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1

On Both Sides of the Middle Reaches of the Nemunas River. A New Approach to Old Problems

100%

Bliujienė A.

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nr 67

3-35

PL

Rozwój i zmiany kulturowe, które zachodziły po obu stronach środkowego biegu Niemna, na terenach znanych jako Litwa Zaniemieńska (lit. Užnemunė) oraz Litwa Południowo-Wschodnia, są w dalszym ciągu słabo poznane (Ryc. 1–3). W niniejszym artykule omawiam przemiany kulturowe tego regionu między końcem I a przełomem VI i VII wieku n.e., opierając się na analizie obrządku pogrzebowego i zabytków pochodzących ze stanowisk sepulkralnych. W litewskiej historiografii archeologicznej, w której przeplatają się dane historyczne, lingwistyczne i archeologiczne, kwestia genezy i rozwój kulturowego regionu Litwy Zaniemieńskiej i Litwy Południowo--Wschodniej jest dość złożona. Autorzy piszący o Litwie Zaniemieńskiej zazwyczaj uznają ten obszar za zamieszkany przez społeczności praktykujące zróżnicowane zwyczaje pogrzebowe, które to ludy później weszły w skład plemion kultury sudowskiej – Sudowów vel Jaćwięgów. Dyskusyjna jest jednak kwestia spójności kulturowej terenów południowo-wschodniej i wschodniej Litwy, a zwłaszcza pytanie, czy kurhany z południowo-wschodniej Litwy, z kopcami kamiennymi, oraz wschodniolitewskie kurhany z kopcami otaczanymi przez wieńce kamienne, są zespołami kulturowo odmiennymi (Ryc. 3). W historiografii litewskiej dominuje pogląd, zgodnie z którym obie te grupy tworzą spójną całość. Kurhany z nasypami oraz konstrukcjami grobowymi, do których budowy używano kamieni, spotykane są po obu stronach środkowego biegu Niemna, stanowiąc miejsca grzebalne typowe dla okresu późnorzymskiego i okresu wędrówek ludów (Ryc. 6–8). Kamienne kurhany i groby rozpowszechnione są w różnych częściach wysoczyzn nadbałtyckich – w Litwie Zaniemieńskiej i Litwie Południowo-Wschodniej tworzą one trzy główne grupy: północną (grupa 1), południowo-wschodnią (grupa 2) i południowo-zachodnią (grupa 3). Cmentarzyska grupy północnej zajmują teren Wzniesień Dzukijskich. Na północy kurhany z południowo-wschodniej i wschodniej Litwy rozdzielone są niewielką strefą niezasiedloną (Ryc. 2, 3). Zespół kurhanów z południowo-wschodniej Litwy (grupa II) skupia się na równinie w rejonie Ejszyszek (lit. Eišiškės), pomiędzy rzekami Ūla i Verseka. Kilka cmentarzysk, które mogłyby należeć do tej grupy, znanych jest z północno-zachodniej Białorusi (Rys. 2:2). Stanowiska grupy północnej (1) i południowo-wschodniej (2) tworzą małe, wyraźnie widoczne zgrupowania (Ryc. 4). Grupa 3, południowo-zachodnia, obejmuje duże terytorium na Litwie Zaniemeńskiej, a jej cmentarzyska są rozproszone pomiędzy Szeszupą a środkowym biegiem Niemna. Północny skraj tego obszaru, na granicy Równiny Środkowolitewskiej i rozległych lasów w rejonie dzisiejszej Kozłowej Rudy (lit. Kazlų Rūda), pozostawał jednak niezasiedlony praktycznie aż do połowy XIII wieku. Na terenach rozciągających się po obu stronach środkowego biegu Niemna w okresie wpływów rzymskich i okresie wędrówek ludów w obrządku pogrzebowym dominowała inhumacja. Groby ciałopalne, popielnicowe i bezpopielnicowe, na Litwie Zaniemeńskiej mogą być datowane na II i początki III wieku (fazy B2–C1a). Na południowo- -wschodniej Litwie pierwsze ciałopalne groby jamowe pojawiają się w fazie C1b, natomiast liczba grobów ciałopalnych zwiększa się w fazie C2. Większość tych pochówków była jednak niewyposażona, dlatego trudno ustalić ich datowanie. Na południowo-wschodniej Litwie ciałopalenia zsypywano do różnej wielkości jam, wkopywanych bądź to pod podstawą kurhanu, bądź w jego nasyp. Groby były często otaczane kamiennymi wieńcami, kamieni używano też do budowy samych grobów. Większość grobów ciałopalnych z południowo-wschodniej Litwy nie zawierała żadnego wyposażenia. Od końca okresu wczesnorzymskiego, a zwłaszcza fazy przejściowej do okresu późnorzymskiego (faza B2/C1), oraz w okresie wędrówek ludów, wyrazistą cechą obrządku pogrzebowego ludów bałtyjskich są groby ludzkie z końmi lub pochówki końskie nie związane z żadnym konkretnym pochówkiem ludzkim. Pojedyncze groby koni, które są powszechne w kulturze bogaczewskiej, zarejestrowano na cmentarzyskach w Liepynai i Stanaičiai na Litwie Zaniemeńskiej. W południowo-wschodniej Litwie grób człowieka i konia odkryto na kurhanowej nekropoli w Moša-Naujasodai (Ryc. 12). Wspólne dla kultur bogaczewskiej i sudowskiej są brązowe ozdoby – naszyjniki z trąbkowatymi zakończeniami i łyżeczkowatymi zapięciami, tzw. zapinki oczkowate (typu Almgren 60–61), podkowiaste zapinki emaliowane, kuszowate zapinki różnych typów, zawieszki ósemkowate i w kształcie szprychowego koła, szpile typu Beckmann A, B, H, L i typu Szwajcaria oraz bransolety mankietowe (Ryc. 9, 11, 15, 16). Podstaw dla atrybucji kulturowej materiałów z okresu wpływów rzymskich i okresu wędrówek ludów oraz rozpoznania kontaktów, jakie utrzymywała ludność zamieszkująca Litwę Zaniemeńską i Litwę Południowo-Wschodnią dostarczają znaleziska masowe, a mianowicie ceramika. Bliskie podobieństwo ceramiki z Litwy Zaniemeńskiej do ceramiki kultur wyraźnie świadczy o wspólnocie kulturowej tych obszarów (Ryc. 5, 13, 17–20). W Litwie Południowo-Wschodniej można wyróżnić północne (grupa 1) i południowo-wschodnie (grupa 2) skupienie stanowisk z kurhanami kamiennymi, natomiast w Litwie Zaniemeńskiej południowo-zachodnie (grupa 3) skupienie stanowisk sepulkralnych. Konstrukcje grobowe, obrządek pogrzebowy oraz materiały zabytkowe z okresu wpływów rzymskich i okresu wędrówek ludów pozwalają uznać je za peryferia grup suwalskiej, a częściowo gołdapskiej i augustowskiej, kultury sudowskiej, bądź przyjąć, że stanowią one odrębne grupy tej kultury.

2

Charakterystyka łupki żelaznej i kloca żużlowego z doświadczalnego procesu dymarskiego

86%

Przychodni A. , Suliga I.

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nr 67

147-173

EN

Iron bloom was obtained as a result of an ancient iron smelting process carried out in slag-pit furnaces, apparently in use during the Roman Period in the Central European Barbaricum, more notably in the territory settled by the Przeworsk Culture people. In the 1970s, prompted by the reflections of M. Radwan (1963) and by the insights gained from the study of archaeological traces of the iron smelting process found in the great centre of iron metallurgy in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mts. in central Poland, K. Bielenin developed the concept of the free solidification process (Polish acronym PSK) to describe the process of the formation of the iron bloom and slag blocks inside the slag-pit – the underground part of the bloomery furnace. Bielenin found that iron obtained in these furnaces had to contain only a minor amount of slag, non-ferritic inclusions and non-carbonized ferritic inclusions. Only then would the iron have the right degree of malleability needed for successful forging. Archaeological studies of the Holy Cross Mts. centre of iron metallurgy have yielded a very modest amount of iron bloom finds, mostly in the form of flattened lumps, the product from the working of the bloom with hammers. Obviously, the obtained iron, a highly valued and prized resource, was taken out of the production site. What remained was the debris of the bloomery furnace slag-pits, filled to a various extent with slag, and iron making residue, so-called gromps, from the process of forging and consolidating raw iron blooms. Alternately, M. Radwan has interpreted these finds as debris from the smelting process claiming that this residue had formed in the shaft of the furnace during the iron smelting process. Given that the process of smelting iron in furnaces with a slag-pit is poorly documented in the archaeological record more comprehensive data had to be obtained from experimental studies. In Poland the first of these experiments were made in the late 1950s. Furnaces with a variously designed shaft (the above-ground structure) were used in the experiments (cf. Fig. 1, 4). Unfortunately, the product obtained tended to be a slag-iron agglomerate (Fig. 2, 3) markedly different from what is available in the archaeological record. To solve this problem the experiments were modified to employ K. Bielenin’s conception of the free solidification of slag blocks. This concept would be tested in practice only in the second decade of the 21st cent. during the experimental studies of A. Wrona made with modern replicas of a furnace referred to as type Kunów with a slag-pit canal (Fig. 6). The research findings outlined here mostly draw on results of an experimental process carried out during the 1st Bloomery Seminar held in Starachowice in October 2013. Similar results had been obtained by A. Wrona in 2012 and 2013, and during experiments carried out by a specialist team in 2013–2015. Their results help to supplement the analysis presented here. During the experiment made in 2013 a block of slag was obtained (Fig. 11) and iron bloom separated from the surface of the slag-block (Fig. 12). Weighing 3.65 kg the bloom had a ferritic structure appropriate for subsequent working. The experimental smelt had used 40.6 kg of iron ore and 50 kg of charcoal. The ore was locally obtained siderite (Fig. 7) and hematite imported from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Fig. 8), at a ratio of 1:1. The process was carried out in two stages, in an artificial blast furnace, with air injected under pressure from bag bellows (Fig. 9). During the first stage waste rock was reduced to slag and the formation of the iron bloom initiated. Next, air was allowed into the slag-pit canal of the furnace draining the iron bloom from the slag (Fig. 10). The iron bloom (Fig. 12) and the block of slag (Fig. 11) were next subjected to specialist studies. Observations of the microstructure of the bloom obtained during experiments made in Starachowice in 2013 identified a solid zone (Fig. 14) and a filigree zone (Fig. 13, 16) as well as a net-zone of iron formation (Fig. 17). The presence of these zones has been confirmed in blooms deriving from the earlier experiments of A. Wrona (Fig. 18–21). Furthermore, the study of the microstructure of the bloom helped establish that in a bloomery furnace equipped with a slag-pit the metallic iron is mostly obtained through processes of secondary reduction and disproportionation within the sponge gob of slag formed earlier near the tuyeres of the furnace. Throughout the process the iron bloom is in constant contact with liquid slag, which not only prevents the bloom from undergoing a secondary oxidation caused by air injected through the tuyeres, but also has an active part in the process of the gradual accretion of the bloom. Upon examination, the microstructure of the slag (Fig. 22–24) formed during the experiment was found to be consistent with the chemical composition and structure of ancient slag discovered in the Holy Cross Mts., except for compounds formed when Bosnian ore was used; the 0.07% content of K2O (cf. Fig. 11) in this ore led to the formation of leucite K2Al2Si6O16, identified during the microstructural analysis as black dendrites (Fig. 23). Similarly as experiments carried out in 2012–2015, the Starachowice experiment confirmed the validity of the assumptions made by K. Bielenin. Furthermore, observations made during these studies prompted a series of conclusions on the organization of the operation of a slag-pit furnace cluster, the feasibility of the use of artificial blast during the process (Fig. 9, 27) and the impact of atmospheric factors on the process flow. The results presented here prove that it is highly advisable to continue the experimental work to obtain a more detailed understanding of the stages of the iron smelting process, and to carry out these tests using local iron ores only. It was found also that the technical purity of the experimentally obtained iron is sufficient to classify this stage of product to working phase. Consequently, the procedures described in the literature as a post reductive stage should not be understood as a stage aimed on the removal of impurities but rather as a phase aimed on shaping the metal obtained in the process of reduction. It is also important to note the new data possibly of use in our studies of the bloomery process furnished since 2010 by the investigation of well-preserved bloomery fields in site (wilderness) Wykus in forest inspectorate Suchedniów, Kielce County.

3

Wschodnia strefa kultury przeworskiej – próba definicji

86%

Andrzejowski J.

