Mug with ear

A small cup with a handle, with a smooth external surface, is decorated with a thread of imprinted vertical bars, a cordon and an engraved three-line zigzag. This vessel was accidentally discovered near Obliwice village in the 1890s, in a cultivated field during ploughing. The finder’s noticed some dark traces of burning on the ground, which turned out to be archaeological objects. Two bronze spurs, at least three fibulae, a circular buckle and two ceramic vessels, including the presented cup, were found in them. The objects most probably furnished several burials of the Wielbark culture with stone constructions over the pits. In this culture, bi-ritual burials were practised, which means that both the inhumation and cremation graves can be found in the cemeteries. The burial grounds where graves representing only one of these two funerary rites have been discovered are less common. Small clay cups are one of the most numerous forms of pottery of the Wielbark culture found in graves. It is also a very morphologically diverse category of vessels. The chronology of the pottery cups is difficult to establish if they are not accompanied by other objects that can be more precisely dated. The specimen from Obliwice is an excellent example of this situation. It is characterized by a unique style, which in fact has no analogues in other sites of the Wielbark culture.

Bartłomiej Rogalski