Przeworsk culture

Basing on a single urn preserved in the Institute of Archaeology as well as different archival sources history of discoveries at the hardly known Roman Period cemetery in Opinogóra (N Mazowsze) is discussed. The precise location of the site is reconstructed and chronology of the cemetery is established. Cemetery seems to be entirely destroyed, however a recent find of an iron belt-end fitting shows that some other artefacts could survive in the topsoil.

The thermoluminescence (TL) dating method has a significant measurement error margin reaching almost 10%. Due to this fact it could be considered as little effective in case of such sites from the Roman period as burial grounds with many artefacts useful for archaeological dating. However , for many settlements from this period, where pottery is the only kind of artefacts, the TL method can give notable results. The main purpose of the study was to make an attempt at TL dating of pottery and clay daub samples from the Nieszawa Kolonia and Kręcieszki sites and to compare the obtained dates with the results of archaeological dating of selected features from the Przeworsk Culture settlements. In the Kręcieszki site the fragments of burnt clay daub were dated by the TL method for the first time in the Lublin laboratory. It turned out that clay daub is an equally good dating material as pottery. It can be found that the TL dating of pottery from Nieszawa Kolonia confirms two stages of settlement. The first settlement stage is related to the phases B2-B2/C1-C1a of the Roman period, i.e. from the beginning of the 2 nd to the beginning of the 3 rd century. The second group of TL dates corresponds to the phases C2D that is to the second stage of settlement, from the second half of the 3 rd century to the half of the 5 th century AD. The results of TL dating of pottery and clay daub in the Kręcieszki site are rather similar and correspond to the phase B1/B2 of the period of Roman influence , determined from pottery style, but can also indicate the phase B2/C1.

A copper alloy chape was found by chance by a detectorist at Silna-several kilometers to the east of Międzyrzecz. It is a unipartite form with an openwork crescent decoration on the front side fastened to the scabbard with the use of a nail. One should attribute the item to the Roman type Novaesium, dated to the late 2 nd century and the first half of the 3 rd century. Outside the Roman limes, it was popular in the Elbe Circle as well as the Isle of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula during Subphases C1a and C1b. Some of the chapes of the said type (specifically the multipartite specimens) may be treated as barbarian replicas of Roman originals. However, it is not the case for the finding from Międzyrzecz. It is the second find of this type from the territory of Poland. It should be associated with the Wielbark Culture, which was situated in the Międzyrzecz region in the beginning of the Early Roman Period. It makes the finding very intriguing, as this cultural unit is characterised by the lack of weapons among the grave goods; therefore, the one in question sheds some light on the problem of armament in the Wielbark Culture.

The Vandals is a Germanic tribe that not only migrated across Europe and the Roman empire during the first half of the first millenium AD but also played a part in Early 20th century geopolitics - besides become a word of shame. This paper follows all three threads of the amazing and turbulent destiny of this Germanic tribe, and examines the archaeological evidence.

The paper aims at demonstrating a southeast European origin of the Gundestrup cauldron and at giving its origin and way to Denmark a context. It is argued that the cauldron was brought to its final resting place along routes that have long traditions - ie. the route that connected the Baltic with the Black Sea.

The publication presents the results of research completed within the ‘Coins of the Roman Republic in Central Europe’ project implemented at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw. The author discusses the coins of the Roman Republic found in East-Central Europe north of the Sudetes and the Carpathian mountains (the territories of Poland, western Belarus and western Ukraine) – issues from the period of the first Roman emissions until 27 BC.
The region of interest was never a part of the Roman state. This means that all of the Roman coins found in this territory must be treated as imports. The main aim of this study is to specify the time, causes, circumstances and directions of the import of Republican coinage to the study area, and to determine its uses in this region.
The book includes a foreword written by Aleksander Bursche and contains the inventory of the finds with a comprehensive commentary. It is both numismatic and archaeological in its subject matter, placing itself somewhere on the border between these two disciplines.

The paper deals with the basis of the Pre-Roman Iron Age chronology in Southern Scandinavia. It was established during the 1950'es as a typologically based three-period system with an almost findless middle period. While from the 1950'es and onwards new two-period systems have been established in most neighbouring regions only minor ajustments have been made to the Danish chronology system. This paper argues that a typologically based three-period system may obscure the real development and that the lack of finds in the middle period is in fact a product of this. Therefore,  it is argued that the very material originally forwarded by C. J. Becker as arguments for the tripartite system can be used as arguments for a bipartite chronology system. In this way many of the "problems" of connecting Early with Late Pre-Roman Iron Age disappears while at the same time the period gains a dynamic appearance with fundamental chances in the transition from early to late, bringing it in concordance with what we see in other parts of Northern and Northern Central Europe

