Ku czci bogów i ludzi. Skarby z okolic Sanoka. Studium interdyscyplinarne (W. Blajer, T. Bochnak, K. Cywa, A. Garbacz-Klempka, G. Glinianowicz, P. Jurecki, P. Kotowicz, P. Kuropka, J. J. Łucejko, M. Maciejewski, A. Mueller-Bieniek, K. Nowak, M. M. Przybyła, K. Skowron), 2022
Remarks on discovery circumstances and hitherto research on hoards from Falejówka (hoard II), Mię... more Remarks on discovery circumstances and hitherto research on hoards from Falejówka (hoard II), Międzybrodzie, Sanok (Biała Góra), Wola Sękowa and Zarszyn (hoard II)
This paper discusses the circumstances of discovery of five hoards that are studied in this monograph. All these hoards went into the collection of the Historical Museum in Sanok in the last decade. Regrettably as many as four of them were picked from their original contexts without the participation of archaeologists. An exception is posed by the hoard from Sanok (Biała Góra). Although it was discovered in the course of planned research with the use of a metal detector, it was explored and recorded according to basic principles of the archaeological methods.
The hoard from Falejówka was discovered with the use of a metal detector on top of Wroczeń Mountain in 2013. It consisted of 40 bronze artefacts. According to the statement of the discoverer, all but one finds were located in one place at the depth of about 25 cm. Regrettably, the discoverer picked the hoard self-willingly and did not record the course of exploration in any way. He was not able, either, to provide any specific information on the place of deposition of individual artefacts in the assemblage.
The hoard from Wola Sękowa was found in 2013, also using a metal detector, on top of a hill in the Bukowica Range. It contained a bronze vessel with a foot and 30 bronze twists in which organic remains were recorded. According to obtained information, the hoard was supposedly found at the depth of about 70 cm. The vessel was originally placed on its side, while the bronze twists were inside it.
The next hoard – in this case, composed of iron artefacts – was discovered in Międzybrodzie in 2016. In contained eight finds: a bit, two knives and five sickle-shaped knives. This discovery was made on the forested northwestern slope of the western ridge of the Słonne Mountains range. According to the discoverer, the artefacts were deposited in one place within the space of about 30-40 cm. The sickle-shaped knives were joined together and were deposited slightly higher than the bit, while the knives were located one on the other. The entire assemblage was
deposited in forest humus and yellow undisturbed subsoil to the depth of c. 20 cm. This was confirmed by traces of rust that were impressed in the undisturbed subsoil clay. These traces were visible in the course of a later inspection.
Regrettably, these artefacts were initially considered Modern Period tools by the discoverers and were explored without the participation of archaeologists. The fourth hoard was found in Zarszyn and found its way to the Historical Museum in Sanok in 2016. This hoard was incidentally found during horseradish digging. It contained five bronze vessels that were put one into another and numerous shards of a ceramic vessel in which the metal artefacts were concealed. This discovery was made on the northern slope of a nameless hill than gently dips toward the Jasło-Sanok Valleys that are part of the Bukowsko Foothills. An inspection that was carried out a few days after the discovery revealed a trace of the ditch
made by the discoverer. This ditch’s diameter was about 30 cm and it was 40 cm deep. In the same year, archaeological verification research was conducted in the place of the hoard’s discovery. This research fully confirmed that the discovery was made in the place that was pointed out by the discoverer. It also allowed for ascertaining that the discoverer’s ditch completely destroyed the original context of the find.
The deposit from Sanok (Biała Góra) was discovered in 2019 in the course of a legal prospection with the use of a metal detector on the south-western slope of the Słonne Mountains range. When the first artefacts in this hoard were revealed, the discoverer did not continue digging. Instead, he immediately informed the author of this paper. After relevant permissions had been obtained, professional exploration works commenced. After the hoard had been uncovered in the trench, it turned out that it was in all probability deposited in a organic container in an
intentionally dug pit. The pit’s outline was legible against the background of the surrounding undisturbed subsoil. After necessary documentation had been prepared, in view of deteriorating weather conditions it was decided to extract the hoard in a soil lump and continue the exploration in a desk-based manner. This proved to be a good idea, as the hoard was composed of over 400 artefacts, mainly tiny bronze and iron ones, as well as of numerous organic remains. Thus, an in situ exploration would have been very labour-consuming and problematic. The extracted lump
with the hoard was transported to the Historical Museum in Sanok. An X-ray photo was made and the exploration commenced. Individual parts of the hoard were gradually separated, and each exploration level (18 in total) was documented photographically. Thanks to this, it was possible to reconstruct a complete arrangement of the artefacts in this unique hoard. This will perhaps allow for an assessment of the function of the artefacts from the hoard in Sanok (Biała Góra).
