Puck

In 1951, in the village of Stok, Puławy district, during fieldwork, the owner of the field noticed that he had unearthed numerous stones and human bones while ploughing. After calling the archaeologists, it turned out that he had accidentally discovered a tomb structure. Researchers began to explore the object as soon as possible, thanks to which the monument we described was brought to light.

It is a small clay disc, decorated on the surface with a pattern imprinted with a rectangular stamp. The lines of this ornament spread radially from the centre of the monument.

Both this and other artefacts discovered in the tomb, the form and manner of burial inform us that the tomb was made about 5 thousand years ago by representatives of the Globular Amphorae Culture.

Burials in the Globular Amphorae Culture are quite unusual - often archaeologists discover mixed human-animal burials or animal burials alone. In our case, the first type was discovered. It was a two-chamber burial surrounded by limestone - in one of the chambers most probably two individuals were laid to rest with their equipment, while in the other the bones of animals (cattle, pig, sheep-goat and most probably a horse) were found in several clusters.

It is not entirely clear what the clay disc we described could have been used for. We find similar artefacts in other graves of this culture, so it may be a manifestation of burial rituals that took place thousands of years ago, unfortunately completely elusive for us. This may also be evidenced by the pattern reflected in the clay, which brings to mind the sun, which in prehistoric cultures was very often the object of cult.