Wiadomości Archeologiczne

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2001

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tom LIV

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nr 54

59-87

EN

The Przeworsk Culture existing for over 600 hundred years was, and actually still is recognised because of its chronological and territorial stability as an archaeological unit quite unique in Barbaricum. However, some peculiarities of the east-Przeworsk areas were noticed already although they hardly could have been analysed or even determined explicitly (T. Dąbrowska 1981a; 1981b; T. Dąbrowska, T. Liana 1986). Excavations on the Przeworsk Culture area east of the Vistula of the last 25 years have revealed a great number of well-dated sites, including several large cemeteries of some hundreds grave each (e.g. Niedanowo, Modła, Kołoząb, Kleszewo, Krupice, Kamieńczyk, Łajski, Nadkole, Oblin, Arbasy, Załubice). However, the most part of uncovered material still remains unpublished, or even not worked up. In the light of these surveys eastern Mazovia and Podlasie densely settled in the early Roman Period, particularly in the end of phase B1 and in phase B2 seems to be mostly interesting (Fig. 1). Although archaeological data from this territory corresponds in general with the standard of the Przeworsk Culture, it differs from the latter by some individual traits. However, the area cannot be recognised neither as an archaeological culture standing apart from the Przeworsk Culture nor even as a distinct local group of the latter. To define it I suggest the name the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture, attributing to this term both cultural and geographical meaning. Distinct features of the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture are expressed most of all in female costume, remarkably rich in comparison with western part of the culture. In phase B2 objects of copper alloy were preferred in this costume, while in western reaches of the Przeworsk Culture flourished manufacturing of iron ornaments based on local stylistic patterns. Distinction of the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture is exemplified by distribution of particular fibula types. For instance, in the east-Przeworsk zone there is a large number of eye brooches of Prussian series – over than 220 specimens have been recovered there so far (Fig. 2), of which cemeteries at Niedanowo, Modła, Kamieńczyk and Nadkole yielded even 30–40 specimens each. Number of distinct varieties of these brooches confirms their local manufacturing and stylistic evolution (Fig. 3). Eye fibulae dispersed all over much larger remaining territory of the Przeworsk Culture make no more than 30% of the number of brooches found east of the Vistula. Fibulae combining attributes of Almgren’s group IV and eastern series of group II make a local type distinctive for the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture (Fig. 5), where they were worn by adult women (J.Andrzejowski 1994a). Most of these brooches have the free end of the spring attached to the aperture on the head and formed into an ornamental knob. Such feature is also a common element of some early spring-cover fibulae of type Almgren 38-39 chiefly from the east-Przeworsk zone and the Wielbark Culture (Fig. 4). Bronze brooches derived from profiled trumpet--headed specimens (T. Dąbrowska 1995a), make another distinctive regional group. As a result of local evolution two variants arose: older one with still close affinities to the trumpet-headed fibulae, referred to as their type 5. (Fig. 6), and younger one with apparently simplified profile, referred to as their Mazovian variant (Fig. 7). In the western reaches of this zone some solid iron fibulae, being local varieties of Almgren’s group II and V. As a characteristic feature they have a spring hidden in a tubular encasement. However, the main area of their distribution locates west of the middle Vistula river (Fig. 8). Typical trait of the east-Przeworsk female costume is a large number of ornaments, mostly bracelets and long necklaces of diverse beads and pendants. Besides numerous melon-shaped beads of so-called Egyptian faience preserved in the cremation graves in relatively good condition very often are recovered beads of many-coloured glass usually, however, melted down or crushed. Probably the east-Przeworsk necklaces had been completed with some amber beads, which apparently gone during cremation. Interesting ornament feature so-called banded pendants made from a core (e.g. Cowrie shells, glass beads and balls, nuts, glass dices) winded with a narrow strap of bronze sheet. They were taken until now explicitly as result of the Wielbark Culture influences (T. Dąbrowska 1981a; 49; J. Andrzejowski 1992, 168f.). However, the earliest banded pendants from phase B1 came first of all from the Przeworsk Culture and the most part of their finds well-dated to the early Roman Period concentrate in the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture (Fig. 9). Apparently from this zone originates characteristic triangular pendants with a spring-like loop (Fig. 9) probably being a local, somewhat simplified variant of banded pendants. The Wielbark Culture or more broadly northern connections reveal large bipartite globular beads from bronze sheet decorated with engraved lines or embossed ornament (Fig. 10), like banded and triangular pendants. In the east-Przeworsk zone relatively common are also gold ball--shaped pendants and beads of silver filigree (Fig. 11). It is also Wielbark Culture where from wire S-clasps for fastening bead strings were borrowed (Fig. 12). The majority of them were produced locally from bronze, but also from silver and iron. Such iron S-clasps applied with junction loops (Fig. 12) were a local invention to secure a narrow thong used both in male and female dress (J. Andrzejowski 1997a, 110ff.). Ornament clearly differing female costume from the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture and its remaining territories are bracelets (J. Andrzejowski 1994b). Over a hundred of unprofiled bracelets found in the east-Przeworsk zone makes about 80% of all early Roman Period bracelets from the entire Przeworsk Culture (Fig. 13). Full adoption of bracelets in the standard female fashion in the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture is verified both by a diversity of bracelet types, besides unprofiled including also Pomeranian type of shield-headed bracelets, and a locally invented variant with profiled endings, so-called type Kamieńczyk (Fig. 13). Numerous bronze elements are also characteristic for the belts used in the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture, first of all strongly profiled belt-end fittings and belt links. Solid specimens mostly with reduced profile, dated chiefly to the phase B2 and known both in female and male belts predominate there (Fig. 16), unlike in the western reaches of Przeworsk Culture (cf. R. Madyda 1977, 380ff.). Very characteristic are also bronze belt links coming exclusively from the assemblages of phase B2 (Fig. 17). These elements are frequently combined to create a rich set of belt mountings dissimilar to one known from the western part of Przeworsk Culture (R. Madyda-Legutko 1984; M. Tempelmann-Mączyńska 1989, 65ff.). One may expect some northwestern affinities also in the case of uni- and bi-partite iron belt clasps from the Early Roman Period (R. Madyda-Legutko 1990). The weapons from the east-Przeworsk zone follow in general all types known from the entire Przeworsk Culture, nevertheless, some peculiarities are to be mentioned. In this zone lance points decorated with punched triangle motifs usually in so-called negative pattern seems to be relatively more frequent. This pattern amazingly resembles well-known pattern of the Early Roman Period pottery of the Wielbark Culture (Fig. 18), what was already noticed (P. Kaczanowski, J. Zaborowski 1988). It is also striking that most of the oldest Przeworsk lance points with silver inlay dated to phases B1/B2a came from its eastern zone (Fig. 20; cf. P. Kaczanowski 1988). The eastern areas of Przeworsk Culture produced also relatively many find of weapons made of bronze or with bronze elements. In this zone concentrate rare shield bosses type Jahn 7 with edges fitted in bronze and rivet-heads with bronze appliqué, quite common in the Elbian Culture and in western Scandinavia while almost missing in the western reaches of the Przeworsk Culture (T. Dąbrowska 1981a, 49; 1997, 91f.; J. Andrzejowski 1998a, 69; cf. N. Zieling 1989, 318ff., map 11). Single specimens with edges fitted in iron make a local Przeworsk Culture variety of such bosses (Fig. 19). Some features distinct for the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture are to be noticed in funeral pottery also. Among urns from phase B2 black smoothed or polished vases usually single- or three-handled seems to prevail. Ovoid or S-shaped coarse ware thick-walled urns with brownish body very common in the western part of the Przeworsk Culture are much less frequent in its eastern zone. Chronology of the large cemeteries confirms cultural meaning of this difference rather than chronological. A very typical for the eastern Przeworsk zone form of black ware urns is large, three-handled biconical vase with a triple-zone complex composition of designs consisting of three different motifs bounded by and interrupted by the handles (Fig. 21a, 22). Three handles are after all a pottery feature much more common in the territories east of the Vistula than in the remaining Przeworsk Culture area (T. Dąbrowska 1981a, 46). Another feature of the east-Przeworsk pottery is a rich ornamentation of the urns often in form of wide band of various motifs, what shows affinities to the Oksywie and early Wielbark Culture pottery (T. Dąbrowska 1995b; 1996). A variant of complex band ornamentation is the so-called narrative ornament consisting of an uninterrupted sequence of different motifs alternating in a fluid manner (Fig. 21b). Handles supported by a well-defined applied cordon sometimes forming a kind of profiled “tendrils” are also borrowed from the Wielbark Culture pottery (T. Dąbrowska 1981a, 46, fig. 2). Burial rituals of the east-Przeworsk zone follow cremation rite typical for the entire Przeworsk Culture. Lack of weapons in graves of Nidzica and Mława regions (J. Okulicz 1965; 1983; K. Godłowski 1985, 50f., 64ff.) may be connected with influences from Wielbark Culture. Very interesting although hard to explain are various stone settings known from northern and eastern Mazovian cemeteries, including quite elaborate assemblages in some way linked with burials (J. Okulicz 1970, s. 434ff.); however, most of them are yet not excavated. At the end of Przeworsk Culture in its eastern zone, i.e. in phase B2c–B2/C1a, share of poorly equipped pit burials grown up, what seems to be typical for the earliest Wielbark Culture graves in the area as well (T. Dąbrowska 1981a, 55; J. Andrzejowski 1989). Concluding we may ascertain that the Przeworsk Culture finds east of the Vistula, in Mazovia and Podlasie differ in the Early Roman Period from those of the remaining territory of this culture. The phenomenon appeared fully at the later phase B1 and increased in the phase B2. Finds from the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture testified then to strong affinity with the WielbarkCulture and northern areas of the Elbian Culture, some connections with the western Scandinavia are also noticed. Adoption of some strong foreign influences and combining them with typically Przeworsk Culture features grew up into a genuine east-Przeworsk style. Southern reach of the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture ranges approximately between the Wilga and middle Bug rivers although some east-Przeworsk features reveal in the west part of Lublin region, mostly along the Vistula, as well as west of middle Vistula, on the lower Pilica river and southwards. The nature of the east-Przeworsk zone suggest that the internal relationship of its people could have been based on their tribal difference from the population of the remaining Przeworsk Culture territory, however associated with them into an ethnic community of upper level. A distinct costume or at least some of its elements could be recognised as important sign of such self-identity. Spreading in phases B2 and B2/C1–C1a of the east-Przeworsk attributes generally south- and westwards is probably a consequence of some migrations correlated with a progressive process of cultural alteration in the territory of the eastern zone of Przeworsk Culture (T. Dąbrowska 1981a; 1981b; J. Andrzejowski 1989; cf. K. Godłowski 1985, 67ff.; 1986; A. Kokowski 1986; J. Okulicz 1989). The gradual progress of this change based doubtlessly on the former lively relationships of both cultures. Some features of the early stage of the Wielbark Culture in the newly assimilated territories east of the middle Vistula may be recognised as the result of local adoption of the Przeworsk Culture principles. They are, for instance, continuing use of some Przeworsk Culture cemeteries (J. Andrzejowski 1989), large number of cross-bow brooches made of iron (W. Nowakowski 1994), high frequency of burnt pottery in graves, including urns (e.g. Ł. & J. Okuliczowie 1976; A. Kempisty 1968; J. Jaskanis 1996), some similarities of pottery (R. Wołągiewicz 1993), and probably also absence of the inhumation ritual in the phases B2/C1–C1a. We may suppose that at least a part of former Przeworsk population remained in its homeland. However, clear depopulation of this zone in the turn of the early and Late Roman Period (T. Dąbrowska 1981a; K. Godłowski 1985, 67ff.; J. Andrzejowski 1989) indicates, in spite of close mutual relation that east-Przeworsk tribes still kept their identity perhaps basing on the ethnic difference between them and the Wielbark Culture tribes.

4

Spatha z Konina-Kurowa

86%

Czarnecka K. , Gorczyca K. , Schellner K.

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nr 69

190-196

EN

An iron sword was found during the deepening of the Warta river bed in the mid-1960s. It was recovered from the river at the level of the former village of Kurów, presently a district of Konin (Fig. 1). The artefact is stored in the District Museum in Konin. The artefact was preserved in a good condition (Fig. 2). Its total length is 87.3 cm (originally 90 cm). The blade is double edged, tapering slightly towards the point. The cross-section is faceted, almost flat near the point. The flats are even. The cut of the edges is flat. The point is short, beveled into a sharp arc. The length of the blade is 78.6 cm; the length of the point is 5.3 cm; the width of the blade at the hilt is 5.3 cm; the width of the blade at the point is 4.3 cm. The blade corresponds to type B.II.1, cross-section type 11 in the classification of M. Biborski (Fig. 3), and the sword itself represents type Ejsbøl-Sarry, subtype 2 (M. Biborski, J. Ilkjær 2006, p. 259–271, fig. 117). Macroscopic observations (Fig. 5, 6) and a X-ray photo (Fig. 4) indicate that the pattern welding technique was used in making the blade. The ratio of the length of the blade to the hilt and the location of the center of gravity indicate that the sword was intended mainly for fighting from horseback. The most numerous finds of swords of the type Ejsbøl-Sarry come from the bog deposits in southern Scandinavia (Illerup and Ejsbøl), but they are also known from the territory of the Przeworsk Culture. Their chronology is quite wide. The earliest specimens found as it happens at the sites of the Przeworsk Culture are dated to the phase C2. The vast majority, however, comes from a later period – phase D. The stray find of the sword from Konin-Kurów should be associated with the Przeworsk Culture and dated generally to the phase C2–D. It is noteworthy that the sword from Konin-Kurów was found in a river. In the case of individual objects found in lakes or rivers, it is difficult to establish unequivocally whether we are dealing with an accidental loss, e.g., during a crossing, or with a sacrificial deposit.

