Wendelring necklace

The wreath necklace is a very impressive neck ornament. It was made from a square bronze bar that was unbent, and then its edges were patched for a long time. As a result, four thin and wide plates (wings) were obtained. The thus prepared rod with star-shaped cross-section was twisted around its axis using a unique wooden lever. The strengthening of the decorative pattern was achieved by changing the direction of the twist several times. The necklace is part of a hoard trove of bronze ornaments that the farmer Karl Sager found in his meadow in 1941. A drawing made by Captain Poirot, a prisoner of war camp in Prenzlau, shows that the original arrangement of the discovered objects was not accidental. Five spiral bracelets were strung on two wreath necklaces, and a tin hoop was laid on top. The water context and the intentional arrangement indicate that this was a sacrificial deposit. The find was transferred to the collection of the Pommersches Landesmuseum in Stettin (Polish: Pomorskie Muzeum Krajowe w Szczecinie; English: Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin). It stayed there for only three years. At the end of World War II, the entire hoard was evacuated deep into Germany. It returned to the Szczecin Museum in 2009 due to the Polish-German exchange of old archaeological collections. The presented necklace and other ornaments from the hoard date to the early Iron Age, i.e., the Hallstatt period D (approx. 600/550-400/450 BC) and are a testimony to the exceptional skills of prehistoric metallurgists and their sense of beauty. The great exhibition values and excellent preservation of these artefacts make it possible to consider the deposit from Karkowo as one of the most valuable museum acquisitions. The significance of the hoard is also increased by the tin hoop, which belongs to relatively rare finds.

Dorota Kozłowska