In 2022, fragments of hand-held firearms were discovered at the site of the castle of the Ciołek family in Żelechów, Garwolin County, Masovian Voivodeship. Based on the craftsmanship, analogies known from the literature, and museum artefacts, it can be assumed that these were elements of a 16th-century hackbut. They most likely originated from a single barrel, which was damaged during use. Metallurgical analyses have shown that the barrel was forged from iron. A formal analysis allowed for a graphical reconstruction of its original form.
During archaeological excavations at Kichary Nowe, Site 2, near Sandomierz, five graves belonging to the Kraków-Sandomierz group of the Corded Ware culture were unearthed, three of which contained metal artefacts, including ornaments and tools made of gold and copper. The presentation of these finds in the context of other metal specimens belonging to this culture is the subject of this article. The results of their chemical composition analyses will also be discussed.
The rounded retouched tools that have been singled out in the Micoquian assemblages (‘Keilmessergruppe’)have long been an enigma. Even though their presence was recognised as early as the early 20th century, they received their formal name, the so-called ‘groszaki’, much later. More recently, similar tools have been recorded at the open-air site Pietraszyn 49a, SW Poland. These examples are slightly larger than average. They were made from flakes and a chunk. During production, marginal and invasive retouch and thinning were used. The same technical means were used to produce bifacial tools. These specimens were compared with other tools of this type in Poland, both in metric and morphological terms. On this basis, the tools differed in this respect within and between assemblages. Nevertheless, the repetition of the oval forms suggests that they may be the result ofthe transmission of cultural information.
Corded ornamentation is known on pottery from various Eneolithic and Bronze Age archaeological cultures in the Northwestern Pontic region. The ornamental patterns vary and are not associated with any particular type of vessel. This article examines beakers decorated with compositions of cord impressions. These have predominantly been found in the burials of the Budzhak/Yamna culture. Their distribution may be related to the influence of different cultural blocks – the northern block, associated with the Corded Ware culture, and the western block, linked to the cultures of the Early Bronze Age in the Balkan and Danube region.