5

Osada z młodszego okresu przedrzymskiego i okresu rzymskiego w Strzyżowie, pow. hrubieszowski, w świetle badań z lat 1935-1937 i 1939

86%

Prochowicz R.

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nr 58

265-281

EN

The first discoveries near the sugar-mill at Strzyżów (distr. Hrubieszów) were made in 1923. During several seasons of excavation (1935–37, 1939, 1952, 1958, 1961–63) the complex of sites at this location (Fig. 1) produced an exceptionally large quantity of materials, dating from the Neolithic through to the Medieval period, in the form of several score kilograms of ceramics as well as around a hundred metal, bone, antler and stone objects. The materials held at present by the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw (PMA) and the Lublin Dept. of the National Centre for Historical Monument Studies and Documentation, was never analysed or published in full. The present article is concerned only with materials from the pre-1939 research by Zofia Podkowińska, now in keeping of the Iron Age Department, PMA. Pottery finds from pit 2 and a part of stray ceramics have been dated to phase A2 of the Late Pre-Roman Period and classified as type ‘Werbkowice’. The following vessel forms are represented: type I (Figs. 4:7, 5:15, 6:3), II (Fig. 6:5.7), IV (Figs. 4:2.9, 5:4.9, 6:8), V.1 (Fig. 3:1.2), V.3 (Fig. 5:1. 5.11), V.6 (Fig. 5:18) and VI (Figs. 5:6, 6:1) acc. to the classification system developed for pottery from Werbkowice-Kotorów (T. Liana, T. Piętka-Dąbrowska 1962, p. 157–158; T. Dąbrowska, T. Liana 1963, p. 56–58). The site close to the sugar-mill at Strzyżów also produced fragments of Przeworsk Culture pottery from the Late Pre-Roman Period (Fig. 4:5) and Early Roman Period (Figs. 2:1, 3:7, 4:1.8). Also identified – for the first time with regard to the materials from Strzyżów – was the presence of Wielbark Culture finds from the Late Roman Period (Fig. 3:3.5). One of the more notable Wielbark finds is an incomplete bowl, type VIA (Fig. 2:6), which is ornamented above shoulder with an wide engraved band of ornament of at least three groups of patterns alternating with ‘separator’ motifs (Fig. 2:6a).

6

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

86%

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

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nr 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).

7

Modła, grób 169 - pierwsza trepanacja czaszki z okresu wpływów rzymskich z ziem polskich

86%

Andrzejowski J. , Stanaszek Ł. M. , Mańkowska-Pliszka H.

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nr 58

185-200

EN

The cemetery from the Roman Period at Modła, comm. Wiśniewo, distr. Mława, was excavated in total in the years 1976–1986. More than 300 ancient features were discovered, which were almost exclusively graves from the end of the old and the first ages of the new era: over 190 graves from the Przeworsk Culture (from the final stage of phase A3 to the late stage of phase B2), around 60 graves from the Wielbark Culture (from phase B2/C1 to the early phase of the Migration Period), and around 45 further graves of undetermined cultural origin, surely, or most probably from the Roman Period. The majority of the graves from Modła contained cremation burials. Relatively few of them were inhumation graves – there were only 23 such graves discovered. During the anthropological studies of the bone remains from one of the inhumation graves (no. 169) it was noted that the buried individual had been subjected to an intravital skull trepanation. This discovery deserves special attention as it is probably the first recorded case of such an operation from the Roman Period at the territory of Poland. Grave 169 was situated at the south-astern border of the cemetery, at a distinct slope of a hill at which the cemetery was located – about 5 meters below the top of the hill. The bones of the skeleton, oriented along the N-S axis, with the head to the north, were uncovered just under the surface, at the border of a large modern ditch. The description in the field log allows for a supposition that the burial was discovered in its original alignment. It is unknown, however, whether the unnatural arrangement of the skeleton was original or secondary (Fig. 1). The absence of any preserved furniture does not allow for precise dating of the burial, however, there is some indirect evidence indicating its cultural attributes. The orientation of the pit of grave 169 and the arrangement of the individual with the head to the north are typical of inhumation rituals of the Wielbark Culture. Among 23 inhumation graves from Modła, 18 most certainly or probably should be connected with the Wielbark Culture on the basis of the furniture, and only one should be connected with the Przeworsk Culture. Almost all pits of the inhumation graves were aligned N-S or NNW-SSE, and more seldom NW-SE or NE-SW. The only exception is the Early Roman Period grave from the Przeworsk Culture, with the pit oriented along the NWW-SEE axis and the skeleton oriented with the head to the west. At the north-western Mazowsze, in the zone occupied by the Wielbark Culture from the beginning of phase B2/C1, a series of about 20 inhumation graves from the Wielbark Culture at Modła is quite exceptional. Five inhumation graves are known from the cemetery at Litwinki, distr. Nidzica, at which no fewer than 50 graves were discovered, while at other cemeteries, only single such graves are recorded. This also concerns the big cemetery at Niedanowo, distr. Nidzica, site 2, where there was only one inhumation grave among over 200 hundred burials from the Wielbark Culture. In the case of the Przeworsk Culture at the entire territory of Mazowsze on the right side of the Vistula, inhumation graves are very rare (fewer than 15 graves in total). However, almost all of the them come from the northern limits of the Przeworsk settlement zone (Szczepkowo-Zalesie, Bartki, and Niedanowo, distr. Nidzica, Modła, distr. Mława, Zgliczyn-Pobodzy, distr. Żuromin). The grave pits are variously aligned, although the orientation W-E and similar ones dominate, and the bodies of the dead were often laid on the side, and (or) with the legs pulled up. This absence of clear rules concerning the orientation of the grave and the arrangement of the body is characteristic of the inhumation ritual also at other areas of the Przeworsk Culture. The evidence presented above allows us to connect grave 169 with the Wielbark Culture and to date it generally to the Late Roman Period. The bones from grave 169 belonged to one individual. The gender features were not clear. However, the relatively big size and massiveness of individual bones (eg ribs, vertebrae, mastoid processes), the angle value between the neck and the shaft of proximal femur (ca 125°), and also the shape of the upper rim of the orbit and occipital, point to a male. The determination of the age of the dead was not easy because of the discrepancy between the ectocranial suture closure and dental age. All preserved fragments of the cranial sutures were exo- and endocranially opened on both sides. On the other hand, the degree of attrition of the surfaces of the masticatory system was quite considerable. It may be assumed that the skeleton under study belonged to a male individual who died at the age of early adultus (ca 20–25 years). He was around 165.5 cm tall. At two parietal bones, in the area beginning in the middle of the sagittal suture (pars lambdoidea, and pars obelica) and ending at the joint with the occipital bone (the area of lambda point), there is an oval hole (Fig. 2). The size of the cavity in the sagittal plane measured ca 59 mm, while in the frontal plane it was 39.5 mm. At the same time, the edges of this cavity were damaged post mortem in the area of lambda point and it was on the opposite site of the cavity. The actual post-trepanation hole was slightly smaller (48.5×39.5 mm). The characteristics of this cavity allows us to view it beyond any doubt as a hole resulting from craniotomy (status post trepanationem). The operation was carried out in vivo, which is supported by the fact that the edges of the cavity had healed intravitally (cf Figs. 2 and 3). An analysis of the bone margin at the outline of the hole (11.9 mm) points to a relatively long intravital period, which indirectly suggests that the trepanation could have taken place at a young age. The post-trepanation hole was made by using the method of scraping which was the most common method in all ancient periods. This is why the cavity had a regular oval shape, with the wall gently inclined inside, which is described in the literature as completed trepanation (involving the perforation of lamina interna). The location of the cavity is worth noting. It is in the parietal bones, close to the sagittal suture and the lambda point, as the middle zone of the head is connected with greater risk in such operations. This is due to the fact that right under the lid of the skull there is the Sinus sagittalis, whose disruption can result in instant death either due to vein damage or due to infection. The described surgical intervention belonged to the so called healing trepanations. However, a ritual (magical) character of this operation cannot be excluded. Everything points to the fact that the reasons for the craniotomy in the case of the individual in Modła were connected with the morphological features of his skull. The skull was characterized by an asymmetry (particular visible in the area of frontal, occipital and both temporal bones), the occipital scale was indented and had an irregular line of the nuchal crest and of the protuberantia occipitalis externa. This may testify to a pathological state of traumatic origin (injury of the occipital skull part). The bone density, visible in the X-ray picture agrees with age group of the individual obtained by anthropological methods. No signs of developmental disorders were observed in the bone structure (Fig. 3). Also the histological picture of bone trabecular tissue is symmetrical and regular, and no pathological changes are observed (Fig. 6). As far as the medical consequences of damaging the occipital lobe go (Brodman’s area 17 – V1 and V3), it can be assumed that the young man, following the craniotomy, could suffer from vision disorder. Only few cases of craniotomy are known from the area of Central Europe from the period between the late Neolithic and the early Middle Ages, which can be due to the insufficient state of research, small popularity of this operation type, but also the domination of cremation rite. Relatively numerous healing trepanations are recorded in Celtic materials from the present day area of Southern Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. The only case of skull trepanation in vivo known from the territory of Poland and chronologically close to the find from Modła was recorded recently in grave 68 at an Oksywie Culture cemetery at Różyny, distr. Pruszcz Gdański (pow. gdański) – a burial of a male individual, age: senilis, and dated to phase A2 of the Late Pre-Roman Period. Three cases of craniotomy contemporaneous with the burial at Modła (coming from phases B2/C1–C2) were recorded at a big necropolis in Marvelė, ray. Kaunas in Lithuania. Apparently also from the Late Roman Period came the burial from the town of Nitranský Hrádok, distr. Nové Zámky, in Slovakia, while the grave from Merseburg-Süd, distr. Merseburg-Querfurt, in Sachsen-Anhalt is dated to the second half of the 4th cent. and the beginning of the 5th cent. AD. This chronological sequence, the territorial dispersion of graves with burials containing individuals with trepanation and the established fact that the operated individuals survived the trepanation indicates to us that the exceptionality of these cases is only apparent, and the surgical procedures connected with this type of operation had to be well known to the ‘barbarian’ medics of the time. This view is corroborated indirectly also by the surgical sets with instruments used for trepanation, which come from the Central and Southern European zone of Celtic settlement. A similar set (but without bone saws) is known from a warrior grave from a cemetery of the Przeworsk Culture at Żukowice, distr. Głogów, in Lower Silesia, dated to phase A1. Recently, Anette Frölich identified small trepanation saws, identical to the Celtic ones, in three coherent sets of personal grave furniture from the known bog deposit from Illerup in northern Jutland, to which also belonged scalpels and wooden needles for ‘rough sewing’ of cut wounds. It would therefore seem that we are dealing with some sort of first aid sets, most handy at battle fields and used by the ‘military’ medics of the time. Ernst Künzl describes the Celts buried with weapons and sets of medical instruments as warrior-surgeons – most surely the warrior from Żukowice was a ‘surgeon’ of this type. Head wounds, expected in battle conditions and the necessity of quick surgical interventions support the earlier expressed opinion, according to which craniotomy at the time of late antiquity at the territory of Central and Northern Europe were mostly healing in character. The sets from Illerup force us to assume that not only the necessity of such operations was taken into account, but also the necessary instruments and skills for their effective use in battle conditions.

8

Uwagi o niektórych typach zapinek II grupy serii wschodniej Oscara Almgrena

86%

Mączyńska M.

