A spiral epaulette

This impressive decoration, consisting of as many as twelve scrolls, was made from a narrow bronze rod. A small volute, which added lightness to the armlet, was preserved on one of the ends. The relic was part of a hoard consisting of three spiral armlets, two spearheads, and a decorative diadem. The set was discovered in 1875 during the digging of a grave at the church cemetery in Bonin. Schmidt, a local pastor, donated the whole hoard to the collection of the Society of History and Antiquities of Pomerania (Towarzystwo Historii i Starożytności Pomorza) in Szczecin. In the 1920s it was taken over by the newly established Pommersches Landesmuseum in Stettin (Polish: Pomorskie Muzeum Krajowe w Szczecinie; English: Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin), where it remained until 1944. Then, it was transported with other valuable relics deep into Germany to protect it from destruction and looting during the war. For a long time, it was considered lost. It returned to Szczecin in 2009 as part of the Polish-German exchange of old archaeological collections. It was presented at an exhibition organised at that time and then published in 2012, in an occasional, illustrated catalogue entitled "Zaginione–Ocalone. Szczecińska kolekcja starożytności pomorskich" ("Lost-Saved. The Pomeranian Antiquities Collection of Szczecin"). The Bonin deposit, dated to the end of the 1st to the middle of the 2nd Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1500 BC), belongs to important archaeological finds. It comes from the period when in large areas of Central Europe, the Unetice culture was disappearing, replaced by grave cultures that had a solid metallurgical influence on the areas within reach of the Nordic circle. It was when local bronzing began to develop in Pomerania under the influence of these two cultural centres. The presented armlet is most probably of southern Transcarpathian origin. It belongs to a group of rare finds known in Poland from several hoards.

Dorota Kozłowska