A plate buckle, a fibula

It is an exquisitely preserved bronze plated brooch. It consists of two solid shields connected with an ornate bow. The movable part of the fibula is a needle ended with a massive circle. This ornament is a part of an immense hoard consisting of ornaments and tools, initially placed in a clay vessel, which was found by accident in 1884 during the scattering of a potato mound. In 1944 most of the bronze objects were taken to western Germany and hidden from war damage and looting. The hoard was only consolidated in 2009 under the Polish-German exchange of old archaeological collections. The Rzędziny deposit belongs to the most interesting archaeological finds. It represents a small group of Pomeranian hoards from the 4th Bronze Age (approx. 1100-900 BC), which do not include bronze ornaments of the "Lusatian" type, but products characteristic for the Nordic cultural circle that covered vast areas of southern Scandinavia and northern and central Germany. The presented brooch made in local Pomeranian workshops is modelled on the bronze production characteristic of northern Europe. Such a fibula with a small lump on the shield is known from only a few examples in Pomerania.

Dorota Kozłowska