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nr 58

159-184

EN

The study is concerned with brooch types A. II 38, 41 and 43; type A. II 41 brooches are discussed within the new classification proposed by J. Schuster (in the same volume). These forms have a distinctive distribution, something not always fully appreciated in earlier research. Brooches defined as forms F 1/F 3, with a very slender bow and spring-cover ornamented with imitation spring (Fig. 1:1.2), cluster on the lower Vistula River and to the west of this area, in the lake districts of Kaszuby and Krajna (Fig. 3, list 1). Chronologically they belong in phase B2a, although it is possible that they appeared still during the transitional stage from B1b to B2a. It appears that the centre of production of these brooches lay somewhere in the lower reaches of the Vistula River. In his analysis of type A. II 41 brooches J. Schuster selected as a criterion of classification the form of the entire brooch, its foot in particular, rather than details of construction. This led him to distinguish four main variants: I, X, Y and Z: variant I – with a straight, at times, lightly expanding foot, variant X – which includes two sub-variants: X 1 – with a trapeze--shaped foot, and X 2 – with a strongly expanded foot, which gives the brooch the form of a letter ‘X’; variant Y – characterised by a wide bow and a foot which usually tapers at the lower end, whereas variant X, also defined as ‘lower Vistula’ variant, has a wide bow, a flaring or a straight foot and a low-set crest. In the eastern region of the Central European Barbaricum A. II 40 and 41 brooches generally represent diagnostic (leading) forms in phase B2/C1. It does not appear from the review of finds discovered in context with these pieces that any of the four variants of type A. II 41, distinguished by J. Schuster, appeared earlier or outlived the other variants. However, interesting conclusions result from analysis of maps of distributions of these brooch variants. Finds of variant I brooches (Fig. 4, list 2) cluster in Vorpommern, in East Pomerania, and in Rugen. The only three sites with this brooch variant found more to the south are Kemnitz, Kr. Potsdam-Mittelmark, and two cemeteries of Luboszyce Culture at Biecz and Grabice. The easternmost find of variant I brooch is known from the region of Elbląg or the town itself, still on territory of Wielbark Culture. Variants X 1 and X 2 (Fig. 5, list 3) cluster in East Pomerania – including the right bank of the Vistula River – in the northern part of Wielkopolska (Great Poland), which during that time was occupied by Wielbark Culture, and in Luboszyce Culture. Their distribution pattern reflects plainly the migration movement of the Wielbark Culture people to the southeast, along the Bug River, something noted already by G. Domański and Y. V. Kukharenko. Finds of variant X brooches are less common in Przeworsk Culture; in addition, also, if iron brooches are taken into account, which if they do appear, then they have the form of variant X 1. A number of finds from the lower Danube is discussed below, with other types of brooches of northern origin, which form a concentration in that area, similarly as A. II 41 brooches to the west of the Odra River. A variant typical in Przeworsk Culture are A. II 41 Y brooches (Fig. 6, list 4), also noted in Luboszyce Culture, but less numerous than variant X. To the west of the Odra River finds of variant Y brooches are rare. In the border zone between Wielbark and Przeworsk Culture, on the lower Warta River, some Wielbark Culture cemeteries produced finds of variant Y (Fig. 6:29–31), whereas variant X brooches are known from the same area, also from Przeworsk cemeteries (Fig. 5:93–96), which could testify to direct Wielbark-Przeworsk contacts in this zone. A possible explanation for the presence of as many as twelve Y brooches in the hoard from Łubiana is that they were hoarded after being robbed in Przeworsk area but it less easy to explain the occurrence of nine similar specimens in two or more cemeteries in the region of Elbląg and the town itself. A. II 41 brooches of all the variants discussed so far, together with other elements characteristic for Wielbark Culture, eg, brooches type A. V, eighth series, so-called banded pendants, snake bracelets and others, during phases B2 and B2/C1 start to be recorded across the Odra River, and take in their range Pomerania to the west of the Odra River (Vorpommern), Rugen and, to a lesser extent, Lower Lusatia; this induced J. Schuster to speculate that a small group of Wielbark Culture people migrated west, perhaps a similar development as population shifts on the middle Danube. Variant Z brooches (Fig. 7, list 5) are correctly linked by J. Schuster with the region on the lower Vistula, since barring only three finds, in Pomerania all other brooches of this type originated to the east of that river, despite the fact that the longest series of these brooches comes from the cemetery at Ciepłe, distr. Tczew, found to the west of the Vistula. It is conceivable that a workshop active in the area produced these brooches, but they did not reach the zone of Odry-Węsiory-Grzybnica type cemeteries. This cannot be explained away by difference in time, since variant Z brooches co-occur with forms diagnostic for phase B2/C1, encountered also in Odry-Węsiory-Grzybnica cemeteries, ie, in lake districts of Kaszuby and Krajna, before they were abandoned. Only in the region more to the east (Fig. 7:16.18), towards the Great Masurian Lakes district variant Z brooches are noted in graves in contexts dated to phase C1a. It is interesting that A. II 41 brooches, which form such a great concentration in Wielbark Culture, are noted only sporadically in West Balt deposits, where they represent imports from Wielbark Culture. Similarly as type A. II 41 brooches, type A. II 43 forms are a diagnostic form in phase B2/C1, characteristic for women’s dress accessories, and almost invariably made of bronze, occasionally with gold or silver inlay. The form developed most probably in Przeworsk Culture, this is indicated by their concentration at the centre of Przeworsk territory (Fig. 8, list 6). The second concentration is observed on the middle Danube and is associated by T. Kolník with the migration in 166–169 AD of the Langobardii and Obii to the Danube, by M. Olędzki – with the migration of the Vandal Victovalii. J. Tejral basing on finds of ‘Przeworsk’ character, as eg iron brooches – type A. V, series 8, 10 and 11, silver inlaid trumpet brooches – A. IV 76, and subsequently, brooches type A. V 129, A. II 41, 43 and A. V, series 1, and certain types of pottery and Ginalski group E spurs, which visibly cluster on the middle Danube, sees two larger waves of infiltration of Przeworsk people to the middle Danube, which he interprets as the arrival of smaller groups rather than whole tribes. K. Godłowski understood the same group of objects as evidence of long-lived contact between neighbouring peoples but did not rule out migration of individuals or small groups from the North. The entire discussion was recently summed up by J. Rajtár, who interpreted finds of A. II 43 brooches from old museum collections in Roman provinces (List 6), in Pannonia and Dacia Porolissensis, as traces of the presence of Germanic women, war captives or hostages. A. Kokowski and Y. B. Maleev recently drew attention to the easternmost range of these brooches. Their occurrence in Luboszyce Culture and among Western Balts (in the latter case just three finds) could suggest arrival of Przeworsk women to the area. The mapping of individual brooch types does not always produce such interesting results as ones outlined above. In many cases it would be helpful to distinguish variants of O. Almgren types, but under the condition that different subvariants are identified to reflect actual culture differences, rather than being a mechanical division, made on the basis of secondary criteria. The internal classification of type A. II 41 brooches proposed by J. Schuster, is an example of previously unexploited potential.

9

Nowa odmiana uzdy z wodzami łańcuchowymi z cmentarzyska kultury bogaczewskiej w Paprotkach Kolonii, stan. 1, woj. warmińsko-mazurskie

72%

Bitner-Wróblewska A. , Karczewska M. , Karczewski M.

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nr 55

65-86

EN

Among materials recovered to date from the cemetery of Bogaczewo Culture at Paprotki Kolonia, site 1, gm. Miłki (woj. warmińsko-mazurskie), worthy of special note is the assemblage of grave 72 which included a rich assortment of weapons, belt elements, and above all, a unique iron horse bridle with chain-link reins. The cemetery at Paprotki Kolonia, site 1, lies in the region of Mazurian Great Lakes, some 3 km SE of the village of Paprotki (Fig. 1). It occupies a slight elevation between the peatland Nietlice (former lake) and waterlogged meadows surrounding the Zielone Bagno bog. The cemetery was discovered in 1983 by L. Paderewska MA and L. Gajewski MA during the archaeological penetration of Mazurian peatlands. From 1991 the site was systematically excavated. So far some 170 cremation graves were discovered as well as the remains of a funerary pyre. It is difficult to establish accurately the number of all graves because a number of them were discovered on a secondary deposit in the fill of trenches dating to the first world war. The earliest assemblage, dated to phase A3–B1, is grave 33, which yielded a bronze pin type A acc. to B. Beckmann. The latest burials date to the Migration Period. Grave 30 contained a comb with a bell-shaped grip (phase D) while grave 1 produced a spiral ring with the coil hammered into a disc (phase E). Most burials are dated to the younger phase of the Early Roman Period and older phase of the Late Roman Period. This chronology also applies to the assemblage from grave 72, of special interest here. Grave 72 was discovered 45 cm below the line of turf. It contained a double burial – an urn containing the remains of an early adultus or early maturus female or a fragile delicately built male individual) and a pit burial of an adultus-maturus male). The pit grave was circular ca. 1 m in diameter; its SE section had been disturbed by other burials. In section grave 72 formed a regular pit with a flat bottom, its fill consisted of intensively black earth mixed with rusty-red sand. Its maximum depth was 45–47 cm. The rich assemblage recovered from grave 72 included the following finds: a horse bridle with a ring bit and chain-link reins (Fig. 6), elements of a shield (type J.7a shield-boss, rivets – fig. 7:1,6,7), a knife with a hilt and scabbard mounts (Fig. 7:2,13), ten arrow points (Fig. 8), a belt set consisting of a buckle with a double spike R. Madyda-Legutko type AG42, belt hanger and three belt-end fittings, including a type J.II1-2 acc. to K. Raddatz (Fig. 9:1–3,6,19), another belt set consisting of a belt buckle with an elongated ferrule type AG12 (Fig. 10:2), a rectangular fitting and cross-shaped fittings (Fig. 10:9). Other grave goods included two fibulae with three cross-bares, type A.96 (Fig. 10:6,7) and appliqué bosses representing an ornament of female head-dress (Fig. 10:3–5). Grave equipment included a cinerary urn with a high-set funnel neck and body of broad proportions, its greatest diameter set slightly below mid-height of the vessel (Fig. 11). The urn was fitted with a 4-segment vertical handle. Basing on the pair of fibulae type A.96 from grave 72 may be dated to phase B2/C1–C1a. Other grave goods such as the type J.7a shield-boss confirm this chronology and the belt set with the double-spiked belt buckle. The other belt buckle having a rectangular, bipartite frame and ferrule, which in the assemblage in question may represent an old fashioned form, occupies a slightly earlier chronological position. A special position in the inventory of the discussed grave is definitely occupied by the horse bridle with chain-link reins, made entirely of iron. Its unipartite mouthpiece has the form of a rod bent four times at right angles. A horse harness with such a mouthpiece and a metal throatlatch made it much easier to control the horse something important in combat. The bridle from Paprotki also features chain-link reins which consist of three elongated and three annular links. The elongated links are formed of rods polygonal in section hammered at both ends into an eye and coiled around the annular links. The elongated links are decorated centrally and at the ends with pairs of engraved lines, the eyes – with deep grooves or engraved designs in form of an arrow, diagonal grid, triangle or chevron. Fittings of the side straps of the bridle are rectangular – an iron rod was twisted into an eye around the links of the bit, its ends hammered flat into thin plates joined to the strap by a single rivet. The bridle from grave 72 at Paprotki Kolonia belongs to the sub-type of bridles with chain-link reins encountered in the Barbaricum in the Roman Period and the Migration Period. Bridles of this type have the mouthpiece made of a rod bent four times at right angles, throatlatch and rings of the bit. Fittings for attaching side straps of the bridle are T-shaped. Chain-link reins formed of elongated and annular links were almost exclusively in bronze; only the mouthpiece was iron. Several systems of classification of the discussed category of finds are proposed in literature (T. Baranowski 1973; M. Ørsnes 1993; S. Wilbers-Rost 1994). Although they differ in their methodological assumptions they arrive at basically similar divisions. The main criterion is the shape of the chain links. They may be figure-of-eight with a cylindrical or a tapering central section, the shape of joined acorns or slender elongated and flat links, broad annular links. The last type of links characterises the latest specimens of chain-link reins dated to the Early Migration Period. Chronology of the remaining types fits between phases B2 and B2/C1. The bridle from Paprotki fits the basic criteria and may be classified without difficulty the subtype of chain-link reins. It has a number of distinct features, which argue against including it in any of the variants known so far. This is mainly because of the different shape of the elongated chain links. Another element unseen in previously recorded chain-link reins is the substitution in the Paprotki bridle of hooks for attaching side thongs by fittings in the form of elongated rectangles. Furthermore, the specimen in question was made entirely of iron, something very rare in this type of elaborate horse trappings. In view of its unique features the bridle should be classified as a new variant of a chain-link reins – variant Paprotki. It presumably represents an imitation of models originating in Samland, produced locally by a master blacksmith. On Balt territory horse bridles with chain-link reins occur in concentrations chiefly in Samland with several specimens known also from Mazurian Lakeland (Fig. 12). Isolated specimens were also encountered in western Lithuania where they probably represent imports from Samland. A definite majority of horse bridles from Samland are showpieces, fitted with brass chain-link reins, while Mazurian specimens tend to be incomplete and lack metal reins. This makes the find from Paprotki even more special. The discussed assemblage from grave 72 contained yet another unique element i.e., a set of ten different arrow points. All had stems but differed in the shape of the leaf and proportions. They represent forms unknown in other areas of the Central European Barbaricum, only rarely encountered in the culture of the western Balts (Mojtyny, grave 59, Szwajcaria, barrow 15, grave 2). Among the furnishings in grave 72 at Paprotki also striking is the unusual ornament seen on the urn. In the upper part of its body, below the neck, the vessel is ornamented with four groups of diagonal and vertical lines forming stylised arrows. It would seem that such an ornament had been chosen deliberately as it immediately brings to mind the set of arrows found in that grave.

