A casting cake

The impressive lump of raw material weighing over 2 kg is a fragment of the so-called casting cake. It is estimated that initially, it could have weighed even 6-7 kg. Similar large items are known only from two deposits: from Szpęgawsk in Eastern Pomerania, whose weight was estimated at approx. 100 kg, and from Przybysław in Greater Poland (3 pieces). Lumps of material from Witkowo were discovered at the end of the 19th century in a large hoard dated to the 5th period of the Bronze Age (approx. 900-750 BC). It consisted of weapons, tools, body and costume ornaments, elements of horse harness and objects connected with metallurgy and foundry work. The deposit was discovered at a depth of only 15 cm below the surface of a flooded meadow belonging to August Schiewer. All bronze objects were placed in a large earthenware pot next to a large stone. Bronze used in prehistory on the territory of present-day Poland was entirely imported. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, products and raw materials were brought from metallurgical centres using copper and tin deposits in the Ore Mountains and central Germany and copper from the Alps. In later periods, deposits from Transylvania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Alpine region were significant. The metal ores were extracted by mining. In the initial mining phase, the ore was extracted from the surface, gradually working its way up the mountainside and digging deep passages. The rock was crushed by fire and water. The resulting lumps were smashed with bronze pickaxes and stone hammers. The excavated material was brought to the surface and, after further processing, was smelted near the mine.

Dorota Kozłowska