Cmentarzysko w wczesnej epoki żelaza w Świbiu na Górnym Śląsku. Tom 2

Abstract

The cemetery discovered in the village of Świbie, commune of Wielowieś (site 16), District Gliwice, was one of the few large biritual cemeteries with a predominance of inhumation graves belonging to the so-called Gliwice-Częstochowa subgroup of the Lusatian culture. It was only thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2021-2022 that a monographic study and publication of the historic materials collected at the Gliwice Museum became possible. The biritual necropolis in Świbie is unique for several reasons. In purely numerical terms, it is the largest cemetery of the Upper Silesian-Małopolska group of the Early Iron Age Lusatian culture (approximately 550 graves), the richest in metal artefacts in this cultural zone (over three thousand bronze and iron artefacts and several dozen lead artefacts), and the most numerous collection of glass and vitreous beads from the Early Iron Age in Poland (over 1,700 specimens). What is striking is the material richness of furnishings in many of the nearly 550 discovered burial complexes, which is unusual for the Upper Silesian-Małopolska cultural zone in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age and can only be found in the richest necropolises of this period discovered in the Oder zone, such as Domasław, Kietrz or Łazy. What is more important, however, are the possibilities offered by this rich collection with its perfectly documented context for the study of the precise type-chronology of the Hallstatt period north of the Carpathians. The picture of the spatial development of the necropolis, obtained through meticulous chronological studies, makes it possible to formulate conclusions about the pace and extent of cultural change, including the raw material change experienced by the areas of southern Poland at the beginning of the Hallstatt period. The fact of the significant dominance of inhumation over cremation furthermore provides unique opportunities for explaining the purpose and characteristics of certain parts of the costume. The presence of numerous bronzes in many skeletal graves, favouring the preservation of skeletal remains despite adverse environmental conditions, in turn allows the reconstruction of the biological condition and diet of the local population. The size of the necropolis lends credence to the results of the study of the social contacts and wealth differentiation of the community studied. The second volume of the Świbie necropolis monograph is a multidisciplinary study authored by Monika Michnik (Museum in Gliwice) and Karol Dzięgielewski (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków), with contributions from over a dozen authors from many Polish institutions.