Umbo

The iron umbo is a fitting placed in the centre of a shield. It was found in the grave goods from an urned burial in the cemetery of the Oksywie culture in Głobin, located in the Słupsk poviat. Apart from this shield fitting, this burial also contained a clay urn with the ashes of the deceased, an iron, a one-edged sword together with a set of iron fittings from the scabbard cladding, an iron javelin arrowhead with a sharp rib on the leaf, an iron spear-butt (a fitting used at the end of the javelin spar), and an iron knife. Based on the entire assemblage of objects, the grave can be dated to the 2nd/1st century BC, and the presented umbo is the element that allowed establishing the dating. In the pre-Roman and Roman periods, the shields were made of boards joined together to form an oval or oblong shape. In the centre of the shield, a hole was cut with the diameter of a hand. From the user's side, a wooden peg used to hold the shield in one hand was fixed across this opening. The metal fittings of these shield grips have been preserved to this day. The aforementioned opening in the middle of the shield was covered from the outside with iron cup-shaped fittings – so-called umbos, which protected the hand holding the shield from the opponent’s blows. The form of these fittings has evolved dynamically. What is important, the forms of subsequent types of umbo were the same throughout northern Europe. A javelin and a shield were the basic parts of the equipment of a warrior from Oksywie culture, and their traces are usually found in men’s graves in the form of spearheads and umbos. Only the wealthier warriors could additionally afford a sword. Specimens with single-sided warheads are characteristic weapons for the Oksywie culture. The cemetery in Głobin has been known since at least 1878. The archival data list 17 graves discovered in this location. The first excavation was carried out by the local amateur archaeologist Carl Schmidt on 5 April 1895, and in October of the same year, further work was undertaken by the Szczecin conservator-restorer, Adolf Stubenrauch.

Bartłomiej Rogalski