An axe with raised edges type Wroclaw-Szczytniki

It is an exceptional specimen of a tool/weapon cast in bronze, characterised by a very narrow, long shank that transitions into a widened trapezoidal blade. The exquisitely selected proportions emphasise the slender silhouette of the item. Together with a small dagger and a gold spiral with several coils, the axe was found in a grave with a skeletal burial placed in a stone chest. It was discovered by accident on 4 May 1933 at the edge of a sand pick. Shortly after its discovery, the owner of the Sand pit permitted taking the find to the Museum in Trzebiatów. It was soon transferred to the Pommersches Landesmuseum in Stettin (Polish: Pomorskie Muzeum Krajowe w Szczecinie; English: Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin), where it remained until 1944. Then the collection was evacuated due to repeated Allied air raids. The axe, dagger, and spiral were taken deep into Germany along with many other relics. All the grave equipment was returned to Szczecin only in 2009 due to the Polish-German exchange of old archaeological artefacts. The skeletal grave from Śliwin, dated to the 2nd half of the 1st to the beginning of the 2nd Bronze Age (approx. 1700-1500 BC), is a unique find in West Pomerania, containing bronze and gold objects. The research on the beginnings of the Bronze Age in the Pomeranian zone is based mainly on the so-called loose finds (without any known context of discovery), hoards of bronze objects, and few graves, often poorly documented.

Dorota Kozłowska