Absrtract: The analysis of the cultural and settlement situation in the Upper San River basin in the Late Roman Period and the early phase of the Migration Period (timespan between phases C2 and D) is difficult due to the small database. In addition to materials from the partially researched settlement in Lesko and recently excavated (during the investment works on the bypass of Sanok) settlement in Sanok 59-60, the materials from these phases are primarily stray finds, such as metal fragments of clothing, such as buckles or coins, discovered outside the archaeological context. It is important to underline that most of the wheel-made pottery finds have a wide chronological frame and it is a rare possibility to narrow pottery dating. Despite the limited amount of data, they provide the basis for the new analysis of the archaeological material and settlement situation in this area dated roughly to the Late Roman Period and Early Migration Period. In this context, wide-scale research, which for the first time allowed observation of the extent and organization of settlements, proved to be particularly important.

Surface surveys on a newly, accidentally discovered site in Czechy, Kraków district, yielded a large series of finds associated with the Przeworsk culture settlement. Its chronology ranged from the younger Pre-Roman Iron Age all the way to the early Migration Period. The detailed surface survey revealed numerous imports from the Celtic and Dacian settlement zones, as well as items of a provincial Roman origin. The finds presented in the paper indicate that the most intensive contacts with areas south of the Carpathians might be dated to the final stage of the La Tène period and the turn of the early and late Roman Iron Age.

Technische Innovationen wie die Eisenverhüttung bedurften zu ihrer Ausbreitung grundlegender natürlicher Ressourcen und handwerklicher Fähigkeiten sowie gesellschaftlicher Akzeptanz und Notwendigkeit. Der vorliegende Band untersucht die Anfänge der Eisenverhüttung im polnischen Raum im Bereich der Przeworsk-Kultur, die in der jüngeren vorrömischen Eisenzeit im 2. Jh. v. Chr. liegen sollen. Die Untersuchung bewegt sich dabei in einem Spannungsfeld zwischen vielfältigen Nachweisen von Eisenobjekten aus Gräbern und möglichen Belegen einer Eisenverhüttung im polnischen Raum. Nach aktuellem Forschungsstand ist die Herkunft des Eisens in der vorrömischen Przeworsk-Kultur jedoch nicht mit einer ausgeprägten lokalen oder regionalen Eisenproduktion zu verbinden, sondern basiert vielmehr auf Kommunikations- und Austauschnetzwerken sowohl auf intrakultureller als auch auf interkultureller Ebene vor allem zur Latènekultur. Erst mit dem Übergang zur römischen Kaiserzeit verdichten sich die Nachweise für den Beginn einer weiträumigen Eisenproduktion in Schlesien und Masowien. Dabei ist diese verstärkt einsetzende Eisenverhüttung ab der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit kein isoliertes Phänomen im Bereich der Przeworsk-Kultur, sondern eine Entwicklung, die sich in vielen Regionen des Barbaricums abzeichnet.

The cemetery in Ostrów, commune of Przemyśl, site 21 was discovered in 2013 during the construction works. The results of the study of this necropolis revealed more complex cultural and ethnic situation in the San River basin during the Roman Period. At least some part of the people using the mentioned cemetery originated from the eastern zone of the Przeworsk culture. Moreover, it is very likely that the cultural contacts with Sarmatian culture took place as well. The necropolis in Ostrów is also another site that confirms the growing amount of sites situated along the San River course in the period between the decline of the Early Roman Period and the beginning of the Younger Roman Period (i.e. phases B2-C1). It was the time of the expansion of the Przeworsk culture people into the Upper Tisa River basin.

Efforts undertaken until now to establish the dating of the end of phase B2 and the onset of the Younger Roman Period, using mainly finds from the territory of the Przeworsk Culture, have at present become, to some extent, outdated. This has happened as a result of
progress made in the research of the places of production of individual Samian ware and the dating of the activity of workshops producing this pottery, and even more so, as a result of a significant increase in the number of source evidence. This last observation applies most of all to Przeworsk Culture, now with a record of 92 closed assemblages containing Samian pottery, originating from 33 sites (Fig. 1). This is more than twice the number available at the time of the start of earlier studies addressing the absolute chronology of the phases of the Roman Period basing on Samian ware present in grave inventories from the entire territory of the Barbaricum. New finds of Samian ware from the Przeworsk Culture territory have not significantly altered the overall view of the influx of these imports, nevertheless some individual finds have come to light, originating from workshops not represented earlier in the record of Samian ware in our study area. First of all, there has been a visible increase in the number of finds from the youngest wave of the influx of Samian, produced during the 3rd century AD – mainly at Westerndorf and at Pfaffenhofen.