10

Ślady produkcji żelaza na obszarze osadnictwa kultury wielbarskiej

72%

Woińska M.

|

nr 69

3-24

EN

The process of iron production in the territory of Poland during the Roman Period has so far been discussed in detail only in relation to the Przeworsk Culture. In the case of the Wielbark Culture, this subject has not been thoroughly analyzed. This state of affairs is caused in part by a small number of fully researched settlements of the Wielbark Culture and the fact that the Wielbark people did not usually deposit iron objects in their graves. Ryszard Wołągiewicz (1974, p. 129–130) showed that the ratio of iron to bronze objects registered in the graves of this culture is 1:30. Newer studies indicate that the ratio can vary significantly from site to site. For example, at the cemetery in Ulkowy site 1, Gdańsk County, approximately every twelfth item was made entirely of iron. In Grzybnica, Koszalin County, it was every third item. In Pruszcz Gdanski site 10, Gdańsk County, every sixteenth artefact was made of iron, yet in Weklice, Elbląg County, it was every ninth one (M. Woińska 2015, p. 177–178). The oldest grave assemblages containing iron artefacts are dated to the phase B1. They come mainly from the cemeteries previously used by the people of the Oksywie Culture. Therefore, there are sometimes difficulties in determining their cultural affiliation. The same applies to settlements which were first used by the people of the Oksywie or Przeworsk Culture and then by the population of the Wielbark Culture. In spite of this, features associated with the iron production process are identified at the settlements associated unequivocally with the Wielbark Culture (Fig. 2, Table 2). These include slag-pit furnaces, forge hearths, features related to the initial preparation of bog ore, and – indirectly – lime and charcoal kilns (Fig. 3–5). Such features were discovered in the greatest number at the settlement at Rogowo site 23, where 441 slag-pit furnaces were identified. Some of them came in pairs forming larger disordered clusters (E. Bokiniec 2016a, p. 16). From a few to a dozen or so slag-pit furnaces were discovered at other settlements discussed herein (Gotelp site 14, Kakulin, Klonówka site 7/54, Leśno site 10, Łosino site 15, Poznań-Sołacz, Stanisławie site 37, Stroszki site 1, Tarnowo Pałuckie site 13, Widzino site 8). These furnaces were not organized, and the iron produced there was probably used for local needs only. Furthemore, concentrations of features defined as forges have been identified at the settlements in Stroszki and Poznań-Sołacz. It is worth noting that iron objects also appear at the settlements of the Wielbark Culture (Fig. 6). The largest number (over 70) was registered in Lipianki site 3. They comprised brooches – A.IV.74 (Fig. 7:1), A.V series 8, A.VI.158, A.VI.161–162, A.VI.170 (Fig. 7:2), belt buckles, casket fittings, spurs (Fig. 7:3) as well as awls, needles and knives (A. Strobin 2015, p. 125–135).

11

Głos tradycji. Cmentarzysko z okresu wpływów rzymskich w Wyszomierzu Wielkim, pow. zambrowski

72%

Rakowski T.

|

tom LXXI

|

nr 71

319-353

EN

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

12

Cmentarzysko kultury przeworskiej w Kurkach, pow. działdowski, stan. III

72%

Woźniak M. , Grabarek A.

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tom LXXI

|

nr 71

369-383

EN

In 2009 and 2011, artefacts from destroyed graves from the Roman Period (Fig. 3) were accidentally discovered in the village of Kurki, Działdowo County (Fig. 1, 2). Archaeological excavations at the site took place in 2009 and 2011. They covered an area of about 500 m2 (Fig. 4, 5). A total of 33 archaeological features were discovered, including five graves from the Roman Period. The graves discovered at Kurki can be attributed to the Przeworsk Culture. They are all cremation burials. Feature 1 (Fig. 6) is a pit cremation burial with remains of a funeral pyre and several vessels (whole or in fragments) lying close to an urn covered (?) with another vessel. Such graves are commonly encountered in the region. Features 23 (Fig. 10, 11), 30 (Fig. 12) and presumably 10a (Fig. 9) are pit graves, with bone material scattered in the pits together with remnants of a funeral pyre. In feature 2 (Fig. 7, 8), human remains were located at the bottom of the pit and covered with three vessels placed upside down. Such an arrangement is characteristic of the graves of the Przeworsk Culture from northern Mazovia. Adult individuals were buried in features 1 and 2, and an older child or adolescent (9–15 years) was interred in feature 23; the sex and age of the person from feature 30 could not be determined. In the case of one grave (10a), osteological material could not be classified. Burnt animal bones were also recorded in two graves (2, 23). Grave goods were fairly modest. Clay vessels (whole or in fragments), usually secondarily burnt, were found in all graves. They mostly represent forms typical of the early Roman, northern Mazovian pottery of the Przeworsk Culture. They find numerous analogies at neighbouring cemeteries, e.g. at Niedanowo, Nidzica County, and Gródki, Działdowo County. Among the less typical forms, a footed cup (Fig. 6:3), a bowl with a low shoulder (Fig. 6:5), and a ribbed bowl imitating Roman glass vessels (Fig. 10:3) are worth mentioning. Other artefacts were registered in two graves only: lumps of melted glass, most probably from a melted glass vessel (Fig. 6:7), were found in the cinerary urn from feature 1, and an iron handle of an organic container was discovered in feature 30 (Fig. 12:4). The examined graves come from phases B1b–B2. The cemetery at Kurki belongs to the local Nidzica-Działdowo settlement cluster of the Przeworsk Culture (Fig. 13). Several sites of this group, most often cemeteries, are known in the vicinity. Most of them are poorly explored archaeologically or studied on a small scale; some are purely accidental discoveries (Kurki – Fig. 14; Rutkowice – Fig. 15).

13

Prowincjonalnorzymska emaliowana zapinka tarczowata z miejscowości Wierzonka, pow. poznański

72%

Kawecka A.

|

nr 69

187-190

EN

In 2018, a bronze brooch dating to the Roman Period was handed over to the County Monuments Preservation Department of the Poznań County Office. The artefact was discovered accidentally in a forest area within the grounds of the village of Wierzonka, in the commune of Swarzędz, Poznań County (Fig. 1). The brooch comes from as of yet unknown, unidentified archaeological site. The characteristic feature of the brooch (Fig. 2:a–c) is a circular disc with two smaller, round, bowl-shaped protrusions at its perimeter; a third such protrusion could have originally been located on the upper part of the disc. A raised circular knob (tutulus) cast together with the fibula body is located at the center of the disc. The flat tip of the knob is decorated with two round, enameled fields – a yellow field on the inside, and a blue and navy one on the outside. Both protrusions could have also been originally enameled. What constitutes a special element of the Wie¬rzonka brooch is an openwork triangle with circular, bowl-shaped protrusions at each corner, probably also initially enameled. The brooch has a hinged construction, typical of provincial Roman fibulae. Preserved length of the brooch is 3.9 cm, full height approx. 1.6 cm, disc diameter 2.0 cm. The brooch corresponds to type I 52 after K. Exner (1941) or 7.13 after E. Riha (1994) and also to types IV/2/1/1 and IV/2/1/3 in the classification of enameled fibulae from Panonia (A. Vaday 2003). Close analogies to the brooch from Wierzonka can be found in the Rhine and Danube provinces of the Roman Empire (Fig. 3). They are dated to the 2nd and 3rd century AD, which does not allow for an unequivocal identification of the Wierzonka brooch with either the Przeworsk or Wielbark Cultures, more so since this fibula is a unique specimen in the territory of Poland.

14

Zabytki z okresu wpływów rzymskich odkryte podczas badań archeologicznych na Westerplatte

72%

Kalka P. , Romanowski A.

|

2024

|

tom Tom XXXIII

25–40

EN

Comprehensive excavation research on Westerplatte has been conducted since 2016 by archaeologists from the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. During ten stages of work, an area with a total surface of over 7.500 m² was examined, delivering over 80 thousand different types of artefacts, which are evidence of human activity from the beginnings of the formation of Westerplatte in the mid-17th century until the mid-20th century. A large part of this collection are objects related to the functioning of the Military Transit Depot, including primarily its heroic defence in September 1939. Among the discovered artefacts, however, there are also much older ones, and among them those from the Roman influence period. The materials dated in this way include two bronze coins and two fragments of pottery vessels. The first of the coins (IP. 689/2017) was identified as type AE3, Constantine I, Constantine II, or Constantius II, from the years 330-341 AD; the second coin (IP. 13/2017) is AE3, Valens, dated to the period between August 24 of 367 AD and November 17 of 375 AD. The pottery fragment (IP. 1576/2019) is the upper part of a vessel with a fully preserved handle. Morphological and technological features allow the described fragment to be classified as part of a vase from group IV, type B or C, according to the typology of pottery vessels of the Wielbark culture by R. Wołągiewicz. The second of the discovered fragments (IP. 480/2024) should also be considered part of a group IV vase, most likely type A. Group IV vases are dated to phases from B2 to C1b/C2. Due to the fact that Westerplatte was formed only in the mid-17th century, the described artefacts must have found their way to the peninsula as a result of post-depositional processes. They probably ended up on Westerplatte with soil brought to the peninsula to strengthen its structure, or they come from dredging the bottom of the port canal between Westerplatte and Nowy Port, which was carried out systematically since the first half of the 18th century. Regardless of the way in which the described artefacts ended up on Westerplatte, they most likely came from an unidentified Wielbark culture site located not far from the peninsula.

15

Dom to nie tylko dach i cztery ściany… O budownictwie w późnej starożytności w Europie Północnej i Środkowej ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem ziem polskich

58%

Schuster J.

