A Parade Shield from the Przeworsk Culture Cemetery in Czersk, near Warsaw, Poland: An International Sign of Status in the Early Roman Period

Abstract

A shield boss and a shield grip with silver decoration were recently found in the Przeworsk culture cemetery at Czersk in the Piaseczno district in central Poland. The shield boss, type J.7, has three times three bronze thimble-headed rivets, covered with silver. The bronze shield grip has silvered rivet plates with thimble-headed rivets, decorative filigree studs, and openwork decoration. The technique that was used to produce this specimen is not clear, despite metallographic analysis. The shield has analogies in Scandinavia (Hunn, Radved, Brostorp) and the northern Elbian circle (Hamfelde). It was probably a parade shield, an international sign of the warrior elite in the Early Roman Period in the barbaricum. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/ab.v18i0.67 Key words: Roman Period, elite graves, parade weaponry, Przeworsk culture.