PL EN
DISCOVERIES
A Unique Enamelled Brooch from Chlebczyn in Southern Podlasie
 
More details
Hide details
1
Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne w Warszawie, ul. Długa 52 «Arsenał» ,PL 00-241 Warszawa
 
 
Publication date: 2017-12-31
 
 
Wiadomości Archeologiczne 2017;LXVIII(68):275-280
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
In 2017 the collections of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw acquired a unique enamelled brooch found on the grounds of the village of Chlebczyn, Łosice County, in the valley of the Middle Bug, on the left, southern bank of that river2. The site of its discovery (Fig. 1) does not coincide with any of the archaeological sites recorded in that region3, thus, the brooch is either a genuine stray find, or it belongs to an as yet unidentified Roman Period cemetery or settlement. The brooch (Fig. 2) has a fan-shaped head with a raised compartment filled with white enamel, and a curved border with a row of punched dots and three round projections with a design of concentric circles; on the central projection there is a circular loop. The foot is trapeze-shaped, with a cell of red enamel, and three small round projections – two with cells of dark blue enamel, and one with residue of dark blue and green enamel (Fig. 3). The hinged fastening is incomplete. Length 43 mm, surviving height 9 mm, weight 6.39 g. Visible in the white enamel background are several, fairly regularly spaced round dimples with a distinct central cavity which originally held a small quantity of dark-coloured, presumably black enamel (Fig. 4). Similar inserts are a frequent form of decoration of plate brooches with a larger enamelled area, e.g., Roman sandal form brooches dated to the 2nd and 2nd/3rd centuries AD, where they imitate the nails studding the sole of the caligae5. At the same time, this form of decoration was used also in other types of enamelled brooches (Fig. 5). While the Roman provenance of the brooch find from Chlebczyn, and its general dating confined to the late 1st – late 2nd century are undeniable, its closer typological attribution is more problematic. The brooch belongs to a large – and quite varied – group of plate brooches with a single axis of symmetry8; many of these brooches have a small ring on the head. They are known mostly from the Rhine provinces and Gaul. So far, no good morphological analogy to our specimen has been identified among the numerous brooches of this group. According to Maxime Callewaert PhD7, the features of the brooch from Chlebczyn (projections decorated with enamel and the ocellated design, the cell filled with white enamel with small black dots of possibly black colour) establish the dating of this specimen as presumably, the second half of the 2nd century AD. The brooch is made of copper alloy containing 78.54% copper, 17.64% zinc and 2.34% lead, with a trace amount (0.39%) of tin4, thus, brass with a high content of zinc and lead content slightly higher than usual. Similar alloys were used widely in making small items, especially during the 1st century AD10. The dating proposed for the brooch does not permit a more conclusive culture attribution, but it does suggest that this specimen is more likely to belong to the Wielbark Culture rather than the Przeworsk Culture. In the immediate vicinity of Chlebczyn (Fig. 1) the only Wielbark Culture site is the cemetery at Sarnaki12 dated to phases B2/C1–C2; three settlements known from fieldwalking projects date to the Late Pre-Roman Period and the Roman Period (Chlebczyn I and II, Sarnaki XVI, Rozwadów II and XX)15, thus, most likely to belong to the Przeworsk Culture, while another one, located on the northern bank of the Bug, dates to the Late Roman Period (Wólka Nadbużna III)17, therefore should be attributed to the Wielbark Culture.
 
REFERENCES (31)
1.
Andrzejowski, J., Przemiany osadnicze i kulturowe na wschodnim Mazowszu i południowym Podlasiu u schyłku starożytności, [w:] B. Bryńczak, P. Urbańczyk (red.), Najstarsze dzieje Podlasia w świetle źródeł archeologicznych, Siedlce, 2001, s. 95–136.
 
2.
Andrzejowski, J., Cieśliński, A., Germanie i Bałtowie u schyłku starożytności. Przyjazne związki czy wrogie sąsiedztwo?, [w:] A. Bitner-Wróblewska (red.), Kultura bogaczewska w 20 lat później. Materiały z konferencji, Warszawa, 26–27 marca 2003, Seminarium Bałtyjskie I, Warszawa, 2007, s. 279–319.
 
3.
Bayley, J. Butcher, S., Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study based on Richborough Collection, London, 2004.
 
4.
Böhme, A., Die Fibeln der Kastelle Saalburg und Zugmantel, Saalburg Jahrbuch XXIX, 1972, s. 5–112.
 
5.
Dąbrowska, T., Wschodnia granica kultury przeworskiej w późnym okresie lateńskim i wczesnym okresie rzymskim, Materiały Starożytne i Wczesnośredniowieczne II, 1973, s. 127–248.
 
6.
Ettlinger E., Die römische Fibeln in der Schweiz, Bern, 1973.
 
7.
Exner, K., Die provinzialrömischen Emailfibeln der Rheinlande, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 29 (1940), 1941, s. 31–121.
 
