Replica of a kidney-shaped bracelet from Kolkowo

The exhibit on display is a replica of a highly impressive kidney-shaped bracelet. This type of bracelet takes its distinctive name from its shape, which consists of a closed circular or oval band with a prominent widening, referred to as a kidney-shaped bulge, nerka (kidney), or knot. In this case, the band is exceptionally broad, strongly convex, and its edges are sharply curved inward. The bulge itself is large and prominent, decorated with multiple engraved lines and an eyelet-patterned ornament. Archival research and historical records confirm that this object is a replica of a bracelet found alongside an identical counterpart in Kolkowo, a now-vanished settlement that was replaced by the upper reservoir of the Żarnowiec pumped-storage power plant near Gniewino in Lębork County. Interestingly, a replica of the second bracelet is housed in the Museum in Koszalin. The discovery, interpreted as a treasure hoard, was made on 27 November 1936 by a worker, Otto Kolodzik from Gniewino. It was unearthed in a state-owned forest during road construction to Czymanowo in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Both bronze bracelets were buried at a depth of 0.3–0.4 metres. Immediately after the discovery, the objects were sent to the Pommersches Landesmuseum in Stettin (Pomeranian Regional Museum in Szczecin) for several months. In June 1937, they were transferred to the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Early History) in Berlin, where they are most likely still held today. In exchange, on 7 August 1937, copies of both bracelets were sent to Szczecin, for which the museum paid an appropriate fee. Kidney-shaped bracelets similar to the Kolkowo specimen are found over a broad area of Europe, though they remain relatively rare. So far, isolated examples have been recorded in the Middle Rhine region, Thuringia, along the Havel River, in southern Mecklenburg, and eastern Pomerania. They date from Period V of the Bronze Age through to Hallstatt C, approximately 900–550 BC. Dorota Kozłowska