A stacking vessel with an ear

A small, stacked vessel - unique in Pomerania - is characterised by a very original shape. What draws attention is its narrow form and two strongly rounded bodies, placed one on top of the other, and the whole is completed with a tiny ear. This artefact was discovered in a cemetery of the Lusatian culture, dated to the 4th-5th period of the Bronze Age (approx. 1100-750 BC), where excavations were carried out in June 1893 by Adolf Stubenrauch, the keeper of archaeological collections of the Society of History and Antiquities of Pomerania (Towarzystwo Historii i Starożytności Pomorza) in Szczecin. They excavated a total of 25 cremation burials. The ashtrays, standing in the sand, sometimes covered with an additional vessel or a flat stone, were surrounded by clay containers, the so-called accompanying vessel. The urns contained burnt bones and a few small bronze objects. The presented vessel was found in one such grave, which contained a large ashtray with bones, two rings and a double bronze button. Next to the urn, there were three ceramic vessels, an earthenware spoon, and probably a stone grinder. The piled vessels are the main form of the Knowiska culture connected with the circle of ash fields, which developed in the middle and younger Bronze Age in the Bohemian Basin. Forms of this type are found outside the original area in Silesia, Great Poland, and central Germany.

Dorota Kozłowska