A belt box

The bronze belt plate discovered in Swochowo was a part of a hoard that also contained two golden spirals and wire fragments. Pieces of golden sheeting (probably belt decorations) were another part of this deposit; however, they are not in the collection of the Museum in Szczecin. The hoard was found accidentally in 1860 while blasting a granite block. The whole assemblage is dated to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 1500–1200 BC).

This cylindrical container has two small handles on the sides. It is richly decorated on the sides and at the bottom. The belt plate is an import from the Nordic Bronze Age culture (present in northern Germany, Denmark, and Scandinavia regions). The vessel is assumed to be a container for jewellery or various talismans, like animal bones or teeth. Rare inhumation graves discovered in Scandinavia containing such containers helped to deduct that they were worn attached to a waist belt. Later in the Bronze Age, these containers changed considerably. They turned into vessels with a pointed base, a conical body, became much bigger, and had rich decorations. They became one of the most impressive metal items manufactured in that period. It is believed that because of their exquisite craft, they were worn by women of high social status, similarly as swords worn by men. One such belt plate, found in a bog pit in Danish Langstrup in 1879, had been placed on the contemporary 200 crowns banknote, which demonstrated their uniqueness

Monika Witek