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Papers by Piotr Kotowicz
It was first mentioned in the Kiev Letopis in 1150 when the Hungarian King Geza II launched an expedition to Halych Rus’. On the other hand, the stronghold which can be identified with Sanok mentioned in the letopises was located 4 km to the north in a locality of Trepcza, on a hill known as “Horodyszcze”. The existence of this centre was put to an end in the second half of the 13th century.
Apart from these two strongholds, in the Old Rus’ period there was one smaller hillfort, situated in the quarter of Biała Góra in the range of the Słonne Mountains in a forested hill called “Zamczysko”. Hovewer, one of the most intriguing categories of finds which were discovered at the “Zamczysko” hill are 65 iron plates and one made of copper. On the basis of their shapes six basic variants of armour plates were isolated. The detailed analysis of these finds proved that that they have the closest analogies in the 13th- and 14th-century armour plates from Belarus, Northern Russia (Novgorod) and Lithuania (Vilnius) as well as Gotland (Wisby).
Scattered finds, traces of fire of the fortifications, and a considerable number of discovered projectiles of missile weapons demonstrate that the stronghold in Sanok-Biała Góra fell prey to destruction, perhaps in result of an invasion and burning. It was most probably at that time that the discussed armour plates found their way to the ground. When could this occur and who gave the order to attack the stronghold? The concise analysis of finds and analysis of political situation in the borderland of the Kingdom of Poland and Halych-Volodymyr Rus’ suggest only one event – the expedition of Polish King Casimir the Great in 1340.
The interpretation of hoards of iron tools remains the subject of polemics.
The shell-like shape of the side guard is associated with the figure of St. Apostle Jacob, the patron saint of chivalry, whose attribute was a shell. Finds of combat knives and falchion equipped with side guards in the shape of a shell of St. Jacob are known from artefacts in various parts of Central and Eastern Europe – they are found especially often in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, as well as singly in Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Ukraine. Most fi nds of this type date from the second half of the 14th to the end of the 15th century. Obviously, the Tustan specimen should be dated to this period.
This paper discusses the circumstances of discovery of five hoards that are studied in this monograph. All these hoards went into the collection of the Historical Museum in Sanok in the last decade. Regrettably as many as four of them were picked from their original contexts without the participation of archaeologists. An exception is posed by the hoard from Sanok (Biała Góra). Although it was discovered in the course of planned research with the use of a metal detector, it was explored and recorded according to basic principles of the archaeological methods.
The hoard from Falejówka was discovered with the use of a metal detector on top of Wroczeń Mountain in 2013. It consisted of 40 bronze artefacts. According to the statement of the discoverer, all but one finds were located in one place at the depth of about 25 cm. Regrettably, the discoverer picked the hoard self-willingly and did not record the course of exploration in any way. He was not able, either, to provide any specific information on the place of deposition of individual artefacts in the assemblage.
The hoard from Wola Sękowa was found in 2013, also using a metal detector, on top of a hill in the Bukowica Range. It contained a bronze vessel with a foot and 30 bronze twists in which organic remains were recorded. According to obtained information, the hoard was supposedly found at the depth of about 70 cm. The vessel was originally placed on its side, while the bronze twists were inside it.
The next hoard – in this case, composed of iron artefacts – was discovered in Międzybrodzie in 2016. In contained eight finds: a bit, two knives and five sickle-shaped knives. This discovery was made on the forested northwestern slope of the western ridge of the Słonne Mountains range. According to the discoverer, the artefacts were deposited in one place within the space of about 30-40 cm. The sickle-shaped knives were joined together and were deposited slightly higher than the bit, while the knives were located one on the other. The entire assemblage was
deposited in forest humus and yellow undisturbed subsoil to the depth of c. 20 cm. This was confirmed by traces of rust that were impressed in the undisturbed subsoil clay. These traces were visible in the course of a later inspection.
Regrettably, these artefacts were initially considered Modern Period tools by the discoverers and were explored without the participation of archaeologists. The fourth hoard was found in Zarszyn and found its way to the Historical Museum in Sanok in 2016. This hoard was incidentally found during horseradish digging. It contained five bronze vessels that were put one into another and numerous shards of a ceramic vessel in which the metal artefacts were concealed. This discovery was made on the northern slope of a nameless hill than gently dips toward the Jasło-Sanok Valleys that are part of the Bukowsko Foothills. An inspection that was carried out a few days after the discovery revealed a trace of the ditch
made by the discoverer. This ditch’s diameter was about 30 cm and it was 40 cm deep. In the same year, archaeological verification research was conducted in the place of the hoard’s discovery. This research fully confirmed that the discovery was made in the place that was pointed out by the discoverer. It also allowed for ascertaining that the discoverer’s ditch completely destroyed the original context of the find.