8.
Feugère, M., Les fibules en Gaule Mèridionale de la conquête à la fin du Ve siècle après J.-C., Revue Archéologique de Narbonnaise, Suppl. 12, Paris, 1985.
 
9.
Gaspar, N., Die keltischen und gallo-römischen Fibeln vom Titelberg, Dossier D’Archéologie du Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art IX, Luxembourg, 2007.
 
10.
Godłowski, K., Przemiany kulturowe i osadnicze w południowej i środkowej Polsce w młodszym okresie przedrzymskim i w okresie wpływów rzymskich, Prace Komisji Archeologicznej 23, Wrocław, 1985.
 
11.
Godłowski, K., Gegenseitige Beziehungen zwischen der Wielbark- und der Przeworsk-Kultur, Veränderung ihrer Verbreitung und das Problem der Gotenwanderung, [w:] J. Kmieciński (red.), Peregrinatio Gothica, Archaeologia Baltica VII, Łódź, 1986, s. 125–152.
 
12.
Jouttijärvi, A., Copper alloys, silver and gold, [w:] L. Boye, U. Lund Hansen (red.), Wealth and Prestige – An Analysis of Rich Graves from Late Roman Iron Age on Eastern Zealand, Denmark, Kroppedal. Studier i Astronomi – Nyere Tid – Arkæologi II, Taastrup, 2009, s. 213–253.
 
13.
Kempisty, A., Birytualne cmentarzysko z późnego okresu rzymskiego w miejscowości Brulino-Koski, pow. Ostrów Mazowiecka, Wiadomości Archeologiczne XXXII/3–4 (1966–1967), 1968, s. 409–449.
 
14.
Kondracki, J., Geografia regionalna Polski, Warszawa, 1998.
 
15.
Mackreth, D. F., Brooches in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain, vol. I, Oxford and Oakville, 2011.
 
16.
Mackreth, D. F., Brooches in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain, vol. II: The Plates, Figures etc., Oxford and Oakville, 2011.
 
17.
Natuniewicz-Sekuła, M., The Craft of the Goldsmith in Wielbark Culture in the Light of the Finds from the Cemetery at Weklice, Elbląg Commune and Other Necropolis of Roman Period from Elbląg Heights. Technological Studies of Selected Aspects, Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 69, 2017, s. 185–233.
 
18.
Philippe, J., Les fibules de Seine-et-Marne du 1er siècle av. J.-C. au 5e siècle ap. J.-C., Memoires archéologiques de Seine-et-Marne 1/1999, 1999, s. 3–234.
 
19.
Riederer, J., Archäologie und Chemie – Einblicke in die Vergangenheit. Ausstellung des Rathgen-Forschungslabors SMPK September 1987 – Januar 1988, Berlin, 1987.
 
20.
Riederer, J., Ergebnisse der Atomabsorptionsanalyse zur Materialauswahl in der Antike, [w:] H.-U. Voß, P. Hammer, J. Lutz, Römische und germanische Bunt- und Edelmetallfunde im Vergleich. Archäometallurgische Untersuchungen ausgehend von elbgermanischen Körpergräbern, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 79 (1998), 1999, s. 200–203.
 
21.
Riha, E., Die römischen Fibeln aus Augst und Kaiseraugst, Forschungen in Augst 3, Augst, 1979.
 
22.
Riha, E., Die römischen Fibeln aus Augst und Kaiseraugst. Die Neufunde seit 1975, Forschungen in Augst 18, Augst, 1994.
 
23.
Romanowski, A., Die Fundmünzen der römischen Zeit in Polen. Rechtsufriges Masowien und Podlachien, Collection Moneta 84, Wetteren, 2008.
 
24.
Roxburgh, M., Heeren, S., Huisman, H., Van Os, B., Early Roman copper-alloy brooch production: a compositional analysis of 400 brooches from Germania Inferior, Journal of Roman Archaeology 29, 2016, s. 411–421.
 
25.
Schuster, J., Springhead Metalwork, [w:] E. Biddulph, R. Seager Smith, J. Schuster, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. High Speed 1 Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape, tom 2: Late Iron Age to Roman Finds Reports, Oxford 2011, s. 189–291.
 
26.
Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, tom III, Warszawa, 1882.
 
27.
Tache, M., Fibules antique, celtiques, romaines, mérovingiennes, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 2015.
 
28.
Werner, B., Grób popielnicowy z okresu rzymskiego z Korczewa, pow. sokołowski, Światowit XVIII (1939–1945), 1947, s. 193–197.
 
29.
Witanowski, M. R., Szwedzi, Tatarzy i Turcy, Wisła VII, 1893, s. 601–603.
 
30.
Witanowski, M. R., Wycieczka archeologiczna na Podlasie, Wiadomości Numizmatyczno-Archeologiczne II/2–3, 1893, szp. 54–58.
 
31.
Żurowski, T., Sarnaki, pow. Siedlce, Z otchłani wieków XXIII/2, 1957, s. 45–46.
 
ISSN:0043-5082
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top