Vessel

The vessel, unique for its shape and rich ornamentation, was found in a cemetery of the Przeworsk culture in Opoka, Końskowola commune, the Puławy poviat, the Lublin Voivodeship. Archaeological research on the site was conducted in 1961-1962 by Zygmunt Ślusarski from the Regional Museum in Lublin.

A hand-made vessel, over twenty centimetres high, typologically described as a vase, served as an ashtray in one of the mortuary graves.

The vessel has a black, shiny surface. In the upper part of the bowl there are three lugs, which separate three zones of ornaments. They consist of swastikas formed by two engraved lines with round holes between them. Other ornamental motifs include meander, arrangements of rectangles and triangles, including pairs of opposing triangles, alternately or radially filled with diagonal engraved lines and punctures. Similar decoration in the form of arrangements of engraved lines and circular stamps is found on the lugs.

For sepulchral purposes the Vandals (representatives of the Przeworsk culture) used vessels of a representative character, usually vases with a carefully finished external surface, often richly decorated. Some of the tomb pottery was made specifically for this purpose.

Local cultural variation is also reflected in the ceramics. It means that in certain regions of a given culture, at a given time, there was a "fashion" for a form of vessel. The most interesting differences are presented by the vessels from the right-bank Mazowsze, Podlasie and Lublin regions. Rich, multi-threaded ornamentation can be regarded as a characteristic feature of this zone in the 1st and 2nd century AD.