A glass beads bracelet, a beads collection

"The bracelet" from Rzędziny is a collection of 28 small dark sapphire, undecorated glass beads and one larger, roughly quadrangular, with distinctive spear beads. The essential role of these beads, which were not strung on anything at the time of discovery, is unfortunately difficult to determine. Perhaps they were joined together to form a bracelet, or perhaps they were elements of other ornaments. The beads are part of an enormous hoard trove of bronze ornaments and tools placed initially in a clay vessel. The deposit was found by accident in 1884 during the scattering of potato mounds. In 1944, most of the hoard was transported to the west of Germany and hidden from war damage and looting. The hoard elements were merged only in 2009 as the result of a Polish-German exchange of old archaeological collections. The Rzędziny deposit is one of the most interesting archaeological finds. It represents a small group of Pomeranian treasures from the 4th Bronze Age (approx. 1100-900 BC), which do not include bronze ornaments of the "Lusatian" type, but products characteristic of the Nordic cultural circle that covered vast areas of southern Scandinavia and northern Germany. Tiny glass beads are rare, while a large bead with buttons is a unique specimen in Poland. Analogous specimens are known from Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Croatia. It is believed that the beads from Rzędziny were made in distant Italy.

Dorota Kozłowska