Necklace

The described item is a part of a two-element set of artefacts from the village of Radecznica, Zamość poviat (for information on the second monument, see: 1395// ML-2).

Both items were discovered in 1971 by Stanisław Siemczyk, a brickyard worker, while digging clay to make bricks. According to the finder, the artifacts were located next to the human shin bone, which is why we treat them as grave monuments.

Analysing both necklaces, on the basis of analogous finds, specialists determined the probable date of their creation at about 2.5 thousand years ago. At that time, in the area of today's Radecznica, there was a community defined by archaeologists as the Lusatian culture.

The necklace is made of a brown rod, 2/3 of which were twisted (for more on this technique, see: 1396/A/ML-4). The material has been twisted many times, which is reflected in a dense and even pattern. There are also visible traces of cracking that must have resulted of too intense twisting. You can also notice the marks, three indentations on the surface of the left end of the necklace - probably due to  immobilizing the rod in a vice.

Archaeologists still have doubts as to the interpretation of the find.

Was it really a tomb? Unfortunately, the site of discovery has not been investigated by archaeologists, and we cannot confirm whether the bone was definitely related to the jewellery. Moreover, most of the graves from those times in the present-day Lublin region are cremation burials without such valuable ornaments, which is why there is also another hypothesis. According to it, we may not be dealing with a burial, but an accident, the person wearing these ornaments died in dramatic circumstances.