The article concerns 23 ancient coins (8 Greek, 1 Numidian, and 14 Roman) from the museum collection in Inowrocław. One coin comes from archaeological excavations (a Trajanic denarius type RIC 6), the rest from donations and purchases. The coins donated to the museum are chance finds, however the donors indicated the place where they were found. The remaining coins have been purchased from old collections. In one case
their previous owner is known: Kazimierz Miaskowski (1875-1947), a catholic priest, and author of many publications associated with the Inowrocław region. The land around Inowrocław stands out as an area in which many ancient coins have been found. The author analyses coins from the museum against the background of finds from the Inowrocław area. Many of the coins in the collection are likely to have been found in the immediate area of the town. The author also tries to reconstruct the collections from which they came, and the fate of these collections.

During the excavation of the Przeworsk culture necropolis at Site 21 in Ostrów, Przemyśl District, a richly furnished burial of a mounted warrior was found. The burial, which can be dated to the developed stage of the Early Roman period based on the grave goods, stood out through the lavishness of its grave inventory. Among other objects, the grave goods included a sword with a ring-like pommel, known as a Ringknaufschwert, two spearhead, one of them with punched decoration, and elements of horse tack. There also were ornaments and dress items, particularly noteworthy among them a gold pelta-shaped pendant decorated with granulation.

In this article, an assumption has been made that in power centres, settlement concentrationwas accompanied by accumulation of goods, capital and weapons. Within the Przeworsk culture, the areain question encompassed the basins of the Prosna and the Warta. It remains uncertain if the area can beassociated with the so-called Lugii Grove, a centre of political and religious power described by Tacitus.

A recourse to old pieces is known for grave furnishings for a long time also for the Iron Age and the Roman Imperial Period. The reference to older monuments, such as burial mounds, in the construction of younger cemeteries or sanctuaries is also known; prehistory - and also the Roman Imperial period in Barbaricum - knew a "culture of remembrance".
With inconspicuous objects, which are found in a foreign context, the situation is not clear. For the probably early La Tène hollow sheet metal ring from the imperial grave of Malbork-Wielbark, it can only be assumed that the piece had possessed such a function. The piece is thus reminiscent of the fragments of blue Latène glass arm rings that were added to numerous Merovingian women's graves as curios or magical objects - here a certain regularity of this phenomenon leads to such a far-reaching interpretation. Perhaps a certain regularity will also arise in the case of the hollow rings and thus an interpretation in this sense will become possible.

The rapid increase in the corpus of finds of denarii subaerati in
the territory of Barbaricum in the last two decades has allowed us to expand our knowledge about the occurrence of these coins in this area. To date, only subaerati have been recorded in finds while recently previously unnoticed categories of non‑silver denarii from unofficial issues have been noticed. Furthermore, it is possible to state with a very high probability that denarii subaerati were manufactured in eastern areas of Barbaricum at least since the end of the 3rd century. This of course does not mean that all subaerati that were found in Barbaricum were made there. On the other hand, it is still a very surprising conclusion, due to the fact that until recently it has been considered obvious that all subaerati found in Barbaricum are imports from the territory of the Empire. Thanks to new finds research on subaerati (and on denarii from irregular issues in general) which are situated within a broader context of examinations of finds of Roman coins and their imitations and copies in Barbaricum turn out to be more and more crucial for understanding of the role of Roman Imperial denarii (and Roman money in general) among the Barbarians in the Roman Period and the Migration Period.

In phase B1, and very prominently – in phase B2 of the Roman Period, tribal groups of the north-eastern territories of the Przeworsk culture displayed a number of characteristic regional elements. These elements are mostly seen in female outfits that become much richer and more varied than elsewhere within the Przeworsk culture territory. The features specific for the Eastern Przeworsk Zone, like e.g., a very high frequency of dress elements made of copper alloys, would be largely the effect of mutual relations of these people with communities of the Wielbark culture from Eastern Pomerania. Though outwardly only ethnographic, this specificity of the material culture may have deeper underlying causes, since starting with phase B1, there is evidence of two basic types of Eastern Przeworsk cemeteries. In both cases, the women’s grave furnishings display general Eastern Przeworsk characteristics. In cemeteries of the first group weapon graves disappear already in early phase B1. These cemeteries fell out of use before the end of phase B2 and reflect the full, or nearly full withdrawal of the ‘Przeworsk’ community from that area. The second group form Przeworsk cemeteries with ‘standard’ weapon graves. From phase B2/C1 on, the Wielbark culture newcomers continued to use many of these cemeteries. Many of them were then continuously used from phase B2/C1 by the Wielbark culture newcomers. It appears that a part of the Przeworsk population from the Eastern Zone probably joined Gothic (Wielbark) tribes then moving south. Recently many brooches recognized traditionally as definitely ethnographic markers of the Przeworsk culture (types Almgren 43 and Almgren 129) have been registered in the western provinces of nowadays Ukraine. However, these finds are already much more numerous than those from the ‘core’ territory of the Przeworsk culture – for the time being, this phenomenon seems to be inexplicable.

