unknown archaeological discoveries have been introduced into scientific circulation: a Wielbark Culture grave from phase B2a from Sławianowo, a hoard of bronze objects from the Late Bronze Age from Stare Gronowo and a Lusatian Culture cemetery from Stobno. The finds from the first of the abovementioned localities were used to cross-check the earlier discoveries from the village in question, often erroneously quoted in the literature. It has been concluded that it cannot be ruled out that two Wielbark Culture cemeteries existed in this locality. A question mark was also placed over the Wielbark culture interpretation of the inhumation burials uncovered in 1907. It has been proven that the spearheads found in Sławianowo before 1907 are not, as it was assumed, elements of Wielbark Culture weaponry and should instead be dated to the Late Pre-Roman Period. Therefore, the information about settlement by the Middle Noteć River (between the rivers Drawa and Łobżonka) in that period has been re-checked, pointing to many more sites than it is believed in the latest literature (Fig. 2). The new compilation includes 16 discoveries that can be linked to the Jastorf culture, and four more that likely represent it. Also included are 13 sites that may represent settlement activity from the time when the Sławianowo spearheads were deposited. The issue of the cultural attribution of these finds has been, for the time being, left open. It has been shown once more that the central section of the Noteć Valley is still an unexplored cultural zone with an extremely attractive research potential, especially in regard to the time between the disappearance of the Pomeranian Culture and the point when it was settled by the Wielbark Culture people. The devastation of war painfully affected museum collections and archives storing information on the activities of archaeologists. The analysed press release confirms the thesis of an underestimated value of press publications, not only for reconstructing the lost knowledge about artefacts but also for tracing the history of archaeological research and the development of this discipline.

PL

Na podstawie analizy treści notatki zamieszczonej 9 sierpnia 1937 roku w „Oder-Zeitung“, wprowadzono do obiegu naukowe trzy nieznane dotąd odkrycia archeologiczne: grób kultury wielbarskiej z fazy B2a z miejscowości Sławianowo; skarb brązowych przedmiotów z młodszej epoki brązu z miejscowości Stare Gronowo i cmentarzysko kultury łużyckiej z miejscowości Stobno. Znaleziska z pierwszej z wymienionych miejscowości posłużyły do weryfikacji wcześniejszych dokonanych tam odkryć, często mylnie cytowanych w literaturze. Ustalono, że nie można wykluczyć, iż na terenie tej miejscowości istniały dwie nekropolie kultury wielbarskiej. Postawiono też znak zapytania przy interpretacji kulturowej pochówków inhumacyjnych odsłoniętych w roku 1907, podważając ich wielbarską interpretację. Udowodniono, że groty znalezione w Sławianowie przed rokiem 1907 nie są, jak przyjęto, elementami uzbrojenia kultury wielbarskiej i należy je datować na młodszy okres przedrzymski. W związku z tym zweryfikowano informacje na temat osadnictwa w tym okresie nad środkową Notecią (na odcinku po-między Drawą i Łobżonką), wskazując na znacznie więcej stanowisk, niż sądzi się w najnowszej literaturze (Ryc. 2). W nowym zestawieniu znalazło się 16 odkryć, które można powiązać z kulturą jastorfską, oraz cztery dalsze z dużym prawdopodobieństwem ją reprezentujące. Zestawiono również 13 stano-wisk, które mogą reprezentować aktywność osadniczą z czasów złożenia do ziemi grotów ze Sławianowa. Określenie kulturowe tych znalezisk pozostawiono, póki co, otwartym. Wykazano ponownie, że środkowy odcinek doliny Noteci jest ciągle nierozpoznaną strefą kulturową o niezwykle atrakcyjnym potencjale poznawczym, szczególnie dla czasów pomiędzy zanikiem kultury pomorskiej a momentem zasiedlenia jej przez ludność kultury wielbarskiej. Zniszczenia wojenne boleśnie dotknęły zasoby muzealne i archiwa przechowujące informacje o działalności archeologów. Analizowana notatka prasowa jest potwierdzeniem dla tezy o niedocenionej wartości publikacji prasowych dla rekonstrukcji utraconej w ten sposób wiedzy nie tylko o zabytkach, ale również dla śledzenia dziejów badań archeologicznych i rozwoju dyscypliny.

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Wstępne wyniki badań cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej w Linowie, gm. Świecie n/Osą, woj. kujawsko-pomorskie, stanowisko 6

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Zapinka gąsienicowata z Tumian, pow. olsztyński. Problem zaniku kultury wielbarskiej nad Łyną

Nieznane materiały z cmentarzyska z okresu wpływów rzymskich w Ostrowitem na ziemi dobrzyńskiej

Cmentarzyska z okresu wpływów rzymskich z Parsk, powiat grudziądzki

Nietypowa sprzączka z Siemiątkowa. Wyrób lokalny czy import bałtyjski?

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

Cmentarzysko kultury wielbarskiej w Kozłówku, pow. nidzicki (d. Klein Koslau, Kreis Neidenburg) w świetle publikacji i materiałów archiwalnych

Terra sigillata z cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej w Jartyporach na zachodnim Podlasiu

Cmentarzysko z okresu rzymskiego w Waplewie, pow. olsztyński

Wybrane groby z importami rzymskimi z cmentarzyska w Weklicach, pow. elbląski, stan. 7

Materiały krzemienne z cmentarzyska kultury wielbarskiej w Weklicach, stan. 7, pow. elbląski

Kopce kultury wielbarskiej z Mazowsza i Podlasia a tzw. typ rostołcki – próba nowego spojrzenia na związki cmentarzysk kurhanowych z północnej i wschodniej Polski

Ceramika kultur oksywskiej i wielbarskiej z Pucka na Pomorzu Wschodnim

Sadłowo – nowa karta w badaniach osadnictwa kultury wielbarskiej na ziemi dobrzyńskiej

Cmentarzysko kultury wielbarskiej w Litwinkach, pow. nidzicki

Nieznane cmentarzyska z okresu wpływów rzymskich w Żmijewie Kościelnym i Żmijewie Gajach, w pow. mławskim

Grób kultury wielbarskiej z cmentarzyska z wczesnej epoki żelaza w Tynwałdzie na Pojezierzu Iławskim

Nowe materiały kultury wielbarskiej z Pojezierza Iławskiego – Jawty Wielkie, pow. iławski

O Gotach w gazecie – czyli znane i nieznane informacje o grobach kultury wielbarskiej z miejscowości Sławianowo w pow. złotowskim

O Gotach w gazecie – czyli znane i nieznane informacje o grobach kultury wielbarskiej z miejscowości Sławianowo w pow. złotowskim