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tom LXXI

|

nr 71

3-159

EN

One of the most interesting, but sometimes slightly underestimated topics of research as a whole into the Late Antiquity of the ‘barbaric’ part of Europe is the development of longhouses and settlements. This paper is an attempt to combine the results of long-term research on construction and settlements from the Iron Age (with a main focus on the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period) in the western part of Central Europe and Scandinavia with the results of relevant research in Poland. This is no easy task. Despite undeniable research progress in recent decades, settlement archaeology in Poland is still in the early stage of searching for patterns of recognition and reconstruction of longhouses that can contribute to the determination of individual house types. The aim of this paper is to convince the Polish research community that it is necessary to change its perspective on the subject of Iron Age house building and especially on the spatial organisation of settlements. Too often, one can observe an avoidance of careful and accurate analysis of archaeological objects in relation to the reconstruction of house plans – partly out of fear of misinterpretation, partly due to inability, partly because of habit and use of well-worn research paths, but often also out of a lack of reflection on the regularities and laws of statics and carpentry methods. In this way (unnecessarily), a gap was created between two (artificially created) zones of barbaric Europe that lacks one of the basic features of working on archaeological material within the so-called Germania magna: comparability. For a long time, the pit house was regarded as the main residential building in Late Antiquity in the area of Poland. Additionally, post houses were and are being reconstructed that could never have existed in this way. As a result of efforts to adapt the shape of the house to his own needs and economic requirements, a man living in Central and Northern Europe had already created a universal building in the Neolithic (Fig. 2) that we call a longhouse. However, this building is not a homogeneous creation. In different periods of time, in regionally determined varieties, it occurs in different forms. On the basis of certain design features, arrangements of roof-bearing structures and other elements, these varieties are recognised as house types. Similarly to the classification of artefacts and analysis of the distribution of different types, variants and varieties, the analysis of house types also helps us to determine the peculiarities of individual societies and groups, to track their development and to recognise zones of common tradition and contact networks. At this point, I would venture to say that construction traditions even more closely reflect the characteristics of individual societies than, for example, brooches whose forms have undergone rapid fashion changes and influences from various milieus. For large areas in western Central Europe and Scandinavia, we can determine house types that can be grouped into overarching categories, defining building tradition zones (Hauslandschaften). In the relevant works, such regions east of the Oder have not yet found their place. It is high time to change that. I decided to review in the first part of the paper the most important issues related to Iron Age house building, given the fact that this paper cannot cover and discuss all aspects of the issue. Construction details, forms and basic types of longhouses in northern Central Europe are discussed, followed by the layout of farmsteads and settlements. The second part of the article attempts to relate the results of settlement archaeology in western Central Europe and Scandinavia to research results in Poland, often based on a reinterpretation of published features. When discussing the main features – the description of the post hole, the appearance and foundation of the post itself, the walls, doorways, roofs and house types, as well as the layout of farmsteads and settlements – I always had in mind and attempted to refer to the situation in Poland. It is a trivial statement that the most important feature in settlement research is the post hole. We owe the first detailed description of the archaeological feature which we call a post hole to A. Kiekebusch (1870–1935), an employee and later a department head of the Märkisches Museum in Berlin. He had contact with C. Schuchhardt (1859–1943), one of the founders of the Römisch-Germanische Kommission in Frankfurt am Main. From 1899, he, in turn, conducted excavations in the Roman legionnaire camp of the Augustus period in Haltern on the northern edge of the Ruhr region, during which, for the first time on a large scale, attention was paid to the remains of ancient post foundations. Thus, research in Haltern can be regarded as the beginning of modern settlement archaeology. During research on the early Iron Age stronghold Römerschanze in Potsdam, Schuchardt transferred the discovery of the research value of the post hole to ‘barbarian’ archaeology. The aforementioned A. Kiekebusch participated in research on Römerschanze; C. Schuchardt’s innovative research methods made a huge impression on him. In the publication of results of his own excavation of a Bronze Age settlement in Berlin-Buch, he described the appearance and properties of the post hole on eleven (!) pages (Fig. 4). The turn of the 19th/20th cent. is also a breakthrough in settlement archaeology in the Scandinavian countries. Here, however, the road was slightly different than on the continent, in a figurative sense from the general to the detail. Geographical conditions and construction methods, sometimes quite different from the way houses were erected in Central Europe, were conducive to the discovery of real Iron Age ruins of three-aisled houses and in this way it was known almost from the very beginning of settlement research that the houses were elongated and based on the structure of regularly placed roof-bearing posts. For example, in 1924, plans were published of the remains of burnt down houses in the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age settlement at Kraghede in northern Jutland that was discovered in 1906 (Fig. 5). The posts of these houses have survived partly as charred wood, which greatly facilitated the interpretation of discovered traces. The 1920s and 30s witnessed a real leap in settlement archaeology, which was also observed on the continent, e.g. in the Netherlands. A.E. van Giffen (1888–1973) conducted excavations in 1923–1934 in the area of the warf/Wurt/wierde/terp at Ezinge in the Dutch part of Friesland – a Late Pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age settlement. These names, mentioned in Dutch, Frisian and North German dialects, refer to an artificial hill in the North Sea shore region, created to protect house sites against high tide and floods. Moisture in the earth was conducive to the preservation of organic materials, and because of this van Giffen also found ‘real’ ruins of houses (Fig. 6). Large-scale excavations of this type in Germany were conducted in 1954–1963 at the Feddersen Wierde site. The results of this research were just as spectacular as in the case of the settlement at Ezinge (Fig. 46, 47). Large-scale research began in various countries in the 1960s as part of extensive research projects. In Denmark, the nationwide ‘Settlement and Landscape’ project resulted, among others, in the uncovering of a huge area with several settlements/farm clusters from the Pre-Roman Iron Age at Grøntoft, Jutland (Fig. 1). The completely surveyed, enclosed settlement from the Pre-Roman Iron Age at Hodde, Jutland must be mentioned in this context, too. At Vorbasse in Jutland, a huge area from the Late Roman Iron Age and Migration Period settlement was uncovered. After pioneering research at Feddersen Wierde in the 1970s, as part of the ‘North Sea Programme’ project of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Community), research began at the 1st to 6th cent. CE settlement site at Flögeln in the German part of the southern coast of the North Sea. The results became fundamental not only for this region of Germany. As part of the competitive project ‘Research on Iron Age settlements’ of the Academy of Sciences in East Berlin, large-scale excavations were conducted in settlements of the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period settlements at Tornow in Lower Lusatia and at Herzsprung in the Uckermark. Already at the turn of the 1950s/60s, the famous Early and Late Roman Iron Age settlement at Wijster in the northern Netherlands was excavated, but the area studied was not comparable in size to the areas of the above-mentioned sites. In 1974, excavations began at Oss in the southern part of the country, starting in 1979 within the so-called Maaskant-Project of the University of Leiden, which led to the unveiling of an extremely large area, consisting of many, slightly dispersed excavations at so-called native settlements from the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the time when this region was part of the Roman Empire. North of the Rhine and Waal, in the northern Netherlands, the Peelo site is situated. Here, in the 1970s and 1980s, extensive excavations at several neighbouring settlement sites were carried out as part of the ‘Peelo project’ of the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut of the University of Groningen. Similar large excavations were conducted in the 1980s at Colmschate in the eastern Netherlands by the Rijksdienst voor Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, Archeologische Werkgemeenschap Nederland and Archeologie Deventer. The settlement traces date back to the Bronze Age up to medieval times. In the meantime, many new and important large-scale settlement excavations took place that cannot all be mentioned here. In the following chapters, I discuss the most important basic features of longhouses, beginning with the post hole and the post itself. Along with the growing sensitivity of archaeologists towards this issue and thanks to the good condition of surviving posts, there are more and more examples of houses where planks were used as roof-bearing poles. Excellent examples are the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age house at Jerup on Vendsyssel-Thy and two Late Roman Iron Age houses at Ragow and Klein Köris, both south of Berlin (Fig. 8). In some cases, there is evidence that the post was secured in the ground, such as a plank basement at the settlement of Klein Köris, anchoring at Feddersen Wierde or stones used as stabilisation like at Herzsprung (Fig. 7). In eastern Brandenburg, we have seen partial or complete post-hole fillings of burnt or unburnt clay, especially in the case of granaries. Depending on the function of the post, the sizes of the post holes can differ. The deepest post holes often belong to roof-bearing and doorway posts. It is interesting that this applies not only to three-aisle, but also to two-aisled houses (Fig. 10). This fact can be useful in the case of incomplete house plans. The basic typological division of longhouses refers to the general roof-bearing construction (three-aisled, two-aisled, one-aisled and so-called four-aisled houses). Three-aisled houses were not invented in the Iron Age; they appeared as early the Early Bronze Age (Fig. 11) within a large zone including northwestern France and Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Although closely related to the idea of keeping livestock in the same building where people lived, well-dated three-aisled houses with a stall do not date to earlier than around 1400 BCE. During the Pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age, the area of occurrence of these houses contracted slightly; they were erected in a wide zone south of the North Sea, in the Netherlands and northern Germany, Jutland, on the Danish islands and in southern areas of Norway and Sweden. Due to intensive settlement research carried out since the 1990s, we know that – at least in the Roman Iron Age – all of Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania, most of Brandenburg and some regions at the Middle Elbe belonged to this zone of three-aisled houses. The layout of two-aisled houses differs slightly due to construction based on only one row of roof-bearing posts. The arrangement and number of posts are often not as regular as in the case of three-aisled houses, which can create problems when interpreting house plans. Two-aisled longhouses, known from Neolithic sites, and sometimes appeared in a surprising similar form at Bronze Age, Roman Iron Age and Migration Period sites south of the Baltic Sea (Fig. 13), were replaced in Scandinavia and the southern North Sea coast region by three-aisled houses as early as the Middle Bronze Age. The zone of appearance of two-aisled houses is not that well specified and seems to have changed over time. In the west, it is situated to the south of the three-aisled house zone, reaching Westphalia, eastern Brandenburg and parts of Saxony. In Lower Lusatia and south of Berlin, so-called four-aisled houses were discovered (Fig. 14, 63). It is not easy to interpret the plans of these buildings. Here, I present a new proposition for the characteristic post arrangement as supporting a loft (Fig. 64). In the case of one-aisled houses, the inner space is free of posts (Fig. 15) since the walls took over the roof-bearing function. It was a very demanding construction because poor carpentry of joining elements above the wall line inevitably led to its destabilisation and collapse, so it appeared on a larger scale at the beginning of the Middle Ages. However, we also know a few one-aisled longhouses dating to an earlier period. In the next chapter, all elements of the walls are discussed. Special attention is drawn to the fact that rows of posts and walls do not necessarily line up. Since the wall construction is not connected to the house frame or roof, its roof-bearing function can often be excluded (Fig. 20). As the ruins at Feddersen Wierde demonstrate, the line of the wall and that of lateral posts may differ. A special feature are the outer, eave-supporting posts (Fig. 21) that we know from houses in both the west and in the east, but at different times. Such constructions seem to appear in Poland, too. Most of the walls were probably built using the wattle and daub technique. It was predominant used in Central and Northern Europe, but was not the only technique. Houses with wall trenches might have been built with palisade-like walls, with planks (Fig. 26) or as log constructions (Fig. 27). Sometimes there are no traces of the walls at all and the construction must have been over-ground (Fig. 25, 29). With respect to log construction, one drawback is the need for timber, which in regions with limited timber resources can be decisive for choosing another wall variant. For constructing the huge Early Bronze Age house (33.5×ca. 8 m) at Legård on Thy-Vendsyssel (Fig. 27), it was calculated that about 150 oak trees were needed! Most longhouses were built with a rectangular plan, but a quite high number of longhouses in Northern and Central Europe had apse-shaped gable walls (Fig. 30). Roof reconstruction of three-aisled houses with that characteristic seems to pose no problem (Fig. 40–44), but in the case of two-aisled houses with a roof-bearing post in the apse-shaped gable wall, the task of reconstruction is challenging. Regarding the interior structure of Iron Age longhouses, we have a lot of information from the well-preserved house ruins at Feddersen Wierde (Fig. 47–50) and burnt down houses from Denmark (Fig. 51). They prove the widespread use of houses with a living area and stall under one roof. In other cases, the inner division is proven by the existence of small trenches where the partition walls of the boxes were placed (Fig. 52, 53). For now, we cannot determine the precise range of this economic model; the easternmost houses with stall trenches were discovered in Lower Lusatia (right on the German-Polish border). Placing animals under the same roof as people is not a phenomenon limited to antiquity. In some regions of Germany and the Netherlands, it was a fairly common form of farming in modern times. Some of these houses survived until the 1970s (Fig. 54). This type of house was found in a long zone from the vicinity of Amsterdam to the Hel Peninsula – mainly in the zone of the historical range of the Low German language, which is therefore called Niederdeutsches Hallenhaus. At a time when Bronze Age and Iron Age longhouses began to be intensively researched in the Netherlands and Germany, the memory of the original functioning of Niederdeutsches Hallenhaus, so similar to ancient buildings, was still alive, and the grandparents or parents of these researchers often lived in them or knew of such houses anecdotally (Fig. 55:1–3). Some very old buildings showed common structural features with houses from the Roman Iron Age. A comparison of the characteristics of ancient and modern houses has greatly facilitated approaching the subject and interpreting the results of excavations. However, it has sometimes also led to the use of inadequate terms that survive to this day and which are misleading. For example, if the famous researcher of rural architecture J. Schepers talked about Germanisches Hallenhaus or W. Haarnagel in his monumental monograph uses the term dreischiffige Hallenhäuser, they were influenced by the use of almost the same name of the above-mentioned medieval and modern houses that in terms of internal division are so similar to three-aisled longhouses from the Iron Age. However, there is a significant functional difference: the term Halle (hall) in Niederdeutsches Hallenhaus refers to a room with a threshing floor in the central nave, located between livestock bays. This room is large and hall-like, and that is why the houses were given the name Hallenhaus. The ‘hall’ in Late Antiquity (Fig. 58, 59) and medieval times had a completely different meaning and does not mean the same as in the case of rural houses from later times. In the next chapter, I discuss congruencies of house plans as a source of interpretation of incompletely preserved longhouses and for typological divisions. In regard to the latter, we have to take into account the state of preservation, touch-ups, repairs, modifications, extensions and superposition of house plans that influence the interpretation of the record. The same applies to farmsteads and even whole settlements that have been shifted, rebuilt, changed in layout and so on (Fig. 75–80). The issue of forms and structures of settlements is a rather complicated topic, because the condition for their assessment is a completely uncovered site. Such objects are rare, and even if a large complex is excavated, we can only assess the arrangement of objects within the excavations. This statement sounds trivial, but I emphasise this fact because we cannot be sure that there were no satellite units belonging to the given settlement nearby. This is well illustrated by the plan of extremely interesting features at Galsted in southern Jutland (Fig. 81). Its second phase represents another step of settlement evolution and is similar to what we know from settlements such as Nørre Snede in eastern Jutland (Fig. 82). The layout of farmsteads – although already present at some Late Pre-Roman Iron Age sites – represents the state of development of Roman Iron Age and Migration Period settlements. The earliest settlements of this type stem from Jutland, while the tendency to set up large, enclosed rectangular or trapezoidal farms in northern Germany is observable from the late 1st cent. CE and in the northern Netherlands from the 2nd cent. CE. The phenomenon of ‘stationary’ settlements is also known from East Germany, including the already mentioned settlements at Dallgow-Döberitz, Wustermark, Herzsprung or Göritz. Probably such settlements were discovered in Poland, too (see below). Settlements of this type replaced settlements with a different structure, dating to the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Their features included a loose arrangement of farms (rather unfenced) spread out over a large area (Fig. 1) and instability of house and farm sites. Houses and farmsteads were not occupied for a long period of time, but changed relatively quickly (the so-called wandering/shifting settlements). In the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age in Jutland and – in a slightly different form – in the northern Netherlands, completely enclosed settlements appeared. It was a fairly short-lived phenomenon (that ended in the 1st cent. CE), but the first step to stationary settlements, where farmsteads were designed to last for a longer period of time. At sites such as Nørre Snede in Jutland or Flögeln at the North Sea, there was a slow shifting of farmsteads, but over a period of several hundred years. With such a slow pace of changes in the positions of houses and farms, we can actually talk about stationary farms/settlements. It should be emphasised that the structure of settlements during the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period was not compact and there were no clusters of houses around a free square, as is sometimes suggested in Polish literature (admittedly on the basis of insufficient evidence). The image of settlements at that time resembles instead a group of several farms, sometimes in rows. We also know this spatial organisation from settlements in the left-bank regions of the Oder and Neisse Rivers (the German-Polish border) and there is no reason to believe that it was different to the east of these rivers. Despite undeniable progress in recent decades, settlement archaeology in Poland is still at the very beginning of searching for patterns for the recognition and reconstruction of longhouses that can contribute to the determination of individual types. Before completing this stage, analyses at a higher heuristic level do not yet make sense. All attempts to reconstruct settlement structures and search for references in building traditions to other regions in the Barbaricum have ended and often continue to end in failure. There are several reasons for this. First of all, this type of work from the second half of the 20th cent. mainly consisted of incorrect assumptions and axioms – especially regarding the dominance of pit houses in settlements. Secondly, the material that was available cannot create a suitable base for far-reaching conclusions – often the uncovered parts of the settlements were and are still too small to decipher the structures at all; sometimes it is not even possible to say in which part of a given settlement (or farmstead) the researchers conducted excavations. Another, also quite important point is the inaccurate or incompetent recognition of plans for alleged or actually non-existent post houses (Fig. 83). For decades, ‘buildings’ have been published that have no right to exist. Even in contemporary works, we can still find reconstructions (basically recreations) of primitive huts without statics or carpentry rules (Fig. 83), which were exceeded – if they had existed – by longhouses, even in the Neolithic. If buildings were created that have never existed, then obviously the image of a given farmstead must be false, not to mention the settlement structure. The necessity to verify published materials from settlements resulting from the state of research as I have described it does not need to be particularly emphasised. In a sense, the above-mentioned region between the Oder and the Elbe can be a benchmark for Poland. With regard to the state of research on settlements and the research paradigm, the situation in recent decades has been very similar to the situation in recent years in Poland. Until the early 1990s, the regions east of the Elbe could barely contribute to research on the subject of longhouses in the Barbaricum. It seemed that the presence of such buildings at settlements east of these regions that B. Trier (1969) had examined in his basic monograph on Iron Age longhouses was impossible. The very few examples were treated as exceptions. But due to large, often linear investments in infrastructure renewal in the early 1990s, the situation in Eastern Germany changed radically. Suddenly, longhouses started to appear at almost every settlement surveyed. One of the first excavations of this type was carried out in 1994 at the settlement site at Dallgow-Döberitz, a few kilometres west of Berlin, where at least 28 longhouses were discovered, primarily of the three-aisled variety. Publication of research results at Herzsprung in the Uckermark became a milestone, proving in the Oder region the existence not only of three-aisled longhouses, but farmsteads with a layout that was known only until that time from southern Scandinavia and the western part of Central Europe. In 1994–1997, 25 longhouses, mainly two-aisled, were uncovered at Göritz in Lower Lusatia. Today, a similar shift in settlement archaeology is taking place in Poland. Nevertheless, the attempts to distinguish longhouses at settlements in Poland and, at the same time, the frequent lack of experience of archaeologists in this field led to the creation and inclusion of objects that either did not exist in this form or not at all. The biggest obstacle is the lack of models to recognise house types, reflected by the arrangement of posts. There are still very few confidently confirmed three-aisled longhouses in Poland, yet this fact seems to result from the state of research rather than reflect the realities of the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period. To date, we do know four ‘definite’ buildings of this type, three from Pomerania and one from Mazovia; two others houses from central and southern Poland probably also belong to this group: the house I/A at Czarnowo in Western Pomerania (Fig. 85), a not fully uncovered house at Ostrowite in southeastern Pomerania (Fig. 86:1), a house at Leśno in southeastern Pomerania (Fig. 87), and a house in Rawa Mazowiecka (site 38) in western Mazovia (Fig. 88). In my opinion, the traces of a house at Kuców in Central Poland have to be interpreted as two rows of the roof-bearing posts of a three-aisled building (Fig. 89:1), while a house at Domasław in Lower Silesia also probably belongs to the three-aisled type (Fig. 90). Today, we know more examples of two-aisled houses than of three-aisled houses, which primarily appear only in the Przeworsk Culture area. It seems that in fact two-aisled houses were dominant in the area of this cultural unit, but it is still a bit too early to determine this with great certainty. The largest series of longhouses results from excavations of the settlement at Konarzewo near Poznań (Fig. 91), a smaller group we know from the Bzura River region (Fig. 94). The latter form a group that can be used to define the first longhouse type in Poland, the Konotopa type. A very interesting house was discovered in the 1960s at Wólka Łasiecka in Central Poland (Fig. 95). Although the arrangement of the posts is very clear, it can be read in the source publication, and sometimes in later ones, that this building is a three-aisled house. Actually, we are dealing with a two-aisled house with additional, external eave-supporting posts. In the case of the settlement at Izdebno Kościelne in western Mazovia, one can point to a house that was not included in the analysis of the site plan (Fig. 97). The same applies to a two-aisled longhouse at Janków in Central Poland (Fig. 96). It also belongs to the ‘verified’ buildings which were distinguished after the publication of the research results. The above-mentioned house at Wólka Łasiecka can be interpreted as a ‘lime kiln building’ on the basis of similar houses that, for example, were discovered at Klein Köris near Berlin and Herzsprung in the Uckermark. At the latter site, several buildings of this type have been even discovered, at least four of which were longhouses (e.g. Fig. 99:1.6). Lime kiln houses in other forms at this settlement (Fig. 100:3) and subsequent ones (Fig. 99:7, 100:1.2) show that there are many variants of such buildings. It might seem that production halls with limes kilns are a special feature of the settlements of Central Europe from the left-bank regions of the Oder and Neisse to the Vistula. However, the example from Osterrönfeld and houses from the settlement at Galsted in southern Jutland that are not yet published warn against this inference. It is not an exaggeration to claim that previous attempts to distinguish farmsteads in Poland have usually lacked sufficient evidence; often such an activity was and is simply impossible. There are several reasons for this: in the first place, often there are no reliable house plans, also the excavation area is too small and – it should be strongly emphasised – the research results are presented as a schematic plan only or in the form of a plan with symbols. Recently, contrast has been emphasised between the interpretation of the ‘farmstead’ approach among researchers from ‘west of the Oder’ and researchers in Poland, which in my opinion results mainly from the state of research and – probably even in a decisive way – from the research paradigm, and under no circumstances reflects ancient conditions. The results of excavations in recent years have shown that such an contradiction – if used to refer to archaeological material – is only apparent and artificial. The basis for analysing settlement structures in terms of farmsteads is quite narrow, although there are few proposals worth considering. In a separate article, I re-analysed published research results in the area of the settlement at Wytrzyszczki in Central Poland in terms of some longhouses. In addition to the alternative interpretation of buildings, the published plan and field documentation analysis provide the basis for a new interpretation of the spatial organisation of the uncovered part of the settlement (Fig. 102–104). An interesting arrangement of objects was observed at the settlement in at Mąkolice in Central Poland. Both post and pit houses as well as production facilities were uncovered here. The dispersion of all objects is quite clear, but several issues remain an open question (Fig. 105). Closely related to the form of the farmsteads is their arrangement relative to each other, meaning the form of a settlement. Polish literature holds the view that one of the basic forms of settlements of the Przeworsk Culture (because it is the only one we can say anything about) is the circular settlement. The above-mentioned settlement from Wytrzyszczki in Central Poland and well-known settlement from Konarzewo near Poznań cannot be called circular under any circumstances as has happened in the literature (Fig. 104, 106). Concerning the spatial organisation of settlements from areas east of the Oder, I am convinced that they did not differ from settlements in areas west of this river (Fig. 108, 109). The latest field research results provide us with more and more arguments confirming this thesis. The basic unit of each settlement was a farmstead, which was spatially organised as economic units in the western and northern regions of the Barbaricum.

