Stone Age National Museum in Szczecin

Collection from the final period of the older and middle period of the Stone Age (Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic) include primarily single tools and whole assemblages of finds made of flint, uncovered mainly on archaeological excavations in the area of the oldest human settlements in Western Pomerania. They are accompanied by artefacts made of bone and antlers. Among them particularly conspicuous are artefacts representing art of hunter-gatherer cultures of the Stone Age – insygnia from Rusinowo and perforated baton (bâton de comandement) from Szczecin-Podjuchy – covered with rich decorations with images of humans.

Collection dating at the younger Stone Age (the Neolithic) are richer both formally as well as in terms of the raw material used. They include finds uncovered in the area of villages as well as in graves of the oldest farming and pastoral cultures populating the territory of Western Pomerania between 5000 and 2000 BC. The most numerous assemblages of artefacts were uncovered on archaeological excavation in Pyrzyce Land, in the vicinity of Szczecin, on Wolin Island and in the neighbourhood of Cedynia. Among goods of daily use, such as pottery, tools and weapons made of flint and rock, accessories of bone and antlers, worth noting is an amulet made of amber: a figurine of a bear, which was found in the area of Słupsk. This unique find combines simplicity with apt representation of the shape of an animal displaying exceptionally soft lines and elegance of form highlighted by the character and colour of the raw material.