A Valsömagle-type blade

A spearhead cast in bronze is part of a sparring weapon, javelin or spear. It is a slender undecorated specimen with a narrow blade and a long socket, provided with two rivet holes for connecting it to a long wooden handle. It was part of a hoard that contained three spiral armlets, a decorated belt/tape and another spearhead. These items were found in 1875 in the church cemetery in Bonin during the digging of a grave. Schmidt, a local pastor, donated them to the Society of History and Antiquities of Pomerania (Towarzystwo Historii i Starożytności Pomorza) in Szczecin. In the 1920s, they were taken over by the newly established Pommersches Landesmuseum in Stettin (Polish: Pomorskie Muzeum Krajowe w Szczecinie; English: Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin). The hoard remained there until 1944 when it was transported with other valuable artefacts deep into Germany to protect them 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. The Bonin hoard is an important archaeological find. It comes from the period when the Unetice culture began to disappear in large areas of Central Europe. It was pushed out by the so-called grave cultures, strongly influencing the areas within reach of the Nordic circle in metallurgy. It was the time (the end of the 1st to the middle of the 2nd Bronze Age, i.e., approx. 1700-1500 BC) when local bronzing began to develop in Pomerania under the influence of both cultural circles. The presented spearhead, most probably a local product, has clear stylistic connections with the Nordic zone. Specimens of this type are found mainly in Lower Saxony through Schleswig-Holstein, Danish islands, to southern Sweden. Only five such arrowheads come from Poland, all from Pomerania and Masuria.

Dorota Kozłowska