Knife

Conducting surface research in 1960 in the area of the village of Dziedzice, near Barlinek in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, archaeologists Kazimierz Siuchniński (1928-1981) and Stefan Wesołowski (1927-1995) located a settlement site in Dziedzice marked with number 4. On the initiative of the Western Pomerania Museum (now the National Museum in Szczecin), excavations were carried out there between 1968 and 1972 and in 1974 by Antoni Porzeziński (1940- ). In an area of 13,750 m2, as many as 126 structures were recorded as the remains of an early medieval settlement, with a variety of functions. This included residential structures in the form of semi-detached dwellings, resource, waste and production caves, hearths and structures of undetermined function. During the course of the work carried out, many objects related to the daily life of the settlement's inhabitants were discovered. For the most part, these were fragments of broken, undecorated earthenware made using the hand-plastering technique. The predominant forms were, among others, egg-shaped, vase-shaped, bag-shaped, slightly biconical and spherical. It is primarily on the basis of these that the time of the settlement was determined, which was in the second half of the 6th and 7th centuries. The collection of relics was accompanied by fragments of clay pots, lumps of slag, iron knives, a bier, a fishing hook, whetstones, fragments of roasting irons, stone and clay slivers, awls and animal bones. Discovered during the archaeological work, the presented iron knife with an unpreserved handle is small in size. It is characterised by a narrow head, a straight butt with a slightly arched blade and a pin distinguished on both sides. Knives were commonly used as tools in everyday work, both in the household and in specialised craft workshops. Those of smaller sizes were carried in leather pouches attached to the belt. Grzegorz Durdyń