Type AIV decorated vessel (Machajewski)

The vases of the presented type appeared in the Western Pomerania in the 2nd half of the 3rd century. Their presence in the West Pomeranian lands is interpreted as evidence of contacts between local communities and the population of the Elbe area, where this type of pottery was used earliest. The vessel is of light brown colour and has a smooth surface. It is decorated with characteristic for this group of ceramics ornament of diagonally engraved lines in a zigzag pattern and horizontally engraved lines. Such ornamentation is also associated with cultural influences reaching the Western Pomerania from the Elbe region. This vessel comes from an inhumation grave of the Dębczyno group, discovered by accident in 1926 in Meszne, Łobez poviat. This group owes its name to the village Dębczyno near Białogard and is related to the people inhabiting Western Pomerania and Western Pomerania between Łeba and Wkra from the 3rd to 6th centuries. The burial from Meszne was most probably located in a larger cemetery which is evidenced by other findings from that place, including four other clay vessels, a fragment of a Roman glass vessel and a neck-ring made out of partially braided wire.

Bartłomiej Rogalski