Zoomorphic vessel

In the period from the 1st to the mid-5th century, the areas of Pomerania, northern Greater Poland, Mazovia, and Polesie were inhabited by communities representing the Wielbark culture. The name comes from the town of Wielbark, currently within the administrative borders of Malbork, where a cemetery with elements typical for this culture was discovered. Over several centuries, the Wielbark people gradually moved towards the Black Sea, coinciding with the migration route of the Germanic tribes of Goths and Gepids, known from written sources. On this basis, most researchers identify the Wielbark culture with these particular tribes. The presented clay vessel in the shape of a ram is one of two such specimens found in the present-day Polish lands. It was discovered by accident, in the summer of 1939, during earthworks related to the construction of the Reichautobahn highway. Several objects were uncovered at that time, but only items from one of them, filled with burning, have survived to this day. In addition to the zoomorphic vessel, these include two other pottery vessels, the upper part of a bronze cauldron and some fragments of unspecified handmade pottery. The exact nature of the Bobrowniki site has not yet been identified. The archival sources do not mention human remains in the objects, which could indicate a cemetery, although Hans Jürgen Eggers, an archaeologist and museum specialist, who investigated the finds from Bobrowniki in the pre-war period, assumed that some of them might come from a completely destroyed inhumation grave. The people of the Wielbark culture practised both inhumation and cremation burials. It is not uncommon to find both types of burials within a single cemetery.

Bartłomiej Rogalski