Figure of a horseman

A small clay figurine, depicting a rider on a horse, was discovered during excavations carried out in 1957 in a Lusatian culture burial ground in Topornica (thee Zamość poviat). The communities of this culture, which lived in the Lublin region from about 1100 BC to about 400 BC, established burial cemeteries containing up to several hundred graves. The first research in Topornica was carried out as early as in 1935 and the artefacts found then were sent to Warsaw. After more than 20 years, another team of archaeologists, this time from the Lublin Museum, during the exploration of the site came across a cluster of several clay artefacts between 230 graves. It was there, where apart from a rattle, a bucket and a small vessel, a figure of a rider on a horse was found.

The figure of the horse is shown in detail, while the man is depicted more schematically. Are these objects just toys? Often in cemeteries space was set aside for children's graves, so theoretically they should be found there. However, they were not located next to any of the graves, but in the space between them. To this day, it is not known whether these were merely children's toys or, as some scholars believe, objects connected with magical practices taking place in the cemetery during the All Souls' procedures. Whatever the case may be, this small grey figurine, almost 3 thousand years old, is the oldest representation of a human figure in figural plastic among the Lusatian groups from the Polish territory. Although, according to some visitors to the archaeological exhibition in the Lublin Museum, where this relic can be admired, especially the younger ones, it is clearly a dinosaur.