Bow arrowhead

One category of artefacts found at sepulchral sites is militaria. They are primarily found within the grave cavity as belongings of the deceased. Such cases are interpreted as warrior burials. There are also occasional finds of these types of objects in the area between graves. Then, the circumstances of their deposition in the burial ground are not always obvious to archaeologists. In the Cedynia burial ground, part of the local medieval settlement complex, combat knives, a type of white weapon with a blade longer than 20 cm, dominate among the various types of weaponry found in the belongings of the deceased. One spur was also found, which was part of a horseman's defensive armament, as well as a bow arrowhead – the only one intentionally placed in a grave in the burial ground. It was not possible to determine gender for all burials from this burial ground, but where it was possible to do so, the regularity of the occurrence of armament in male graves was evident. The exception is another arrowhead from a bow, the position of which in relation to the skeleton indicates that it was not equipment. This is because it was stuck in the chest of the woman buried in this grave, most likely contributing to her death. The iron bow arrowhead presented here, however, is an example of an item of weaponry found next to a burial pit, making the possibility of drawing more concrete conclusions as to the circumstances in which it was found in the burial ground quite limited. It is characterised by the long leaf shaped tapered sides, making it difficult to remove once it has reached its intended target. It dates back to the turn of the 10th/11th or 11th century. Ewa Górkiewicz-Bucka