16

Grodzisk Mazowiecki, stan. X – cmentarzysko kultury grobów kloszowych i kultury przeworskiej

58%

Kaczyński B. , Woźniak M.

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tom LXXI

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nr 71

289-318

EN

Site X, located in the centre of present-day Grodzisk Mazowiecki, was discovered at the beginning of 1959 during construction works carried out in the area of a former Jewish cemetery (Fig. 1, 2). As a result of accidental discoveries and one-day rescue excavations, a total of nine ancient graves (1–5, 7–10) were registered. Another one (6), located in a secondary deposit, was discovered about 50 m to the east in 1988 during earthworks at one of the factory buildings (Fig. 2). Artefacts from the cemetery are currently stored in three institutions, i.e. the Grodzisk Mazowiecki Cultural Centre, the Museum of Ancient Mazovian Metallurgy in Pruszków and the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. Due to the accidental nature of the discoveries, their only documentation are notes from archaeological interventions and entries on the artefact inventory cards drawn in 1959 (Fig. 4). The lack of sketches and field descriptions does not make it possible to reconstruct the location of the graves and significantly hinders analysis of the funeral rite. The long-term storage of the unstudied material negatively affected its condition – some of the artefacts and documents were lost. This study covers those artefacts that could be identified and combined into grave assemblages. The phase of use of the cemetery in the Early Iron Age is represented by six features: two cloche graves (Fig. 7, 10), three cloche or urn graves (Fig. 5, 6, 8) and one urn grave (Fig. 9). In most cases, the graves contained only pottery. Among the remains of at least 22 vessels, 18 could be typologically identified per the classification of T. Węgrzynowicz30, including ten pots (A1), representing four types and/or variants: I var. b (Fig. 10:2), III var. c (Fig. 7:2), III (Fig. 19:5), V var. c (Fig. 5:1, 6:2, 9:1, 10:1), V (Fig. 6:1, 8:2) VI var. c (Fig. 19:6). Seven bowls (B1) were classified as types: I var. c (Fig. 7:3, 8:4, 9:2, 10:3, 19:4), I var. d (Fig. 8:1), V var. c (Fig. 7:1). There was also one mug (B2) of type I var. b (Fig. 19:3). The vessels represent forms commonly found at Cloche Grave Culture cemeteries in Mazovia and Podlachia. The vessels with quite rare stamped impressions with a marked centre, made with a straw (Fig. 20), stand out in terms of ornamentation. Decoration on the urn from grave 6, made with polygonal stamps with a marked centre (Fig. 10:2), is completely unique. It was presumably made with lignified stems of field plants. Non-ceramic artefacts: bronze lumps, bronze wire and a fragment of a corroded iron sheet (Fig. 7:4.5), originally probably small items of adornment or tools, were only recorded in three graves (3, 5, 6). Skeletal remains were only preserved in three graves. Anthropological analysis showed that the bones of an adult man were interred in grave 2, of a seven-year-old child and an adult in grave 3, and of an adult woman (?) in ‘grave’ 6. The cloche graves cemetery at site X in Grodzisk Mazowiecki is located in the eastern part of the Łowicz-Błonie Plain – an area distinguished by intense settlement of the Pomeranian Cloche Grave circle45. Features of the pottery indicate that the cemetery functioned mainly in phase Ib after M. Andrzejowska53, i.e. approximately at the end of Ha D – the beginning of the so-called older Pre-Roman Period. Four graves are associated with the use of the cemetery in the Roman Period – most likely one pit (grave 7) and three urn burials, including one (grave 9) in which the cinerary urn was covered with another vessel (Fig. 13). The remains of a woman were deposited in grave 8; bones from other graves were not preserved or could not be identified. Grave-goods consisted of 24 non-ceramic objects, including: a bronze brooch (Fig. 13:3), probably a strongly profiled one of the Mazovian variety55; two iron buckles (Fig. 14:3.4.4a), including type D1 after R. Madyda-Legutko57; a bronze strap-end (Fig. 13:4), similar to type 1/6 of group I after R. Madyda-Legutko64; a rectangular bronze belt fitting (Fig. 19:1); remains of an iron razor (Fig. 15:6); three straight iron knives (Fig. 15:3–5); a one-piece antler comb, type Thomas AI68 (Fig. 12:1); (Fig. 12:2); a sandstone whetstone (Fig. 14:5); a double-edged iron sword (Fig. 18:1.1a) of the Canterbury-Kopki72 type or the Canterbury-Mainz variant of the Lauriacum-Hromówka73 type; two iron shield bosses and a bronze shield fitting (lost); four spearheads of types: L/2 (Fig. 18:6.6a), V/2 (Fig. 18:3), II/2 (Fig. 18:2) and XIII (Fig. 18:7) after P. Kaczanowski85–87; aa bow-shaped spur (Fig. 18:5) of type C1b after J. Ginalski95; a chair-shaped spur (Fig. 18:4.4a), similar to type IIc after E. Roman97; remains of a bronze bucket with iron handle of the Östland/Eggers 39–40107 type (Fig. 15:1.2, 16, 17). Of the six clay vessels, five can be typologically identified; they belong to types I/2 (Fig. 14:1), II/1 (Fig. 11:1, 14:2), III (Fig. 13:2) and V (Fig. 12:1) in the classification of T. Liana113. The richest burial at the cemetery, as well as in the area between the Bzura, the Rawka and the Vistula, is grave 10 (Fig. 14–18). It is distinguished by an imported bronze vessel and an exceptionally large number of elements of weaponry (two bosses, four spearheads), testifying to the above-average social position of the deceased. A. Niewęgłowski134 suggested that two warriors were buried in the grave; however, the thesis cannot be verified due to the inability to identify burned bones from this feature. Although isolated graves with larger than standard weaponry sets, including ones containing two shield bosses or several spearheads, are known from Przeworsk Culture cemeteries, they are not frequent. Östland-type vessels are among the Roman bronze vessels most frequently encountered in barbarian Europe. In western Mazovia, imported bronze vessels are relatively rare. The burials from the Przeworsk Culture cemetery are from the Early Roman Period. Grave 10 is dated to stage B2a, grave 9 to phases B2b–B2/C1, grave 8 to phases B2b–C1a, and grave 7 only broadly to phases B1–B2. The cemetery is located within a dense, west-Masovian cluster of Przeworsk Culture settlement, which also included an iron metallurgy centre142. The cemetery at site X in Grodzisk Mazowiecki is one of the many Masovian necropoles used by the population of the Cloche Grave and Przeworsk Cultures152. Even though the mutual chronological relations of the Cloche Grave and Przeworsk assemblages exclude a hypothesis about continuous use of the cemetery by the population of both cultures, it should be remembered that the site has only been partially explored. Unfortunately, the area of the cemetery is currently heavily urbanised and partly overlaps with a former Jewish cemetery, where excavations are forbidden (Fig. 3). This prevents any archaeological research, and thus possible determination of the original range of the cemetery and examination of its structure.

