Bone figural representations are among the rarest categories of finds associated with the Linear Pottery culture (LBK), particularly in Central Europe. This paper presents the results of use-wear analysis and micro-computed tomography (mu CT) scanning of an atypical item made from a red deer metatarsal, recovered from site 6 at Tominy. The site is situated in the upper Vistula River basin, within the sandy loam deposits of the northern foreland of the Sandomierz Upland. The analysis identified a range of modifications to the original bone structure, including butchery-related traces, intentional technological alterations, and probable bite marks left by a medium-sized carnivore, such as a dog or wolf. The combined evidence allowed for the reconstruction of the complex biography of the item and supports its interpretation as an intentional, albeit highly specific and unusual, figural representation of the idol type. This item constitutes the first and, to date, only known Early Neolithic anthropomorphic bone idol from north of the Carpathians. It exhibits the closest parallels to the exceptionally rare so-called Ensisheim-type idols known from scattered sites in France. These circumstances, together with notable divergences from Western European examples, form the basis for a broader discussion of the phenomenon in technological, functional, chronological, cultural, and symbolic terms.
The article presents the results of microscopic research of fibulae from the Roman period, discovered in the upper Odra river basin (currently southwestern Poland), in the territory of Przeworsk culture. The artifacts chosen for the research are well preserved and easily identifiable chronologically. The aim of the research was to determine three fundamental groups of traces: remains of the fibula production process, traces of their usage and possible signs of their repair process. In order to perform the observation, a DinoLite digital microscope was used, with 20-300 & times; magnification. While there are numerous works about the finds from other cultural areas (primally from the area of Wielbark culture, Elbe Germanic people), the publications about the artifacts of Przeworsk culture are usually focused solely on their classification or typology. Issues related to the production process or usage of fibulae are hardly ever addressed, or appear only as an appendage to other matters. The obstacle to a precise examination of the fibulae was the damage inflicted on them during the post-depositional process, and occasionally occurring thermal damage (in the case of fibulae from cemetery sites, most likely caused by the cremation process). Sometimes, however, the observation was hindered by damage caused by corrosion, especially in the places of contact of two parts of a fibula, made of different metals. Despite this, it was possible to see traces of the techniques used for production of the examined artifacts with the help of different tools, together with traces of usage of particular parts of the fibulae. For example, the tools used for the production were identified, such as files, pincers or hammers.
Abstract In the subject literature, the prevalent opinion is that in the local environment of Pomerania in the 11 th century, coins imitating Western European coins were manufactured. This conclusion was based on a discovery made in 1888 in Łupawa near Słupsk. In that location, a several-thousand-specimens large coin assemblage was found; together with silver clumps, bars, and adornments, they were deposited in the final decades of the 11 th century. The stamps employed for making these coins bore a resemblance to coinage from Germany, England, Denmark, as well as Bohemia, and were a group distinctive enough for numismatic terminology to adopt the term of “Łupawa imitations”, “Łupawa-type denarii”, or “Łupawa group”. Researchers concordantly classify to this group, predominantly, large series of coins that occur in the hoard of Karwna, Włynkowo, and Gliszcz. Due to the limited access to the Gliszcz and Łupawa coin series, a decision was made that the coin assemblage from a hoard unearthed before the year 1930 in Włynkowo should be analysed. Although we do not know the specific location of this discovery, it is clearly and directly associated to the transport-related role of the River Słupia and the settlement on the periphery of the Słupsk microregion. For each artefact, the share of specific elements was determined using specialist equipment by means of non-model semi-quantitative analysis, with distribution maps for their presence in the analysed microarea of a sample. In cross-section, most of the denarii that occurred in the Włynkowo deposit show a zonal structure with a gradually decreasing percentage of silver, which is the highest in the near-surface levels and, in turn, the lowest within the core characteristic of, depending on the type of alloy, either bronze or brass. Based on the examined Włynkowo assemblage, it can be claimed that we are dealing with a technologically simple mass production of a coin with a silvered surface imitating the full-value silver coin in East Pomerania in the second half of the 11 th century.
Abstract The Late Iron Age witnessed a high degree of human mobility across temperate Europe. “Celtic” communities contributed to the spreading of the La Tène to the south, reaching northern Italy, and to the east, reaching the Carpathian Basin. Shortly after the arrival of “Celtic” communities, the area occupied by “Germanic” populations expanded to south-eastern Europe, the Poieneşti-Lukaševka culture defining this migration from the Baltic Sea to the north-western Pontic region. Its emergence in the eastern Carpathian region was not caused by a large and homogeneous group of people suddenly moving from one area to another. Instead, several small groups usually identified with the Bastarnae from ancient literary sources gradually migrated to the south-east. They contributed to the circulation of cultural goods, including both “visible” material things and “invisible” ones (e.g. knowledge, behaviours and practices). The crown-shaped neck rings (Kronenhalsringe) are some of the most visible markers of human mobility and their different handling from one region to another indicates the manner in which certain ritual practices were brought over by different communities in a given territory. The scope of this article is to discuss these aspects in the context of the Poieneşti-Lukaševka culture starting from a relatively recent discovery from Miroslava, Iași County, Romania.
Deposits of early medieval coins and silver jewellery have usually been discovered by accident in the vicinity of forts and settlements located along trade routes. From the moment of their discovery until now - i.e. the last 150 years - treasures uncovered in Pomerania migrated to a variety of institutions, were dispersed, and some disappeared. After numerous vicissitudes of fortune some of them have returned to the museum in Szczecin, today the National Museum, which continues the traditions of the archaeological collection of the pre-war Gesellschaft f & uuml;r Pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde and the Pommersches Landesmuseum. The aim of this paper is to present the history and the current state of preservation of selected hoards in the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin and to outline the prospects of studies on silver hoards in interdisciplinary scholarly projects.