The article discusses glass counters found at archaeological sites from the Roman Iron Age in Poland. These items have not yet been fully investigated upon. Glass counters are mainly found at cemeteries, and most of them were discovered in assemblages from phases C1b–C2. Description of counters and their sets includes colour, size and possible production method, context of discovery and chronology.

Zusammenfassung: In diesem Beitrag werden fünf Hausgrundrisse von drei jüngerkaiserzeitlich-völkerwanderungszeitlichen Siedlungen der Przeworsk-Kultur in der Region an der Bzura in Zentralpolen analysiert und miteinander verglichen. Die Untersuchungen basieren auf Studien der Felddokumentation (Wytrzyszczki) und publizierter Befunde (Konotopa, Mąkolice). Es kann ein Haustyp herausgearbeitet werden, für den nach einer Siedlung mit einem solchen Bau die Bezeichnung Typ Konotopa vorgeschlagen wird.

In the small lake at Lubanowo (Pomerania, Poland) numerous interesting items have been discovered, both by chance and during regular surveys. Apart from weapons and tools dated to the Roman period some medieval specimens have also been found here, i.a. axes. Together with the Roman period axes and adzes they create a collection of specimens which may be treated as carpenters' utensils. But is that interpretation correct? The paper discusses possible answers to the question of the plausible function of the items but also analyses the phenomenon of similar finds from lakes dated to the Roman period and Middle Ages. The Roman period ones are interpreted in the same way as north European parallels, i.e. as sacrificial deposits; further sites of the same character with finds of axes from the territory of Poland are mentioned, i.e. Krępsk (Pomerania, Poland), Piła (Greater Poland), Żarnowiec (Pomerania, linked plausibly with the Wielbark culture), and Łężany (Warmia, Poland; the Bogaczewo culture). Much bigger scope of possible explanations is discussed in case of items from the Middle Ages. Chosen parallels from Pomerania and Greater Poland are taken into account, including elaborate dispute referring to weapons from Ostrów Lednicki (Greater Poland). The latter have been treated, i.a., as the losses connected with building of the bridges or with the battle which had hypothetically taken place on both bridges; however, the article underlines certain sacral acts to explain finds from Lake Lednica but also certain other medieval watery finds of tools and weapons. The position of the Lubanowo finds allows falsifying some of original interpretations and in conclusion it is assumed that most probably the said axes from Lake Lubanowo had been deposited sacrificially.

The paper presents new finds of the Roman military equipment and Migration-period militaria from Kujawy (central Poland). The former group embraces appliques, mounts and decorations of Roman horse harness and soldiers' attire, e.g. phallic and vulva-shaped pendants, shell-shaped fittings, belt buckles, apron studs, scabbard chape and beneficiarius emblem. They are dated from the 1st until the 5th c. but their majority come from the 3rd c.; one may explain it by the Roman recruitment of the barbarian warriors during the time of the Gallic Empire (Imperium Galliarum). For the the other periods other explanations may be used.
Set of Migration Period military equipment is presented as well. It proves long duration of the (post) Przeworsk-culture martial structures into the 5th and 6th c. regardless general depopulation of the Central European Barbaricum.

The author presents the movements of the Przeworsk culture warriors basing on written and archaeological sources but utilizes also the results of anthropological research. The warriors participated in military enterprises, viz. the raids but also more important ventures aimed at different areas (i.a. to the north-Vimose on Funen, and southeast -Čatyr Dag on Crimean Peninsula). Anthropological studies suggest that what was important for them was not the permanent direction, but tantalizing goals accomplishable in a military way. Possibly the warriors participated in retinues, also multi-ethnical ones, as described by Tacitus. It seems possible that the Przeworsk culture warriors occasionally collaborated with the Balts, but also the Wielbark culture warriors. Whether they occupied a privileged position among the Barbarians is still uncertain, but the Przeworsk culture forms of weapons imported and imitated in neighbouring cultures seem to suggest that for a long time they were treated as 'role model' warriors. The loss of their leading military impact in the Younger Roman Period should be linked with the increasing position of the Scandinavians with their well-equipped and stratified armies, probably fighting in the battle order. Written sources and weapons appearing as elements of grave furnishing, although not so frequent due to changes in the burial rite, suggest that it did not erase Przeworsk culture zealots from the military sphere. Detailed studies of sacrificial bog/watery sites, found in the territory of Poland, Scandinavia, and maybe also Lithuania and Latvia, have allowed finding further evidences of distant warlike expeditions.