17

Produkcja późnych typów bransolet wężowatych na przykładzie znalezisk z cmentarzyska w Weklicach, stan. 7, pow. elbląski

58%

Natuniewicz-Sekuła M. , Strobin J.

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tom LXXI

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nr 71

161-187

EN

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

18

Naczynia późnośredniowieczne i nowożytne z cmentarzysk kultury przeworskiej w Żdżarowie, pow. sochaczewski i w Nadkolu, pow. węgrowski

58%

Perlikowska-Puszkarska U.

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tom LXXI

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nr 71

406-411

EN

Two hundred and eleven cremation graves from the Roman Period and Early Migration Period, as well as nineteen other ancient features have been discovered at a heavily damaged cemetery of the Przeworsk Culture at Żdżarów in western Mazovia1. In the top part of grave 103, dated based on the presence of terra sigillata pottery from the Dicanus workshop in Pfaffenhofen from ca 230–260 AD, a poorly visible re-cut containing one clay vessel covered with a fragment of the bottom part of another was recorded (Fig. 1:a.b, 3); no human bones were found inside2. The vessels can be dated to the 14th–15th century, possibly even to the beginning of the 16th century. A different situation presents itself in the case of a cemetery of the Przeworsk Culture at Nadkole 2, in eastern Mazovia6. In addition to 157 graves from the Early Roman Period, clear traces of various modern cuts have been unearthed. The lower part of a cremation burial pit, probably from phase B2, was found under one of them. In the cut itself, fragments of four broken and incompletely preserved wheel-thrown vessels fired in a reducing atmosphere were discovered7. The pots that have been completely (Fig. 2:a.b) or partially (Fig. 2:d) reconstructed can be dated to the beginning or first half of the 16th century. Nevertheless, the end of the 18th century, or even the middle of the 19th century in rural areas, should be considered as the upper limit of occurrence of such potteryth. The fourth vessel is a very unevenly fired bowl, with a polished pattern on the inside (Fig. 2:c). This ornament indicates that it may have been tableware. This bowl should be dated to the 14th–15th century13 or later, assuming this chronology as its lower limit. An interpretation of both pottery assemblages described is not easy. In the case of Żdżarów, it seems possible to link the finds to child burials in clay vessels, known from the late Middle Ages and Modern period. Such graves, dating from the 14th to the 19th century, are known from several sites in Poland, almost exclusively in northern Mazovia15.16. The undoubtedly intentional burials at much older cemeteries, such as the four foetal burials in three vessels dating to 14th–15th century discovered at a Lusatian cemetery at Ożumiech, Przasnysz County19, are particularly interesting. No traces of bone were found in the Żdżarów vessel; however, as it was not possible to conduct specialist analyses of the fill at the time, it is not known whether it originally covered some form of burial or whether it was related to unspecified cult practices. The precise manner in which the vessel was dug into the top part of a much older grave pit (Fig. 3) shows not only the ritual character of the deposit itself, but also the ability to recognise a burial site abandoned a thousand years earlier. The archaeological context of the vessels from Nadkole suggests that they were a secondary deposit in the cut that destroyed the grave from phase B2 of the Roman Period29. In their case, there are no reasons to associate them with child burials or assign them a cult function; nor can they be considered a remnant of a late medieval or modern settlement, as no features from that period were discovered in the examined part of the site. The pottery published here shows that local populations from the late Middle Ages and Modern period either used (Żdżarów) or at least visited (Nadkole) much older cemeteries. This phenomenon is still very poorly researched, so every similar case requires a particularly thorough interpretation, based not only on a formal analysis of the feature itself and the pottery contained within, but also on the results of indispensable biochemical studies. It is worth noting that biochemical analyses of vessel contents conducted in Germany have recently confirmed the early modern custom of interring placentas (Nachgeburtsbestattung) in clay pots buried in the basements of homes27.

19

Niepublikowane materiały z cmentarzyska w Żukczynie, powiat gdański (dawn. Suckschin, Kr. Danziger Höhe) w świetle archiwum Józefa Kostrzewskiego

58%

Strobin A.

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tom LXXI

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nr 71

269-287

EN

The scientific archive of Professor Józef Kostrzewski is kept in the collection of the C. Norwid Provincial and Municipal Public Library in Zielona Góra. Portfolio 13: Pomorze Gdańskie, okres lateński (Gdańsk Pomerania, La Tène Period) consists mostly of unpublished notes and sketches of artefacts, drawn by the researcher, related to archaeological discoveries at the cemeteries at Żukczyn (fmr. Gross Suckczin aka Suckschin), Gdańsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship (cards 568–604). The site at Żukczyn was mentioned in the literature several times. The first news about discoveries in the village comes from the end of the 19th century, when a sword and two spearheads from a cremation grave (Fig. 1) were presented to the Westpreußisches Provinzial-Museum. In 1901, further metal artefacts were collected from the surface of a field (Fig. 2, 3), and Dr. Paul Kumm, museum curator, carried out rescue excavations. As a result, 20 cremation graves were discovered (Fig. 4–11); grave goods, together with stray finds, were turned over to the museum in Gdańsk. In 1945, as a result of warfare, all artefacts from Żukczyn were destroyed or lost. The information from Kostrzewski’s archive indicates that 19 cremation graves and two pit burials (graves X and XI) were discovered at Żukczyn. A total of seven brooches, including types A, J, N (Fig. 4:b.c, 7:a–c) and presumably K (Fig. 4:d) came from graves and stray finds. Swords are represented by eight specimens: five double-edged with iron scabbards (Fig. 2:a.b.d, 3:a, 4:a.b) and three single-edged (Fig. 1, 2:a, 7:c). Two ring buckles (Fig. 3:c) and two hoops found with a sword and scabbard in grave II (Fig. 4:b) should be associated with a sword-belt. Parts of a shield – bosses and their rivets – came from two graves with weapons (Fig. 4:a.b); one boss was a stray find (Fig. 2:c). Spearheads were numerous (13 specimens) (Fig. 1, 2:b.c, 3:b, 4:b, 7:c, 8:b); some of them were decorated (Fig. 1, 2:c). In three cases, they were accompanied by butts (Fig. 3:c, 4:b, 7:c). Tools and utensils included knives (Fig. 4:a.b, 7:d), razors (Fig. 7:a, 8:b), scissors (Fig. 2:d) and pliers (Fig. 2:d). Pottery was discovered in all the graves. The vast majority are vessels of the Oksywie Culture (phases A2–A3); at least two vessels, from graves VI (Fig. 5:c) and XIV (Fig. 6:c), may come already from the Roman Period. The second stage of research at the cemetery at Żukczyn took place in the 1970s. At that time, 134 graves dating from phase A2 of the Late Pre-Roman Period to phase B2/C1 of the Roman Period were discovered. The entire material and documentation of these works are stored in the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk. Unpublished information concerning the cemetery at Żukczyn, contained in Kostrzewski’s archive, is an important source that complements our knowledge about this necropolis. The inventory numbers of artefacts contained there are also important for attempts to restore former archaeological collections of the Museum in Gdańsk. Verification of sketches of artefacts drawn by Józef Kostrzewski with drawings included in Martin Jahn’s work, Herbert Jankuhn’s scientific archive (Fig. 11) as well as with photographs of artefacts from Żukczyn (cf. Fig. 10) yields positive results. This means that in his graphic documentation, Kostrzewski took into account characteristic and important features of artefacts, which further enhances the value of this source.

20

Drobne przedmioty szklane – analiza archeologiczna żetonów do gry z okresu wpływów rzymskich z terenu Polski

58%

Krzyżanowska M.

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tom LXXI

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nr 71

251-268

EN

Roman glass counters found in Poland have not yet been studied in full. They are known from 44 or 45 archaeological sites (Table 1 – see: https://doi.org/10.36154/wa. 71.2020.06 [suppl. file]), mainly cemeteries. Most of them are concentrated in central Poland (Fig. 2). Glass counters are disks with plano-convex section and rounded edges. Their underside is usually flat, less often slightly concave, with a smooth or pitted surface (Fig. 1). Counters are analysed within several chronological ranges, i.e., phases B1–B2, B2/C1–C1a, C1b–C2, and C2/D–D1, and in the case of less well-dated finds – Late Roman Period or Roman Period; the former also includes counters from assemblages dated broadly to phase C1. Due to literature and museum query, it was possible to establish that there are 386 or 390 glass counters known from Poland. This imprecise number is a results from the inaccurate data in literature, concerning lost artefacts (131 specimens in total). The search also allowed verifying the actual number of counters against published information – some of the examples turned out to be melted beads or vessel fragments. Out of 386 counters, 277 were preserved in their entirety, 70 were fragmented; in 39 cases, it was impossible to determine their state of preservation and thus their shape (Table 1). 193 counters were found at Przeworsk Culture sites, 186 at Wielbark Culture sites and three at Luboszyce Culture sites; in the case of three counters, it was not possible to determine their cultural affiliation. Most counters come from phases C1b–C2. It has been assumed that a set consists of at least three counters found in one assemblage, regardless of whether they were made of glass or other material (clay, amber, bone, flint). Out of 59 grave finds with glass calculi, sets appeared in 29 features. The sets could be small (three to six counters) or large (seven or more counters). In the remaining cases, grave finds consisted of one or two specimens (Fig. 4). Glass counters can be analysed on three levels: colour, size and (possible) method of production. 174 counters were made of opaque glass (147 monochromatic and 27 mosaic) and 179 of translucent glass (155 monochromatic and 24 mosaic); for 33 counters, it was not possible to determine their colour and transparency. Black (125) and white (120) counters are the most numerous; the term black is used conventionally, as such counters are actually made of dark green, dark purple or dark brown glass, which, however, can only be seen in transmitted light and only in well-preserved copies finds. The counters from phases B1–B2 are the most diverse in terms of colour. For the other chronological ranges, this variety is no longer present – most colours do not appear at all or are only represented by a small number of counters (Table 2).The counters can be divided into two groups of small (with diameter of up to 14.5 mm) and large (with diameter measuring from 15 mm) specimens. The diameters of glass calculi found in Poland range from 10 to 36 mm; most of them are classified as large (Fig. 6). The method of manufacturing glass counters can be inferred from written sources and findings based on specialist analyses. In the case of counters from Poland, the (possible) production method could not be determined for as many as 184 specimens. The others were mostly made by placing a small bulb of molten glass. These are mainly monochromatic specimens, usually with an uneven, slightly pitted bottom surface. Only 34 counters were made by re-melting a piece of glass (also from broken glass vessels) (Fig. 8); most of them – as many as 24 – are mosaic specimens (Fig. 7). In archaeological literature glass counters are predominantly interpreted as game accessories. This was undoubtedly the basic function of counters, but we do not know to what extent they were actually adapted and their function adopted by the ‘barbarian’ communities. Only in eight (?) cases in total, glass counters occurred in assemblages together with other game accessories such as boards, dice or marbles.