The deposit from Sanok (Biała Góra) was discovered in 2019 in the course of a legal prospection with the use of a metal detector on the south-western slope of the Słonne Mountains range. When the first artefacts in this hoard were revealed, the discoverer did not continue digging. Instead, he immediately informed the author of this paper. After relevant permissions had been obtained, professional exploration works commenced. After the hoard had been uncovered in the trench, it turned out that it was in all probability deposited in a organic container in an
intentionally dug pit. The pit’s outline was legible against the background of the surrounding undisturbed subsoil. After necessary documentation had been prepared, in view of deteriorating weather conditions it was decided to extract the hoard in a soil lump and continue the exploration in a desk-based manner. This proved to be a good idea, as the hoard was composed of over 400 artefacts, mainly tiny bronze and iron ones, as well as of numerous organic remains. Thus, an in situ exploration would have been very labour-consuming and problematic. The extracted lump
with the hoard was transported to the Historical Museum in Sanok. An X-ray photo was made and the exploration commenced. Individual parts of the hoard were gradually separated, and each exploration level (18 in total) was documented photographically. Thanks to this, it was possible to reconstruct a complete arrangement of the artefacts in this unique hoard. This will perhaps allow for an assessment of the function of the artefacts from the hoard in Sanok (Biała Góra).
Jurowce, Sanok district, Podkarpackie province (fig. 1). This item was discovered using a metal detector. No traces
were observed which would indicate that an archaeological feature, e.g. a grave, was damaged. The described
specimen is the most similar to the B type III (IIIB) variety, distinguished in the classification of snake-headed
bracelets of Pomeranian type by T. Wójcik. This variety is the most common, “classical” form of the mentioned
ornaments, dated to the end of phase B2 and to the horizon B2/C1. The specimen from Jurowce is the first
finding representing this category of artefacts, discovered in the Polish Carpathians. It should be believed that
snake-headed bracelets of the Pomeranian type, similarly to other elements of women’s costume characteristic of
the Wielbark culture, were flowing into the areas of the Przeworsk culture settlement, including the upper San
river basin, through the eastern zone of the recently mentioned unit.
The sword from Zyndranowa is not fully preserved, probably about 20–25 cm of the blade in point part has been broken off and has not survived. Current dimensions of the sword: total length – 99.0 cm; blade length – 76.0 cm; width of the blade at the cross-guard – 5.6 cm; length of the fuller – 49.5 cm; length of the cross-guard – 22.5 cm; height of the octagonal pommel – 4.3 cm, pommel width of the pommel – 5.2 cm,
pommel thickness – 3.5 cm, diameter of the oval recesses in the pommel – 1.3 cm. The weight of the preserved part of the sword achieves 1328 g.
The blade represents a type XVIa, the cross-guard type 1a and the pommel type I1 according to R.E. Oakeshott typology.
There are three marks on the sword from Zyndranowa. On the one side of the grip shank there is an oval recess (1.0 × 1.2 cm) with raised letter “S” in the centre. It is most likely a sign of the blacksmith’s workshop where the blade was made. On both sides of the blade, about 8.5 cm below the cross-guard, there are two different marks made
by incrusting with non-ferrous metal. The first is the sign of the cross with split ends (cross fourchée), enclosed in a double circle. The second sign is much more difficult to determine. It resembles the Gothic letter A also enclosed in a double circle. However, it has an additional vertical bar in the middle, so it may be a combination of two letters AA or AR.
Swords such as the specimen from Zyndranowa (XVIa, I1 (I1b), 1 (1a)) are popular forms among finds from Poland (about a dozen pieces in this type). There are also specimens with an S-shaped blacksmith’s mark on the grip. The available analogies and typology of the sword discussed here allow us to establish the dating of it to the period between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries (probably the narrowing down to the beginning of the 15th century will be more adequate). Particularly noteworthy is the similarity to the sword from Ciechanów and the specimen from the collection of the National Museum in Wrocław (a similar typology and a sign with the letter “S”), perhaps they
would have been made at the same workshop.
The place where the sword of Zyndranowa was found can be associated with the use of the communication and trade route running through the Dukielska Pass in the Middle Ages. It is another find of a medieval sword from the aquatic environment, which is very common in Poland – over 50% of swords from the 10th–15th centuries were discovered in rivers and lakes.