A horse row ornament, a buzzer

The pendants-jingels belong to the ornaments of a horse tack. This interesting collection is dominated by four sets composed only of circles. However, a pendant with three trapezoidal lamellae attracts particular attention. It is a find of great aesthetic value, characterised by elegance and lightness. The pendants are part of an exceptional hoard discovered in the swamp in 1884, consisting of bits, jingels, buttons, rings, axe casting moulds, fibulae, a magnificent razor, and fragments of bronze and iron products. It should be stressed that the marshy context of the discovery may indicate its special significance connected with the sphere of the sacrum and sacrificial offerings. The deposit, dated to the early Iron Age, i.e., the Hallstatt period C (approx. 750-600/550 BC), found its way to the museum collection in Szczecin and was stored there until August 1944. Due to the approaching front and Allied air raids, it was transported deep into Germany, together with other valuable artefacts. It only returned to Szczecin in 2009 under the Polish-German exchange of old archaeological collections. Most of the objects in the hoard have features of products from the Hallstatt culture, whose name derives from the cemetery in Hallstatt in Austria. The presented pendants-buzzers are unique finds in Poland and were probably brought from the southern regions of Central Europe.

Dorota Kozłowska